I'm sorry to hear of your loss. Can you tell us about how you came to be cast for 'Survivor: Vanuatu'?

 

I was a fan from the very first season – and still haven’t missed an episode! I wanted to apply, thought I could do it, and thought I could do well.  I was told by someone that I “could neeeeever go on Survivor.” Pfft. Once that someone and I separated, I sent in a tape. End of story.

 

Having visited Vanuatu myself a couple of years ago, I can attest to the fact that it is a beautiful place. Are there any particular cultural or natural highlights that you can recall from your time there?

 

I wish we had more time either before or after the game to explore the islands.  My perspective feels distorted from being engrossed in the game… and the suffering.  But I do remember after being voted out, I had my own little cabin for a few days and finally got the chance to take in my surroundings.  It was incredibly beautiful.  Also, I can never get tired of hearing the ocean.
During the game, I remember being surprised by the size of the spiders – they were huge!  You’d be walking along and look up and see this monster web in the trees, and this huge, gross spider with the longest legs you’ve ever seen.  A few of the foods we found were new to me, like plantains and manioc.  But the highlight was when Dah showed us where to find the sugar cane.  It was an obsession – I was hooked on THE CANE.  I may or may not have found some on a solo venture that I didn’t share with my tribe mates.  

 

Do you think having the cast divided by gender initially helped or hindered your game play?

 

I actually think the gender split was helpful in getting chosen to be on the show.  I was going through a divorce at the time I was interviewing and it never dawned on me that they would do another “women vs. men” season so quickly after The Amazon. During my interviews, I played up my tendencies to flirt, explained how I don’t really get along with women, and how I’d rather hang out with men.  I can imagine the producers were thinking they struck gold, but as it turns out, I had a pretty awesome tribe.  
I don’t know that I would have done better with a mixed tribe, especially with the men in our season.  Oh yeah, I was a huge flirt back in the day…  But with no makeup, no comb, no soap, no toothbrush and no underwear it’s a more than a little difficult to feel flirty. After a couple days, I was just hoping my broken-out face and matted hair didn’t offend people too much.

 

Can you take us through how it felt during your picnic at Mt Yasur with Julie?

 

Buzzed! (For the majority of it, anyway.)  I didn’t know Julie very well at that point, and right before we left camp for the challenge, we were complaining about how we never win anything, and promised to take each other if the other one were to win, whatever it was.  It made it easy for me to pick Julie as my plus-one, but I was also happy to have some time with her and bring her into our alliance.  We had a blast on that reward.  The helicopter ride was cool, but the chicken wings were the highlight.  Food never tasted so good.  And the champagne never hit me so fast. I still think the chicken bones thing was funny.  The guys were grateful!  I remember it being very hard coming back to camp and trying to be humble and normal rather than giddy and giggly.

 

I admired the fact that you were reluctant to vote out Chris as you believed he deserved to be in the game… unfortunately that seemed to come back and bite you in the ass… it was portrayed as a complete blindside on television but did you have any indication at all that you might have been going home?

 

That blindside was as pure and authentic as a blindside gets.  The thing that bothers me about that whole incident was the fact that it wasn’t even my idea to keep Chris and try to vote out Eliza.  It was Scout and Twila who brought it up first – they couldn’t tolerate Eliza and wanted her gone. The episode didn’t capture the entirety of the progression of events.  My biggest mistake was opening up my big stupid mouth to Scout.  I never promised her anything, but when someone asks you a pointed question in the middle of a high-stakes strategic game, maybe honesty isn’t the best policy.  Good lord.  So anyway, when I started hearing my name at Tribal, my mind just went numb.  It didn’t make any sense to me whatsoever. It wasn’t my idea to keep Chris and boot Eliza (although I did support the idea when it was proposed), so who would have decided to target me? I was utterly confused. My walk of shame consisted of thoughts like “Okay, I’m an idiot – I trusted people when I knew I shouldn’t.  My judgement is completely messed up, but how messed up?  Could it have been Ami or Julie?  Not Twila, right? What the hell just happened? Huh?!?”.  And I swore a lot. Later, I recalled a moment where I should have had a clue. It was before we walked into Tribal.  There’s always a few moments when we have to hang back and wait -- but we’re absolutely not allowed to talk to each other.  Well, Scout was acting…odd.  She seemed exceptionally happy and made some lurid gestures that I won’t describe (unless you get me in person – then I’ll do the live impersonation!).  I saw a worried look on Ami’s face, and then we were told to go in.  Nothing registered at the time.

 

You are known for (and have even won an award for) your interaction with “the fans” is it a part of the experience that you have enjoyed?

 

I’m not really sure how I got that award.  It takes me forever to respond to people and I haven’t participated in any Survivor-related events in a long time.  But sure! I definitely enjoyed getting caught up in the whirlwind of the “15 minutes” at the time…who doesn’t?  I especially enjoyed getting letters from classrooms and things like that.  I save EVERYTHING, and not too long ago I went through a box of Survivor memorabilia and totally got caught up in the nostalgia.  It’s been so long ago now, I’m amazed that anyone still knows who I am or asks me questions!  I like it, though.  It’s fun for me to talk about it and revisit that adventure, and remind myself that I actually did it!  I also feel this need to negate any notions that the experience was anything other than what it appeared to be -- except way harder.  I don’t know if anything has changed in the last 11 years, but I can attest to the fact that nothing was scripted and nothing was provided to us that you didn’t see.  I actually think it’s difficult for a viewer to understand how REALLY HARD it is – they stopped focusing on the Survival aspect of it long ago. They should have a 24-hour feed like they do with Big Brother, so you can get a better idea of how loooong (and boring) the days are, how little you eat and how little you sleep.  It was brutal.  No amount of warning can prepare you for it, and no words do it justice when trying to describe it.

 

I’m not going to lie, you were one of my favourite castaways from Vanuatu, do you think we will ever see you again on Survivor?

 

I highly doubt it, but not because I wouldn’t jump at the chance. I was a forgettable ‘character’ and played under the radar. I have a feeling my foul mouth and fondness for singing popular songs and jingles voided a lot of would-be footage.  Truthfully, in the end, I’m just not controversial enough (…or interesting enough?) to be asked back.  I talked a big game to get on the show, but I’ve realized it’s just not in me to be something I’m not day-in and day-out for 39 days (or 30, or 3, for that matter).  As much as I can believe I would do things differently if I had the chance, I would still probably end up getting screwed again for trusting someone.

 

I would now love to do a little bit of Survivor: Vanuatu, word association - I will give you a castaway you give me the first word or sentence that comes to mind…

 

Ami Cusack

 

Love, light, joy

 

Twila Tanner

 

Ugh. Still hurts.

 

Scout Cloud Lee

 

Just ugh

 

Eliza Orlins

 

Like a little sister

 

Julie Berry

 

Wistful

 

Chris Daugherty

 

Funny, smart, and owes me!

 

The Quick Six...

What is your favorite season of Survivor?

 

Aside from mine? Maybe Pearl Islands or Palau.

 

What is your least favourite season of Survivor?

 

Redemption Island

 

Who was the most deserving Survivor winner ever?

 

Tony Vlachos killed it.

 

Who was the least deserving Survivor winner?

 

The sentence is contradictory, but my least favorite winner was probably Vecepia.

 

 

What is the worst twist in Survivor History?

 

Redemption Island. Oy.

 

 

Going forward Survivor needs to...

 

... stop with the gimmicks, and bring the survival element of Survivor back.

 

Thanks so much for your time Leann, what will we see from you next?

 

Probably a whole lot of nothin’. But you never know….