by Gina Scarpa

Last night, on Survivor: Samoa, Galu tribe leader Russell collapsed during a reward challenge.  Jeff Probst had to stop the challenge, as the medical staff rushed in to treat him.  Russell’s heart rate was dropping to a terrifyingly low number and later, Jeff said that he has never been more scared than in that moment.  Russell was pulled from the game and today, he spoke to RealityWanted in an exclusive interview about his experiences on the show and how he’s doing now.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you become a part of this season of Survivor?
A. Russell: This was application number eight.  I started applying in the second season.  I applied 3 seasons after that, took a break when my daughter was born, then started up again.  I applied, did a video, went to L.A., and here I am.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You were elected tribe leader on day one.  How did you feel about being given that power and responsibility?
A. Russell: I thought it sucked!  It was not good.  I’ve watched the show and I knew that leadership is a very, very fickle thing.  TO be elected as the chief, I knew I was in trouble on day one.  I think that was one of the reasons, in addition to dehydration, that I ended up on my back.  I agonized over everything.  Trying to sleep, even on the days before the rain… it just was not happening.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: In 19 seasons of Survivor, I have never seen anything as horrible as the rainstorm you guys had to endure for days on end.  How bad was it to be out there?
A. Russell: It was brutal!  It was absolutely miserable.  It was funny because I knew that the decision to choose the comforter was going to come back to haunt me but I made that decision for specific reasons.  I needed to keep these people up because we were winning challenges.  I make a wrong decision, we lose a challenge, the people are feeling bad, they’re mad at the boss… who do you blame?  The rain still would’ve come in but it would’ve been that psychological thing to have the tarp. 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Who were you aligned with in the game?
A. Russell: I was trying to get there.  Instead of talking to people, I went and collected more firewood and all those kinds of things.  There were people on my radar screen but I never really had the opportunity to strategize.  The blessing was that we had a strong tribe.  The curse was that we had a strong tribe.  These were strong personalities.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Given the opportunity, who would you have started strategizing with in order to advance yourself?
A. Russell: I would say it would be Dave because he’s somebody who I knew had a lot going on but was hiding.  I would definitely say Brett because he was just kind of floating.  Laura, who had become the Mama Hen and Eric because he was an absolute warrior.  I love that guy, personally.  With that group, there was nothing that I couldn’t have done.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Why do you think Galu has been able to win so many challenges over Foa Foa?
A. Russell: I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we have some seriously competitive people.  I got lucky a lot in choosing who got to do what challenge.  I had people who were willing to cooperate when I had to make hard decisions.  I made proactive selections about who was going to do what when.  We definitely gelled. We were very different people but we knew each others strengths and weaknesses. 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: I asked Mike this same question when he was pulled out of the game earlier this season.  How long did it take for you to fully recover?
A. Russell: This is the million dollar question.  I did not know that I actually had almost died out there.  My brain filled in these gaps with this completely false information.  To me, it was 10 minutes.  I recovered as far as I know while I was sitting there.  That’s why I told them to put me back in.  I was livid!  Unless I had seen that footage, I would never have known how bad it was.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: When you actually watched last night’s episode, was it scary to watch yourself?
A. Russell: Oh my lord.  I saw my eyes when they sit me up… my wife is sitting next to me… she loses it.  I look over at her and it’s like, “I can’t believe it!  It’s like watching a movie.  This can’t be real.  How did they get this footage?”  This guy that looked like me was dying and I don’t remember it playing out like that.  My wife was losing it and I was like, “This is not good.”  It was so shocking.  It definitely opened my eyes and now I understand.  Up until last night, I still didn’t understand what Jeff was talking about when he said it was the scariest thing he had ever seen in 19 seasons of Survivor.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: At tribal council, Galu vowed to come back at Foa Foa hard in the next challenge and do it on your behalf.  It must have meant a lot to hear how they felt about you as a person and as their leader.
A. Russell: It meant so much!  You know, at the end of the day, this is a game and a tv show but we’re all real people.  We’re out there and we’re doing the best we can under the circumstances.  I’m elected the leader of these people and to have them actually react in that way, I actually started to cry a little bit.  I felt like it was real. 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Despite the fact that you had to be taken out of the game for medical reasons, are you satisfied with the experience of playing Survivor?
A. Russell: Oh yes!  Let me tell you – I firmly believe what I said in my final words.  It was better to have been on there and to have lost than to not have been on there at all.  Seven other times, I wasn’t on there and I know what that felt like.  That sucked.  To have actually experienced everything has been great.  It was tough but last night, my wife and I had a conversation and we connected in a way we haven’t since we’ve been dating and we’ve been married for 13 years.  To have something positive like that come out of a tv show is amazing.  There’s nothing that I regret or am going to complain about. 


Survivor: Samoa airs Thursdays at 8pm ET on CBS.

(Image courtesy of CBS)


Follow Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa

For more Survivor: Samoa links, visit SirLinksALot.net