On Sunday night
Tatum Keshwar was the seventh contestant and fourth celeb to be whacked (
literally) from
Tropika Island of Treasure 3.
Pleb contestant
Latoya Ragebult voted her out after things got tenssse between them during the physical challenge. I caught up with Tatum to get the dirt for us - and to find out why she voted
Khanyi Mbau out first:
Tashi: Latoya voting you out - why do you think she did?
Tatum: I think that it presents itself and looks as if it was because of something that happened that day because I screamed and shouted at her.
She repeatedly - and I'm not sure how many times they showed it on Sunday - but she punched me in the nose three times.
We'd all discussed beforehand that because the celebrities are in the media and rely on what we look like for work, that we should try not to cause any bodily harm or injury.
While we were jousting, Latoya and I, she punched me and I said: "Latoya, not the face," and she said: "Oh yes, sorry I forgot," and then she went on to do it again. Again I said to her: "Latoya, don't do that," and then she did it a third time so I shouted at her and she did take offense.
But I actually do think that she had something in for me from maybe, the very beginning.
Tashi: Oh really? Was it a tension you picked up under the surface?
Tatum: I don't really have tension with anybody, I tried to socialise with different people as much as possible. Obviously there are certain people that I clicked with,
Clayton was one of them, but I think that maybe, possibly it was intimidation.
Tashi: So you think her smacking you in the face was her getting her aggression out towards you?
Tatum: Quite possibly because you know, being in that situation, we had such an amazing time but you never switch off.
Even though, after each elimination, we would all go for a swim together, drink cocktails and go for dinner together - we'd go clubbing and shopping in the evening but that being said, you never switch off because you're constantly watching who's talking to who.
Who's bonding with whom, who's making friends and alliances and that kind of thing - you never get an opportunity to switch off so there is a lot of pent-up tension I would say.
Post-visit to Buddah. Even though
Andile chose to vote plebs out last week - would you say that there's still a division between the plebs and celebs?
Tatum: I think initially we'd hoped to vote along those lines because it would make more sense, the celebrities all know each other, we've worked together and we want as much airtime as possible.
But from the very first vote, with me having to vote somebody off from both sides, that kind of set the tone for everything.
I don't think people were voting along those lines because as we can see now, Thandi has a very close relationship with
Dionne and Clayton and I also had quite a strong relationship. I think it's been more based on who you felt safe with and who you could trust.
Tashi: Why did you vote Khanyi out first?
Tatum: It was stipulated that I would vote two people out, one from each side, so I didn't have much of a choice. For me, Khanyi was an obvious choice because she really was rubbing me up the wrong way.
I'd heard from somebody else that Khanyi and
Bonang were colluding to vote me off first should they be in a position of power so I obviously had my back up against the wall.
I didn't want to be the first voted off, or the first celebrity off, so I was definitely in fight or flight mode.
Tashi: You say she was rubbing you up the wrong way - because of that? Or because of something else?
Tatum: Just because of what was happening within the context of the game. The cameraman would ask me for a comment about something and I'd give an answer and then she would mimic my answer or she'd say behind my back - but with me in earshot: "Ag you know, she thinks this is Miss South Africa," or "She thinks this is Top Billing," that kind of thing. I just felt that that was so childish and unecessary.
Tashi: I was going to ask you what tensions there were under the surface that we haven't seen - that's clearly one of them.
Tatum: That's
definitely one of them. I think what's important when you come into a game like this is being very open-minded because what happens is, when there are people that you know from beforehand, like the celebrities, it's important not to just cling to those people - you need to try to create bonds with other people.
When you do cling to people that you already know, it closes everybody else off and that sets the tone for the rest of the relationships that you have.
Unfortunately Khanyi and Bonang were very close before so they stuck to one another and didn't really open themselves to creating those other bonds.
I was very much open to colluding with them but I never had that opportunity because they of course were gunning for me.
But I really, really enjoyed the game - it's very much in your mind. I enjoyed the phsyical challenges because I was never an athletic person at school, highly unco-ordinated, didn't do any groups sports so I thoroughly enjoyed it - I'm glad that I've done it.
Tashi: Who would you have voted out - Latoya?
Tatum: Yes if I'd won the challenge I would have voted Latoya out but ... my statement to her in the pre-session was: "Just think carefully about it," because I was very well aware, it's very difficult to
not be emotional when you're in a position of power about the vote you're taking. Had she been stragetic she could have voted somebody else off and befriended me.
I think I might have voted her off but that would have been purely a spite vote, which is what her vote was, to spite me.
I would probably have voted out
JR to tell the truth - it would have been a tough vote because JR and I are good friends. We didn't display it very much for the cameras because we were trying to keep it under wraps to form an alliance.
I was trying to form an alliance with JR and
Loyiso - I already had an alliance with Clayton so that was in the bag. I would maybe have gone for either Loyiso or JR.
Who should Latoya have gone for? I can't say ... she never would have voted JR out because ... I don't know - I think she had a crush on him.
Tashi: Do you think he's gonna win?
Tatum: I think there's a strong possibility. He's a strong contender and he's very much under the radar right now. I would like either him or Loyiso to win, yes.
Tashi: What would you have done with the cash if you'd won?
Tatum: Gee wizz, I think I actually spent that money in my head before I actually got to Thailand. I think I would have invested in property probably.
Tashi: On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being not, 10 being hott) what did you think your chances were to win?
Tatum: I was very worried about the physical challenges - I only weigh 58/60kg's and I'm not the strongest but I've actually got a very strong core - that's what my personal trainer said to me.
I was worried about that but I thought ... I've got the mental game down so I'd probably say I thought I was at about an 8.5/9. My
belief in myself to win.
Ends