On Wednesday night Sales Executive Rajesh Govender had his puppeteering strings severed by Iban who broke all past tribal alliances and voted him out.
I chatted to him for us on Thursday morning to find out more about his showdown with Amanda and surviving without underwear.
Here's what he had to outwit, outlast, outmince:
Tashi: Who in their right mind goes onto Survivor with that Speedo of yours?
Rijesh: You know what, initially we were asked to choose stuff and I wasn’t given any underwear so I had to have something because lots of people fail to understand that when you go to bed at night you want to go with clothes that are dry - you want to have as many clothes on as possible so the mosquitos don’t get you. If you noticed it as the only time I wore it - when I went in the water to bathe.
Tashi: You say you didn’t get underwear - did no-one get any? Was it taken away?
Rijesh: Ja, my underwear was taken away, I was only allowed my tracks and swimshorts and I managed to get hold of my speedo and put it in my pocket.
Tashi: So did you use it as undies?
Rijesh: I actually didn’t, I just used it when I wanted to take a bathe. I had shorts with one of those netted thingies on the inside so it was free willy all the way.
Tashi: The fact is you still had to choose that speedo before you even went on. You went to the shops and bought that speedo.
Rijesh: No it was just lying there - I used to use it for swimming, my usual swimming with my whole gym routine. Actually, it was given to me as a gift by an ex boyfriend. (laughs)
Tashi: Ookay - we believe you.
Rijesh: I’ve had it for years hey, I don’t usually use a speedo, I use shorts.
Tashi: That’s a relief to know. Were you the Puppet Master as you said you were or were you totally out of control of the strings?
Rijesh: No I was the Puppet Master - I think I was a bit hasty in my decision because I worked with the girls pretty well. By being hasty I tried to move onto the guys as well, I should have just stuck with the girls and it would have been fine because I had the girls doing what I wanted.
When we first went to Tribal Council, we where going to vote Dyke out and two hours later I was like: “No don’t take Dyke out, take Nicola,” then I went back to Dyke, then back to Nicola and two hours before Tribal Council I said to them: “We need Dyke, he’s a strong swimmer, take out Nicola,” so I’d say I was the Puppet Master.
Tashi: What was your strategy though? To annoy as many people as humanly possible?
Rijesh: No my strategy was to stay under the radar but stick with the girls. I figured that if the girls found out I was gay - girls tend to get close to guys who are gay, they trust guys who are guy so I figured I’d stick with the girls and if they get all PMS on my ass, I’m gonna sticks with the guys. So keep the guys on a level playing field and play the girls.
Tashi: But then you ended up having a fight with everyone.
Rijesh: No not everyone - if you watch carefully you’ll see I had a fallout with Amanda and only Amanda.
Tashi: Can you kick yourself that it became more important than staying and winning? Surely at some point you thought: “Hang on, things aren’t going well with this person - I need to reign it in and deal with it so that I can stay.”
Rijesh: In Wednesdays episode you could see that the girls - both Amanda and Angie - started getting annoyed with Irshaad. I wasn’t actually in the limelight - when I lost two of my alliance members - Nichal and Elsie, I think I kinda lost interest there, that was my all-time low. I was like: “You know what, I don’t need this *bleep!*, I don’t have people I can identify with, “I didn’t care whether I was voted off or not.
If I’d wanted to I could have played it in such a way that we could have either voted Amanda off but I decided I wanted to give Amanda a run for her money.
Tashi: Do you think she was right when she said that even if you were to read a Survivor for Dummies it wouldn’t work.
Rijesh: You know what, everyone plays the game in their own way and with Amanda she should be the last one to talk. She was always talking about me being loud and stuff like that - number one: Amanda was louder than I am. She was working on everyone’s nerves - she’s extremely loud, she’s obnoxious, she’s arrogant, she’s the last one who should be pointing fingers at me.
Secondly, it’s a game and the public as well as Amanda and every other contestant should know - this is what the game is about. It’s about playing other people and getting to the top - it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s who you are in reality. Have you never played Monopoly where you snuck R100 and took R200 when you pass Begin? I’m not saying you have to cheat but it’s just a game so you know what, Amanda should win the million, buy some bricks, build a bridge and get over it.
Tashi: Yes on Go Extra you said that despite not liking her you want her win - if this is the case, who do you want to see leave next?
Rijesh: I think Angie. Angie is a shark of note and nobody’s picking up on it. She’s just using her - she’s fluttering her little eyelashes, eyelids or whatever and she’s getting past the guys. I’d like to see her go next.
Tashi: But she's playing the game.
Rijesh: Ja, that’s what it’s all about - I’d like to see her go next. I’m just jealous that she’s fooling the guys better than me.
Tashi: What’s up with wanting Amanda to win?
Rijesh: She’s a very intelligent lady - being around her, even though the fake American accent annoyed me, she’s extremely intelligent and I’m not gonna take that away from her. She’s got more character than any of those other dimwits on there.
Tashi: Her American accent - now Kwaku on BB Africa,
he’s got an American accent and I get what you mean about people who have one but I don’t hear any American accent when Amanda speaks.
Rijesh: You have to be around her 24/7 for you to pick up on stuff. Remember it’s edited. With her it’s like "cleym" and not "clam". She kept saying, “I liike cleym.” We were told not to touch the clam because in Malaysia it’s being depleted. My apologies to the Malaysian government - Amanda ate all your cleym so point fingers against her ass.
Tashi: Who do you definitely not want to see win?
Rijesh: Dyke. Dyke’s an idiot - he needs to go back to that farm he came from, crawl back under that rock he came out of and stay there. The dude is just dirty, he thinks too much of himself, I mean, come on - the first night when the guys found out I was gay, Dyke moves to the other end. I have taste. As I’ve said in one of my interviews - if the survival of the human race depended on Dyke and I sleeping together, I’d let the human race die out because Dyke’s got absolutely nothing. He’s dirty, he’s hairy, he has bad teeth, he has bad breath and he’s just stupid, I mean really.
Tashi: If Iban had won Rezki, would you have killed her?
Rijesh: Honestly I couldn’t, I was disgusted when I saw they’d done it. I couldn’t see myself doing that and eating it.
Tashi: Out of everyone - who would you say had the most sexual chemistry between them?
Rijesh: There's a whole bunch of ugly people there but I’d have to say Dyke and … – he thought Angie liked him - Angie was just playing him.
Tashi: Aha - I knew it! I knew that that’s what he’s up to.
Rijesh: I don’t know if you saw but if you look carefully at the challenge where we put Angie in a ball and rolled her - did you see the flower in her hair?
Tashi: Did Dyke give that to her?
Rijesh: Dyke gave it to her. Not only that, the one night I was asleep and there was a mosquito buzzing round my head and I opened my right eye and I see Angie talking a walk down to the beach - it was pretty late - and two minutes later I open my left eye I see Dyke walking down to the beach too. He claimed he was going to catch fish – you can’t catch a fish during the day, how are you going to catch a fish? Explain.
Apparently she couldn’t sleep, there were too many mosquitos so she decided to sleep on the beach and Dyke decided to follow, apparently he decided to go fishing, so they say - I’m Indian, not stupid.
Tashi: She’s obviously playing him, she couldn’t possibly …
Rijesh: Yes, she’s not stupid, I believe she’s got taste.
Tashi: Who could make a million bucks somewhere else besides Survivor?
Rijesh: I believe Hein could, business wise but I don’t think he’s so much into the whole money - I think it’s just his love for outdoor life. Viwe could, looking at his articles and whatever - I think he could make a lot of money. Elsie could as well, she’s very strong-minded and Amanda’s an intelligent chick so she could. I wouldn’t put it past Nichal as well - he’s Indian hey and don’t put anything past Indian boys.
Tashi: Yes you steal money during Monopoly games.
Rijesh: Well you know, I say I’m not going to play to land on Musgrave Road - when you’ve got hotels, there’s lots to pay.
Tashi: Who would win in a fight: Hein Vosloo or Jack Bauer?
Rijesh: I think Hein would take him down.
Tashi: Grant Clark or Alan Shore?
Rijesh: I think Alan Shore would make Grant cry. Grant’s another snake hey - don’t trust anyone with a big nose. That’s my advise to you.
Tashi: Amanda or Buffy The Vampire?
Rijesh: Amanda would eat Buffy the Vampire. She’d eat anything in her way. Did you see the size of her ass? Please tell me you did. Everytime she bent over we had an eclipse in Malaysia.
Tashi: I don’t agree with you - I don’t think she’s got a big butt.
Rijesh: Amanda has got a Phutu bum - do you know what Phutu is?
Tashi: No.
Rijesh: It’s one of the traditional African maize meals - it’s very much like pap but it’s more grainy. That’s what Phutu is, she’s got a big bum.
Tashi: Who would be most likely to have a starring role in a movie?
Rijesh: I’d have to say Nichal - Bollywood here we come.
Tashi: Which challenge would you like to put Amanda through over and over again?
Rijeshi: The first where we had to fight for Nichal – where we had to swim out to sea, get onto the cargo net, roll over onto the thing, climb the cog, get back into the sea. It was hectic – lots of people have the impression, sitting on their couch after dinner that it’s not that bad but being out there in 40 degrees with no food in your system it was absolutely difficult. I’d like to see Amanda climb the cog on it up and down a million times.
Tashi: Who was the best dressed out of everyone?
Rijesh: Apart from me, I’d have to say Viwe. He wore shorts and a T-shirt and they were decent.
Tashi: I also think Angie’s well dressed, the way she wears her Survivor flag with her bikini.
Rijesh: Ja but maybe if she walked properly, like a lady and not like a - she’s got a kind of butch walk so if she walked like a lady. Nah, I’d say it was Viwe and Elsie as well, she had a neat little costume.
Tashi: Yes true, her boobs looked good in that.
Rijesh: Yes, it’s the first thing I always look at it in a chick and I think she’s got a very nice rack - so does Amanda. As for little Angela - she should just go back to wearing a trainer bra - I mean I’m bigger than that.
Ends