During the fifth episode of Survivor SA Aguila said goodbye to Sanele Gumede when he was taken out of the game after hurting his shoulder.
Despite their loss Aguila managed to win both the Reward and Immunity Challenge sending Rana to Tribal Council where they snuffed out Danielle Vukic’s torch three votes to two.
Just before Danielle could skulk off thinking her million buck game was over Sanele re-appeared on the sidelines with his torch still alight and saved her by giving her his fire in Aguila. His mission complete, he left by plane and returned home to South Africa.
I caught up with him on Monday morning after the episode to check if he's alive and to see what gossip he has about whether or not Danielle’s Pigtails have been saved for the long haul:
Tashi: Hey Sanele - how’s your arm doing?
Sanele: It’s touch and go but we’re about 60/70% there.
Tashi: Is it still not better?
Sanele: I’ve been attending regular physio therapy but it’s still not where it should be. I’m still unable to lift anything heavy, I can’t do things like go to gym so it’s not 100% but it’s a lot better than it was at the time.
Tashi: So you haven’t done long-term permanent damage to it?
Sanele: What happened was it was a ligament tear in my shoulder and we’re trying to see if it’ll heal by itself through physiotherapy or whether I need to have it surgically operated on. I’m hoping I won’t have to but we’re still working on it.
Tashi: What happened during the challenge that it got hurt?
Sanele: It was during the challenge when we were diving for stakes on the beach - I fell hard and landed very badly on it. All my weight was on my shoulder which is when I tore the ligament. It was a freak accident.
Tashi: Weren’t you fuming with the show and the doctor for taking all responsibility for your decision and forcing you out of the game like that?
Sanele: You know what, I wasn’t happy, I’ll be honest about that but at the same time, looking at it now, they made the right decision. At the time I said: “You know, they know what they’re doing and although I don’t want to go I can’t use the arm.”
It wasn’t an easy decision for them to make but I suppose they had to take safety precautions that no permanent damage was sustained.
Tashi: While your arm was getting worse did you think about strategies as to how you could manouvre yourself to get yourself into the best position for the future despite it?
Sanele: To be honest, in that environment the slightest thing puts you on the map to be voted off. As soon as I realized that my injury was serious I asked myself: “How do I save myself to stay as long as I possibly can?”
Unfortunately, as you probably saw in the last episode and the episode before that, my spirits just shot down like you wouldn’t believe.” One of my tribemates were very confident in me - trust me, they were gonna keep me around and were gonna do everything they could to keep me around.
Tashi: Yes, that’s especially why I wondered whether you weren’t fuming to be pulled out because I got the sense that you could still have been around and very safe ‘til the merge at least. Obviously when you went solo it would have been more difficult but I definitely thought they were prepared to stick with you.
Sanele: Most definitely, that’s the sense I got too. That’s the conversation we had throughout the six days I was carrying the injury: “No matter whatever happens, you’re staying here. Do the best you can - half of you is better than you not being around.” It’s just unfortunate that they had to make a decision and they felt the risks involved weren’t worth it seeing it wasn’t going to get better.
Tashi: The idea of Survivor is always about Survivors pushing on and staying until the moment they absolutely know they just can’t go on so that they end up battling themselves as they struggle to face a decision. Do you think what’s happened stays true to the nature of surviving no matter what?
Sanele: It’s a tough question to answer because I think there are two different sides to the argument. One would be exactly what you’re saying and the other would be that at some point they need to assess risks, that there are real risks, Survivor is real so if you’re risking permanent damage and there’s no value you’ll be able to add it’s a judgement call that has to happen and I think this sort of intervention is necessary.
Tashi: You obviously sign a whole lot of things that if you get hurt it’s not the show’s responsibility?
Sanele: That’s correct, although having said that it hasn’t been the case. They’ve supported me in getting medical treatment there and after. I’ve been going to physio regularly and they’ve been paying for that. Although you sign the dotted line, it’s not actually the case.
Tashi: As for the twist at the end and you giving Danielle your torch. How do you think Aguila’s gonna respond to her joining the tribe?
Sanele: I think she’s in for quite a challenge over the next day or so. She has a good chance of actually making it work. If I was her I would immediately make Brigitte my biggest friend. Nico’s neck is out there so if she could get on with Brigitte I feel that this could be a saving grace for her.
Tashi: Yes, me too. I’m quite interested in how Mzi fits into the whole picture because if she got buddy-buddy with Brigitte she’d also get Mzi and Vanessa very possibly.
Sanele: From my reading of the situation I’d say that Mzi and Vanessa have an unspoken alliance and Brigitte’s trying to get there but she’s not quite there yet. Whoever comes in now and goes with Brigitte will create two camps, plus Nico. He’s the odd one out so whichever way the votes goes he’ll be the short end of the stick.
Tashi: Of course Brigitte and Nico loathe each other which is why I think Brigitte might hook up with Mzi. I also think that in the long-run - if Danielle stays until after the merge - I think everyone could be slaughtered by Jacinda and her (and Brigitte if she joins) because they’re gonna be thick as thieves now after what’s happened.
Sanele: To me this depends on how Danielle took being voted out by Rana. Whether she took it really personally and blamed the whole tribe for it and sees as it as a betrayal of the whole tribe.
Tashi: We didn’t see who actually voted for her but we can assume that it was Jacinda who voted with her against Zayn and she must know this and I reckon she'll
remember.
Sanele: That’s right - that could make the next phase interesting but what you need to bear in mind is that Rana was initially unhappy with her because they saw her as wanting to be in Aguila to beneath so it’ll depend on how much of that they still hold against her.
Tashi: What would you have done with the million bucks if you’d won?
Sanele: Sensible things. Firstly, saved for my kids education, I would have bought myself a nice house and then travelled - gone on a years sebatical.
Tashi: To where specifically?
Sanele: I would love to explore the Far East. Nowhere specific, the culture is so rich and there’s so much I’d like to experience. Their way of life is so similar and yet so different. I’m quite intrigued how they experience things and life in general.
Tashi: Did you think you were gonna win before you went in?
Sanele: I was convinced of it and up until that point I thought my game plan was working perfectly. Things would have gotten a hell of a lot more interesting at the merge but I definitely thought I was in there.
Tashi: In the alliance you and Mzi formed early on - there was one wasn’t there?
Sanele: It’s interesting because we didn’t discuss it or talk about it. It was one of those were you just bonded and clicked and take it for granted that you have the same understanding and objcetves. We’re very similar and for me the perfect ending would have been for me and Mzi to go head to head. We didn’t ever discuss it though.
Tashi: So you’d like to see him win?
Sanele: Definitely. I think he’s earned it and deserves it. I really have respect for his strategy in the game. Also, the man kept us alive with the fish so that gets him points as far as I’m concerned.
Tashi: Who would you least like to see win?
Sanele: I’d have to say Jacinda. As much as I respect the way she’s played the game because I think she’s very prepared and knows what she’s dong, I think at this point she’s very over confident and coming across as very smug. I would just like that to be wiped off her face, if I could be so blunt.
Tashi: We haven't seen any of the cigratte stuff in action - is there anything else going down that we haven’t seen?
Sanele: Over the next few episodes certain things will be be revealed that have been going on in the background.
Tashi: So did Nico have his cigarettes out in the open and smoke away in front of everyone and all that sort of thing?
Sanele: Yes he did. They were in his bag but when they went missing is when he started losing it a little bit.
Tashi: Did Brigitte did give them back to him?
Sanele: That’s the million buck question.
Ends