by Gina Scarpa

 

The season finale of Survivor: Tocantins played out the way so many fans hoped it would.  JT and Stephen, Jalapao tribe members and friends since the very beginning, ended up the final two with JT unanimously winning the million dollars.  As if that wasn’t enough for the cattle rancher from Alabama, JT also walked away with the $100,000 fan favorite prize.  Today, he and his partner in crime, Stephen, spoke to reporters in a conference call about their impressive run all the way to the finale.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: JT, how did you feel when you saw the episode where Brendan said he would’ve been happy to take you all the way to the finale and let you win?
A. JT: I wish I would’ve known that before!  I had no idea he said those things.  Those were some really nice things.  My family called me and asked me what I was doing.  I had just voted out the only guy that would’ve taken me to the finals.  It made me feel really good to see that.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: JT, did you have any idea how popular you had become and did you think you had a shot at fan favorite?
A. JT: No idea!  I did not think I was going to win.  I actually figured Stephen was going to win and then I found out he wasn’t even in the top three!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Stephen, did you think that the jury was tougher on you in that final tribal council?
A. Stephen: They would ask me these wrenching questions and then, these comments for JT was, “JT, you’re perfect.  Your only downfall is that you aligned yourself with that scumbag Stephen.”

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Stephen, did you know going into that final tribal council that you would be perceived as the bad cop, while JT would be the good cop?
A. Stephen: Yes, we knew that.  I knew I’d come off as the villain. 

Read on to see what else JT and Stephen had to say about their experiences on Survivor…

 

Q. Did the two of you talk about the votes the night that Coach was eliminated?
A. JT: We did talk about it and I either wanted to tell Coach that he was going home or not write his name down so I kind of got lucky on that.
A. Stephen: We planned out everything in advance.  We didn’t want any surprises.  We talked about it and we thought that strategically, it would work out better for us if JT voted for Erinn.

 

Q. Stephen, Erinn said that people who scramble to save themselves get voted out.  Do you think that you were scrambling at the end?
A. Stephen: I don’t think there was any way I could’ve beaten JT in the final tribal.  There was no scrambling or not scrambling.  I don’t think I could’ve presented my game as well as I could have but I think it was moot at that point.

 

Q. JT, there was a lot of talk about taking the strongest players to the end.  Why did you get rid of Taj?  She’s a better player than Erinn.
A. JT: Of course she was!  The only reason I talked about taking the strongest to the end was because I just wanted Coach to feel like I was staying true to what he wanted to do to change the game.  The truth is, that we were getting rid of the strongest people as fast as we could.  That’s why we got rid of Taj.

 

Q. What makes your bond so strong?
A. JT: Obviously the fact that no one would ever expect the New York City guy and the Alabama country boy to get together.  I thought he was the one guy that couldn’t hack it and he didn’t know about me.  Right after that hike, we started bonding a little bit and before we knew it, we were fishing together and teaching each other things.  We were the most unlikely two in the game.
A. Stephen: We wanted to work as hard as we could at everything.  Right off the bat, we were fishing for the tribe and trying to make fire with my glasses.  We did what we could to benefit the tribe.  We both approached the game with the same strategy and ambition.  It kind of emerged organically.

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 

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