One vote came down to a million bucks for Survivor Malaysia's Grant Clark in last weeks Finale. His final speech to the jury wasn't enough to convince his trouble-making ally Angie to vote for him and he went down three votes to two.
I investigated to see if he's still sane and got so dreamy about his tattoos I forget to ask him what they're of:
Tashi: So close and yet so far - how does it make you feel?
Grant: I never really wanted to be in this position but quite honestly, to sum it up, losing sucks but at the same time I’ve got to be magnamimous in defeat and say that you know, I would have liked to have won, but I have no complaints about Lorette Mostert winning the game.
Tashi: You don’t get any second prize do you?
Grant: You don’t - you get a good old hand-shake and thanks for coming.
Tashi: In the US one they get 100 000.
Grant: 100 000 would have been lovely hey.
Tashi: Especially building up over the months between the show and now - over the time what did you think your chances were?
Grant: When I walked out of the final Tribal Council I thought I’d gone down 4 to 1 in votes. I was pretty sure, judging from Amanda’s kind of lambasting of Lorette - that I had her vote - and obviously Angie, when I walked into Tribal Council I thought the only vote I had was hers. I was hoping that my strategy of setting it up that Lorette and Mandla had broken their word to her when they voted her out - they she might have told the jury about this horrific event and that they might have been kindly disposed to me but that plan didn’t work out.
When I walked in I thought I had Angie and Angie only and possibly, if she’d worked some magic and told Amanda and Dyke about Lorette and Mandla, they might have been disgusted and had some sympathy for me but I didn’t think that was probably gonna be enough to repair their perceptions of me.
Tashi: Do you think Angie dumped you because she’s in lurve with you?
Grant: Tashi have you looked at me lately? Do I strike you as the kind of person that anyone other than my wife - who I managed to hook when she was 17 - would fall in love with?
Tashi: Well I know everyone found your tattoos very sexy.
Grant: (laughs) You’re SO just saying that.
Tashi: So what do you think?
Grant: No I don’t think Angie fell in love with me at all. I think she’s an extremely smart, competent lady, there was never anything that I put out that I think would ever make her fall in love with - I don’t think I’m her type at all. Now your next question’s going be: what was it all about? My honest answer to that is: I don’t know. Angie’s a bit of an enigma, she’s definitely non-conformist and anti-establishment - she’s got a rebel side to her, which I’ve got as well - and I think the game’s a journey for everyone.
I think Angie was true to herself in that she was non-conformist, she wanted to shake things up and she did. Her vote - some people would say it was the right vote. From my point of view I would say it was the wrong one but I certainly don’t hold anything against her. I’m not going to sit here and deconstruct everyone’s vote - you don’t have to vote for the person you had an alliance with or the person you thought was the sneakiest or the nicest - there are no rules for voting. You vote as your conscience leads you at that moment in time and that’s what she did and at the end of the day that’s pretty much life.
Tashi: Have you spoken since?
Grant: Yes, we chatted afterwards briefly and I sent her an e-mail today to say, “It’s all good, life is too short and good people are too few to be holding grudges and be upset about things like a crazy, crazy game. From my side she’s a friend and things go on. I think she may have been a little upset - she might have taken a bit of slack from some people, I’m sure if any of my family get hold of her they’d give her a mouthful but I’m sure she’ll be fine.
Tashi: You’re obviously a Survivor fan?
Grant: I’m a huge Survivor fan.
Tashi: Who’s your fave of all time?
Grant: Boston Rob. He was absolutely brilliant, ran circles around everyone and maybe there’s an irony that he ended up in a similar position because I based my game on him.
Tashi: Very interesting. What were your three most dramatic moments?
Grant: You mean from a viewing point of view?
Tashi: No, from being there in the action.
Grant: Without a doubt standing on the poles because I’ve got absolutely no balance, I’m a complete idiot - how I managed to pull that off is a complete mystery to me.
Tashi: How long did you balance for?
Grant: I think the clock was 2 hours, 50 - I’m calling it three hours because it sounds better. Anyone who knows me knows I struggle to walk in a straight line so that was huge for me. So there was that and Lorette winning the skull was extremely dramatic. It had to be Lorette - the lines had been so clearly drawn - and probably Day 1, just arriving. There’s no more drama than the game actually starting.
Tashi: What do you think? Do you think Hein threw the challenge? I don’t think so.
Grant: No, he told me that he fell asleep.
Tashi: Standing up?
Grant: Ja.
Tashi: How does that happen?
Grant: Draw your own conclusions - you’re not getting me in print saying I think he can’t count.
Tashi: (laughs) What’s your advice to future Survivor players?
Grant: Play the game. Do it. I’d never be arrogant enough or stupid enough to give advice on strategy because mine clearly didn’t work but if you get the opportunity to play the game, play it. It’s the best thing you’ll ever do - enter, do it, do what have to do to play the game of Survivor - just playing you’ve won already. So few of us get to play it and it’s awesome, awesome, awesome.
Tashi: Did you enter the first season?
Grant: I did but apparently my big nose disqualified me from “model”. I have a potential future as a hand model but that’s it, they don’t want any other part of me.
Ends