TVLINE | How much anticipation are you feeling right now?
Coming into “50,” there’s only one feeling I have, and it’s gratitude and excitement, right? I don’t have any trepidation. Part of that is I don’t think there’s any pressure on me to outperform everyone else. I don’t think I’m expected to be able to handle Jonathan in any physical challenge, right? And I don’t think I’m expected to beat Kamilla in any puzzles out here. And again, it goes back to that line of thinking of playing from the middle. I like that space for me at this time. At 51, I’m very proud to play from the middle. I don’t have an ego that needs to be at the top of the heap. I’m going in there ready to slay. It’s all fun, brother. This is gravy, man. It’s my fourth time in, right? So if you can’t have fun at this point, give it up.
TVLINE | Who are you feeling good about potentially working with?
I think the old school players are a natural fit, although Jenna might become a liability at some point, but Ozzy, Coach, Stephenie, Cirie, no question. I’ll play with them all day long, and I don’t think I’m gonna have any problem with them. The new era players that I’m stoked to play with… I like Jonathan. I like Joe. Just the way they played their seasons, I feel like they’re kind of old souls. I think we’ll be able to connect with them. I’m also excited about this new girl Savannah from Season 49. I don’t know why. I don’t know her. I haven’t spoken a word to her. But I like the fact that she’s so new coming off their season, she hasn’t had a chance to pregame at all, so there aren’t any built relationships with previous seasons. That makes her and Rizo ripe for alignment. I think we’ll see. We also have to suss out pretty quickly what their dynamic is with one another.
TVLINE | Are winners a problem? Are they targets?
Winners are always gonna have a natural target on them because people don’t like to see winners win twice. However, I’ve been on the jury when we voted for Sandra to win her second time, right? So I’ve seen it from that side. I don’t buy into the argument that winners make good shields. “Oh, I’m gonna take this person with me because they won before, therefore the jury won’t award it to them again.” Bulls–t. It all has to do with the gameplay leading up to that final Tribal Council, and it also has to do with who’s sitting on either side of that person that’s already won it once. And in Sandra’s case, she played a hell of a game leading up to the Final Tribal, and then she was sitting next to Russell and Parvati, so it’s the lesser of two evils.
TVLINE | Did you vote in the fan vote? Are you aware of any of the categories?
Yeah, I didn’t see any of them. I don’t know what they were.
TVLINE | How do you feel about the Final 4 fire-making challenge?
What about it?
TVLINE | Do you hope the fans got rid of it?
Doesn’t matter. I can make fire, so it doesn’t matter.
TVLINE | How about rice and tribe supplies?
Yeah, it doesn’t matter because to me, yeah, this is a bold statement, but this is a cake walk. Twenty-six days in this environment, there are no bugs out here. The weather’s perfect, so I don’t care if we have rice or not. Doesn’t matter. Again, as long as the playing field’s level, I don’t care. Make it as tough as you want to make it, so no rice, rice, it really doesn’t matter to me.
TVLINE | Any other changes fans can expect from your gameplay this time out?
Oh yeah. I definitely have adopted a very different strategy now, and part of that’s just being 51 years old. I’m not gonna be able to play the physical game that I played in Australia when I was 25. In fact, I couldn’t replicate that the second and third time I played, so I’m certainly probably not gonna be able to do that now. Where I will advance and excel is in my social game, and I think that lacked, strategically, in a big way the second and third time I played, so I’m looking forward to exercising some of the social talent, and that comes in the form of just understanding people better. I’ve lived more life. I’ve got more life experience now, so hopefully I can use that to my advantage and get to know these people and therefore make some bold moves along the way.
TVLINE | Why will Colby Donaldson be the winner of Survivor 50?
Oh, I don’t know that I will. It’s gonna take a lot of luck, for sure, if I win this thing.