Survivor China: Interview with Leslie - "They took that stereotype and labeled me."

[hepcat]

Ending her journey at week three was Leslie Nease, the Christian radio show host from Tega Cay, South Carolina. Leslie stood out from the other players from the very first day of the game, when Jeff Probst pointed out in front of the others that she had walked out of a Buddhist welcoming ceremony. She cited her religious beliefs, and that she didn’t think anyone would hold them against her. Did her prediction play out? Read on for her take on her eviction, and where she fits God into the insular world of a reality television show.

Hello Leslie, it’s good to talk to you.

Thanks!

How did you come to be on Survivor?

I’ve been trying out for the last five and a half years. Every six months I would send in another application and video, and just hope for the best. Finally, in March I got my first phone call from Survivor. They found my application at a casting call in South Carolina and it went from there.

That’s good to hear, because I know lots of people who apply but are worried that they seem to pull people from Myspace and modeling agencies for this show.

Oh, yeah. No, I definitely applied. I wanted this really bad. You know, when you want something, just don’t give up – keep trying, because it can happen, you just have to keep trying.

What did you do to prepare for the experience of being on Survivor?

A lot of physical stuff. I started swimming more, I did more endurance activities for cardio because I knew it would be really hard without food. I memorized a lot of scripture, because to me that’s really important. And I tried to prepare things at home. Before I left I made little videos for my kids to watch if they were having a bad day, or couldn’t sleep at night. You know, just tried to be as prepared as I could.

Did you expect the challenges to be so physical?

Not at all! I was really surprised, and quite frankly a little uncomfortable (laughing) – you know, with some of the challenges. I’m a huge fan, so I had every expectation that it would be difficult, but I never thought it would be, like, wrestling half-naked. (laughing)

Exactly.

I was a little mortified at some of them. (laughing) But you know, the truth is you have to be a team player, and I did. And it was kind of cool. I would never in my normal life wrestle with anybody, much less a WWE wrestler. And I did it. I think I held my own, so I’m pretty proud of myself and I think my kids are pretty proud of me, too.

You know, it’s funny because this is what I wrote down as my next question to you: “If I were talking to the producers right now, I would ask them why was there so much wrestling.”

Yeah! (laughing)

But anyway, what would you ask the producers if you could?

Wow. What would I ask them? (thinking) I think that I would probably ask them the same thing. Couldn’t we have spread it out a little more? (laughing) I don’t know. It’s not something you would ever prepare for because you’ve never seen it on Survivor before. There’s been a couple where there have been some pretty physical one-on-one things, but never so much, so quickly. It was hard. I’m not a violent person. I’m a competitive person, but these seemed a little violent. It was fun and it was all in games. When Ashley picked me up and threw me down, I don’t know if you noticed, I totally cracked up because I thought to myself, “Okay, I’m on Survivor, in the middle of China, in the jungle, and a WWE wrestler is running for me. I am so dead.” (laughing) And I just started cracking up and I couldn’t stop laughing.



As soon as she threw me on the ground, she said, “I’m sorry!” and ran away. And I thought, “Good, she’s gone, now I’ll get up and tackle Dave.”

Do you think you would have found the hidden immunity idol soon?

Well, the funny thing is that they didn’t show this part, but the very first guess that I had was that – you know, the object they showed on TV. The only thing is, there were four of them. One in front, one in the back of each pagoda. And they were different. So I didn’t know which one was it. So we had to wait for the second clue. Of course I didn’t make it that far, so I’m hoping Todd took the information and hopefully he’ll find it.

How would you even get it down by yourself without everyone else seeing you? Isn’t it pretty far up?

That’s why I said to myself that I needed a partner. If that was it, I knew I couldn’t do it by myself because how could I get up there to get it without people noticing? You’d have to have somebody to distract them. It kind of looked like I closed my eyes and pointed and said, “Hey, let me share the clue with you!” But Todd and I really had a relationship. We were in an alliance together that they didn’t even show. Todd and Amanda came to me on day two and asked me to be in an alliance with James and Aaron, so there was a five-person alliance made on day two. I trusted Todd because of that. (thinking) I didn’t realize that he and Amanda were so close. That’s kind of funny. But yeah, I thought Aaron and Amanda had something going. I thought they were attracted to each other, so… I don’t know.

Actually, maybe you could give us a few words or sentences about your fellow tribemates?

Sure, absolutely.

Okay, let’s start off with Aaron.

Strong-willed, and I think very suspicious. He was always suspicious of everyone. He never relaxed, and that set the tone for the whole tribe. He’s a very nice guy, but he’s just very intense. Maybe that’s the word to use, intense.

How about Courtney?

Adorable and just – I love her. I love Courtney. They show any of this but she and I were just inseparable the last three days.

She looked so sad when you were voted out.

Oh, I know she was. My heart broke for her because I know I was all she had out there and she was all I had out there. She wasn’t even in my alliance, and that was what was so hard for me. When you make an early alliance, you’re really stuck because I gave my word to those people that I would be true to them. And I said, as long as I feel I can trust you, of course, we’ll do this. But I really struggled with that because I love Courtney, and I was like, “You guys, seriously. I love her. I can’t vote her out. I don’t know what to do and I will if I have to, but please.” When James started talking to Jean-Robert more, I went to Amanda and asked if there was any way that since James seemed to want out, that we could pull Courtney in. She said we would talk about it later, and we never did, and then I got voted out. (laughing)

Well, how about Amanda, then? What would you say about her?

Amanda – hmmm. We started out really good, but then she wouldn’t look at me when she talked to me. I felt like she was always hiding something. They didn’t show this, but when she got up to vote, I didn’t know who she voted for, and I assumed it was either Jean-Robert or Courtney, and when she sat down she looked like she was about to cry. And so I put my hand around her back and asked her if she was okay, but she wouldn’t look at me. I said, “Sweetie, it’s okay, it’s just a game. Relax.” Now I understand why she was upset because she was totally stabbing me in the back. So I think she really struggled with the integrity part of the game, because I think she really is a good person, but she wants to win. So that was hard for her.

What about Todd?

Todd is adorable. He’s my boy. He called me momma, and we were close. Todd is playing the game, and I can’t take what he said last week personally – you know, when I gave him the clue. I really kind of probably was stupid at the time. I should have waited. But I was really excited to show him how much I trusted him. I was hoping that would make him trust me. So it was poor judgment on my part, but you know what? He’s playing a game, and he outwitted me. Go Todd. I’m a Todd fan!

Okay, how about Jean Robert?

Really out of his element.

(after a pause) Interesting.

Yeah. I still watch and say, “What was he thinking?” I don’t get him. But there is something very endearing about him. As much as I didn’t want to like him, there was this little boy quality about him that made me want to protect him. It was weird.

So how about James, what do you think of him?

James and I started off really well. In the first episode, you actually saw that he came to me and we talked, and he asked me about social games, and we really connected and I was so excited. And then he got hungry. (laughs) And let me just tell you, James is not pleasant when James is hungry. I think that really messed with his social game.

I’m telling you, those big men with the big muscles really feel the lack of calories.

Yeah, and it was really obvious to me that he was affected. All he said when I was out there – and I promise you this is true – was, (in a low Southern drawl)”I want a hot dog. I want a sandwich.” It was so funny, that’s all he said all the time. It was endearing, but –

That would get old.

It got old real quick. I was like, “Quit it.”

So we’re down to Denise, and I have to tell you that we viewers have barely seen her at all.

I’m surprised by that. Yeah. Denise is really sweet. I liked Denise. I don’t think Denise liked me very much. There were a couple of times…to be honest with you, I totally deserved it one time. She and Aaron were making a fire. I’m – well, Aaron pretty much nailed it when he said I’m a mother hen. I was like, “Be careful Aaron, you’re too close to the fire.” Mike Scupin was flashing through my mind. I kept telling them to be careful. She just – and it’s funny, because she’s really quiet – all of sudden she goes, (thundering voice) “You! Over there, now!” She yelled at me. I was like, (gasping noise) I didn’t say anything, I didn’t fight back, I went over, sat down, and prayed. I said, “Lord, please help me not to be offended by that. What do I do?”

So what I did was once they were finished making the fire, I went over and I thanked her. I said, “Thank you for telling me that I was getting on your nerves instead of just holding it in or talking about me behind my back. You really don’t know, I do know how I can be.” So I tried to reach out to her, but I don’t know if she really understood me. I’m kind of sad that I haven’t seen much of her, because I’m a Denise fan, too. (laughing) It’s like, where’s Denise? I’m sure you’ll see more of her as we go along. They’ve only got so much time and it’s amazing how much stuff they can’t put in. That’s 72 hours you’re seeing.

Since we’re talking about editing, we didn’t get much information about your whole tribe because you won the early challenges. But just going from your nickname “Sister Christian”, did your faith come up with your tribemates often?

No, it really didn’t. I think they just knew where I stood from day one, when I walked out of the temple and Jeff called me out on it. (making frustrated noise)

Nice of Jeff to point that out to the others.

Yes, and it’s not that I’m ashamed of my faith or anything, or what I did, because I think I did the right thing. But it really put a spotlight on, this is what I’m about. I didn’t really want people to know that about me coming out of the starting gate because they immediately judge you. When they find out you are Christian, they immediately assume that you are judging them – and I did not go out there to judge people. That is not my job. I am not God. I went out there to play a game and have an adventure. If they asked questions, I was going to answer them, but I did not go out there to preach at people. Unfortunately, they took that stereotype and labeled me. Because I really didn’t. Did you hear anybody complain about it?

We barely saw you guys at all, but I’m just asking because someone wrote down “Sister Christian” when they voted to boot you.

I think it was obvious that that’s what I was and that’s what I stood for. For some reason, James and Jean-Robert had a hard time with it. James thought I was playing a game. He didn’t think I really was a Christian. I heard him tell Aaron and Jean-Robert once, “It’s just a game she’s playing. Don’t believe that.” And I really was genuine. It’s sad that he didn’t see that. He admitted himself that he’s not good with the social game so maybe that’s why. (laughing)

Did the Buddhist welcoming ceremony come up at all once you were broken up into tribes?

Yeah, actually, it did come up. Everybody said that they respected me for standing up for my beliefs, and that it made me look like a very strong woman. Now that’s what they said to my face, but I didn’t hear anything negative at all. I don’t think anyone was offended, I did it in a very respectful way. I wasn’t trying to impose anything or imply anything. I just said, “It felt like worship to me.” Because it felt like worship to me I couldn’t do it. There was a lot that you didn’t see, a lot of things in that ceremony we did before that. I was in there about an hour.

It was when the actual bowing happened. I said to myself, “Maybe if I just bow and pray to Jesus, and focus on him.” But then the thought came to me, if this was my husband, and I made out with another man and told my husband, “But honey, I thought about you the entire time,” you know? (laughing) He would still be hurt. And I thought, “Lord, I can’t do this to you.” I don’t want to hurt these people and I appreciated what they were doing, but it felt like worship to me. As a Christian, I wouldn’t want a Buddhist in a Christian ceremony if they weren’t comfortable. I would want them to get out if they were not comfortable, and I think that’s how they felt.

So you were in there for an hour? How long did the ceremony take?

Oh, it was a long time. We went around and did certain things, and certain people were bowing, and there was incense, and all these things. I don’t even know what we did, but under my breath I just prayed the whole time that God would just show me if I was stepping over the line. As soon as my knee hit the ground, it was like he said, “Okay sweetie, um, you’re crossing the line.” (laughing) I said, “Okay, good, I’m out, and I’m sorry.” I had to do it.

I want to go back to the last week for a minute. I’m just wondering what we’re missing, because if you were voted out for being “weak”, there was Courtney who had just lost your tribe the challenge single-handedly, if you ask me. And there was Jean-Robert stirring up bad feeling left and right. So what was it about you that tipped the scales against you?

I think it was my mouth – coming back from Zhan Hu and being very verbal about how nice they were. They asked why I thought Zhan Hu picked me, and I said that maybe it was because three of them are Christians, and they knew I was a Christian from before. Maybe that’s why, that they knew I had a connection. I think it’s always a problem when you’ve got somebody who gets along with both tribes. (laughing) I probably should have shut my mouth. I probably shouldn’t have said, “Guys, it’s great over there. Really, you should come try it!” In retrospect, it’s like, “Okay Leslie, what were you thinking?” (laughing) I’m very genuine and I’m very honest about what I’m feeling, and I think my mouth got me in trouble. Sometimes you can say too much.

When you said during tribal council that the challenge was lost due to “heart”, I don’t agree with you there because I really think the challenge was lost due to Courtney – but I understand the point you were making about your tribe.

Well, the point I was making is, don’t count on winning every challenge just because we have strength in bodies. We’ve got to really get some heart here. I think it was a lot to do with Courtney, and I think she showed a tremendous amount of heart just by finishing. I thought she was great. I was really proud of Courtney for finishing. But the thing that I just don’t want them to do is just get comfortable with, “Oh, we’re so strong.” Because really, every day, it was like we were losing that unity we had had at the beginning, and it was getting worse. My point wasn’t so much that we lost that challenge, but that we will continue to lose challenges if we don’t put some attention on the fact that the heart needs to be a big part of what we do.

Did you feel like the other tribe had that unity?

Yeah, I do. I think Dave is an issue, but other than that, the people really seemed to be having fun. That was something that we just didn’t do at Fei Long. We didn’t have fun. We were miserable, and everybody was afraid to not work, and the second that somebody didn’t work they’d get called out. It was like, “Oh my gosh, can we please just relax and enjoy this once in a lifetime adventure?” We spent the whole time paranoid and bickering. Even though we were strong, we were losing heart. Zhan Hu, they really did have it.

Probably because they got rid of the contentious people.

Exactly, they got rid of the icky people. Not that they were icky, but you know what I mean. They got rid of the people they needed to get rid of to be more unified.

They showed a confessional of you where you said your purpose for being there was “to love people and show people the love of Christ.” A cynic might look at that statement and say you were trying to promote your radio show or get exposure. What is your take on that?

I am who I am. I’m not trying to promote anything. Anything that I do, I do for that purpose, and Survivor is no exception. There are other reasons that I did it too, but I just did really care about the people. Everything I do is really to show the love of Christ, everything. I don’t care about the ratings for my radio show. It’s not even, quote-unquote my radio show. I work for the radio station and I just happen to talk on the air from nine to twelve. (laughing) It’s not about that. It’s – anybody who knows me knows that’s truly who I am. I think it was a really cool opportunity to go on that show and really test my faith in an environment that was very, very difficult. I’m really proud of myself. I think I did okay.

You hear people say, “I don’t know why people bring God into a reality television show – God has more important things to worry about,” that sort of thing. What would you say about that?

I would say that God cares about everything and everybody. It’s not like, I’m busy working out Leslie’s issues over here on Survivor so I don’t have time to work out so-and-so’s issues in a starving country. He’s everywhere, and he’s all-knowing, and he can help everybody at all times no matter what they’re doing. One of the reporters asked me before I went out there, “So, you’re a Christian. Does that mean God’s on your side?” I was like, “No, God’s on everybody’s side, The difference is, when you’re a believer, you try to be on his.” I wasn’t trying to go on the show and preach, I was trying to be who I am. And I wanted to do this. My motives were to have an adventure, have some fun, show some love, and try to do the best I could. And I think I did it. I think I did okay.

Many thanks to CBS for the interview, and best of luck to you, Leslie.

[Google]

 

[DesertRose]

Great interview Hep. You asked some though questions, especially at the end, about God being interested in Survivor. I know it's an issue that came up often (in other games also), but nobody ever asked.

I though Leslie answers were interesting and genuine. She didn't come accross as preachy.

[GabbyG]

Great questions, thanks for asking them.

[waywyrd]

Oh, I wish they would have shown Denise yelling at her for playing mother hen. Hilarious.

Great interview again, hep!

[Brooks]

I particularly liked her wrestling/Ashley/Dave comments. Thanks, hepcat, great interview!

[MK202]

after this interview, I wished that Leslie could have stayed longer. Well at least longer than Jean Robert.

[homeontherange]

Great interview, hepcat! I really feel like I got to know who Leslie is after reading this. She seemed very upfront and honest and gave alot of insight about things that were not shown on air. She gave some fun answers, too!

[Scrappymom]

Thanks for another great interview! So far, the interviews seem much more interesting and informative than I remember seeing in the past. This is a good chatty group of survivors.

[watachii2]

Leslie ruined herself with her self-righteousness. She grew up in Okinawa, Japan. I knew her. She was fully aware of the Asian beliefs and practices and should have remembered that, instead of thinking her religious beliefs would prevail in a culture different from hers. It's a shame she didn't learn more from her upbringing in Japan.

[MsFroggy]

I am who I am. I’m not trying to promote anything. Anything that I do, I do for that purpose, and Survivor is no exception. There are other reasons that I did it too, but I just did really care about the people. Everything I do is really to show the love of Christ, everything. I don’t care about the ratings for my radio show. It’s not even, quote-unquote my radio show. I work for the radio station and I just happen to talk on the air from nine to twelve. (laughing) It’s not about that. It’s – anybody who knows me knows that’s truly who I am. I think it was a really cool opportunity to go on that show and really test my faith in an environment that was very, very difficult. I’m really proud of myself. I think I did okay.

She wasn't trying to promote anything. She really cares about "the people". Oh, yeah.

Thanks for a very good interview, Hep!