Mike

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ciriefan
sole survivor
Posty: 5963
Rejestracja: 27 mar 2010, 00:00
Winners at War: Natalie
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In our interview with Mike, we find out what he thinks of Rob’s game play. What opportunities does Mike think they had to change the outcome? What would he have done differently? How was Redemption Island a life-changing experience? All of this and more, right here!

R: Beginning with my questions, we look at the very end – the jury vote. I noted the bitterness we saw in the jury pool and wondered if it was an absence of alternatives or acknowledgement of Rob’s game play that drove Mike to vote for him? Mike said:

Mike: I definitely don’t carry any bitterness to Rob, but admire his competitive spirit. It’s more of a challenge thing – he played next to a flawless game and was always one step ahead of us. We had our opportunities and came up a little short and it was truly a masterful performance. I commend him for the outstanding game he played. Me being me, I want to take on the biggest competitor there is and be victorious. I’ve played competitive sports and been in the Marine Corps – the bigger the challenge, the bigger the glory.

R: Aside from the game aspect, Mike said that Redemption Island had been a life-changing experience for him and I wanted to know how so.

Mike: I think Matt said it best – he felt God carrying him through. To piggy back on what Matt was saying, God’s presence is everywhere, but the outcome of Survivor might not be big on His radar. He’s got a lot of things in the works. It’s hard to tell, like Matt said, what exactly His will and purpose is. I will tell you Redemption Island was great for me, it helped transform me because any time you’re taken out of your personal bubble you call life – away from the traffic, the cell phones, the e-mail, the bills – and you get put into almost-exile and stripped of your material belongings and even food and shelter and safety in some regards, you get to do a lot of great introspection about your purpose in life and what are you truly doing. I was able to work on my relationship with God. It was great to study the Bible with Matt and it was a treat to have that opportunity to be there, outside of the game almost where we’re not trying to outwit one another but outlasting and outplaying. It helped me work on my faith. It was a blessing to have Matt there with me where we could ask and answer these questions. It was really good for me and I didn’t expect it. I thought Survivor would jade me because I had to lie/cheat/manipulate my way to a million dollars. The outcome was wholly different and it was very good for me. It’s a game I’m passionate about.

R: Indeed, the outcome was different for him – but he wasn’t that far away from the possibility of winning. How difficult was it for him to know that he was essentially a few challenges away from a million dollars?

Mike: It’s hard to look back and go through the what-ifs. If I could have outlasted a little longer and taken the challenge with Andrea, I know going back into the game I’m not going to rally votes and it comes down to winning two immunities. Rob is certainly very good at winning individual immunities, as is Ashley. Natalie and Phillip are non-issues. Going back into the game, we really had a good chance at the million dolls. It’s disappointing and not the outcome I wanted, but I’m totally okay with it. It was what it was meant to be.

R: Mike had served in the military and has been called a “hero,” and played an honorable game. How did he feel he was represented on the show and what would he like people to take from the way he carried himself?

Mike: I’m humbled to be called a hero even though I don’t feel it’s deserved. The real heroes are the men and women serving us in the armed forces. There will never be another “Greatest Generation” but there’s an incredibly great generation and it might be the greatest generation part two in the works right now. Afghanistan is our nation’s longest war at this point and there’s more wounded warriors returning from overseas than all of Vietnam. Those serving us now are the ones we need to appreciate; because of their sacrifice, we’re allowed to play in a game like Survivor.

R: Does Mike have any regrets regarding the challenge Zapatera threw to get rid of Russell?

Mike: Throwing the challenge with Russell is the one thing I would change playing the game. I really wanted to take Russell out and I think our eagerness was probably a part of our demise. We needed to lose three challenges – Steph, Krista, and Russell had to go, because they had told us they were jumping. We ended up losing four in the end. Sometimes you’re just a hair away from having a wholly different outcome. Looking back, I don’t know that it was best to throw that challenge. I really would have loved to take out both Russell and Rob and chuck grenades uphill all the way to the finish. It was difficult losing at the end with how hard all of us worked to get to that point. It is what it is and it’s a game and the experience I can recount and what I have learned and how it has transformed and shaped me and helped me in my personal journey and my faith and relationship with God has been a blessing. I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but I’m a competitor at heart and it would have been a very different game had we not thrown that challenge.

R: Is there anything else he would have done differently?

Mike: Yes, I wish I would have pushed the deal with Matt harder. When we talked in private, I know he wanted to stay off Rob’s radar as much as possible. The elephant was already in the room, the play was already being made. I wish I would have grabbed Matt and pushed the issue harder and reiterated where we all stood. Matt, God bless him, made the decision he made and it’s totally fine and okay because we got to spend some great time on Redemption Island together. It would have been great to rally Matt and even if Andrea didn’t come, we could have locked it six-six and it would have been interesting to draw stones to see who goes home. I was actually really looking forward to that Tribal Council. Rob played a masterful game – he was one step ahead of us, we didn’t see it coming. I would have loved to tell Ralph to play the idol for Matt. Ralph played the idol for me but it wasn’t to save me, but more to wipe out the Ometepe votes to get one of them out. We were just one vote off. It was a brilliant move by Rob as much as I hated it, to vote for Matt. I wish I had gone to Matt and made up a bit of a story and said, “Hey, Matt, they’re going to vote for you,” because Matt didn’t see it either. I think Matt’s plan was to vote with them once to earn their trust and then flip over.

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