Roxanne 'Roxy' Morris and Jeff Probst (CBS)
XFinityTV is blowing up their coverage of “Survivor: Philippines.” Every Tuesday, I’ll be squaring off against “Survivor: One World” favorite Kat Edorsson in this season’s Power Rankings challenge. Every Wednesday briefly after the show we’ll have a full episode recap and every Thursday we’ll have an interview with the latest eliminated player. Also, starting October 1st, we’re bringing back the “Survivor” Question of the Week where Jeff Probst and I tackle a wide variety of “Survivor” topics. Follow me on Twitter (@gordonholmes) for all the updates!
Getting romantically involved has been a no-no on “Survivor” ever since “Boston” Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich teamed up to dominate the “All-Stars” season. For them, it resulted in a million bucks, a marriage, and some cute kids. For every couple since then? Not so much. Just ask “Survivor: South Pacific’s” Elyse Umemoto.
Roxanne Morris got that part of the strategy right when she called out Malcolm Freberg and Angie Layton for their late-night canoodling. However, she missed the part where you shouldn’t go after the guy who has a secret alliance with the swing vote.
I spoke with Roxanne the morning after her elimination to get her take on Matsing’s tribe dynamics, Russell’s loyalty, and cookiegate…
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Gordon Holmes: Alright, what’s going on with Malcolm and Angie?
Roxanne Morris: I think it was obvious. They were cuddling, and I get that that’s the game and that people become allies. But, there’s a difference between people who are partnering for the sake of the game and people who are building a romantic relationship. That’s going to put a pair of blinders on and I wanted to make sure that my tribe was making the best strategic move.
Holmes: So, it wasn’t just late-night cuddling for warmth, you think there was something romantic going on?
Morris: I think that it was something romantic going on, and in the game of “Survivor” a romantic relationship naturally becomes an alliance.
Holmes: Heading into Tribal last night, did you know that your number was up?
Morris: I knew I had Russell convinced because I could foreshadow to him exactly what was going to happen to him if he decided not to support me. I told him exactly how it would go and that fear was already there. But, I knew if Denise was not on our side that Russell’s best move was to vote against me. I was fully aware of that. I was not going into that being naïve. I was prepared that I was going home if Denise wasn’t on my side. The tribe’s destiny was in her hands.
Holmes: It seems like the weather is starting to get to everyone, but it’s hard to tell exactly what it’s like with the editing.
Morris: The first day we got there it was sunshine, but it got so rainy. At one point it was three straight days of rain. I think Russell said it best, where after a while you don’t even want to hear the sound of a raindrop. It’s like we were facing some kind of water plague.
Holmes: Malcolm said that it seemed like you’d checked out and that you weren’t doing much around camp. Was that a fair assessment?
Morris: I don’t think that’s a fair assessment. You get to a fork in the road where you have choices to make. And when you watch your tribe lose the first challenge, you have to decide what’s most important. And when you’re not eating regular meals you decide to say, “Hmm…what should I be saving my energy for?” Obviously it should be for a challenge. I’m not going to be like Angie falling on the floor.
Holmes: Russell made the argument that you were conserving energy for challenges, then you ran only one of the three sled legs because you hadn’t had enough water. As an outside observer, I think he has a point. You conserved your energy then did less than Angie.
Morris: I think that whenever you’re going down on a sinking ship everyone is looking to point fingers and put the blame on somebody. And that, to me, was a clear case of that. Everybody’s trying to point to someone else. And honestly, Russell, I’m not the person you need to be saying anything about. So, he can give me that criticism if he likes, but at the end of the day, me being there was a strength to him.
Holmes: Before the show you said that God already knows how the game is going to end. What do you think you were supposed to learn from your time out there?
Morris: I learned that as a Christian I’m not afraid to share my testimony, tell my story, and show who I really am. You saw me go through all kinds of emotions on national TV. You saw me praying in ways that I only pray when I’m absolutely alone. You saw me cry. You saw me tell people how it is. You saw me be human. And being a Christian is not about perfection. If the expectation is perfection, then I’m not one to follow. But if you’re looking for raw, real people who are working on their salvation on a daily basis, then come and talk to me.
Holmes: Let’s do some word association. We’ll start with Malcolm.
Morris: Headless chicken.
Holmes: Zane?
Morris: Joy.
Holmes: Russell?
Morris: Another headless chicken. He goes in that category too. (Laughs)
Holmes: Denise?
Morris: Sneak, sneaky, snake-ish. And when I use the word “snake” I don’t mean it in an ill-mannered way. I think there’s wisdom that goes with that. A worldly wisdom.
Holmes: Angie?
Morris: Bubble-minded. Literally, I feel like I could just look in her brain and there’d be nice, well-scented bubbles just floating around.
Holmes: Everybody’s talking about Angie’s cookie-centric plan to make the tribe better. I know you and her had your differences, but you have to admit cookies make everything better.
Morris: Yeah. Winning a challenge and gaining some cookies would definitely be awesome. Absolutely, but I honestly don’t think it was given in a very intelligent way. I think it was more like, “Oh wow, I have nothing else to say and I’m very hungry.”
Any Questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes
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