Survivor Micronesia: Interview with Joel - "Chet’s injured every day."

[hepcat]

FORT recently participated in a conference call with Joel Anderson, the physically powerful firefighter from Phoenix, AZ who was the first to be booted out of the re-shuffled tribes. Joel had a lot to say about his fellow tribemates, his strategy in the game, and that brutal reward challenge.

His thoughts on Chet lasting longer than he did:

I don’t know. (chuckling) I wish he was gone last night, but I’m sure Mikey wished he was gone last week, and Mary wished he was gone the first vote, but you know – I don’t know how far he’ll make it. I don’t think he’s made it this far through any effort of his own, so I think people can continue to carry him. Last night it was Tracy and Cirie who decided his fate, so it just depends. We don’t know what other twists are going to come along, too.

On Chet getting creamed during the reward challenge:

I can’t say that was hard for me to watch. I’m thinking a lot of people were laughing while they were watching that – sadly at his expense, but my goal was to win. I couldn’t see behind me. I was hoping he was keeping up. I felt something tugging on me now and then, but you know when we trained – the training we do for the fire department, we do stuff like that. We have 150-pound tires that we pull that are fastened to hoses to simulate pulling a line and taking a plug and stuff like that. The tension that was on the line didn’t feel like that much, but it looked pretty brutal watching it.

We get to as a tribe decide who gets paired with whom. My fault in being paired with Chet was not saying, “Hell no.” Who’s going to take the bullet in that situation? I figured if anyone’s going to take it, I’ll take it. I was already walking on eggshells. We had just got a brand-new tribe. You don’t want to offend anybody or act like you’re too good to pair with someone. I say, “Hey, I’ll take him, and we’ll do the best we can. If I have to pull him through the fence, I’ll pull him through the fence.”

The injuries during the reward challenge:

I know that Ami injured her knee. She went over the fence the wrong way and she said she heard her knee pop. We’ll have to see what they end up doing with that. But she was limping when we went back, and everyone was discussing it when we were getting ready to go to Tribal Council that her knee was hurting her. As far as Jonathan, I didn’t realize until I saw it on the show how bad his knee was. That was brutal.

And, you know, Chet. Chet’s injured every day. (chuckling) I was just trying to win. I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody. If people get hurt in the process and I win, I can’t apologize for that.

If I had seen what was going on behind me, I might have done that [picked Chet up physically]. I was just running. I had no idea what was happening behind me. A couple of times it felt like he was running the wrong direction, but I just gave a tug on the rope.

I haven’t spoken with Chet since the show, but there was a little bit more of a relationship while we were there than everybody got to see. He and I did have a lot of conversations one-on-one just to clarify where I was coming from. I think Tracy tried to insinuate there were underlying issues between Chet and I, and there weren’t. We were fine with each other. He knew where I was coming from and he understood the intensity of my competitiveness. And I understood where he was coming from. He was a guy who was very pleased to be there, very pleased to be given the opportunity. He was going to go as far as the game was going to let him go, but his efforts were minimal. If I were picking a football team, he wouldn’t be on it, but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy or didn’t deserve to be there for some reason.


Alliances:

I had a very early alliance with Alexis, who is one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met. Alexis, Natalie and Erik – if any of the three of them wins and I’ll be pleased. Anyone else is irrelevant to me. I don’t mean to sound callous, but that was my alliance. I’d like to see one of them win it all.

On the decision to vote out Mikey:

Tracy, Chet and Kathy all played the same role. Tracy didn’t convince me to vote one way or another. That vote was already done. The alliance I had with Alexis, Natalie and Erik had already decided that that was the way we were going to vote (for Mikey). We just wanted Tracy, Chet and Kathy to vote that way, and they didn’t care who got voted out as long as it wasn’t them. But they really wanted Mikey or Jason to go home. So I knew I had at least two more votes out of them. They had no idea that my alliance was with Alexis, Natalie and Erik. I was really trying to float around and look like I didn’t have an alliance with anybody. Trying to design votes that way – like, I voted for Tracy at the first tribal to kind of throw things off and not let everybody know I had an alliance with the girls. But I wouldn’t say Tracy was on my side or helped me vote Mikey out. That was sort of the direction the entire tribe wanted to go with the exception of Jason.

There was a lot of stuff going on within our tribe that had our tribe divided. Obviously, we all go into this experience with our past experiences. My past experience was with sport teams, and coaching teams and stuff like that. I always felt when you have weaker players, you don’t continue to tell them how weak they are even though that may be what you feel, and what you truly believe. You don’t kick sand in their face and tell them they don’t deserve to be there. You do your best to encourage them and try to get the absolute most out of them that you can. So that was my goal. We had three people who were alienated and one person who was just frankly annoying. And granted that one person may be more physically dominating than any one of the three, but I’ll trade three for one any day of the week. And that was the decision with voting out Mikey. We had three people that we had the potential to turn around and motivate more, versus one person who was his own biggest fan.

His regrets:

I have one regret in the entire time that I was there that didn’t have anything to do with any vote I made. My biggest regret was that when they shuffled the tribes, I didn’t go right over to Tracy and Chet immediately and say, “Hey, the two of you, Erik and I, will agree to never vote for each other, ever. We’ll maintain Fans versus Favorites. We’ll never vote for each other and ideally the four of us would go to the merge. If we win challenges, great. If we lose, so what? There’s three chickens over there, two of them are laying eggs, we’ve got a net, we can fish, we’ve got a cave. If we win, eliminate four or five people, and that’s what we do. Worst case scenario that would have been a 4-4 tie last night. But it didn’t even cross my mind. I think I let my emotions and my disgust with Chet’s game play get the best of me, and that’s the wrong way to play the game.

The dynamics after the tribal shuffle:

I was probably the most uncomfortable in the game at that point. Up until that point, I felt like I was playing the game as logically as I could. I think there are a lot of people that don’t agree with some of the votes. There are some fans who don’t agree with some of the ways I had chosen to vote. But it’s a numbers game, and it’s a votes game, and the most logical way based on the numbers was the way I was trying to play. I never forced anybody to vote the way I wanted them to, I just proposed ideas and they could agree or disagree and ultimately vote whichever the way they wanted. I never showed up to Tribal Council without everything packed. Regardless of what they told me at camp, that night could be my night.

When I got on to that new tribe I was very, very uncomfortable, and my emotions took over. I stopped making logical decisions and made emotional decisions. That’s when I went home.

I shouldn’t have been surprised [by the switch] but the reality of it is that we just didn’t prepare for it as a tribe. Maybe we were just too focused on trying to keep a fire going, or build a real good shelter, or trying to have some form of unity – but it was something we never talked about, and I think we were all unprepared for it when it happened. At least, on the Fans side we were.

On shouting at his tribemates during challenges:

I don’t know if my inability to be quiet during challenges made me a target, but I can say that it didn’t make me any friends. At the same time, I wasn’t there to make friends. I was there to win. Really, whether or not you’re a target in my opinion is pretty irrelevant and you’ve got the alliances and you’ve got the numbers. While I was on Arai I was pretty confident that that’s what I had going. If you’ve got the numbers and the votes are going your direction, and you’ve got the alliances – you can be one of the most annoying people out there.

I’m competitive. I’m extremely, extremely competitive and people’s competitive nature comes out in different ways. In all honestly, I don’t think I’m a know-it-all. I’m the last person to tell you that I have any authority on how to win any of those challenges, but I definitely want to have my hand in the pot. As opposed to somebody like Chet, I’m not someone that’s going to stand around and let somebody else make my decisions for me. I’m going to get involved. I’m going to make an effort. And sometimes that comes out verbally. If I’ve offended anybody in my effort to win a million dollars, I can’t apologize for that.

For the most part, people understood what we were playing for. I wasn’t yelling at them calling them idiots, I was yelling at them because I wanted all of us to win. I’m yelling about winning. Even the early one where I was yelling at Chet to get out of the water, he understood that because he and I talked about it. I said, “I’m not saying, you moron – I’m saying, you do what’s best for the team and get out of the water.”

On hearing that Mikey B.’s was critical of him not being more flexible on who he aligned with:

Of course, because he wasn’t one of the people I aligned with. If he were in my alliance, he wouldn’t want me to be more flexible. (chuckling)

On hearing that Mikey B. thought he looked for physically weak people for alliances:

No, no, it wasn’t like that at all. My strategy going into the game was aligning with people that saw whatever they felt I had to offer as a necessity. So if I was going to be a builder, and make shelter, I want to align with people who don’t know how to make shelter. If I’m going to be a provider and a hunter, I want to align with people who don’t have that ability. Or somebody that’s afraid of fire. Or whatever it is. I think the key is to find contrasting people because if you align with people that are just like you – that have the same desire to contribute the same thing you’re contributing – then one of you is expendable.

His thoughts on physically weak players:

I think Kathy, Tracy and Chet’s chances are just as good as anybody else’s. Erik said it best when he said there’s a lot more to strength than physical strength. Erik and I realized that just because you’re built a certain way or have a certain past, or were involved with athletics and other people weren’t, doesn’t mean they don’t have the ability to win this game. We’ve seen that season after season – that it’s not always the big athletic people that win this game. I think Tracy, Chet and Kathy have as much ability to make it to the end as anybody else.

I don’t care for bullies. If there’s somebody on our tribe who is bullying and alienating others, that’s who I’m going to vote out – Mikey. I don’t think I designed Mikey’s vote, I just went along with what the majority of the tribe wanted. Tracy said it best when she said, how are we being blamed for losing challenges when we’re not being allowed to compete in challenges? And Chet said it when he voted for Mikey and said, “Hey, you haven’t stopped talking and telling us what losers we are since day one.” That was pretty much the dynamic of the tribe. The tribe didn’t have any unity until the morning after Mikey was gone, and that was the same day that we got shuffled. Our goal with voting Mikey off as a tribe was not to do what I wanted to do, our goal was to finally have some kind of unity. The only person who had an issue with that at Tribal Council was Jason. Everyone else was on the same page.

Why didn’t he propose an alliance with Ozzy?

Ozzy wasn’t willing to make an alliance. It was very clear by the words he was saying and his body language – he wasn’t willing to make an alliance. As time went on, we all saw who Ozzy had an alliance with.

Did people figure out that Ozzy had found the hidden immunity idol?

We discussed it. Ami came over to Tracy, Chet, Erik and I, and said she thought he might have it but nobody had seen it, and nobody had said anything. We all agreed that it made sense because we all figured the very first time Ozzy went to Exile Island he would find it because it’s Ozzy – he’s not a dumb guy, and he’s not going to be out there and not look for it, and he understands the game so the clues will make sense to him. We figured if Ozzy were to ever go to Exile Island and the immunity idol was still out there, then he was going to come back with it.

Final reflections on the experience:

I always knew I was a very vocal person, I always knew I was a very opinionated person, and I always knew I was a very competitive person.

The mistake that I made was how I played it after that shuffle.

[Google]

 

[DesertRose]

Often, when I don't like a player, I read their interview and understand them a little more. Not in this case. I feel like half of what Joel said is bullsh*t. He always vocalized how Chet and Tracy are weak and now he's saying he didn't? Please.
Thanks for the interview Hep!

[holly71]

Originally Posted by DesertRose

Often, when I don't like a player, I read their interview and understand them a little more. Not in this case. I feel like half of what Joel said is bullsh*t. He always vocalized how Chet and Tracy are weak and now he's saying he didn't? Please.
Thanks for the interview Hep!

More like 99%!

[AJane]

What I find surprising is that although he stresses his competitiveness - not that he ever hid it, anyway - is how complacent he is about being booted so early. Mikey B. was bitter and angry, and Joel's just philosophical. Though I'm not inclined that way myself, I did and still can appreciate Joel's competitive side. Also, I would have loved to see him pick up Chet and carry him around that obstacle course. In a fireman's carry.

Thanks, hep, I really enjoyed the interview.

[burntbrat]

Thanks for the interview hep! I was really surprised at how well spoken Joel comes off in this interview. I thought he was just a big dumb monkey, me carry weaklings, ar, ar, ar. But he actually has a brain!

[Leo]

Interesting interview... and I still don't like him.

Thanks hep!

[waywyrd]

As part of Joel's very, very small fan club, I have to say I enjoyed the interview very much. I'm glad he didn't come off as a bitter loser, and he blamed his own gameplay for his ouster. Thanks, hep!

[lildago]

I think I let my emotions and my disgust with Chet’s game play get the best of me, and that’s the wrong way to play the game.

At least he admits that he was wrong and those mistakes in his game are what led to his boot.

Thanks for the interview, hep! As a Joel fan, it was an interesting read.

[Exigeus]

Thanks for the interview. But it hasn't changed my mind about Joel.

I can't beleve the complete contempt Joel had for Chet. He could have caused serious injury, and he doesn't care at all. I was more appalled with what he said afterward than with the horrible way he acted. In everything I've heard him say afterward, he never once expresses any worry or regret about what he might have done to Chet. This guy is a firefighter? If I saw him coming to rescue me I'd run the other way. He's probably tie a rope around me and drag me to safety (or what's left of me). As long as he gets there first, he's happy.

And in the interview, he defends every move he made. He still thinks what he did was OK. He makes the claim that it was just his competetive nature, yet his behavior didn't actually help his chances of winning the challenge, unless it was his intention to tear off enough arms and legs to make Chet easier to drag around. He says he couldn't see behind him, so it's not his fault if Chet got injured. The whole point of that challenge was teamwork. Joel was SUPPOSED to look behind him. If he had, instead of just yanking on the rope with all his strength whenever he felt resistance, he probably would have won.

Is that how you would have played that challenge? Charge ahead and pay no attention to your partner? Yank the rope whenever you feel resistance? Those are terrible strategies for winning. Was Joel just trying to win? No, Joel was trying to hurt Chet. That was his goal. I might not say that if I'd ever heard Joel mention a single word of sympathy or concern about what he might have done to Chet. He never has. In this and other interviews, he still never misses a chance to insult Chet, and then chuckle about it. He clearly hated Chet from the first day, and that was his motivation. The phrase "I don't care" says it all. I can't imagine anyone sane saying that.

"If I have to pull him through the fence, I’ll pull him through the fence.”

His teammates had to vote him out, they were in physical danger with him there. I would have been afraid of him too, and I'm far from feeble. Joel is a psychopathic lunatic. He's a monster. Who knows what he'd do? If I knew him in real life, I'd be scared right now.

And Chet was a teammate, what would he have done to an opponent? Someone was going to get killed out there with Joel on the loose. If only we could vote him off the planet.

And "I think they would have done the same thing in the middle ages, killed him" (that's not an exact quote, but that's the gist of it). No, they wouldn't. They were civilized then. You'd have to go back a few hundred thousand years to see that kind of behavior, if then. But it does give away Joel's intentions regarding Chet.

Exigeus

[Bearcata]

Somehow I don't quiet buy all of what Joel says. He cleans up very well in his interviews, but if the entire tribe was in for voting MikeyB off why didn't they show it? By now there are several people who got voted off after Joel and we can get their versions of what happened.