“I Should Have Practiced Lying More”: An Interview with Survivor: Cook Islands’ Jessica

Jessica Smith, aka Flica, definitely enjoyed her time on Survivor, though that time was shorter than she probably would have liked it to be. What does she have to say about the players who just sat around? Or those who lied and backstabbed? Jessica tells us right here.

RealityNewsOnline: What did you first think when you found out the tribes were divided by race?

Jessica: I was shocked that they would actually go there for publicity.

RNO: How do you think it turned out?

Jessica: I think it was supposed to work out the way that it did, where everyone didn’t really see themselves as necessarily the Caucasians or the Asians, I think everyone just did the all-American thing by blending together well. I know I had a better chance once we merged – I thought I did, anyway.

RNO: Many of the contestants this time around were not as familiar with the show. How much did you know about Survivor ahead of time?

Jessica: I think it’s funny because I don’t watch much TV. I’m always making stuff, sewing, playing roller derby. I was never tuned in to Survivor. My sister is a really big fan so it was a surprise when they contacted me. I was not familiar with season after season and the strategies. I think it benefits you in the game if you are aware of the different strategies people have in order to manipulate and stay in the game longer.

RNO: From what we saw, you didn’t seem terribly comfortable with the plotting and scheming aspect of the game – is that a fair statement?

Jessica: Definitely. I think that my intuition was leaning more towards people who had integrity and were honest about themselves. Some of the people who were plotting and scheming, you could see that and that’s the way they play. I was really hoping the people who don’t play that way could get ahead and stay longer in the game, but it didn’t work that way. [I wanted to be with] people who have really good intentions with being themselves and being willing to go out and experience more than just the Survivor game, but experience the reef or the canoe or going on an adventure to another island. To me that was worth more than the plotting and scheming like the people who sat around camp.

RNO: What was your strategy coming into the game? Or did you have one?

Jessica: They kept saying “strategy, strategy.” But I wasn’t really familiar with the whole show, so I was just gong to be honest with myself and maintain my own personal… being able to be comfortable when you get off the show and say I did my best to stay true to who I am rather than being a backstabber. I don’t feel comfortable with playing that role on national TV. I was trying to be myself and bring in my spirit and help people out by cheering them on and being a good support system.

RNO: What did you do to prepare yourself for the show?

Jessica: Actually, I didn’t do that much. I got a call right before finals and I didn’t have much time to prepare. We were getting ready for the roller derby championships and CBS wouldn’t give me a definite, but I was told if I got injured I wouldn’t be able to be participate. At that time my heart was with my team and my focus was with them and I didn’t want to let them down by making up a story of why I couldn’t help them win as team captain. I was more focused on making my whole team white uniforms because we’re undefeated. I was trying to bust out 11 uniforms for my team before I left. I wasn’t prepared to start preparing for Survivor.

I did start swimming a bit because I never swam in the ocean before. Otherwise, I was already strong from playing roller derby. I’m a stilt-walking fire performer, so I felt for that part of it I’d be alright. I think I should have practiced lying more – it’s not in my nature to be a liar.

RNO: What did you know about the alliance situation on your tribe?

Jessica: I knew Jonathan and Candice had an alliance, but Jonathan creeped me out and she always said she didn’t trust him either, so I didn’t understand where she was coming from. When I saw her and Becky together all the time, I put the pieces together. Becky had an alliance with Yul, which they were very open about it. When they approached me about it when Cecilia was voted off, it was an alliance between the Caucasian and Asian tribes, and we’d stick together and vote off Cecilia then Sundra then Ozzy. That was the original plan and they gave me the whole numbers game idea.

We [she and Cao Boi, and others] were going to vote off Becky because we thought she was the weakest link, and then Yul and Jonathan scrambled in order to fix that and explain to us that we were all going to stick together, and it didn’t work out that way. I was pretty aware that Jonathan, Candice, Becky, and Yul were in together since the very beginning of the merge.

RNO: Given that, did you still think you could pry them away from Jonathan?

Jessica: I did, because everyone talked about how creepy he is, and everyone was saying they didn’t trust him. I didn’t understand why they would keep him around. Now that I understand the game more, they would keep him around so they win when they get to the jury.

RNO: When you couldn’t get straight answers from people before Tribal Council, did you pretty much realize you were in trouble?

Jessica: Yeah, I was definitely trying to manipulate the situation a bit, because I thought if I kept asking them to tell me straightforward, they would give me that respect – just be honest and tell me. Nobody would do that, so I lost a lot of respect for them. I kind of figured they would be that way.

RNO: If you could go back in time, what would you do differently?

Jessica: I think I would have to kiss people’s butts a little bit more when it came to the girls. I wasn’t interested in what they were doing because I thought they were boring. They would sit there and not do anything. And I think they were the ones who made the final decision to voting me off. Maybe they thought I was annoying or a physical threat. I think I would have had to like try to fit in a little more and be a little more bored.

RNO: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your time on Survivor?

Jessica: I want to express how fortunate I feel to have gotten to experience the whole thing, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. The Cook Islands are beautiful. I feel really blessed that something like this can happen to a random roller girl in Northern California. I just feel lucky.

I’d also like to point people to Flicaflame.com. People can hire me to do fire dancing and stilt-walking. And I sew fabulous things if you need something custom-made!

RNO: Thanks, Jessica!

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Survivor: Cook Islands articles here on RealityNewsOnline:

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