Survivor: The Amazon – Outplayed and Outwitted, an Interview with Roger Sexton

Roger Sexton came into Survivor loud and strong, and that’s the way he went out as well. RealityNewsOnline had the opportunity to ask him some questions about his game play and his time in the Amazon.

RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Roger, and thanks for taking the time to answer these questions from RealityNewsOnline. Let's start at the beginning. What was your game plan going in and how did you adapt it once you were in a tribe of all men?

Roger Sexton: My game plan going in was to organize the tribe and have each of us describe our assets so that we could function as a strong tribe, with the goal of winning immunity challenges so that we did not have to face the difficult decision of voting a tribe member off. The beginning of the game is truly a team effort and you are only as strong as your weakest member. Therefore, it was important that we all work together and help each other to win. Surprisingly enough I do not feel that women are inferior and my original plan was to form an alliance with the expected four female members of my tribe. As we all know, Mark was not going to allow for mixed tribes. When we got into the canoes and were told that this game was going to be the "Battle of the Sexes," I quickly realized that I was going to have a tough time, especially considering the fact that six members of my tribe were under 33 years of age. Butch and I both came to the realization that we had to stick together if we were going to survive. By the second day it became evident that the strongest members of the tribe were Dave, Alex, Matt, Butch, and myself. Butch and I were able to get Dave and Alex to join our alliance. Since Ryan and Dan really weren't contributing to the success of the tribe, we decided to vote them off if we lost immunity. Meanwhile, I got with Rob and told him that we would not let the other young men vote him off and that if he would vote for Ryan or Dan he would at least be assured of fifth place. Dave told us that he could not vote off Ryan because they where from the same town and he gave Ryan his word. Therefore, when the first vote came we almost went for Dan. Ryan was much more talkative than Dan and it was decided that we couldn't tolerate another night of his chatter. Matt came to me after the vote and indicated that he was sorry that he voted for me. The next vote we all voted Dan off and we now had a very strong team. All of us agreed that we would stay together until the final six and then it would be each man for himself. This seemed like a good plan to assure that the men would beat the women.

RNO: Were you aware that Rob was plotting against you during the first votes that ended up going against Ryan and Daniel – if so, why did you think he would stay loyal?

Roger: I was unaware of Rob's plotting.

RNO: When Dave created the new tribe, did he ever tell you and Butch that Heidi was in a tight alliance with Jenna or that perhaps you should all try to break up that alliance?

Roger: Dave told Butch and me that Heidi was tight with Jenna.

RNO: After all the effort you and Butch made to make feel Christy welcome, why did you try to vote her out instead of trying to put her on the jury?

Roger: The vote for Christy was decided by the original six of us before we met Christy. We obviously didn't know which of the women would be left, but we came up with the following order: Janet, Jeanne, JoAnna, Deena, Christy, Shawna, Heidi & Jenna. Deena won the immunity challenge, therefore, we voted for Christy.

RNO: Several times early in the game, we saw you make reference to wanting to slap Daniel around or give him a "kung fu chop." Looking at Daniel – not in game terms but in terms of muscle mass – do you think this would really have been a good idea?

Roger: Yes, Dan was all talk and show. Muscle mass doesn't mean one is tough. By the way the "kung fu chop" was a reference to Dan's inability to get across the beam. He told us that he was a black belt. I think balance is one the essential talents of a black belt. Also, I am in no way a racist. I have many great friends that are from different ethnic groups including Asian.

RNO: Were you accusing Ryan and Daniel of being lazy as part of a strategy, or did they really make you that upset?

Roger: I was that upset with both Ryan and Dan. As indicated in my first answer I was not alone in this assessment. I was just more vocal about it.

RNO: What do you have to say to Deena's (and several others') comments about how you view women as inferior?

Roger: Again, as I said earlier, I do not feel that women are inferior. However, there are certain things that men do better than women, i.e. chop down trees and build shelters. If you watch the episode when we merge closely, you will see that the women were not precluded, but were asked to do certain things that they were supposedly good at, i.e. splitting the fronds. This task is very important to assure that we have a properly constructed roof. We knew that from our experience with our original shelter that Rob was very adept at doing this very difficult task. In no way is it a demeaning task.

RNO: If, as you said in your final words, you didn't get outwitted or outplayed, how did you get outlasted?

Roger: These final words were said moments after I had been voted off and I was not a happy camper. The simple truth is that I got outwitted, outplayed and outlasted.

RNO: On the Early Show you mentioned that your final words were cut off and that you had also questioned the integrity of Alex and Rob. Did you expect everybody to stick to their words in this game?

Roger: Actually CBS shows my final words that were cut off and it was Alex and Dave that I questioned. I really must have been out of it more than I thought because the vote was 7 to 3 and I had no reason to question Dave. That being said, yes, I expected Alex and Rob, but particularly Alex, to be man enough to at least tell me that I should make my best effort at the challenge. This is a game but it can still be played with integrity.

RNO: Before the vote, did you realize how people felt about you, to the point that they changed their strategy from getting rid of Dave first?

Roger: Just before the vote at tribal council I realized that I was about to be voted off. I knew that the women were going to vote for me because I had been particularly upset with Heidi when she was with Tambaqui. I was more upset with her than I was with Dan, but for different reasons. Heidi's words and actions indicated to me that she had values that are totally different than mine. So when we merged I knew that she went to Jenna and said that I had to go. I had no idea that Alex and Rob felt the way they did about me. Neither one ever told me to my face that I was annoying them. Had I been aware, I would have toned it down.

RNO: Thanks!

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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