I'm posting this in spoilers because there is a particular comment in this interview that I would like everyone to take a look at and react to...This is from the national gay & lesbian newspaper The Advocate and (as you can see) was published today. The comment that I'm referring to is highlighted in red.
http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/854_5/854_5_cooper.asp
A Survivor recalls her gay brother
In an exclusive interview with Advocate.com, Survivor: Africa contestant T-Bird--as Teresa Cooper was known to her tribemates--reveals an intimate story from her personal life for the first time: She lost her brother Steve to AIDS, and now she hopes to use her newfound fame to help in the global fight against the spread of HIV.
By Bob Adams.
An Advocate.com exclusive, posted January 10, 2002
Although Survivor: Africa contestant Teresa Cooper fell one tribal council vote short of making the smash reality TV program’s season finale, airing Thursday on CBS, the 42-year-old Georgian did emerge as one of Survivor’s most good-hearted cast members. Nowhere was this more evident than in the program’s January 3 episode, during which a reward challenge that provided supplies and antiretroviral drugs to a Kenyan HIV/AIDS clinic prompted Cooper to joyful tears—and also a painful revisiting of her brother’s 1990 AIDS death.
When fellow cast member Lex van den Berghe won the reward competition on the January 3 episode and was told he’d be delivering supplies and medication to an area HIV/AIDS clinic <the Wamba Catholic Hospital>, you started crying. What brought on the tears?
As soon as the truck was opened I could see that there were boxes that were marked "HIV test kits." Immediately we knew that there was going to be a special visit, and all of the emotions of what had happened to my brother Steve came flooding back. There were tears of sadness because my family had been personally affected by AIDS, but also tears of joy because we were going to give something back and we were contributing. Being a part of that is what really touched me.
What can you tell us about your brother and his battle with AIDS?
He passed away 12 years ago, almost to the month. So little was known about HIV and AIDS at the time he was diagnosed. So very little. When he was diagnosed, my family and I started reading and trying to get as much information as we could. Back then, life expectancy when someone was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS was about 13 months, and he died exactly 13 months after he was diagnosed.
Was your brother gay?
Yes, he was.
Did you talk with the other tribe members about your brother--the fact that he was gay and that he had AIDS?
Yes. It wasn’t a secret.
Not a lot was known about HIV and AIDS at the time your brother dealt with the disease, and there was a lot of fear and misinformation. Did your brother or your family experience any sort of discrimination because Steve was gay and had AIDS?
You know, it might have happened but it was never anything that we saw. Our family and friends are a really close group, and none of us are the kind of people who would turn on anyone for anything. I think Steve surrounded himself with the same kind of people. Unlike a lot of families that might turn away from someone who is diagnosed with AIDS, we were the total opposite. We were there for him 100%. We didn’t worry about touching him or holding him or kissing him--it just wasn’t a concern for us. Our love for him was unconditional. It didn’t matter one way or the other that he was gay. His partner had died a month before Steve did, and we were very, very close with him as well. He was family to us. We embraced them both.
What do you think that your family and the people who came in contact with your brother learned about the disease and those suffering from it?
If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that AIDS is not a disease of discrimination. It affects children and babies and brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers. There is no discrimination.
Was it difficult knowing that the lifesaving drugs you and Survivor were delivering to the Wamba clinic weren’t available when your brother fought the disease?
Absolutely not! It was bittersweet. The bitterness came about because of what had happened to Steve, but the sweet part was that we were all pitching in to try to make a difference. At the time Steve had AIDS, all we could do was keep hoping and praying there would be a cure. And here we are, 12 years later, and there’s still no cure! You’d be surprised how many people still don’t realize that.
Did your family’s personal experience with AIDS lead you to any sort of volunteer work or other support of HIV/AIDS organizations and charities?
We live down on a farm in Jackson <Ga.>, and because I’m a flight attendant I also do a lot of traveling. If we had been living closer to Atlanta, I think we would have gotten much more involved. I’m fortunate now in having been on Survivor in that I can use Survivor as a platform to show how widespread the problem still is. I’ve been talking with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and I’m hoping to do some work with them. It’s something I can do to help make a difference for Steve and for others who’ve had AIDS.
Lex was able to meet with some of the doctors and patients at the Kenya clinic. Did that make you any more envious of the fact that he won the reward challenge?
Oh, not at all! I would have loved to have been a part of the visit to the clinic physically, but just knowing that the supplies went there and that we were supporting the hospital was just great.
How do you think it would have affected you if you had been able meet with some of the African AIDS patients?
You know, having been touched by AIDS so personally by my brother who I was so close with, it already was something very close to my heart. I think that being a mom with two children, you know, it would have been very moving to have seen children suffering.
Did the fact that you were in Africa, the heart of the world’s AIDS epidemic, come into your mind at the time you were there? Or were you too involved with the game itself to think about it much?
When we were finally taken away and reminded of all the statistics after <Survivor producer> Mark <Burnett> had made the donation to Wamba, it really brought it home for me that there is still no cure. But at the time, the game overwhelmed us. We were so separated from the people of Africa, and thrown into a game with 15 strangers. We were dehydrated and exhausted. It just consumed us.
Looking back at the experience, is there anything you would have done differently in terms of playing the game?
Being the last one from my tribe <Samburu> still standing, I knew my odds weren’t very good being up against four original Boran. I was trying everything, given the way the cards were stacked--I was trying to get Lex off, then when he won immunity I was trying to get Tom <Buchanan> off. I tried to play every strategy I could. But I was on the other side from the beginning. I don’t think there was anything I could have done differently.
What was the hardest part of the game for you?
Losing! Absolutely, losing!
Were you surprised at the constantly shifting alliances among your tribe members?
Oh, yes! I thought that once we got back together we had a good chance. But Brandon <Quinton> jumped ship on us for one week, and it changed the game completely for us. Even though he came back the next week, we were just devastated. Especially Kim <Powers>. There was a real betrayal there, and she just couldn’t understand why. It’s something I want to talk to Brandon about when I see him today <in Los Angeles on January 9, one day before the series finale airs>. I just want to shake him and yell: "Brandon! Brandon!"
Have you seen the episodes?
Yes.
Is there anything you did in any of the episodes that you wish hadn’t been shown or that you could take back?
Nope. But that was something I worried about at the very beginning, when we were chosen: What will I regret? But there wasn’t anything, fortunately, that I ended up regretting.
What’s the significance of the lucky bullet necklace that you brought as your luxury item?
My husband had given that to me 13 years ago. I’m a runner. We live out in the country, and I run on some pretty desolate country roads. My husband thought I needed some form of protection, so he used to take me to target practice. When I entered my first marathon, I needed a lucky charm. There was a bullet beside him, so he gave that to me. I guess if there had been a stick or a rock there, I would have ended up with that instead! But I’ve had that lucky bullet now for 13 years.
What do you hope viewers will remember about you after the season is over?
That I played a good and fair game and that I didn’t quit until that flame went out.
Any predictions for us Survivor fanatics who will be tuning into the finale?
Early on in the game, I told someone that although I wanted to win really, really badly, I think I could live with it if a certain other person won. I think my premonition will probably become true.
One last question: How on earth were you able to drink those glasses of animal blood?
I was in a total fog at the time! You do it because you know you have to if you want to stay in the game. So you just mentally psych yourself up and do it and act like it was no big deal. But, you know, afterward you think, What in the world did I just do? Especially after you watched the other people do it. When Linda <Spencer> had the blood running out of the corner of her mouth, I was like, “Oh, Linda! That is so gross!”
CBS will auction off memorabilia and props used in taping Survivor: Africa on the online auction site eBay beginning at 7 p.m. Pacific/10 p.m. Eastern on January 10. All proceeds will benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. For more information about the auction, contact the Glaser foundation toll-free at (888) 499-HOPE or visit the foundation’s Web site at www.pedaids.org.
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OK, what does "early on in the game" mean? If it means before E7, then doesn't that indicate that she thinks either Ethan or Kim J win, since she was never in a tribe with Lex or Tom until Moto maji? And would you use the phrase "early on in the game" to refer to a post-merger event?
To me, this looks like a valuable spoiler -- perhaps the first we've had. I leave it up to each of you to draw your own conclusions.