In the end, the Galu jury members decided to hand the million dollars and the title of Sole Survivor which Russell Hantz, the oil company owner, felt he had earned to Natalie White, the former pharmaceutical representative. If one thing was clear from their interview, the self-titled Greatest Player Ever was not at peace with that decision.
First of all Natalie, what do you feel was your big, strategic play that impacted the game?
For me, you know, I felt that when Erik got out, I feel that was my big, strategic move. It changed the
it changed the game in my opinion.
Now it seems like both you and Mick knew how [unintelligible] of a game player Russell was. Did you have any insight into how the jury would vote?
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for me, I had worked really, really hard on building relationships with all of the Galu, because I knew that if I made it to the end, the majority of them would be sitting on the jury. Um, so I felt like I got to know them really, really well, so I thought the voting criteria, I might have an idea of how they might vote.
Whats your relationship with Russell, now that youve seen these episodes on TV, and the fact that you were part of his Dumbass Girl Alliance.
You know honestly, theres no hard feelings. I mean, Russell and I, you know
thats Russ on TV. So, you know, theres more there, and Russell and I will be friends forever.
So Russell, what happened, man?
Um, I dont know. [laughs] Uh, I brought Foa Foa to the Top 5, thats what happened. And uh, I did all the work, and they keep saying how her big move was to get rid of Erik. Brett was trying to get rid of Erik; Brett was telling all the girls that. If Natalie thinks for a second that that five minute conversation got rid of Erik, shes crazy.
Natalie: No, it actually did. I talked to Brett about it. Brett was not going to get rid of him at that time, and you even saw on the recap that that was not the case.
Russell: So youre that naïve, to think that five minute conversation
if you were that good, you couldve ran the show yourself; you didnt need me.
Natalie: You know what, I was that good, that time. So take that one to the bank; you can ask all of the girls, and they will tell you.
Russell: Well, I dont believe that. Anyway
Natalie: You dont have to believe it, but you should.
Russell: You won. Let me tell you what I got. I got rid of every person that was a threat to me. I made the huge move with Kelly, finding an Idol without a clue. I found two of them without a clue. I found another one of them with a clue, with them chasing me. I get rid of the big player at the end of the game, I get John to flip his vote and save your butt. You want me to keep going on? Because I can
but okay, lets talk about your one strategic move.
Natalie: Okay, hey thats fine. Were not just talking strategy here Russell. You did not play the Galu social card, period. They gave me a million dollars, not you. Bottom line; game over.
Russell: Because I was trying to save your ass the entire time.
Natalie: Well then, thats your mistake. Thats your loss, period.
Okay Russell, how do you feel about the sentiment that you didnt take the jury into account all season long?
What do you mean?
Well, in talking to Jaison and Mick, and Brett, thats what they think that your biggest mistake was, that you didnt take the jury into account. You put too many people off, and they werent going to vote for you.
Yeah well, you know, when I went 4 to 8, to the tribe, I had to save my people. I had weak, weak people. I had Natalie, and I had Mick, and I had Jaison; they wasnt helping strategically in the game.
Natalie: Which is not true. Yes we did.
Russell: You gonna let me talk, or what?
Natalie: Go ahead.
Russell: Well then shut up and let me talk. So I go over there, and while theyre doing their little thing, you know, getting to know everybody, I am taking my team all the way. Im not the only person that thinks this; all of America thinks this. I am the fan favorite. Im the one that they love. Natalie wasnt even nominated for that. So, I worked my butt off to take Foa Foa all the way to the end, while theyre playing their strategic game. I mean their social game. I played a strategic game. So, if I dont do that, theres no way in hell Natalie goes anywhere in that game without me. If she wouldve flipped to the girls, she wouldve been the first girl gone. It just wouldnt have happened, and she knows that. She knows shes there because of me.
During the heavy rain and the nasty weather, how did you stay so composed, when everyone else was losing their minds?
Uh, you know, its just, I got focused in the game. I kept my focus the whole time I was there. I knew as soon as I got mentally messed up in the game, it could mess up my strategic game. And I seen everyone else getting messed up mentally; Natalie wasnt so bad in that, she was pretty tough when it comes to the, you know, taking the elements. Jaison, Ashley, even Mick, they were getting eaten up out there, I mean it was really getting em down. Especially Jaison. Jaisons a weak, weak person, hes a weak guy, like everybody says. He shouldve just checked out a long time ago; he shouldnt even have played the game.
But I mean, I just did it. I just tried to focus and just did it.
Natalie, [unintelligible], were you surprised that Erik came in and delivered this Gladiator-esque speech in your favor at the final tribal council?
Absolutely. Because, yeah, typically people go back to Ponderosa and they talk, so I wasnt really sure, you know? Come to find out now that, Erik thinks its like the coolest thing that I got him voted off. He loves that. Um, so, clearly they did talk at Ponderosa, but I just didnt know how much he knew and which way he knew. So I was afraid at final tribal; I didnt want to lose his vote or anyone elses for owning up to his ouster. So I tried to be really careful and dance around that.
Outside of a million dollars, because thats obvious, what has Survivor done to change your life?
You know honestly, Survivor has done so much for me. I mean its a very humbling experience, I mean youre so thankful for just your basic items. I mean your basic hygiene items, a toothbrush or toothpaste, youre just so thankful and grateful for those items. Um, you really realize want vs. need, and so the second that you really think you need the razor, you know, honestly you dont need the razor to survive. Its nice to have, but you realize that you need the bare minimum to actually survive.
And you know I really built a lot of confidence in myself, you know, doing things outside my box. So, other than being a really humbling experience, it drew me closer to my friends and family, and just made me realize how important they are to me.
To Russell: Did you ever think about keeping John? [unintelligible] Do you think you wouldve been able to keep him for so long?
I think that, if I wanted to go there I couldve brought anybody with me that I wanted to the final three. Anybody I wanted, to the final three. I was that in control
I was controlling the whole deal. And um, Im sure Natalie can vouch for that. I had it all under control; I couldve picked and chosen whoever I wanted to go. So, I dont know. If I wouldve decided to bring them, I dont know who gets the votes. Shambo probably wins it. Because Natalie aint voting for me; shed be like the rest of them, shed be salty because I stabbed her in the back, and wouldnt vote for me. I believe Mick would vote for me; hes a pretty strong guy. So you know, I get a vote, and I lose a vote.
Russell, you mentioned the three Idols; how long did it actually take you to find those? Because it seems really fast on TV.
Yeah, I would look in each individual spot, I would look for about four hours, because I didnt want to leave any rock unturned; I wanted to make sure that it wasnt in that spot. So you know, when I walked away from an area, I wanted to make sure that area was clean, and make sure I dont have to go back to it. So, it took a while. It took a good nine hours before I found one of them, for sure. The one under the bridge was pretty quick, but it took about four hours.
Are you surprised that no one in the history of the show has ever thought of looking for them without a clue?
Yeah. I changed the way the game has been played. In ten years of Survivor, you wouldnt have thought that somebody could break record after record and do stuff thats never been done. In ten years you would think its all been done. But now, the whole game has been changed; everybodys gonna be looking for Idols right off the bat. Its gonna be a madhouse.
Russell, how much of a consolation is the fan favorite?
Consolation? The fan favorite it wonderful to me, because thats a ton of people
I mean, were you there? Did you hear all them people screaming my name in the crowd? That was pretty impressive; I didnt expect that. I win fan favorite? I surely didnt expect that from the first couple of episodes. All of a sudden I went from the most hated to the most loved? Its crazy.
Do you think that your loss had mostly to do with a bitter jury, or was it any fault of your own?
I lost because of a bitter jury; it definitely wasnt my fault, it aint no way. It was a Boston Rob jury. And he lost because of a bitter jury. It was that situation. But Boston Rob, he had a couple people on the jury that knew the game and knew how to play it. But my people, they were all a bunch of kids when it comes to the game. We got Dave, which is a psycho; he belongs in a mental hospital. We got Laura, which is the psychos girlfriend, and she dont even know whats happening. [unintelligible] Monica was pretty tough, but she didnt start playing the game until the end. And John, he was flipping all over the place; he didnt know where to go. So they were broke up when I got there, so it was an easy task.
Natalie, way back when you killed the rat, I thought it was foreshadowing that either you were going to flip on Russell at some point, or you were going to beat him in the end. So, good thing you killed that rat I guess?
[laughs] Yeah, there you go! And it tasted really good too. It tasted like chicken.
Russell, do you maybe think the Idols was somewhat easier to find this season?
Sometime theyll make it easy, right/ So thats why I started looking. I know people think, Oh, theres no way hell find it without a clue. I seen Yasmin looking up and down trees, and nobody else was looking at Yasmin. She had the clue, and shes looking all up and down trees, so you know what that tells me? Its in a tree. But nobodys looking, because everybodys too busy, you know, getting friendly with everybody. Not playing the game. Thats when I found the first one. And then the second one, when they go to their reward. The clue has to first be read, before the Idol is placed. I knew they went on a reward, so that means a clue has been read now. So I start looking.
And the one I got with Dave, I had them chasing me around camp. I know its by the wall, and Daves right by it, he can get it, all he has to do is pick up another rock, its right in his face! But hes too busy following me, to try to keep me from getting the Idol. So I take off running, and he follows me like an idiot, and I lose him and go right back to that spot and I get it from right where he was.
Is that why, did you try not to win that Reward Challenge? Because you knew they would get a clue and you could go back to camp looking for it?
No, I tried to win the Reward Challenge. Because I knew they wouldnt be looking. If I win the reward challenge, I get the clue, and then Id go get it. They wouldnt be looking for it. They was a bunch of dummies out there. All they wanted to do
the girls on the Galu tribe, all they wanted to do was sit at the popular table and be popular girls and leaving Shambo all by herself. Which was great for me. I got attached to Shambo; thats another big move I made. I made that move getting Shambo to flip, and come to me. So you know, just constantly. I constantly made big moves. Thats why America loves me. Because I played a crazy game. And as I watch it, it amazes me that I was so focused in playing that game.
Both of you, do you think maybe it benefitted you guys to lose so many challenges at the beginning? You had experience with tribal council and Galu, maybe their heads werent in the game come merge?
Russell: I think it definitely benefitted us.
Natalie: I would agree.
Russell: We went down in numbers, and we got to be able to still work it. First of all, when we went to the tribe with only four, if we wouldve went with five, we wouldve lost. Because Liz was going to flip. She even said. I asked her, and she said she was flipping. I said, Liz is flipping, we need to get rid of her. So we needed to go just like we did, with four people. What do you think, Natalie?
Natalie: Yeah. I mean, we had been to
we voted I guess like five people out, so we had been playing the game a lot longer than them. I mean we were forced to. You know, theyre hanging out; they had voted one person off. So, yeah it definitely worked to our advantage that we had been to so many tribal councils.
What shocked you the most about that final jury tribal council both you guys went through?
Natalie: Well for me, Ive always watched seasons in the past, and youre at your worst mentally, emotionally, and physically, and youre pretty prepared to be criticized. But it seemed extra brutal. It was rough. And you know, theyre long. Theyre a couple of hours, so you get pounded up there, on the last day, when youre at your absolute worst. And for me, I guess I didnt think people would get
I guess people were a little more hateful than I thought they would be. But it makes you fight for yourself, so in turn it was better for me, because I was able, you know, to fight for myself.
Russell: I thought that my speech was brilliant. As I talked, I was laying out everything that I did. I weeded everybody out, and then I tagged Mick alone. I thought that I laid everything out for them. What can you do
weigh it out. If she outwitted me, and outplayed me, give her the money. She was nicer to people than me, but just weigh it out. Which weighs more? Thats called a bitter jury. Thats what it is. Yeah, she had a better social game than me, but did she have a better strategic game than me? Did she have a better physical game than me? No. So lets weigh it out. When you use common sense, when you weigh it logically, it just seems like it wouldve had to be my vote.
Natalie: Well it wasnt, because you were so mean to everybody. Its a social game. I mean you have to at least admit that its a social game.
Russell: Yeah, its a social game, social game, social game. Lets rename it the social game! Because thats all it is. If it was a social game and only that, and only people like you were playing in it, then you know what would happen? They wouldve shut it down before the first season would even be finished. Because youre that damn boring.
Natalie: Well, you know what, I may be boring, but guess what, I got the check. So thats all that matters; I dont care.
Russell: [stutters] Yeah, well
Natalie: Yeah, I know you dont have anything to say.
Russell: You wanna talk about money? You wanna see my bank account?
Natalie: I dont really care about your bank account.
Russell: I dont really care about your check.
Natalie: [laughs] Yeah you do. You wanted the title. You do, you do care. You wanted to win, and you hate it that you didnt win, and Im sorry that you didnt take into account the jury. You did not play the social card, at all. Period.
Russell: I cant understand how stupid you are. You think the social game is the game. You sit there and say, its a social game, its a social game. How can you be that ignorant? How can you be that stupid?
Natalie: Well guess what, I played the player, so just shut it up now.
Russell: Calm down, calm down.
Natalie: Youre not used to getting a rise out of me; well, you got a rise.
Russell: Oh, you want me to get a rise out of you? You want me to start working on this? Because Ill get you. I got many, many interviews to go to, all kinds of TV shows.
Natalie: I know you do.
Moderator: On that note, were actually out of time. Thank you Russell and Natalie for a great season.
