by Gina Scarpa

For more than a decade, Artis dreamed of being one of the contestants on Survivor and finally got his wish in its 25th incarnation in the Philippines. He teamed up with Pete and Abi-Maria, and had a strong alliance going, but suddenly and unexpectedly found himself the target this week. Denise figured out that Abi wouldn't use the idol on him, so the tribe decided to blindside Artis at tribal council. We talked to him in an exclusive interview today to find out more about whether or not Tandang was a loyal tribe, being labeled a bad guy, and what kind of player he would sit next to at the end if he had made it to the final tribal council.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: When did you first decide that you wanted to audition for Survivor?
A. Artis: It was actually after Season 1. I thought the concept was unreal. I couldn't believe they were literally dropping people off somewhere to fend for themselves and have them stab each other in the back. I was like, "That is pretty damn cool!" Then, I became obsessed with it. I would yell at my tv about certain players but I now have a whole new outlook on it. My initial thoughts on certain players have changed.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Because Matsing was losing every challenge, we didn't get to see a whole lot of life the Tandang camp. What was it like?
A. Artis: The early days were rough. It wasn't rough physically or mentally. Once I realized that I was going to be a contestant, i was like, "Okay, you are not going to be able to eat. You probably won't sleep!" I was okay. I was ready to go two or three days without eating, six I didn't imagine! They won't let you starve, you can quit.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Was it your goal to have Tandang stay loyal until the end?
A. Artis: We never tried to stay loyal, we just never went to tribal council. If we had gone one time, we probably would've pulled together better than we did. Not going at all, all it did was keep reinforcing running around, trying to position yourself to do this or that. People kept saying, "I'm on the bottom!" If I'm at the bottom of six and those six make it to the end, you have the opportunity to put yourself where you want to be. I wasn't understanding that concept. I'd love to be number four or five of four or five players!

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What do you think about this good guys versus bad guys concept, with you being labeled a bad guy?
A. Artis: I'm so frustrated with the label of bad guy that I just don't know what to do. I didn't do anything that would warrant that other than aligning myself with Pete. Aligning myself with Pete gave me Abi, because she wouldn't leave his side. There was nothing I could do about that. She had locked onto Pete and he couldn't go anywhere without Abi. He could've thrown her on the island and she would've found her way back!

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: The thing about Abi-Maria is that the more that she runs her mouth, the more enticing she is to take to the end because I can't imagine her getting votes from the jury. Did you think she'd be a good choice to take to the final tribal council?
A. Artis: No, I'm not taking somebody to the end and hoping that they played bad enough or pissed off so many people that they'll never get a vote. You can control part of the game but the actual part of the million, you have no control over. And people will start doing what they wanna do. Some people may say, "There's no way in hell I'm giving her the million because of how horrible she played." Others may say, "As horrible as she played, she's still there!" Personally, I want to be against the best. I've competed like that my whole life. Granted, it's for a million dollars but if by some chance, I've done everything I've done to put myself in that position to win that million and I don't win it, for whatever reason, who am I going to be comfortable with getting it? If you take Abi to the end and let's say you do that. You're sitting up there with your chest stuck out real big, thinking you got that million. How you gonna feel when she wins?

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Is it hard for you, especially being such a longtime fan of the show, to be voted out basically for being associated with two other players and not because anything you specifically did?
A. Artis: Yeah but it is what it is. Since you don't see a lot of me, you don't know what I've been doing the whole time out there. I'm not doing all that stuff that's gonna create good television. I don't know. Don't know, don't care. The stuff that I was doing was in my best interest for me to win a million dollars. I had so many things working against me. I wasn't like everybody else out there. I had all kinds of things to deal with. I did everything that I felt I needed to do, I just wish I had worked a little harder on that one swing vote to stay with me instead of going against me. I would've been okay but I can understand why that person voted the way they did. I knew if I didn't do that well, I was going home and that was the only scenario that would get me sent home.

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

(Image courtesy of CBS)

Follow Gina @ginascarpa