My logo has some aspects and look of the Survivor logo.  It isn’t marketing Survivor or profiting off of the brand, but since being a Survivor has shaped me as a person and played a big role in my identity I felt it was great to be able to capture some aspects of my life like surfing, beach time, my profession and Survivor in my own logo.

 

Despite being one of my personal favourite seasons, there seems to be a lot of dislike for ‘Survivor: Thailand’ amongst the online Survivor 

community, do you have any thoughts as to why that might be?

 

Thailand was one of the seasons that had one tribe dominate after the other tribe threw a challenge and one alliance that dominated throughout. So it was boring to watch the season unfold without any big switch ups, big moves, blindsides, alliance changes- and all in all a tribe make a terrible decision too early on to vote off strong challenge competitors.  When you weaken a tribe for any reason and get behind in the numbers without any big twists, for viewers it gets boring to watch the inevitable happen and one guy easily walk to the finals while others self destruct around him.  It wasn’t that Brian wasn’t a good player he just didn’t have any real threats of people that were making moves and looking to shake the alliance or game up which is what people do now.

 

When the original tribes were picked, it seemed as though the Sook Jai tribe would dominate over Chuay Gahn, what do you think went wrong?

 

Having a strong physical team was great, but team work is also important.  When tribe members get too cocky and think they can win without strong smart players it becomes their downfall and forces the tribe to go to tribal council and further weaken their tribe.  Once I was voted off, the tribe lost 8 of the next 9 challenges.  Voting off a college athlete early on,  when keeping numbers before a merge in early survivor days was important, was not a smart Survivor move if you want to win the game.

 

I have spoken to a number of former contestants about ‘poor’ or ‘bad’ edits, what are your thoughts on the way you were portrayed?

 

I think that the edits are an exaggeration of people’s actual temperament. It’s not that the person is 100% always like that.  People in life have tons of sides to them and personalities, but on the show that is three days of filming packed into one hour episodes, they can only show so much of a personals personality and need viewers to identify with one specific trait as a character in the game.  I got the lazy edit which is fine, but actually sitting on a beach with eight strangers who aren’t really talking to each other, waiting three days for challenges the down time is very boring and everyone is dead tired, sleeping trying to conserve energy in the 110 degree heat.  My edit of being lazy could be slapped on just about any contestant due to the amount of down time waiting around for a challenge or something to happen.

 

Are there any moments that we didn’t see on television that you would like to share?  

 

One turning moment was when Jake asked to be in an alliance with me and I said no I’d rather wait and not fraction the tribe with alliances yet.  Looking back I should have said yes and gone with an alliance of numbers which is a safer way to make it further in the game and make moves later on in the game.

 

Early on, you were many peoples early pick to take out the whole season, what do you think went wrong?

 

I realized I didn’t want to be in an alliance with some of the players on my tribe as they were not trust worthy and were gonna flip (Shi Ann) and when the tribal lines were being drawn I was hoping Robb and Stephanie would be able to pull Ken and another strong young athlete over to our three pack to give us the majority, but the numbers didn’t fall that way and us three were on the out.

 

We have only seen one castaway from Survivor: Thailand return for a future season, are there any of your fellow castaways that you would like to see receive a “Second Chance”?  

 

I enjoyed Robb and Stephanie’s company once we all were voted off and got to travel, from my tribe and from the other tribe Tanya, Clay and Jan are amazing people and I would love for them to get back in the game. 

 

Who is your pick to win the upcoming Survivor Second Chance season?  

 

You know I haven’t thought about the second chance people yet, but I think there will be a lot of blind sides and “big” moves to make their name in Survivor history books.  It’s about being famous for some of them, which changes the game a bit, as it’s maybe not about the big picture in winning as it is in self promotion maybe.

 

Shelter, food and water were a large focus in your season of Survivor, do you think modern day Survivors are given too much? 

 

Our season we had the least amount of food ever which was no rice and only one can of beans for the whole tribe so it made it unbearable after a few days.  That is another reason the season didn’t have much going on is because the contestants where completely starving and had zero energy.  The camp sites were completely one sided, with the other tribe not having to build shelter at all, I can only imagine if our tribe was on that side how different my game would have been because there wouldn’t have been the line in the sand on how to do the shelter , and splinter me away from the majority.  It’s small details like that for every Survivor that could change the game 180 if just one small detail of the game was altered..

 

If you were cast on an All Stars version of 'Survivor Brains vs Beauty vs Brawn', which tribe would you expect to be placed on?

 

I would like to be on Brawn, but feel I could also be on brains due to the scholastic accomplishments I have completed and IQ.  A brawn team would be more my style with the personality to win at all cost to keep the numbers.  Athletes leave it all on the field and don’t throw challenges so I think I would most relate to that type of tribe..

 

Now for the 'Quick Six' 

 

What is your favorite Season of Survivor? 

 

Season 2, because that was the first season I watched and it made me fall in love with the show.

 

What is your least Favourite Season of Survivor? 

 

Africa, it looked so hot and everyone was just laying around with nothing to do.

 

Who was the most deserving Survivor Winner ever? 

 

Rob Mariano did a masterful job orchestrating his win and magically instilling FEAR into all playing around him.  It wasn’t big moves or a cheap blind side but he was the head of the snake from day 1 and survived.

 

Who was the least deserving Survivor Winner ever? 

 

Natalie White stole Russell’s win and it was depressing to see.  I do not think now juries would still do the same as they would respect Russell’s game play and not be as bitter.

 

What is the worst twist in Survivor History? 

 

I think when the Survivor's (Burton and Lil) got voted out and then came back into the game was a cluster.  They fixed it with Redemption Island on how that process worked though.

 

Going forward Survivor needs to…  

 

...Make the challenges throughout more difficult with more drastic consequences for losing a group challenge (ie. Letting the other camp raid your camp).  Throwing in twists that make people choose between their own self interest or the tribes interest is a great way to uncover true personalities and not allow contestants to coast through under the radar as much.

 

Thanks for your time Jed.