“I Don’t Like to Candy Coat Things”: An Interview with Survivor: Cook Islands’ Brad

Brad is the first member of the jury, which has him “totally stoked,” as you will see below. What else did he have to say about his time on Survivor? What was his strategy? Why was he so blunt? Read on to find out!

RealityNewsOnline:What did you think when you first realized the tribes were being split by race?

Brad: When I first realized it, I thought it was a gutsy move. I thought it was amazing, just an intelligent move on CBS’ part. But I thought at the same time it was going to piss a lot of people off – and it did. From a personal standpoint, people are people – it sounds so cliché, but I really try to see people as human beings. So it didn’t really bother me. One of the cool aspects was that all of us [on each original tribe] had similar backgrounds. We could all relate to some of the stereotypes and difficulties growing up. So that was a nice aspect. We all had common ground on some level.

RNO: What was your strategy coming into the game?

Brad: I wanted to play an honest game. I didn’t want to be as cutthroat as a lot of the other contestants. I wanted to stick with my original alliance.

RNO: What was your original alliance?

Brad: Yul and Becky from the original Puka tribe.

RNO: When you were at camp and said it’s every man for himself, I thought you were misunderstood – what did you mean?

Brad: I meant that pretty soon after the merge, people were going to be vying for the million dollars. It wasn’t going to be as lovey dovey as everyone made it out to be. I don’t like to candy coat things. I tell it like it is. Sometimes that kicks me in the butt at the end of the day.

RNO: Would you have been loyal to Raro in a merge, or would you have looked for a way to jump to an alternate alliance?

Brad: I probably would have jumped. Hindsight is 20/20 and I should have stepped off the mat. Yul and Becky and I had a pretty strong bond out of the gate. We were bonding pretty hardcore by day three. I can kind of tell, I always say go with your gut. And they’re great people.

RNO: So then, why didn’t you mutiny?

Brad: I didn’t want the entire Raro tribe against me once the merge took place.

RNO: When you said you didn’t trust everyone in your tribe, words that ended up being prophetic, who were you specifically talking about, and why?

Brad: I didn’t really trust Jenny. And I didn’t trust Jonathan nor did I trust Candice. Jon and Candice because I didn’t know them and they were so new to the tribe. And Jenny because there’s something about that girl from day one that my gut was like, “don’t trust this girl, she’s kind of shady.” That was one of the reasons I voted for her when Cristina was voted off.

RNO: We haven’t seen much of Jenny, but Cristina had some not-so-nice things to say about her. Did you see that side of her?

Brad: I did. That’s another reason I voted for Jenny. I [told] Cristina I’d give her a second chance. I liked what Cristina stood for. And I didn’t like how Jenny treated Cristina. What you didn’t see at Tribal Council was Jenny going off on how annoying and what a bad person Cristina was. That’s kind of tasteless.

RNO: Did Jenny explain the vote with the gun pointing at Cristina’s name?

Brad: Everyone questioned it, I think it was done more out of being stupid and not realizing what she was doing. She drew a volleyball when she voted for J.P. I think that was her little trademark, to draw something on her vote. I’m surprised she didn’t draw a blazer or a pair of boots for me.

RNO: Before the mutiny, did you realize that you were probably going to be the next person voted out?

Brad: No, I was totally blindsided. I didn’t realize my head was on the chopping block. I thought I was doing pretty good in the challenges other than that I didn’t swim and pissed a bunch of people off. [Before the mutiny], I thought it was going to be Rebecca, because of the way she swam, or didn’t swim, in the last challenge.

RNO: Can you explain your thought process for wanting to do the puzzle portion of last week’s challenge instead of the swimming?

Brad: We had lost every single freaking challenge at the final home stretch at the last three rewards or immunity and they were based off the end result, typically it was a puzzle. I do puzzles and creative things for a living, I get it like the back of my hand was what I told them. I knew me doing the puzzle would have been a slam dunk. Rebecca stepped up to the plate and said she’s been swimming, she can do this. And at the end of the day, she didn’t pull through.

RNO: What kind of scheming and plotting was going on at Raro?

Brad: A lot was going on behind my back! I wasn’t really scheming or plotting for myself. I’m not much of a schemer. Like I said, I tried to play an honest game, I thought that’s what I did and it got me in trouble.

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

Brad: I had thought I was close with the guys on my tribe, so that kind of threw me for a loop when Nate was talking crap about me yesterday.

RNO: Other than that, what alliances had formed?

Brad: It was mainly Nate, myself, Adam, and Parvati.

RNO: In your final words, you said Survivor was “the best worst experience” of your life. Can you explain that?

Brad: It was the most humbling experience of my life. The reason I did it was to challenge myself mentally and physically and to see how far I could take my body. It was the worst experience of my life because you’re dealing with crazy elements. You’re $#!tting in a hole you dug and wiping your @$$ with a hibiscus leaf. How’s that for humbling? I didn’t really watch the show before and thought they would give us sandwiches [or something]. No, they give you a machete and say have a nice day.

RNO: How much had you watched of the show?

Brad: I had only watched like season one and a couple episodes of other seasons.

RNO: What did you think when Jeff Probst informed you that you were the first member of the jury?

Brad: I was totally stoked! That was one of the goals. To be honest with you, I didn’t think I’d make it this far. It was one of my goals going in. I wanted to be part of the finale and how the game was played at the finale.

RNO: Nate mentioned that anybody who showed leadership was voted out – how did things get done in the Raro tribe?

Brad: That’s a good question – that’s what Jeff [Probst] asked [at Tribal Council]. Things got done by everyone taking ownership of what needed to get done. If we needed food, I was always out there fishing three or four hours a day, busting my @$$ for the tribe to bring back food. The girls would normally start the fire. We would just take the initiative and get it done. We didn’t have anything set in stone.

RNO: What did Nate tell your tribe about Aitu when he returned from being kidnapped?

Brad: He told us Yul and Becky were really tight and that we would need to look out for them. And one of the last scenes was Nate saying I would have merged back with my Puka tribe and I was a threat in that regard.

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

Brad: I would have swam in that one challenge. And I would have stepped off the mat during the mutiny.

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

Brad: It was a fantastic horrible experience. It was something that I would never in a million years do again. It was good, but I’m glad it’s over and it’s time to move on to the next chapter.

RNO: (Laughing) Most people say they would do it again in a heartbeat, so that was refreshingly honest.

Brad: No, I would never do it again!

RNO: Thanks, Brad!

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

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