Brian is a great interview subject. And funny, too -- check out what he said he'd do over differently. 
I just wish he'd drop something spoilerish into the mix. 
“There Was a Lot of Strategizing That Didn’t Get Shown”: An Interview with Survivor: Guatemala’s Brian
by David Bloomberg -- 10/21/2005
Survivor: Guatemala’s’s Brian may have been one of the most strategically-oriented people this season. Find out what was going on behind the scenes that we never knew about – for example, what is the “3-2-1 plan”? And how did Brian boost David’s ego? It’s all here!
Regular readers know that I picked Brian to win it all before the series even began. As we got to know him better, I came to like him even better as he showed the right combination of personality and strategy. Unfortunately, his tribe may have gotten wise to him, because they blindsided him and sent him home. Still, Brian wasn’t upset – he was actually happy! Find out what we didn’t see on the show and much more right here.
RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Brian, and thanks for taking the time to answer these questions for RealityNewsOnline readers. I have to start by telling you that you were my pick to win it all from before the game began airing, and I felt even better about that prediction as time went on and you proved yourself to be a smart player. Do you think you would have had a better chance during a season when the mental game was more emphasized than it has this time around, where it has been so physical?
Brian: David, you should know I’m a big fan and I read your article every week. Thanks so much for rooting for me; I really appreciated that.
As for the mental challenges, I think that the tribe would have seen more of my strengths, or maybe a different kind of strength. It wasn’t that I was weak, it was that I was not as big as the rest of the tribe. Had there been more mental challenges, I think they would have voted differently. It was a season where brute force was pivotal.
RNO: What did you do to prepare for Survivor – did you read up on strategy, watch old shows, etc.?
Brian: I didn’t need to read up on it because I am crazy obsessed with Survivor. I wanted to be on for five years and I had been preparing for that whole time. It was a real dream come true.
RNO: What was your strategy coming into the game, and how did it change as things evolved?
Brian: I knew better than to have a strategy going in to the game because you can’t strategize before you know who you are with. I planned on being a chameleon in the sense that I would reveal different parts of my personality depending on the context. For example, I was more moral around Danni and more sarcastic around Amy. I was never faking anything, just showing different parts of me where I thought it was appropriate.
RNO: You seemed truly happy to have had the wool pulled over your eyes, which would generally cause the opposite emotions in most people – could you expand on what you meant?
Brian: If I had to lose the game, I didn’t want to see it coming and feel like there was nothing I could do about it because I feel that is really frustrating and pretty miserable. Also, as a fan of the show, I think it’s just better for viewers when people are playing hard and part of playing hard means someone has to get blindsided. Unfortunately, it was me, but that’s the beauty of the game. I love it.
RNO: In what turned out to be your final vote, why had you decided to target Bobby Jon?
Brian: First off, my ridiculous “Outwit” line when I voted had nothing to do with Bobby Jon himself. I think he’s a really amazing guy, but I thought I had a foolproof (ha) plan to outwit Nakum. I thought that Danni might go that way because had a chance to play before. There was a lot of strategizing that didn’t get shown on TV. I had what I called the 3-2-1 plan which was to split Nakum’s vote in order to avoid a tie. I wanted Gary and I to lie to Danni, Brandon, and Bobby Jon, saying we should vote for Amy because of her ankle. Brandon always felt badly voting for people so I told him it would be okay for him to vote for me because the four of us would vote for Amy. In actuality, with Nakum split two for Amy and one for me, Gary, Amy, and I would have a three person majority. RNO: We saw the strategy you used to help get rid of Blake – “Bait Blake” – what other game strategies did you use that we didn’t see?
Brian: Same as above, the 3-2-1 strategy. Unfortunately, Gary and Amy had other plans that they wisely kept from me! And good for them; that’s good gameplay.
RNO: Why do you think Gary was so afraid of a tie that he was willing to vote you out and put himself at a numbers disadvantage?
Brian: I think Gary had formed an alliance with Danni and I think that he planned on sticking with the new Yaxha after the merge, so I don’t think he felt like he was putting himself back into a minority.
RNO: What do you think of the overall strategy that has been shown so far in this series, most of which was simply targeting the physically weakest person?
Brian: It wasn’t that simple. For example, with Morgan, it had nothing to do with her strength. I had an alliance with Jamie and Lydia, and to protect our alliance (and because we genuinely loved her), Jamie and I really went to bat to keep Lydia around. It didn’t matter who went in her place. Morgan was an easy target because Gary thought that she was lazy, which she really wasn’t. Morgan’s a great woman.
RNO: If you had it to do over again, what would you do differently?
Brian: For starters, I wouldn’t have put “deep teal” as my favorite color. I think that I got the most flack for that, and rightfully so. I should have gone with my real favorite color, which is obviously “medium teal.”
RNO: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your time on Survivor?
Brian: I had the most amazing time, no regrets. I played as hard as I could and even though I wasn’t nearly as in control as it sometimes seemed like I thought I was, at least I was playing. It was great. There are great people in the game and my hat is off to them for playing hard and playing well.
RNO: Thanks again, Brian!
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