By Andy Sloan

 

It's Day 14 in Survivor and the White Collars, Blue Collars and No Collars have been dissolved. Recently voted off White Collar Max Dawson talks alliances, nudity and his Survivor game! It's an interview you don't want to miss.

As a fan, I DEFINITELY appreciate the players that come onto this show and know what they're talking about. You're a Survivor fanatic, I love it. But this has to be the first question. What were you and Shirin doing dropping your pants?

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We didn't get our bathing suite until the 6th day. That's 6 days in the same pair of underwear. Whether it be snug boxer-briefs or a banana hammock that Dan wore, it's a VERY important possession that you want to be clean. You want it to be fresh. You don't want it dirty.

When I went our for my first attempt at "Aqua Dumping" (taking a number 2 in the ocean), I had a lot of concern about hygiene. So I decided to make a big move, a big bowel move if you will, but there was not intention of playing off Richard Hatch. The intention was to not come back to camp with a stain that people would ask about.

So I took care of my business, came out and production asked me if I'd mind going back in the water, so the helicopter could film me skinny dipping. At that point, I was all in. All you need to tell me is we're getting the helicopters out and I get visions of Aras doing yoga. That's my winner's edit right there! It's me, looking glorious, standing in the ocean. The helicopters, the camera making love to my sweet body, while I'm stroking my beard, looking like a god. So I thought it'd be fun!

Well you definitely put on a show! Let's turn to the game right now. Last night Carolyn called you a "cult leader." What are your thoughts on that?

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Well I'm very flattered. As an amateur historian of American hippie cults, like the Manson Family and Jim Jones, I do strangely enough have a fascination with cults. To hear Carolyn say that I was the cult leader was flattering. However, the problem was this was based on a misunderstanding on Carolyn's part.

Rewind to Day 3 when we voted out So. So was a very formidable player and I thought she could be in possession of the idol. By the time we went to tribal council, So and Joaquin had revealed the clue to me. Therefore, I didn't want to take the risk of there being the opportunity for So or Joaquin to play that idol and get rid of Me, Shirin or Carolyn. So, Shirin and I went to Joaquin and So saying we'd vote out Carolyn.

This is a blindside. This is me and Shirin blindsiding Joaquin and So, by offering up Carolyn as a sacrificial lamb that we have no intention of slaughtering.

After tribal, we came back to camp and Carolyn was physically perturbed. She asked Joaquin why he wrote down her name and responded, "Because Max told me to." From that point on, Carolyn believed that not only was I untrustworthy, but that I also possess mind control and that I had gotten Tyler, Shirin and Joaquin to drink my Kool-aid.

I didn't know at the time! I thought Carolyn was still ecstatic to be in the game. Of course I didn't know she had an idol and the type of gamer she was. And Carolyn is quite the gamer.

After this, I thought Carolyn, Shirin and I were rock solid. I wanted to ride that to the end of the game and I fully intended to remain loyal to Carolyn and Shirin as far as I could. But I was unaware that Joaquin had gotten into her head and planted this seed of doubt, which was my ultimate undoing.

Oh okay, this is starting to make sense. One of the questions I actually had for you was when the tribes swapped, I was curious why you didn't try to make any alliances with the No-Collars. This is because you were 100% loyal to Carolyn?

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Well it wasn't just that. I did work on Kelly, but Kelly was a tough nut to crack. I thought Kelly was the person who showed up at every season, that the fans call "the dud," the person that has no personality. Well it turns out Kelly is an undercover narcotics agent whose veins run ice water. She is so cool, calm (and yes Rodney), collective.

I thought we had Kelly as this passive person who'd be happy to link up to a tribe that seemed to have a great deal of unity and was offering her a prominent position.

I also was trying to hang back in interactions with the No Collar. I was very concerned that the No Collar would see me as a representative of "the man," the 1%, the dad's they clearly didn't have good relationships with. I didn't want to be in there and be the tall, authoritative guy. Shirin said, "Max, you've protected me. You've maintained my status in White Collar for 12 days. I'm gonna do the same thing here. I will earn Jenn and Hali's trust and then we'll go after them, by going after Will."

As a result, I become complacent and a passenger to Shirin's execution of a plan she and I came up with together.

To clarify, who called the shot on getting you out. Was it Carolyn or was it Kelly?

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Kelly was in a very good "anyone but me" situation. Kelly was going to go with the majority. Carolyn dictated that the vote should be for me or Shirin. She saw me as a direct threat and Shirin as annoying. I believe she saw me as this threat because she thinks I tried to target her, or at least turn Joaquin against her early on.

From what I understand, Jenn was on the fence. She was in the camp of finding Shirin to be an objectionable personality. But ultimately she was just happy to go along with the rest of the group and get rid of me.

Do you think being such a big super fan of the game played into being seen as the great threat?

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Well ultimately I think it still stems back to that loss of trust in the first tribal council. I don't think my knowledge of the game was a deciding factor. But I do think Carolyn was put off by my relationship with Shirin.

In episode 4, I talk about that we should decide who to sit out of challenges. If we decide not and choose Shirin, then we run the risk of alienating her from the tribe. Then in her confessional, Carolyn said I was a psycho and crazy for thinking this. To me it was strategy and social game. I was trying to maintain cohesion, not just label someone unworthy, or not athletic. But Carolyn thought my allegiance was to Shirin more than it was to her.

If I'm guilty of anything, it was not spending enough time to build my relationship with Carolyn. It needed more of my attention. However, I never thought she was anything less than a formidable competitor. She's a woman who's in shape, very intelligent and very capable. I may have thought she had some old-fashion view of how the game of Survivor works, but I counted my lucky stars every day that Carolyn was on my team when we went to challenges. She's won't stop at anything to get what she wants. That includes voting off someone who has authentically sworn his allegiance to her on Day 1.

I would agree she's playing a strong game! I just have one last question before you go. As a super fan, how was your experience different that what you expected? What was the highlight of the game?

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The highlight of the game was every time we heard Jeff Probst said, "Come on in guys."

The challenge you saw in my last episode, the wrecking ball challenge, was a repeat used in Survivor: Philippines. That's my favorite challenge of all time. To me, that is the ultimate Survivor challenge. It's from my favorite episode in Survivor in my favorite season. I was SO excited to do that challenge.

As a fan, as someone who really loves Survivor, I just want to reiterate that I'm not Survivor savant. You put me up against Survivor jeopardy like Spender or Colton or Sarah Dawson, I'm losing 9/10 times. What I do have is a really intense passion for this show. I love Survivor. I believe in Survivor.