More Whatnot

"Survivor: Second Chance" (CBS)

Quick Note: We’re going to be bringing you all kinds of “Survivor” fun this season including episode recaps, exit interviews, and Power Rankings with Jenn Brown and Max Dawson. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@gordonholmes) for up-to-the-minute news and info.

Watch Full Episodes of “Survivor: Second Chance”

Anyone who’s followed XFINITY’s “Survivor” coverage over the years is sure of one thing; I’m terrible at predictions. From day one when I picked Michelle Chase to win “Survivor: Gabon,” it’s been a disaster.

So, why was I so confident that Bayon would win the first immunity challenge? Because I knew it’d come down to the gate and I knew Joe Anglim would destroy it.

He did, and for once I was right.

Unfortunately, it also confirmed everyone’s suspicions that Joe would be this season’s dominant challenge force.

I spoke with “Joey Amazing” the day after his elimination and had a chance to ask him about his scary challenge mishap, his on-again, off-again alliance with Kelley, and Abi’s hair-raising comments…

Gordon Holmes: Your dad is awesome, your mom is delightful, your sisters are super-talented singers. Who do I talk to about being adopted by the Anglim family?
Joe Anglim: (Laughs) You’re going to have to take that up with Mom. She’s adopted a lot of people already, so I’m sure you’re going to have no trouble getting into the club.
Holmes: Sweet!  I’ll get that application ready.
Anglim: And a background check. We’ll do it right.

Holmes: So, last night you scared the (expletive deleted) out of me.
Anglim: (Laughs)
Holmes: You just passed right out in the middle of that challenge. Did you warn your parents about what they were about to see?
Anglim: I told them, “You’re going to have to wait and see.” That’s usually the response I give them. Or, that I forgot. I’ll say, “I don’t remember, you’re going to have to watch tonight.” I had about 25 people, family, friends over and I think I had all of them in tears. A couple of them were crying pretty hard. It’s more fun that way, not telling anyone and then almost killing my grandma.
Holmes: You’re a monster. Was this some kind of ploy so you wouldn’t have to get up to get snacks?
Anglim: (Laughs) No, I’m refilling the wine glasses and asking anyone if they need anything because I’m in control of the remote. So, I get the end-all, say-all. I get to run the ship as I see fit.

Holmes: What do you remember from that moment?
Anglim: I remember looking up at the sun and it’s just beating down. It was directly above the idol. I remember starting to lose sensation in my legs and my hands. This cold/hot sweat creeping up my back. I’m blinking, and then I’m seeing black. I’m blinking but I’m not seeing anything. I yelled to Jeff, I knew I was going pretty quick. I said, “Can we go to one hand?” I said, “Keith, do you want to go to one hand or add another length or something like that?” And, Keith was good with that. Jeff’s grabbing a couple of the extra lengths of pole to hand to us and I just remember going black. I woke up on my back and Doctor Joe was giving me some oral glucose. Jeff was holding my hand and they had umbrellas to get me out of the sun. It was so unbearably hot. It was so hot.
Holmes: I was shaky after our press challenge and Doctor Joe had me eat a glucose square. I was wondering if it was against the rules of the show.
Anglim: It was just for blood sugar. They give you a quick squeeze. It dissolves quickly into your blood. But, the night prior to that I got a severe cold. I had a high fever. I was around the fire all night with the chills. I couldn’t hold anything down. I was running to the bathroom every couple of hours. I woke up feeling like crap, being dehydrated. I was asking for trouble going into that challenge.

Holmes: Mike Holloway encouraged you to hold back in challenges. You obviously took the opposite approach. Was that just a case of, everybody knows, so why bother?
Anglim: I really wanted to go into this season and be able to hold true to that. I need to hold back, but it’s not in my nature. At that point in the beginning of the game I said, “When we get to the individual portion of the game, let’s keep our alliance strong.” This was me talking to Jeremy, Savage, and Tash. “I’ll win the immunities and we can pick off who we want to pick off. We won’t have to worry about them winning immunity.” I really embraced my challenge ability more than try to hide it. Everybody knows. They all saw my season. I might as well accept it and not try to hide it. And more than that, I want to play! It’s like Keith said, “I wanna compete!” I want to give the fans something awesome. The fans didn’t vote me back to not compete. It’s tricky.

Holmes: Does it make it better or worse that the loss that took you out of the game was kind of out of your hands?
Anglim: Phhphphpphpphphpph…
Holmes: That’s the perfect answer.
Anglim: (Laughs) I’m still working through it. It’s still a little of a tough subject to swallow. I’ve come to terms with it. It wasn’t meant to be. That was my lesson. I was meant to be humbled. I thought I was tougher. Mentally I thought I could handle anything. Being sick and being taken out of that game, it broke me. I thought I was invincible. If I had not been taken out physically by my own weakness and I would’ve just lost to Keith? I think that’d be easier to accept.

Holmes: I wish they’d gone into the relationship with you and Wentworth a little more. Take me back to Ta Keo and lead me through last night’s vote.
Anglim: When I was on Ta Keo, I noticed that Kelley didn’t have anyone that she connected with on her previous Ta Keo tribe. I reached out to her and said, “I was a big threat on my season, I had nobody going into the merge. Let’s look out for each other. I’ve got your back 100% if you’ve got mine.” Me and her locked it in. I had Keith, she had a good relationship with Kass and Ciera. I was close with Kass and was building a relationship with Ciera. That was a pretty solid five. I felt pretty comfortable with that. But, when we hit the merge, Kass and Ciera started playing too hard and it was easy for the group-think to point the finger at them. And Kelley was obviously associated with them, so I retracted with Keith. We joined back with the Bayon majority. The girls were on the outs.  I still was connected with  them though. I’d play both sides. I needed to stay with the majority for a couple of votes. And when the time is right we’ll take out who we need to take out. I really did want to  keep Kelley in the game.
Holmes: And when she played her idol?
Anglim: I told her, “If you have an idol, you need to play it.” Of course, not thinking she had one. And I didn’t think the next person they’d vote for would be one of my biggest allies in the game. There are a lot of things like that that I wish I could go back and change. But, once I didn’t have Kelley’s back I think she put up that wall and it became a fake façade of her telling me what I wanted to hear and vice versa.

Holmes: If you could’ve scripted out the end to this thing, who would’ve been your final three?
Anglim: I would’ve liked to have picked off one of the girls. I would’ve gotten Abi and then Jeremy or even Tash. Maybe keep Jeremy around longer. Then Kelley. Then Kimmi… You know, for me, I thought if I could get to the end I could make a case against anybody.

Holmes: Alright, word association time. Let’s start with Monica.
Anglim: Damn, girl.
Holmes: Kimmi?
Anglim: Motherly love.
Holmes: Stephen?
Anglim: Ohhh….Steeephen! Put it like that, “Ohhh…Steeephen.”
Holmes: Savage?
Anglim: Inspiring.
Holmes: Terry?
Anglim: Compassion.
Holmes: Spencer?
Anglim: Witty.
Holmes: Tasha?
Anglim: Crazy.
Holmes: Kass?
Anglim: Ridiculous.
Holmes: Ciera?
Anglim:  Entertaining.
Holmes: Wentworth?
Anglim: Snarky.
Holmes: Wiglesworth?
Anglim: Good humor.
Holmes: Keith?
Anglim: Priceless.
Holmes: Jeremy?
Anglim: Proud.
Holmes: Let’s finish with Abi-Maria.
Anglim: My favorite…uh…how about…dramatic.

Holmes: What the heck, man. As a future Anglim, I’m offended by what she said about your hair.
Anglim: What are you going to do? (Laughs) Eventually I’m probably going to cut if off and donate it to charity. But, we’re going to have to do it right. Maybe I’ll let Abi cut it.
Holmes: How short are we talking?
Anglim: It depends. If I get into the fire academy I’ll probably have to cut it pretty short.
Holmes:  I hear hearts across the county breaking as we’re having this conversation.
Anglim: (Laughs) I’m really hoping for that Herbal Essence commercial deal.

Any Questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes