by Gina Scarpa

 

From the minute Russell Hantz stepped foot on the beach on Survivor: Redemption Island, Stephanie Valencia had her eye on him. She and Krista Klumpp immediately teamed up with him only to have each one of them picked off at tribal council and sent to Redemption Island. There, Matt Elrod beat each one of them, sending them home. Today, we talked to the fiery competitor in an exclusive interview about time on Survivor and, just like on the show, she tells it like it is!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you a fan of Survivor prior to being on the show?
A. Stephanie: Yes, I was a fan. Specifically, I was a fan of Russell's playing because it was so entertaining on tv.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You were eyeing Russell right from the beginning. What made you want to work with him?
A. Stephanie: Besides how he worked everyone in the previous seasons, he's an unlikable character. He'll take his people to the top and people won't vote for him. If you wanna win a million dollars, you wanna be the most likable of the three. Russell takes advantage of the game as much as possible. I need someone who's cutthroat, who thinks of crazy things, and who's not afraid to speak their minds.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Do you like Russell personally and have a friendship with him?
A. Stephanie: Personally... Russell is the same on tv that he is in person. He's very, very intense about the game, about everything! We get along but we bump heads a lot of the time. I don't think he's used to a girl stand up to him. Maybe he needs more people in his life that he needs to be polite. Me, out of all people, telling people to be polite!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Do you think it was a dumber move to align with Russell or was it dumber that Zapatera voted him out?
A. Stephanie: I think it's dumber that Zapatera voted him out for sure! I will never go back on my decision picking Russell. He has the reputation. I feel like he's loyal. I think it is the dumbest thing ever to throw a challenge because you can't stand being around someone. Throwing a challenge when we had so much momentum... most of these people were like, "At least when we get to the jury..." It's like, "Really? You came on Survivor to at least get to the jury? I came on Survivor to at least win a million dollars!"

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: At your last tribal council, did you feel any sense of hope that your tribe would look at the strength you brought to challenges and vote Sarita out?
A. Stephanie: I was hoping that maybe they wouldn't smart up a bit and get their stuff together and see that a merge might be coming soon. We need numbers and to have numbers, we need dto win challenges. I would've thought that clicked in their brains. I think I gave them too much credit.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: We don't get to see too much of life on Redemption Island. What's it like there?
A. Stephanie: I wasn't there that long. I got there at night and we woke up in the morning and a couple hours later, we went to the challenge. All I can think is that at night, it has to be miserable to be by yourself.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Do you feel like you said enough to the people at Redemption Island when you left the game or do you wish you had said more?
A. Stephanie: No, I said everything I wanted to say! You have to remember that they don't show everything. I said everything I wanted to say. I pointed out to Rob that he's a target and I kind of wanted to let him know that he can't trust any of those people. The best thing to do at a merge is wipe them all out. I didn't want anyone in Zapatera to be in the top three. I wanted Ometepe to do my dirty work after I left.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: If you had stayed in the game, would you have flipped at the merge?
A. Stephanie: Oh yeah! For sure! If it was with Dave, I would've been like, "Okay, you and me. We need to flip and get rid of Sarita and Steve." I'd keep Julie around even though she proved that we can't trust her. She seems like she would've been down to do some dirty backstabbing. I would wanna flip by myself or with Dave. There was gonna be flipping.

 

Survivor: Redemption Island airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 

Follow Gina @ginascarpa