Pete Yurkowski (CBS)
“Oh Johnny, did you back the wrong horse.” – Dr. Peter Venkman: “Ghostbusters 2”
Sometimes teaming up with a troublemaker is good for business. If you’re Rob Mariano and you buddy up with Philip Sheppard or if you’re Natalie White and you side with Russell Hantz, it can make you a millionaire. If you’re Pete Yurkowski teaming up with Abi-Maria Gomes it can mean an early trip to the jury.
I spoke with Pete after his elimination and had a chance to find out about his real alliance, if he trusted Malcolm or not, and exactly what happened to Michael Skupin’s shoulder...
Set Your DVR to Record “Survivor: Philippines”
Gordon Holmes: Morning, Pete.
Pete Yurkowski: How’s it going?
Holmes: Been living off of Thanksgiving leftovers for the last three days. I’ll be a happy man if I never see another green bean in my life.
Yurkowski: C’mon, you’ve gotta switch up with the mashed potatoes.
Holmes: I did!
Yurkowski: Everything at Thanksgiving is just another way to shove gravy in your mouth.
Holmes: It’s not doing wonders for my model/engineer physique.
Yurkowski: (Laughs) You’ve got to take it easy.
Holmes: Before the show you said you were going to find someone to follow you around. You ended up with Abi. Did you know she was going to be so disliked when you first made that deal?
Yurkowski: I didn’t think that was going to be a part of the deal. I definitely got the vibe after a few days that she was going to be extremely volatile. But, I didn’t know it was going to be that bad.
Holmes: (Laughs)
Yurkowski: Seriously. It got pretty bad.
Holmes: Is there a point where you’re thinking, “I’m going to stick with this girl because she’ll be easy to beat in the finals,” or are you worried that it’s going to ruin whatever numbers you’ve built?
Yurkowski: It looks like me and Abi were really tight, but it was actually me and Artis. He was the right-hand man and the voice of reason in our trifecta. Abi, you can see, taking Abi to the end…who’s going to vote for Abi?
Holmes: Was that your end game? You, Abi, and Artis?
Yurkowski: I didn’t really have that third slot yet. It was between Carter and Artis.
Holmes: Carter?
Yurkowski: If you look at Carter’s game; Carter doesn’t do anything. He just kind of latches on. I love Carter, but he always latches onto someone else and follows their game. He has no game of his own, he’s there for the challenges.
Holmes: But Carter wouldn’t have taken all of the bullets that you, Abi, and Artis would’ve taken as the majority alliance.
Yurkowski: The reason I didn’t want to take Artis was because I knew I would have his vote. Artis told me I’d have his vote no matter what. And, Lisa was extremely loyal. She didn’t even know that Skupin was going to vote for Artis. I felt like I knew I wasn’t getting RC’s vote. The other ones were up in the air.
Holmes: If you go to a final three with Abi and Artis, two people that RC wasn’t fond of, you don’t think she would’ve voted for you?
Yurkowski: I think in that sole situation she would’ve had to.
Holmes: Artis and I spoke last week, he seems to have a very deep issue with Skupin. Any idea what that was all about?
Yurkowski: I don’t know if he wants me to talk about it, it’s kind of between them. It all started in the beginning with Artis wanting him to be a returning player and teaching us stuff. It really didn’t end up like that.
Holmes: You confronted Malcolm about his idol, and he didn’t do a fantastic job of convincing anyone that he didn’t have it. Did you believe him?
Yurkowski: I don’t know. I really don’t know if I believed him or not. And, I’m not saying that because he made me look stupid. We were a lot closer than it looks on TV. Every time he went on reward he’d come back and tell me exactly what Penner was talking about. We had a fina- three plan. Not a for-real final three plan, but whoever stabs the other in the back first wins.
Holmes: Alright, let’s get some word association up in here. We’ll start with Malcolm.
Yurkowski: He’s a smart guy. Definitely a smart guy.
Holmes: Denise?
Yurkowski: Sneaky.
Holmes: Lisa?
Yurkowski: Church lady.
Holmes: Skupin?
Yurkowski: Kind of clueless.
Holmes: Penner?
Yurkowski: Snakelike.
Holmes: Carter?
Yurkowski: Spicoli.
Holmes: Abi?
Yurkowski: Brazilian time bomb.
Holmes: What was Denise doing that was sneaky?
Yurkowski: I had no idea. I never saw her talking to anybody. I had no idea she was even playing the game, which…you know…hats off to her.
Holmes: When I think about Pete on “Survivor.” I’m going to remember the ploy where you hid the immunity clue and RC got in trouble for it. Was there more of that that we didn’t see?
Yurkowski: I didn’t really have time. We wanted to throw a challenge to get rid of RC, but then we merged and we never got to do it. The game would have been changed because I feel like Skupin wouldn’t have any reason to flip.
Holmes: They keep showing Abi being horrible to Lisa. Is that where you slipped up by not taking care of someone on the bottom?
Yurkowski: I tried to keep everyone happy. Lisa was a close ally, I don’t think Lisa thought she was on the bottom. I think she thought that me and Abi were going to be the final three with her.
Holmes: We’re trying to keep track of Skupin’s many injuries and it seems like his right shoulder is starting to eat itself. Any idea what happened there?
Yurkowski: During the ball challenge…I don’t know how…but he got the ball to rip half of his arm off.
Holmes: How does a stationary object rip off half of your arm?
Yurkowski: How does Skupin get so many injuries? I have no idea.
Holmes: Is it possible his skin is made of tissue paper?
Yurkowski: (Laughs) It is possible.
Any Questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes
Tags: jeff probst, jonathan penner, Lisa Whelchel, michael skupin, pete yurkowski, survivor, survivor philippines
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