All-Star Survivor: Hawaii Gretchen Cordy post-game interview

Last week, fan favorite (and one armed hero) Gretchen Cordy was voted out of Hawaii at the final three, just minutes from making the final two and possibly taking home the million dollar prize. Did she deserve to be voted out? Does she think her injury wound up costing her the game? And why the heck did she wind up voting for Vecepia to win, anyway? Wasn't she against the idea of ever voting for a former winner? Survivor-Central's Patrick Gilchrist sat down with Gretchen for an incisive interview, and managed to dig up some dirt.

PG: Hi Gretchen. Thanks for talking with me! I'm a big fan.

GC: Thank you. I appreciate it. I tried my best out there.

PG: At what point did you know you were going to lose the game? Did you honestly think you had a chance to win towards the end?

GC: Well I always knew I could probably win a jury vote. But as for actually getting to the jury vote, that was always the hard part. I always had my work cut out for me when it came to that aspect of the game.

PG: At what point did you know you were never going to make it?

GC: To be honest, it was right after I hurt my arm in the hanging rings challenge. Once my arm popped out of its socket, I knew it was pretty much over for me. There's no way you can recover from something like that in a game that is this physical. I knew it would catch up with me eventually.

PG: That was on day 36?

GC: I have no idea. It's hard to keep track of what day it is when you are out there. All I know is that we were just about down to the final four. We voted out Tina at the very next vote.

PG: So you hurt your arm on day 36, and you still managed to make it two more days. You weren't voted out until day 38. That is awfully impressive.

GC: Well I got lucky that the next challenge involved running. If it had involved anything else, Alicia would have made the final three instead of me. So it wasn't like I did anything special. I just pretty much benefited from the luck of the draw. My time was going to be up soon enough anyway.

PG: Speaking of that, what do you think would have happened if Alicia had made the final three? Do you think she could have won the game?

GC: I think she had a better chance than she realized. She would have had a fairly decent chance against either John or Vee. Most of the jurors really didn't want to vote for either of them.

PG: So Alicia actually could have won a jury vote? On TV it looked like she couldn't have beaten anyone.

GC: I don't know. It's hard to say. I do know she would have been darn near unbeatable in the final immunity challenge. You may have picked this up from watching the show, but Alicia has an iron will that you wouldn't believe. If she wants something, she is going to get it.

PG: Do you think Alicia could have beaten you in the final immunity challenge?

GC: With my shoulder? Heck yeah she could have. I think Richard Hatch could have even beaten me in the final immunity challenge.

PG: What about Tina? Could Alicia have beaten her?

GC: I don't think so. I don't think anyone could ever beat Tina in an endurance contest. I always thought she was the single most dangerous player out there.

PG: That's interesting. A lot of people seemed to say that about you. That you were the most dangerous player out there.

GC: Well they said that in my first season too. But here's the deal, I'm not the one who has actually won Survivor before. My first time around, I never even made the jury. I don't see how I could be considered that dangerous.

PG: Why do you think that Tina is more dangerous than you?

GC: Well the thing with Survivor is that it is about more than just survival skills. It is also about social skills. You need to have a certain type of social skills if you want to succeed.

PG: And you don't have good social skills?

GC: I've always considered myself to have good social skills. But as for the kind of social skills that help you win a million dollars, obviously not. That is where Tina has it all over me. She is a lot like me, but she thinks a lot more like a chess player.

PG: Do you think Vecepia has that ability as well?

GC: She has won Survivor twice. What do you think?

PG: Did you get along with Vecepia during the game? We really never saw many scenes between the two of you.

GC: Well we had a nice moment up on the overlook once. She came up there one day when I was meditating and we had a nice talk.

PG: Oh yeah, I remember that. That was one of my favorite scenes.

GC: I think Vecepia is one of the most genuinely nice people I have ever met in my life. We didn't really get very close during the game, but I don't think there was one moment where I ever saw her without a smile on her face. She wasn't a Keko, so we were never very close, but she was always a good person to have around camp. She has a very spiritual presence about her.

PG: Is that why you ended up voting for her to win?

GC: No. I liked Vecepia, and I had a lot of respect for her as a person, but that's not why I voted for her. I voted for her because I thought she deserved it.

PG: Even though she was a former winner?

GC: At a certain point in the game, it was impossible to really think of anyone as a "former winner." Once you got past the merge, and into the complicated relationships and the strategy, I realized that no one was a former winner or a former non-winner. Once we got down to the last 7-8 days of the game, we were all simply competitors. And if you look at Vecepia that way, I thought she deserved it. She had a very hard road to overcome just to get there.

PG: This is very interesting coming from someone who once said they would never vote for a former winner. I think your vote at the end surprised just about everyone.

GC: Yeah, what was John's famous comment about that? That I would be "a big fat hypocrite." I think that's what he said about me.

PG: It was something like that.

GC: Well then, okay. Call me whatever you want. When push came to shove, I thought that Vee played the best game. There's my answer.

PG: Did you buy Vee's jury speech when she said that she dragged John to the end just because she knew she could beat him. Did you buy it when she said that?

GC: Yes.

PG: Why?

GC: Because I knew it was true. When she said that, it all finally made sense to me. That was when I finally realized she was just as forward-thinking as Tina. That was when I finally realized that.

PG: Would she have gotten your vote anyway?

GC: Yes. I just thought she had overcome more. No offense to John, but Vee didn't have the luxury of having a dominant personality. She just had to work harder at it.

PG: Did most of the jurors believe that Vee had dragged John to the end?

GC: I don't think so. That wasn't a very popular answer at the time. In fact that answer alone might have cost her Colleen's vote. Colleen didn't buy it at all.

PG: Interesting.

GC: That's a good word for it. Colleen and Vee had an interesting relationship.

PG: What do you say to the people who accuse you of just wanting a woman to win All-Stars? Do you think there is any truth behind that?

GC: Who? Me?

PG: Yeah. A lot of people have mentioned that you never would have voted for John because he wasn't a female. Why do you think they accuse you of that?

GC: Well it's obvious that I gravitated towards the females more. I mean, most of the game I was aligned with Alicia and Kathy. So that's probably where they get it.

PG: Would you have ever voted for a male to win?

GC: Of course I would have. That's silly. My favorite player in Borneo was Greg. I voted for Vecepia because she deserved it.

PG: You said that your two closest allies in the game were Kathy and Alicia. Are you still close to the two of them? And did you and Alicia really have as many problems as it appeared on the show?

GC: Alicia and I got along fine, for the most part. But when the game got stressful and emotional, we definitely had some issues. That wasn't just editing. We were both so convinced that what we were doing was the right thing to do, that we had a hard time agreeing on anything.

PG: Do the two of you get along now?

GC: Of course. We always got along. It just got a lot easier when we were both out of the game.

PG: And you and Kathy?

GC: Kathy and I will always get along. We had a lot of fun when we were together.

PG: Well since we're talking about you and Kathy and Alicia, I am sort of curious if you have changed your stance on alliances by this point. After all, you were certainly against the whole idea back in Borneo.

GC: Absolutely. Most of us were.

PG: Has your opinion changed after All-Stars?

GC: Well, yes and no. I mean, I never thought that the whole alliance thing was wrong. I actually gave a lot of thought to it the first time I played. But then I always came back to, is it worth it? Is the money worth it? Would it feel good if I had to stab someone live Gervase in the back just to get it?

PG: And has that answer changed?

GC: I really don't think so. I still don't think I could have stabbed Kathy or (to a lesser extent) Alicia in the back just to win some money. That wouldn't be me. Now whether you say that makes me against alliances or not, I guess that's your call. All I know is that I had one way I wanted to play this game both times around, and I think I did the best I could with how I wanted to do it.

PG: Okay, sticking with that topic, I have another question for you. Towards the end of the game, you told Colleen that you wanted to quit, just so she could make it to the final two instead of one of the Ahis. Was that a legitimate offer?

GC: Oh yes, it was very legitimate.

PG: Why on earth would you volunteer to quit the game?

GC: You know, at the time, it sounded like a perfectly reasonable idea. I mean, I knew that I wasn't going to win. No one would let me near the final two. And-- yes-- I'll admit it. I was a little bit angry.

PG: Angry with the Ahis?

GC: Yes. At that point in time, I was really frustrated with the way they were playing the game. They all seemed unnecessarily harsh to me. I didn't like it at all.

PG: So why offer to quit for Colleen?

GC: Because I knew she was going to get screwed over by them. I saw it coming, and I didn't like it at all. Everyone knew exactly what was going to happen to Colleen except for Colleen. She was completely blind to how much they were all playing her. And I didn't think she deserved that.

PG: So you really would have quit the game?

GC: Well, yes. I guess. Although I'm sure it would have been harder to consider it once we got close to the final three.

PG: How did it feel when you wound up getting Colleen voted out?

GC: Horrible. That was, without a doubt, my single worst moment in the game. I got Colleen voted out, and it was all my fault. I wanted to scream.

PG: I think a lot of people had problems with that episode. I know I did. It was hard to watch.

GC: And I knew it too. I told Colleen over and over after the game how sorry I was. It wasn't supposed to have happened that way. All I was doing was trying to help her.

PG: When all is said and done, how will you remember All-Stars? What will be the single most defining moment for you?

GC: Probably the first few days at camp, when we were all together. Those were fun times. The Kekos had some really fun campfires.

PG: Even with Richard?

GC: Especially with Richard. You guys will scoff, but I always had a fun time with Richard. He was one of my favorites. Between him and Mike, we always had something exciting we could talk about around camp. Those two made every day fun. They were incredibly original.

PG: Would you still vote Teresa off first if you could go back and do it again?

GC: I hated to do it, but I still think we had to. It broke her heart, but she could barely walk.

PG: How does the fame of being on All-Stars compare to your first time around, in Borneo? Was it any different?

GC: Oh absolutely different. The first time around, we came off that island, and we were all rock stars. It was a little overwhelming. I mean, here we were, expecting 4 or 5 million people to watch the show, and we ended up with 25 million. It was surreal. Most of us had to change our phone numbers. Some of us even moved. It was incredible. I couldn't go out and shop for groceries for 6 months.

PG: And was it different this time around?

GC: Well I was never all that concerned with fame anyway. And I'm used to people pointing and staring at me when I go for a walk. So from that perspective, no it isn't much different. Fame is fame. You either slide right into it and embrace it, like Gervase or Jenna or Sean, or you don't, like Greg. I learned a long time ago that maybe it's not so great to be famous.

PG: Would you do Survivor again?

GC: Probably not. But I enjoyed it while it lasted. Although I'm still not sure why people think I'm a celebrity.

PG: Thanks, Gretchen. It has been an honor to talk to you.

GC: Thanks, it has been fun.

PG: Best wishes in the future, and I hope your arm is all healed up. We both know you would have won Hawaii if you hadn't been injured.

GC: Shhh, don't tell anyone that. I don't want to sound bitter.

PG: Bye!

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