« All News

Search RealityWanted News

Loading

 

 

 

 


 



 


 

 

 

Survivor: Philippines - Exclusive Interview with Russell Swan

Posted on 10/12/2012 by Gina in Survivor and Cast Interviews

| More

Russell Swan from Survivor: Philippines

 

by Gina Scarpa

 

Russell Swan may not have been medically evacuated this time around on Survivor but that doesn't mean he had better luck. In Survivor: Philippines, he joined the Matsing tribe, who not only wanted him gone, but couldn't seem to win a challenge. A few mistakes from some fellow tribemates afforded him a few extra days in the game but this week, his time was up and the remaining two Matsing members voted him out. We talked to Russell today about playing for a second time, the problem with his tribe, and dumb luck in the game of Survivor.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Are you sick of seeing the footage of you collapsing during Survivor: Samoa? Was there part of you that was happy to come back, just for the sake of making new memories?
A. Russell: Well, I will say this. Yes, it was starting to get old to known as the guy who almost died on Survivor. It's also getting old being known as the other Russell. If I can skip the new footage, I probably would ‘cause this sucks...

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Of course, any new player is going to be wary of a returning player. Did you come into the game with any sort of strategy to deflect attention away from you or blend in as much as possible?
A. Russell: My plan was to really have no solid plan. First of all, I was curious about what the format was going to be. If you're talking two tribes, that's one thing because there's a cushion and more room to do stuff. In a three tribe format, there's less fat on that cow! You don't have a lot of time to be fooling around. I basically wanted to just see who else they were inviting back and what the format was, then formulate and go from there.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Would you say the bigger issue with the Matsing tribe was physical ability or the ability to work together?
A. Russell: It's hard to tell. It seems like it would be easy to answer that question but it's difficult because you know everybody is trying to do their best. You see everybody giving one hundred percent but is their hundred percent the same as everybody else? There's weather, how you slept that night, and dumb luck! It's hard to know... the only thing I would say is this. I hesitate to throw any of those Matsing tribe members under the bus. I know for a fact in every challenge, everyone gave a hundred percent. For whatever reason, it wasn't enough.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Was there anyone on that tribe that you felt you could form a trustworthy alliance with or were you just praying for a tribe switchup or merge?
A. Russell: The latter! I knew I was the odd man out. Nobody was aligning with me, that's just not gonna happen. Contrary to what people thought I believed, I knew I was the odd man out from the word "go". You can tell by people's actions, you can't believe anything people say. When people are off getting something and you're never the recipient of the invitation... not a good place to be.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You and Jonathan both had your tribes looking to get you out but Michael seems to be blending in pretty well with the Kalabaw tribe. What's he doing right? Or is this just dumb luck?
A. Russell: I think it's total dumb luck! It'd be one thing if we could pick our tribe, a schoolyard pick. It's another one when the tribes have been assigned to you. You have a swimming challenge and somebody like RC, who swam the English Channel as a teen. That's dumb luck! It's one of those things where... I'm happy for him, I like Mike. I'm happy he's in a position where one of the returning players will not automatically have his head served on a platter. Although, I'm not so sure that he's not also in the same boat.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What is like to watch it back this time around?
A. Russell: Last time, when I played in Samoa, I took some time away from it. Two, three months later, I went back and rewatched the season to see how it went. It's interesting. I did catch some things because I wasn't watching from an emotional standpoint. Now, I'm watching from an emotional standpoint. In time, I will do that again and watch from an intellectual standpoint. Right now, I see what I was working with. Five people who wanted my head.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: The first time out, you almost died in the game. The second time, you had an entire tribe gunning for you. Would you play a third time?
A. Russell: I think what's interesting about that is... it depends on the continuum that I get. I can remember leaving Samoa and going to some of these events and meeting Survivor players. Everyone says they'd go back. I think to people who won, "Those people are crazy! You could ruin your legacy!" Then, I was in the same boat as some of those players. I was like, "Please call me!" If they called me tomorrow, I'd say a few colorful words and hang up but that's because I'm still dealing with a very negative experience. I remember when my wife gave birth I was like, "I'm surprised my kid is on the planet!" I don't know how women do that and do that more than once! It's like an amnesia thing. I'm not there yet! I just had this baby.

 


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

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 


Follow Gina @ginascarpa


  


Rate this article

  • Currently 5.00/5

Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast) (Log in to vote!)


blog comments powered by Disqus

Go back to the previous page