Exclusive: Corinne Kaplan talks 'Survivor: Caramoan -- Fans vs. Favorites' (Part 2)

Corinne Kaplan, a 33-year-old clinical consultant from Los Angeles, CA, was eliminated from Survivor: Caramoan -- Fans vs. Favorites' newly-merged Enil Edam tribe during Wednesday night's eighth episode of the CBS reality series' 26th edition.
 
Corinne was voted out of her tribe at the season's eighth Tribal Council, the first time the new Enil Edam tribe had an elimination vote.


In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Corinne talked about her Survivor experience. Below is the concluding portion of her interview. Click here to read the first half.

Reality TV World: How had you seen the rest of the game playing out if you had managed to succeed in getting Phillip Sheppard out? Had you seen your alliance of Malcolm Freberg, Edward "Eddie" Fox, Reynold Toepfer, Michael Snow, Erik Reichenbach, and Dawn Meehan going all the way to the Final 7 or were you going to cannibalize each other? (Laughs)

Corinne Kaplan: I thought we would but I knew -- you've got problems when you have two idols in a group of people. I mean, there's a solution in the beginning, right? That's how we get other people out. That's how we manage. But when we get down to the six or seven of us, now there's real problems if the idols are still there.

So it would've been challenging because, again, I thought they would go after each other. I thought Dawn and I would be safe, but you don't know. It's dangerous. It's really dangerous to go that far in the game with that many idols.


Reality TV World: Where did you see Michael in there? You seemed really, really close to him on the show. But you're not mentioning Michael much right now.

Corinne Kaplan: Oh, I love Michael! Michael certainly had been -- it would've been a toss-up between Michael and Dawn, I guess, I don't know. I could tell Michael I was bringing him to the end. I loved Michael. I loved Michael and I thought Michael was just snarky enough.

He has a very similar sense of humor to me and I thought that it was sort of an even playing field. If you were going to toss votes out, if I'm sitting next to Dawn or I'm sitting next to Malcolm, they're probably going to win.

But Michael and I were kind of even, so I like Michael as a person. But aside from that, thinking that out, I thought he was a good person to actually bring to the end. I thought it was a fair shot for me.

Reality TV World: It sounds like Erik was a mystery to everyone out there to some extent. Do you have any idea what ended up happening there? Do you think he actually counted the votes and realized it would still only be a tie if he stayed with you and that played a big role in why...


Corinne Kaplan: Here's a question that I want to ask Erik, "You're told five minutes before Tribal that they're switching the vote and you're going to vote somebody out you think you're aligned with. Do you not ask why? Do you not say, '[Andrea Boehlke], why?' If you think you're the most important person or the swing vote, you're not going to ask why you're doing that?"

It's ludicrous. I can't -- I was throwing things at my TV like, "Come on, Erik! Come on! Don't you want someone to make a case for why the hell they want me out? Especially since my new alliance had you in it too!" Like, I don't get it. And he hated Phillip, because he was very close with [Brandon Hantz].

Phillip drove Brandon insane, literally, and he didn't like Phillip at all! So why would you go with the alliance that involves Phillip? You are looking to play long-term with Phillip? I mean, you see, the problem is, they don't show us because they're probably -- I don't know.

The hamster fell off the wheel inside that kid's head. I don't think he actually thinks anything through. So there is no confessional of him saying, "This is why I did it," because he probably doesn't have one! It's frustrating.

Reality TV World: I wanted to ask you a little bit about Malcolm. Malcolm seemed to be, with the exceptions of Dawn and Michael, the only other person that you got close to out there. Why do you think you ended up hitting it off so well with Malcolm?


Corinne Kaplan: That's easy, because he's the only person on my tribe that didn't show up with an ego. All those people think they're the massive star that came out of their season, and they all think they're "real famous" -- like actual famous people. They would compare Twitter followers and how many mentions they had, like ludicrous things.

I didn't even know what Klout is, but they compared Klout [social media] scores. Like you wanted to strangle these morons and because he had not -- because his season hadn't aired, it's one thing to play -- there are two different experiences. There's playing and then there's watching yourself play. And people get really big heads about it.

[Malcolm] didn't have that, and so I was immediately drawn to him. He was innocent. He was sweet and sincere in his want to play and his love for the game. And he wasn't making moves because he thought it would make fans happy or make [good TV], you know? He didn't do things like that and I appreciated that, because I don't do things for camera time.

I don't come in saying, "I've already decided I'm going to name whatever alliance I have Stealth R Us." These are the names that they come up with before you even start the game. I mean, he already had that in the can. It's not like it was an impulsive move. I hate it!

Reality TV World: Malcolm was obviously there with the disadvantage of filming his seasons back to back [before the first had aired], so nobody really knew anything about him. It sounds like you clearly perceived that as a positive, but do you think that was a negative in any way? Do you think it negatively impacted his ability to fit in with the rest of them -- like people were maybe wary of him or anything like that?


Corinne Kaplan: Immediately, everyone kept saying -- everyone was -- over and over, before the merge, Phillip said, "The first person we need out is Malcolm." And I was like, "Why?!" And he's like, "Because he's a wild card. I don't want to play with wild cards. He made it far in his season."

So we obviously -- it's different for the other fans because they aren't successful yet, right? But we knew Malcolm was successful. So there was a problem. These people, in their minds, they -- also, I can tell you for sure -- this isn't how I think, but this is how they think -- they're all trying to get "Fan Favorite." They all think they're going to get that $100,000 [prize].

And they know that Malcolm made it far and he looks like he does and he's cool and he's funny and he's smart. He's in competition with them not only for the million, but for "Fan Favorite."

They want him out. He's going to get camera time, they want him out. He's got a lot going up against him, you know, going into this, and so did I. And that's kind of why we come together.

Reality TV World: Getting back to Phillip, how much of his behavior do you think was an act and do you think any part of it was legitimate? In simple terms, how would you explain Phillip? (Laughs)


Corinne Kaplan: I genuinely think there is something really wrong with him, like I say this in the most sincere way, like, I think that he has -- for sure, going into illusions of grandeur, which can sometimes be a bi-polar, or there's many disorders that come with that. If you actually met him, I wish I could say that in some alternate universe he's a normal human being, he's just not. He's really off-kilter. Something's just off.

He has the perceptions of himself and the world that are so incredibly, you know, inflated, that you can't even understand where he's coming from. And the other problem is he's very low intelligence, honestly, he's not very smart. And it's not that he didn't go to college, but like, you see. How many times has he mispronounced something?

And you're looking at the screen going like, "You gave a confessional using a word you don't know how to pronounce." He's not very smart and he has some sort of mental handicap. So he's real crazy. I don't even honestly, I like Brandon. I know Brandon doesn't like me, but I like him. I think Phillip's more crazy than Brandon.

Reality TV World: There's been a lot of discussion this season about whether Phillip was really the leader of the Favorites or whether the rest of you were just letting him think he was the leader. And there's also been a third school of thought that you guys started out letting him think he was the leader but it kind of backfired and he actually became the real leader. Can you explain what happened there?

Corinne Kaplan: That remains to be seen. I can tell you he was not my leader and I can only speak for myself. And I know he wasn't Malcolm's leader. I mean, he would -- in the beginning when he's crazy, it was just like, "Alright, you're nicknaming us, alright, whatever. You've got Stealth R Us. You talk about how your a specialist, it's annoying, but whatever."

But when he started making decisions as though he was actually the leader, that's when it pissed me off. I mean, he's telling me who I've got to vote out. He wants Michael out or he -- you know, you don't get to make decisions. You're too stupid to make actual decisions. So for me, he was never a leader. I don't know what these other people were doing.


Because he's obviously Erik's leader, you know? Erik decided to go that way to follow him, so I don't know! Maybe some people perceived him that way. I didn't, and I certainly never would let him. No decision he ever made I ever went along with.

Even with little things, when we're strategizing for challenges, "Shut up, Phillip." I mean, Phillip, he's so stupid. Everything that he says, it's just so bad. I just can't explain it. I can't figure it out, but he's not intelligent enough to lead anybody.

Reality TV World: The people we haven't seen a lot of so far this season really seem to be Brenda Lowe and Andrea and suddenly last night, it seemed like there was an alliance between Andrea and John Cochran. Can you talk anything about that? What's going on with Brenda? What was your impression of her? Why has she been so under the radar, at least as we've seen?

Corinne Kaplan: I always like say, "Who?" I mean, I played 22 days with her. I think she maybe spoke two times to me. She doesn't speak. At all. Ever -- not just to me, but period. Like you're in a conversation and you'll see -- do you remember there was a scene where we're all, we come back from the Brandon meltdown and everybody's got something to say about it? It's a big deal; She didn't say anything.

I don't know if that's under the radar or if she's just like, I don't know, has like a sudden lapse of muteness. I don't know. I don't know. She's invisible because she was invisible. (Laughs) I'm sure she, you know, in her mind -- I know she's very smart, for sure. I don't know if that was like an intentional strategy or if she just, if she was shell-shocked, I don't know. It was very odd. She never talked.

Reality TV World: What about Cochran and Andrea? We haven't seen much of them either before last night. Were you aware of that relationship while you were out there or is there really not a relationship there?


Corinne Kaplan: You know, I knew they were friends outside the game. I knew they like hung out and they were friends. I didn't know the extent -- I didn't know what Andrea was doing, honestly, because I love Andrea. When I was playing with Andrea, I thought she was cool as hell. I mean, we would hang out, we would laugh, I loved her personality, I thought she was great.

But Andrea came across to me as very insecure and she was very young, and so, she was very difficult to judge. She would run around like she's everybody's best friend. She's really tight with everybody, and I don't know. I perceived her as being especially close to Cochran.

I thought Cochran had a little bit of a crush on her, so I sort of saw from Cochran's side, I could understand why he wanted to be with Andrea. I don't really know what Andrea saw in Cochran, but apparently, they're close.

Reality TV World: The show previously showed Malcolm saying he didn't really want to tell you that he had found a hidden Immunity Idol but was kind of forced to. Did that kind of surprise you?

Corinne Kaplan: Well yeah, because it's totally bullsh-t. We went looking for the idol together. I pointed to the tree and went, "Put your hand in there. I don't want to put my hand in." So good luck finding it without me because I'm the one that pointed to the tree trunk.

So I don't know how the hell he could've found the idol and kept it from me because we went hunting for it together. What would you expect? Of course we're going to share it. That was an idiot confessional and I don't get it.


Above is the concluding portion of Corinne's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Click here to read the first half.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski