by Gina Scarpa

 

Sushi chef Jonas Otsuji was in trouble very early on in Survivor: One World. He wasn't in Colton's inner circle (though wasn't his enemy either), his alliance with the men was torn apart when the tribes were mixed up, and he was perceived as a threat at the merge. Without an immunity necklace around his neck, the women targeted him, and the men they aligned with followed suit and voted him out of the game. Today, we talked to Jonas in an exclusive interview about his experience playing Survivor, the things that went wrong, and what he would have done differently.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you decide to try out for Survivor and what did you feel you brought to the table as a player?
A. Jonas: I've watched every season. I've been a huge fan. I've never seen a sushi chef on the show so I thought that would be kind of an interesting thing. So I just did it and it happened!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: In the beginning, there was so much drama going on with your tribe that we didn't get to see much of your gameplay. Who were you aligning yourself with and who were you targeting to get out of the game?
A. Jonas: Well, we were of course going to get Colton out first. I had made alliances with Troy, Jay, Leif, Bill, and then Matt and Mike were just doing their own thing. But yeah, tons of strategy in the beginning. Me, Troy, and Bill immediately formed an alliance and Leif was sort of like the wild man. We just didn't know where his head was at. As soon as Colton showed us the idol, I started cracking up.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Speaking of Colton, the way it looked on tv, nobody was standing up to him when he was bullying people, like Leif and Bill. Is that accurate?
A. Jonas: Everybody was just so afraid because Colton wasn't voting rationally or strategically. It was just pure emotion. If he got into an argument with Bill, Bill had to go. If I throw a wrench in Colton's plan, it's going to be me that goes.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did you see the mixing up of tribes so early in the game as a good thing or a bad thing?
A. Jonas: Oh no, it was horrible because my strongest alliances were with Troy and Jay. I had zero relationships with the girls. The three biggest wild cards were Colton, Leif, and Tarzan. Basically, it took my strongest two and put them on the other team and then the weakest three on my team, which was horrible.

 

Q. Gina, RelaityWanted: Were you surprised how quickly Troyzan and Jay flipped alliances to work with the girls?
A. Jonas: A little bit. Just because we had made a pact. When we decided to give up immunity, we're like, "Okay listen, if we do this and we break up as an alliance, it's going to be the most retarded move in Survivor history. No matter what, we need to stick together. Otherwise, giving up immunity is pointless." We rationalized it as we didn't want to get voted out and it would solidify our alliance. I was surprised but they were down numbers and Mike was never with them in the first place so it wasn't that surprising.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What was the issue between you and Tarzan? Why did he suddenly come out last night talking about how he didn't like you?
A. Jonas: Yeah well, Tarzan had issues with almost everyone. It wasn't like he was just singling me out. He had run-ins with pretty much everybody. In that sense, I really didn't take it personal but he did make a comment that he didn't want to see my Asian face. Jeff tweeted that it got edited where it said, "I don't want to see his face." But Jeff wrote what he actually said. I was like, "Okay, that was a little unnecessary."

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Do you feel like you were voted out more because you were a threat or because you didn't have a strong alliance in that moment?
A. Jonas: It was all of the above. Number one, I hadn't ruffled anyone's feathers so I'm a lot more likable than Tarzan. Tarzan became the asset and Jonas became the liability. The whole point of Kim wanting to vote me was for her to make sure that Troy and Jay were with her, and not me.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: I thought you had a lot more to offer as a player than we got to see. Would you love another chance at the game?
A. Jonas: One hundred percent! I would literally jump on a plane right now and I would not be Colton's bitch for sure! I would like to redeem myself in some way. I wish I had played a little more aggressively. I was trying to do the Sandra or Fabio game and fly under the radar, and then bust out later when I needed to. Looking back, it doesn't really matter because nowadays, people are so game savvy, that the people that are flying under the radar become the threat. I just didn't look at it that way.

 

Survivor: One World airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 

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