(CBS) Sticking with the pirate theme on "Survivor: Pearl islands," some of Sandra’s competitors probably thought she should be called Capt. Coattails for riding on the merits of others into the finals. But in the end, Sandra proved she was one of the best defensive players in the history of the game.

The feisty office assistant from Fort Lewis, Wash., tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith, “I just always thought that the perfect thing to do is just go along. Everyone is out there thinking strategy 24-7. I thought, 'Why worry myself with that. They’re going to come to me when they need me.' I was always, like, whatever you need, I’m there. If you need that vote, come to me. They used it and they abused it and it worked out for me. I was always, 'Three more days, three more days.' That was my goal, just to make it a couple more days.”

From the very beginning, she won her tribe over after using her friendliness and Spanish-speaking skills with the locals to get the most supplies for the money. Her openess and frankness allowed her to seem non-threatening and look like a good team player, which she emphasized at tribal council. The key to her game was to "look out for No. 1."

Going into Sunday’s dramatic finale, Sandra says the big shock for her was that scoutmaster Lillian Morris did not pick Jon Dalton for the final two. If she had been in the jury, Sandra says, there was no way Jon would have gotten her vote.

Sandra says, “Me and Jon hadn’t gotten along most of the time. I actually did hate Jon. There was no way after all that had happened - I felt like he stabbed me and slapped me in the face - that I was going to give him my million-dollar vote, that’s for sure.”

There were also no regrets for Lil either about her decision to make Sandra the winner. “I would not have picked Jon at all. I’m very pleased with my decision,” Lillian says, “I’ve gone over it a number of times. My husband and I have talked about it. No. It’s Sandra and if I did it again, I know it would have been Sandra.”

There was this consensus all through the game after Lillian came back that if she ended up in the last group, everybody on the jury was going to vote for her. Sandra says that's because Lillian was always very nice to everybody.

Sandra admits, “Sometimes I get up out of bed and I just look at Lil and cuss her out because I’m thinking she’s responsible for Rupert and Christa being gone and if I wake up on the wrong side of the bed, she’s getting it today.”

In the end, that did not matter to Lillian. Sandra’s honesty paid off.

Lillian says, “My thinking was Jon is a good strategist and he was out there all of the time scheming and playing. But Jon, to me, his lifestyle just isn’t something that I approve of and I kept thinking, they’re not going to pick an outcast, that was very apparent. And that came to play. So who do I want to give it to? Do I want to give it to somebody who is always wanting to have an orgy on the island or give it to a mother, a wife? Somebody who I can relate to in the way of lifestyle?”

Sporting sunglasses and doing his signature “Jonny Fairplay” motion, Jon still considers himself a winner.

“I thought I was the male 'Survivor: Pearl Islands' champion,” he says, “I don’t know that I necessarily made a mistake. I just know that I personally think I’m the greatest player of all time. So I’m happy.”

The one who was not so happy with the outcome was saucy southern mortician Darrah Johnson. But she was not surprised by the outcome either.

She says, “Pretty much all day, I was gone on the interviews, leaving Jon, Sandra and Lil by themselves, so I knew something was up. We got to the tribal council and Jeff said you can talk amongst yourselves and figure out who you want to vote off and nobody talked. So I knew then that I was pretty much going home.”

For several weeks, she says, all she could do to stay in the game was win immunity. And winning she did. She notes, “If you watch every episode, I was the one brought up wanting to go home so I was kind of the middleman and had to win the immunity challenges to stay in the game. But yet if I didn’t win, then I was going home.”

Looking back, Sandra says her only regret is not having prepared properly for the final tribal council. She says, “Honestly, I feel like sometimes I can put words together really, really well. And I just kept saying the same thing over and over. When we were back at camp, Lil was saying, ‘What do you think they’re going to ask us?’ And I said, ‘Don’t worry about it because if you worry your little head about it now, it’s totally different from what they come up with. So don’t worry about it and do your best.’”

The only time she says she thought she was in hot water was when the outcasts came back into the game, “I was like,'My God, it’s a slap in the face. I have talked so much crap about each and every one of them. Now I’m through.'”

Executive Producer Mark Burnett thought of the twist to bring back the outcasts. He says, “I’m always thinking about the game, when I’m running and driving and in the shower. We have 20 million viewers awake and, rain and shine, tune in and maybe deserve new stuff. And I want the contestants themselves to feel off balance and when people are off balance you get the roar in motion that we need for a great TV show and great game and they never knew what was coming, right?”

Sandra received her check from Burnett. He says, “Here it is for a military family, you know, she’s telling me she got a new job for $9 an hour and I'm very happy I’m giving her a million dollars.”

She works as a senior office associate with the Army and Air force Exchange Service. With the money Sandra says she plans one day to buy a house. But since she is always on the move as part of a military family, she says she is not going to do that just yet. The only thing she says she needed was a car, but that, too, was given to her as a prize.

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