by Gina Scarpa

For a split second last night on Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains, Russell lost control of the game. He targeted Rupert but the females joined forces to oust Candice, who had betrayed her hero tribe and joined up with the villains in order to take out Amanda. In order to take back control, he pitted Parvati and Danielle against each other, then convinced the others to blindside Danielle at the second tribal council of the episode. Today, Candice and Danielle spoke to RealityWanted in an exclusive interview about being named all stars, the pressures of being named a hero or a villain, and what might have stopped them from teaming up with Russell.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Is there a stigma or a pressure that is added to being named a hero or a villain?
A. Danielle: I think it definitely affected the heroes.
A. Candice: Oh yeah, they were thinking they were the bees' knees. I think that hurt me because I had done the mutiny during my season and I felt like they were like, "We don't want anything to do with you." I think it was a lot of pressure being put on the heroes' side. If you're a hero, you have this standard that you should be held to. If you're a villain, it doesn't matter what you do.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Danielle, what drew you to Parvati as a person to team up with in this game?
A. Danielle: She has this really great positive energy, this aura about her that attracted me to her. In those circumstances, anything positive is like, "Give it to me, give it to me." She was very pleasant to be around and helpful to get through that process, that experience. She had qualities that my friends that I hang out with daily have, so she's somebody that I would hang out and so I felt that and I sensed that. That's why we hit it off and are friends.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: If you had seen how Russell played in Samoa, would you have gotten rid of him?
A. Danielle: Uh yeah, for sure. None of us saw how he played so I think he would've gotten off immediately.
A. Candice: I think that's definitely the first reaction that I would have but at the same time, Parvati came in with that black widow alliance of Micronesia. She's made it this far in the game.
A. Danielle: He was burning socks and really offending people, though.
A. Candice: That's true.
A. Danielle: It's different.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Parvati is such a threat to win this game, especially after she played the two idols. Why isn't anybody talking about seriously taking her out?
A. Danielle: I think they targeted her more in the beginning and gave up on it. They saw how close of an alliance she had with Russell and he was really protective of his girls. I think they just gave up because they knew it was a lost cause.
A. Candice: I think that after seeing the lengths that Russell and Parvati went to save each other, it built up a healthy fear in the rest of the players.
A. Danielle: The big issue with everybody was that Parvati was going to align with James and Amanda so once they were gone, that fear was not there anymore. That was like the main thing was that they thought she was going to flip.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did it feel to be asked back to play the game a second time and be named all stars? That's a big deal after 20 seasons.
A. Danielle: I was honored. I felt blessed to be given the opportunity and play with people that I've watched and been big fans of like Boston Rob and Rupert and Colby and Stephenie. I remember seeing them play and then they're on the same island as me! It was exciting!
A. Candice: I would say it's definitely an honor to be asked back at all. It was exciting and it's an amazing opportunity and hard to say no. Who turns down 1 in 20 chance at a million dollars?

Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains airs Thursdays at 8/7c on CBS.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

Follow Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa

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