by Gina Scarpa

 

This week on Survivor, David squared off against Mike and Matt at Redemption Island but came up short in a challenge to stack tiles eight feet high. Mike and Matt lived to see another day and another chance to get back in the game, while David became the first member of the jury. Today, we spoke to him in an exclusive interview about his Zapatera alliance, his thoughts on Rob and Russell, and his reaction to last night's heated tribal council.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Being the strategic player that you were, were you a fan of Survivor beforehand? Did you have a favorite player or season?
A. David: I had actually never seen a single episode of the show until after I was told that I was going to be on it. I did a lot of homework in a very short period of time. There are a lot of people who have elements of their game that I admire but I don't think there's one specific person who stands out as someone who I would say I would compare myself to.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You were touted as the puzzle maker this season for Zapatera. Is that a title you gave yourself or one that was given to you?
A. David: I didn't come into it saying that at all. That was their decision. In the first challenge, despite the way it may have been edited, I was the one doing the puzzle. That was the catalyst for me being the unwillingly proclaimed puzzle person, but I do feel that I'm better at them than anybody else. When I screwed it up in the challenge, it was the same one from the beginning. The second time, I was so hung up on avoiding the mistake that I got lost in it. I overthought the whole process.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Do you think you might have fared better on Ometepe or were you happy to be on Zapatera?
A. David: I would think that I may have fared a little bit better on the other side, merely because I don't think there would've been the same stigma against me. There was definitely an uphill battle who people who had an issue against my job [as an attorney]. That is what it is. There would've been a lot more room for strategic play on the other side.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Speaking of strategic play on the other side, why do you think that Rob has been able to control Ometepe like The Godfather? Nobody is making a move against him!
A. David: I think, at the beginning, they were all a little starstruck. The legend of Survivor is now their teacher! They were all viewing him as somebody who is helping them along the way. What they fail to realize is that he's not helping them. He's setting them all up to fail and setting himself up for success. They're not seeing it for an outside perspective. As you see on tv, he's got a handful of puppets right now. They're doing whatever he wants.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Regarding Russell, did you vote him out because you wanted to or because that's what your alliance wanted to do?
A. David: There was a large part of it, for me, which was that it was what the alliance wanted to do. I was skeptical about the idea of throwing the challenge but I couldn't voice my opinion and go against what everyone wanted. It would put me on the outside of things I went along with it reluctantly. My thoughts on Russell were... I have nothing against him and how he plays the game. He said, "You've seen me and how I've played the game but this is different." 30 seconds later, he was up to the same tricks. That's his M.O. As soon as you see that, it's like, "Okay, you're just BSing us. You're not playing a different game." As somebody who can see through that, I clearly posed a threat to him, from a strategy standpoint.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You spent some time out at Redemption Island. Can you understand how Matt is at his breaking point out there, being that he's spent a majority of his game out there alone.
A. David: Uh, yeah. I mean, when I was there, I didn't see that from him. He was clearly not ecstatic about the fact that he was at Redemption Island again but I didn't get the impression that he was breaking down to the extent that the previews would show. I can understand how it would wear on anybody, though.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you happy to make it to the jury?
A. David: I wouldn't go so far to say I'm happy to be on the jury. I'm glad that I've made it this far but I'm certainly not happy about it, if that makes sense.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What was it like to be at that tribal council on last night's episode? It was certainly uncomfortable to watch the fight between Phillip and Steve?
A. David: Yeah, it was odd. Definitely odd. Not anything that I could've ever predicted. Phillip took it to a whole other level. I thought it was ridiculous. He's allowed to interpret things the way he wants but it was inappropriate to throw Steve under the bus on national television like that.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Has being on Survivor made you want to do more reality tv or are you going back to your regular life?
A. David: I'm back to my regular life but I would not hesitate to play this game again. I've proven that I'm capable of winning this game and I think that if given another opportunity, I would love to prove that to be true.

 

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

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 

Follow Gina @ginascarpa