By Andy Sloan

 

He lasted 24 days in the game of Survivor and many are calling him America's favorite. Joe Anglim talks strategy, man buns and gives you advice on how to play Survivor.

 

At the beginning of the game, what was your strategy and did being labeled a No Collar have any influence on how you played the game?

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Going into the game I knew I was going to be labeled as a Malcolm or Ozzy type of character, just physically alone. Then I really just wanted to lay low, do the the No Collar "go with the flow." I didn't want to make waves or do too much strategy, other than help my team win so we didn't have to vote anyone off. But going into that first challenge it all went out the window.

 

When you guys switched tribes, you were the only No Collar on a tribe of Blue and Whites. What was your new game plan?

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I just tried to assimilate any way I could. I wanted to get to know this people as quickly as possible because I knew I was on the bottom because I was a challenge threat. Physically we're stacked, so that puts me at a disadvantage because if they want to get rid of me, they can. They don't need my physical strength to keep winning immunities.

 

I became very Blue Collar. I connected with Dan and Mike. We went fishing, I would work my butt off at camp and tried to earn respect from all of them. Then I went to Joaquin and Tyler and said we needed to work together and try to find who's on the outside of the Blues. Then just go from there and try to make myself seem less threatening and downplay my role in the game.

 

When you merged, why was Will so ready to flip?

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I think there's a couple of reasons Will flipped. Just naturally the three younger people on the No Collars (Joe, Jenn and Hali) got along very well. In his mind he saw that he could never get into that alliance, even though I told him Day 1, "I'm with you." I meant that.

 

You have to look at Will's options. He could try to go against us in challenges, or try to go against a Dan, Rodney or Sierra. He has more options and I think he was just ready to flip. I'm a big target, so why would he want to be associated with that? He'd be out.

 

It's a bummer because I put 90% of my eggs in that basket with Will. But hey, he got me!

 

When did you realize Will flipped? I was talking to Hali last week and she said that she trusted Will up to her elimination. She thought Shirin was the one that flipped in the vote against Kelly.

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Coming into the merge everyone was very skeptical of Shirin because she was such a super fan. We figured she'd be willing to do anything and everything to advance herself one more day. We thought she was a little wishy-washy.

 

After the first vote, we came back to camp and someone said, "Carolyn, why did you vote for Hali?" Someone covered up that Will flipped, so it threw my alliance off even though Shirin was like, "No, it wasn't me!" But we just didn't know. Anytime I brought it up to Will, he'd be like "No baby we good! You my boy, I love you!"

 

Will and I had a very close relationship. We had a hug, talked out the game plan, but he was just riding his own wave.

 

I'm sure you've been asked this question multiple times today, but I'm asking it anyway. When you got the hidden immunity clue, why did you decide to share it with Tyler? And this could've just been editing, but why did you stop looking for the idol?

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I used it against Tyler. The fact he didn't out me right there made him vulnerable in the fact he's not telling his alliance members that I have the clue or that we know where the clue's at. If I needed to, I could use it against him.

 

I also need ANYBODY at this point of the game. For me to share information, it was my way to gain his trust. Between him, me and Mike, Tyler's third on the chopping block. So I was like hey we should link up and try to maneuver our way in this game. But ultimately there was a lot going on with this.

 

I kept looking for the idol regardless though. I needed to find it and definitely didn't stop.

 

Well you couldn't find an idol, but you made your own idol. When did you decide you wanted to make one?

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I've had the idea forever. Going into the game, I knew I was going to make one, but rocks, sticks and stems can only get you so far. Once we hit the merge, I got some twine, took stuff from torches and had it stashed incase I needed to put something together real quick.

What sucked is I wish I would've had more time to work on it, but there's so much going on. You have to keep eyes on everyone and have to go away by yourself to do that in private. You're then missing out on all the social interaction that's going on in camp. And the majority alliance had eyes on me the entire time. They never let me out of their sight because they thought I was looking for the idol. Someone was always following me, so I could never get away! It was just so frustrating!

 

The idol came out pretty good though. I'd believe it was real! Last week I talked to Hali and she said the following, "If you want to be good in my book, you just have to be who you are." However she said not everyone on the tribe was true to themselves, both on and off the island. Can you comment on that?

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You know Andy, this is the thing. Obviously editing plays a role in character development, but as far as people on the show, I was myself. What you see it what you get. But, someone like Rodney or Dan embellished their character a little too much. We all have a persona of how we see ourselves, but sometimes we can overdo it. When the cameras are on, you overplay it a little bit. I think that was the thing with a few people. You see that happen, but then you see the real side. There's a whole other side that doesn't make footage. We're spending 24 hours a day with each other and there's a lot of conversations.

 

This is a great group of people. Yeah we have our problems and say some inappropriate things to each other, but for the most part everyone is a good person. At least I think so! I don't have a beef with anyone.

 

Many people would say that you're the fan favorite this season, at least so far anyway. What advice would you give to incoming Survivor contestants about how to play the game, AND would they benefit from having a man bun?

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Haha, real quick! It's actually so funny because I started growing my hair out 3-4 years ago just to see what happens. I had a man bun and I came back from Survivor and all of a sudden everyone and their mama had one. It's like a trending thing right now. I don't know what happened. But yeah, they might benefit from a man bun. Long hair looks good in the salt water!

 

But honestly, any future contestants should just be themselves, be real. This game has evolved so much over 15 years and you need to know yourself more than anyone else. You don't know who you're going to get, what the dynamic is going to be, the twists coming, and every day, hour, minute it can all change.

 

Push yourself in real life and go in the forest for a couple of days. See what you can handle and what you can't because this is no joke. This is as real as it get. There's no BS. That's what I'd say man, just know how far you can push yourself because I've learnt so much about how far I can actually push myself.

 

Well ya did awesome! What was the hardest part for you out there?

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Thank you! I struggled with not being able to contact my family to just call and check in. Right before I left, my cousin got diagnosed with leukemia, so that was a really big thing that was in the back of my mind. Is he okay? How are his treatments going? But you don't know.

All you can do is pray and hope that everyone is okay. But in terms of the physical and emotional and all that, it's just a grind man. Everything is hitting you all at once, you're always on and it's just really a mental game. It's fun! Stressful, but fun as hell!

 

One last question Joe, would you come back again?

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Sooner than later? I don't know! The fan reception has been awesome. I'm so blessed and everything has been so great. I'd be honored to play again. If Survivor would have me for a future season, you know I'm bringing it again. It'll be fun and I won't let ya down!

 

Well thanks Joe I appreciate it! And we'll be seeing you on the Jury too, so I'm excited to see your Jury speech.

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Hey man, honestly, unbiased, this is the best season, my favorite season so far. Hopefully everyone keeps watching because it's going to get even better!

Photo credit: CBS