reality blurred + Survivor Gabon Finale Interviews

I was standing near Andy Denhart when he got these interviews. Since I didn’t ever publish an interview, since they never got down to my end of the tent, I’ll point to his interviews, which, I’m sure are better than what I would have gotten.

These are just samples of the interviews that he has on Reality Blurred. Click through to read the entire thing. Sugar’s is the most interesting, but read them all.

reality blurred + Sugar “got the best contract” Survivor’s ever given; Susie is “okay” with Randy’s vote

After the Survivor Gabon finale, the final five visited the red carpet in a tent outside the studio to talk to the press. It was a bit disconcerting, since some journalists needed CBS-provided cheat sheets with the casts’ photographs and names on them (really?), and others showed up to reality starf**k. Because we were crammed in (the people on either side were eavesdropping and in some cases writing down quotes based on my questions) and had just a few minutes with each person, it wasn’t the best environment for a conversation.

Still, the final four (after doing TV interviews and a fast group interview with some blogs, Bob was whisked away to take a red eye to New York for Monday media appearances) did have some interesting season-end insight.

Read the entire article at reality blurred + Sugar “got the best contract” Survivor’s ever given; Susie is “okay” with Randy’s vote

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reality blurred + Susie is “okay” with Randy’s vote

reality blurred + Sugar “got the best contract” Survivor’s ever given; Susie is “okay” with Randy’s vote

Susie Smith

Susie Smith’s near-victory may have been the most surprising part of of the finale. She earned three of the seven jury votes, and would have won had Randy not voted for Bob, which he said he did solely because Susie irritated him by discussing the reward challenge cookie incident. Susie told me, “What I do regret about the game, the one thing, is that I didn’t really understand Randy as well as I thought I did. I hope I didn’t hurt him. I know that, clearly, that’s what lost me the vote.”

But she says she’s not bitter that the bitter man cost her $1 million. She said that backstage, “he’s trying to explain it to me, and I’m like, Randy, it’s okay, don’t worry about it; I’m not going to hate you. I brought him a Christmas ornament, for pete’s sake.”

She said her edit was accurate in that she didn’t do much more than what we saw, which was very little. Susie won two immunity challenges, and her swing vote got rid of Marcus and changed the game but otherwise didn’t do a lot. “As much as I flew under the radar, I was always trying, even though I was so pathetic at it,” Susie said. Regarding her key strategic move, Susie said, “I think Marcus was hurt that I had to cut him when I did,” but they’ve since exchanged e.mail and apologized to one another.

Read the entire article at reality blurred + Sugar “got the best contract” Survivor’s ever given; Susie is “okay” with Randy’s vote

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reality blurred + Sugar “got the best contract” Survivor’s ever given

reality blurred + Sugar “got the best contract” Survivor’s ever given; Susie is “okay” with Randy’s vote

Jessica “Sugar” Kiper

Although Sugar received zero votes, she was in a fantastic mood, and seemed thrilled with the whole experience. That may be because she’ll be back to work as an actor soon, if SAG doesn’t strike. “I got the best contract that they’ve given anybody in 17 seasons,” she told me, as she’s allowed to go back on TV and start auditioning for film and TV roles again in January.

Sugar said that during her final speech, she actually told the jury, “I’ve been an actor for 10 years; thanks for playing.” That was edited out, which she said she understands even though anyone can Google her and find out she’s an actor.

So why did everyone shun her and give her zero votes? “I think it was that the few people that would have voted for me were the last people that I blindsided and was there best friend for a minute, and they’re like, what the fuck, that was Sugar? Why’d she do that? Somebody had to go, that’s why, and you yelled at Matty for no reason, and dammit, that made me mad,” she laughed.

Read the entire article at reality blurred + Sugar “got the best contract” Survivor’s ever given; Susie is “okay” with Randy’s vote

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reality blurred + Matty: “Gabon humbled me immensely”

reality blurred + Ken: “Everything I did out there was purely strategic”; Matty: “Gabon humbled me immensely”

Matty Whitmore

When I ranked the cast on likability, I wrote that “I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see my list flip entirely.” That happened more for Matty Whitmore than anyone else. Initially, he called himself “an honest asshole” and “a fool,” but starting with the first challenge, proved himself to be quite different.

At the finale, I asked him what changed since his own description of himself wasn’t accurate, and he said, “Going into the game, I probably had a little bit of arrogance to me, I probably had a little cockiness, because I’ve never really been tested, I’ve never been pushed. Being pushed and being tested in Gabon definitely alters your thinking and perception of the world, and plain and simple, just humbles you. Going into the game, I was a little more confident and arrogant, and Gabon humbled me immensely.”

Read the entire article at reality blurred + Ken: “Everything I did out there was purely strategic”; Matty: “Gabon humbled me immensely”

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reality blurred + Ken: “Everything I did out there was purely strategic”

reality blurred + Ken: “Everything I did out there was purely strategic”; Matty: “Gabon humbled me immensely”

As Survivor Gabon, wrapped up, there was no one I wanted to watch crash and burn more than Ken Hoang, whose arrogance about his alleged control of the game pissed me off. Back in Africa in June, however, he was the opposite of arrogant, and was that same Ken again Sunday night.

Ken Hoang

Ken, who lost 25 or 30 pounds (from 115 to 85 or 90) and has been taking a break from gaming, laughed at himself, his actions, and his status as this season’s villain—well, villain strategist, since there were plenty of other villains. “I’m a fan of Survivor so I knew that all the past Survivors who were cocky enough to ruin their shot always get voted off, and this season, I was that person,” he said.

As to his apparently hypocritical insistence that Bob admit he was lying even as Ken was lying to him, Ken said, “I just wanted him to admit that he’s playing the game and he lied to me. He kept on saying that he played the game with integrity, he was a man of his word. If he had just told me that he lied to me, it was a game, he had no way to keep his promise, I would have given him my vote.”

Read the entire article at reality blurred + Ken: “Everything I did out there was purely strategic”; Matty: “Gabon humbled me immensely”

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Survivor.com Goes To The Survivor Finale

It was at the CBS studio in Los Angeles this season, which is about a half hour from where I live, so I attended. I brought an assistant to run the video camera for me on the red carpet.

We arrived early. The guard made sure we were on the list, then told us where to park and to “wait with those people over there”. It was a cold Los Angeles evening, which I know those of you who live up north will laugh at, but it was in the 50s. Freezing!

There was a crowd milling around, but we got signed in and got our wrist bands. Again, we were told to “go over there, around the corner”. As we turned the corner, we walked by a large fiberglass boulder, sitting on a forklift. I love TV. We milled around for a while longer before being put into a green room, which was not “The” green room, where the survivors would be, and it wasn’t green, but there was food and TVs.

The football game was running long.

» Read the rest of this entry…

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Students elated over ‘Survivor’ teacher Bob Crowley says he’d like to take his wife on belated honeymoon to Gabon — as tourists this time

Students elated over ‘Survivor’ teacher Bob Crowley says he’d like to take his wife on belated honeymoon to Gabon — as tourists this time BY RAY ROUTHIER

Students elated over ‘Survivor’ teacher Bob Crowley says he’d like to take his wife on belated honeymoon to Gabon — as tourists this time

On Monday morning, hours after Gorham High School physics teacher Bob Crowley won national fame and the million-dollar prize on the CBS show “Survivor,” his class was scheduled to take a test.

Surely, students thought, their teacher would be too busy with his newfound fame and fortune to give a test.

He was.

But he had arranged for a substitute to give the test, an indication that Crowley hasn’t changed much.

“My phone is vibrating right now, and I’m sure it’s kids complaining they still had to take the test,” Crowley said by phone Monday morning while riding in a limousine in New York City just after appearing on CBS’ “The Early Show.” “But they have to learn that life goes on.”

It was that kind of no-nonsense approach to even the smallest details that helped the 57-year-old South Portland resident survive 39 days in the African wilderness on the hit reality show. He ended up “outwitting, outplaying and outlasting” opponents with a combination of Maine-honed survival skills, ingenuity and physical agility.

Besides teaching physics, Crowley is a lobsterman, a tree pruner, a wildlife handler, a handyman and an outdoorsman.

“I think he’ll be the same guy. He just might joke about money a little more now,” said Clayton Loubier, a senior at Gorham who took Crowley’s test on Monday. “The guy you saw on TV is the guy we see in class, but he’s a lot funnier in person.”

John Caterina, a chemistry teacher at Gorham, was even more confident that Crowley would not change.

“He’ll still be the ultimate penny-pincher,” Caterina said. “Hopefully, he’ll fix his lobster boat so he can finally haul his traps from a real boat instead of from a canoe.”

Read the entire article at Students elated over ‘Survivor’ teacher Bob Crowley says he’d like to take his wife on belated honeymoon to Gabon — as tourists this time

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Maine ’Survivor’ to return to classroom – BostonHerald.com

Maine ’Survivor’ to return to classroom – BostonHerald.com

Just before going on a live “Survivor” show Sunday, Crowley got text messages from students asking if they’d still have a test Monday if he won. The 57-year-old South Portland resident spent the day in New York juggling a round of interviews and media appearances, but a substitute gave the test.

Prior to Crowley, the Mainer who made it the furthest on “Survivor” was Julie Berry, who had been one of Crowley’s students at Gorham High.

Read the entire article at Maine ’Survivor’ to return to classroom – BostonHerald.com

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IGN: Survivor: Gabon – Finale Review

IGN: Episode 1713 Review by Mark Bozon

December 16, 2008 – Whoever began the phrase “The good guys always win in the end” obviously has never seen Survivor in the past few years, and while normally I’d agree that the far more superior phrase of “Nice guys finish last” is more appropriate for the show, we’ve seen a true happy ending this season in Survivor, and it’s one that rivals any previous year to date.

First of all, SPOILER WARNINGS, MORONS. If you didn’t know the review of a reality TV show finale was going to talk about, um, the ending of a show, then you practically deserve what’s coming to you. There.

Now that the spoiler warning is out of the way, damn Bob, and a true congrats to one of the best contenders ever to play the game. He wasn’t without his problems, as Sugar had to save his butt in the end, Matty ended up losing his spot in the final three (and the million dollars, apparently) in a fire-making challenge, and the biggest criticism we’ve heard about the guy is that his game plan was essentially no game plan, but in all honesty we’re now over the Ozzy era, and the year of the Yau-Man. You can’t honestly think that a power player that pushes out the big guns from the very beginning, takes charge of camp and walks a big walk is realy going to take it all the way anymore. This year knocked out every power player in order, and finished by taking out Kenny, who – as he admitted on his own during the final hour of the season finale – got too big for his britches in the end.

Read the entire article at IGN: Episode 1713 Review

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Surviving in a “Sugar” Inspired Sultry Graham & Spencer Metallic Jersey Dress

Jessica -Sugar- Kiper

Surviving in a “Sugar” Inspired Sultry Graham & Spencer Metallic Jersey Dress by ASHLEY

I know there are several other bloggers on the b5 network that are self-admitted reality show addicts (ahem..Chloe…). Throughout the season I wasn’t quite sure what to think about Jessica “Sugar” Kiper. However, when I saw her come out on to the stage with a 50s inspired look, a la Scarlett Johansson and Marilyn Monroe, I had to give her a round of applause. Her dress was stunning, her make-up was flawless, and I wanted to steal her hair. Too bad Chloe already wrote about where to find Sugar’s hair accessories.

Graham & Spencer Metallic Jersey Dress

This Graham & Spencer Metallic Jersey Dress from net-a-porter looks much like Sugar’s dress and would be great for the holiday season. You can buy it for $243 (it’s on sale, originally $325).

Read the entire article at Surviving in a “Sugar” Inspired Sultry Graham & Spencer Metallic Jersey Dress

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