Survivor: Blood vs. Water witnessed returning castaway Colton Cumbie quit the game during Wednesday night's third episode of the CBS reality series' 27th edition.
ADVERTISEMENT
Colton, who had previously competed on Survivor: One World and got medically evacuated from the game mid-season, opted to leave the show because he couldn't become his Galang tribe's leader nor could he handle the way his tribemates were playing the game.
In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Colton, a 22-year-old student teacher from Collinsville, AL, talked about his experience on Survivor: Blood vs. Water and his reasons for quitting.
Below is the first half of Colton's interview. Check back with Reality TV World on Friday for the concluding portion.
Reality TV World: So last night's episode showed Jeff Probst being pretty insistent that you also quit Survivor your first time during One World and asking if you were finally willing to "own that" and admit you had "feigned" your appendicitis. Did that surprise you?
ADVERTISEMENT
Colton Cumbie: Yeah, I mean, definitely. It was surprising, it was a little bit insulting. I don't understand what the guy wants from me, you know, I think Jeff's argument in that I quit this season because, "Oh, Colton didn't get his way" so he quit -- in One World, everything was going my way. So, which is it?
Reality TV World: Had you had any prior discussions with Jeff -- either earlier in the game, or before Blood vs. Water began, or during the casting process leading up to it -- in which he had made it clear he felt you had just faked your illness and also quit the first time around, or was that the first time he had expressed that opinion to you?
Colton Cumbie: That was the first time I had ever heard it, like he had never said it to me before. And you know, we're all sitting there and he just decides to say that. I don't know. And at that point, I was just like, "You know, whatever." I was like, "Look, there's the doctor. Talk to her. I'm sorry, I'm leaving."
Reality TV World: You didn't exactly deny Jeff's accusation that you faked the severity of your One World illness when he made it, but you didn't exactly admit it either. So, for the record, can you give me a direct answer -- was the illness something you played up because you had decided you want to quit, or not?
Colton Cumbie: No. I mean, I was completely in an amazing position in that game. I could've gone extremely deep, and no, it was not something that I faked.
ADVERTISEMENT
And I'm still confused as to -- I just wish Jeff could tell me, like, why he thinks I would quit then. What is the valid reason that I would throw in the towel when I had a hidden Immunity Idol in my pocket and I was running the entire game, you know what I mean?
Reality TV World: Last night's episode showed you telling Jeff part of the reason you were quitting the game was because you felt you were going to become the same nasty person you'd been in One World if you stayed in the game, but Tyson challenged that and said you had already become that person again. Now that you've gotten the chance to watch the first few episodes and your behavior, do you still feel you hadn't already reverted back to that same negative person before you quit?
Colton Cumbie: I really don't. I mean, do you think I was anywhere near half as bad as I was on One World?
Reality TV World: I don't think you were half as bad, but you were pretty extreme, come on, [on One World]. (Laughs) You could be half as bad this time and still be pretty nasty.
Colton Cumbie: Well my whole, I guess what I would say is, where do you draw the line between what is Colton playing the game and what is Colton as a human being? You know what I mean? Like, my trying to stir up chaos and get some sort of handle and control in the game, like I don't think that's me being a deplorable human being.
ADVERTISEMENT
Now had I stood by and like berated every single member of the tribe and told people to jump in the fire and all that kind of stuff, yeah, that would be me being like a horrible human being. But I just, you know, I didn't do anything like that. I was very conscious of it and I was very aware, and you know, I did learn my lesson in One World that that's not how you talk to people.
That's not how you treat people, you know? And so, I mean, yeah, I tried to play the game and maybe I reverted back to my old ways of playing the game, but here's the thing. I didn't come in promising a new way of playing the game. I just promised that I wasn't going to attack people.
Above is the first half of Colton Cumbie's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Check back with us on Friday for the concluding portion.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski