What surprised you most about the show?
I guess just what it’s like to be on 24/7, to have cameras walking around all the time. I really didn’t have an image going out there about what it’s going to be like. I didn’t know if it was going to be like Survivor, like real bare-bones type. So I prepared trying to learn how to build a fire from scratch and all this stuff. And they ended up having a set all built for us. And that was a big surprise, too— that it was a pretty comfortable living all in all.
Having been on a reality TV show, now what do you think about them?
The people that are out there—this might sound too artistic—but you’re giving the producers the paint and the palette, and then they do whatever they want with it. They’re just pulling out little bits trying to tell a story. And that story probably has nothing to do with what was really going on out there. During the interviews, they would ask you questions, but you couldn’t say like, “Oh yeah, that happened.” You’d always need to resay the question, so they’d say, like, “Do you think Tiy-e is cocky?” and you’d have to say like, “Yeah, I think Tiy-e is really cocky.” And so it just comes off as if it’s your idea. So almost everything you see in the interviews—the one-on-one shots—was probably something a producer said first.
What did you do right after you had to leave the camp?
Yeah, yeah, so they talk about going to the “other side of the island.” What that actually was was a one-way ticket home. [laughs] So I spent like one night in Cancun having a decent meal, and then you’re out the next day.
What is the deal with you and “Mary Ann” Mandy?
No, I really do have a girlfriend here, and she’s been great about the whole thing, very understanding. “Gilligan” Zac, “Mary Ann” and I all sort of planned this love triangle thing as a way to kind of get air time. It was really “Gilligan” Zac that masterminded it because he’s—well, his mom really is sick and everything—but he was using everything to try to get some air time. He was really savvy about the whole thing, saying, “Okay, so here’s what we’re going to do.”
So should we expect to see you on something like The Real Gilligan’s Island All-Stars?
If they called me for the all-star thing, then I would certainly consider it.
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