Survivor: Worlds Apart switched up the tribes and eliminated Max Dawson during the second half of the special two-hour episode of the CBS reality competition's 30th season last Wednesday night.  

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After the three tribes became two -- the red Nargarote tribe and the blue Escameca tribe -- the Nargarote tribe members voted off Max, a 37-year-old media consultant with a Ph.D from Topanga, CA, on Night 14 at the season's fifth Tribal Council session.

Max was eliminated instead of his closest ally Shirin Oskooi after their tribemates determined "who's more annoying."

In a recent exclusive interview with Max, a student of Survivor with a lot of passion for the game, he talked about his experience on the show and ouster. Below is the concluding portion. Click here to read the first half. 

Reality TV World: Shirin worked hard to get Kelly Remington on your side. Did you have any individual conversations with Kelly in attempt to gain her trust or do you wish you had put more effort into bonding with her since she was supposed to be a swing vote?

Max Dawson: Well, I did. And in truth, Kelly wasn't the swing vote (laughs)... I did talk to Kelly quite a few times and I always came away from those conversations thinking, "Well this person really doesn't have a lot to say. This person doesn't really have an opinion. This person doesn't have much of a personality."

In retrospect, now that I know what Kelly does for a living, I have so much respect for Kelly's game. I thought Kelly was this tough girl. She told me she was a bartender and a part-time security guard. When I saw her get whacked in the head, I had nothing but respect for her from a physical standpoint. Her strength, her resolve -- I was so onboard with Kelly.

But I thought, "Personality-wise, there's always that one person on Survivor who really doesn't have that much to say, just sort of a bump on a log." I couldn't have been more wrong. Kelly has ice water running through her veins.

Kelly is a former undercover narcotics agent. She played me masterfully. She played me so well. If we were out in the real world and she was back working on the beat and I was [her target], she would've had me so fooled. I would've been so gone. 

Kelly is good like that and people who are not paying attention to Kelly in this game are doing so to their own detriment, because her background, her training, her physicality make her a terrific competitor.

Reality TV World: Do you think Shirin has any hope of becoming a part of the majority alliance or do you think she'll just be their next obvious vote-off? Could you see her getting any castaway on her side?

Max Dawson: Shirin is clearly in a tough position. It breaks my heart to see her like that. I have been completely unfiltered in my admiration for Shirin both when I was on the island and ever since. I think she's an amazing human being and a great Survivor character -- if not a great Survivor player.

I think she still has it in her and I would not count her out yet by any means. You've seen Shirin stumble and bumble. You've seen her with [Joaquin Souberbielle] and wade out into the water with no bottoms on.

But Shirin is brilliant. Shirin is crafty. Shirin is shrewd. Shirin is not gone in this game by any means, and I think at this point, with Shirin now having her back against the wall, I think this is her moment to shine. And I fully expect her to.

Reality TV World: Do you think Jenn Brown is emerging as the leader of your new tribe? And you mentioned at Tribal Council your tribe was in a devastating state, so do you think they're just going to be picked off one by one going forward?

Max Dawson: Well, from a purely physical standpoint, there's no way that Nargarote or "Newgarote" can compete with Escameca. It's just laughable, especially without me. I'm no [professional athlete], but compared to the other six members of that tribe, I'm the challenge beast. T

hey are screwed in any sort of challenge that requires them to match up physically with the guys and Sierra, who is an amazing athlete in her own right. But that's it. Survivor isn't about who has got the biggest muscles or who can deadlift the most or who has the biggest biceps and especially at this point in the game.

Any moment now, the game is going to switch to [mental], balance, agility, endurance. And someone like Jenn or [Hali Ford] or Kelly is going to clean the clock of a [Rodney Lavoie Jr.] or a [Dan Foley] or a Joaquin, and that can flip things.

And very easily, Jenn and Hali -- who I think are a really effective duo together -- can find themselves in a power position. They've got [Will Simms II] who is essentially a drift at this point. He is there for the grace of God. He is depending on Jenn and Hali for his life in the game.

[Carolyn Rivera] has clearly indicated her desire to switch things up and to play with different people. Kelly is like liquid mercury. She can see in and out of cracks. That group, to me, while physically overmatched, represents a great deal of the other qualities that matter more and more as you go deeper and deeper into the game of Survivor.

So that was a long, convoluted way of saying, I don't know if Jenn is the leader, but I think that Jenn is in a great position. I can see Jenn capitalizing on that given that she's got an idol, given that she's got relationships with a lot of people in the tribe.

If Jenn makes it to the merge and can link back up with Joe or even just take this new group into a situation where they're kind of squaring off against the guys, I expect great things from them.

Reality TV World: So because the two tribes are so physically unmatched now, do you think they made a poor decision in voting you off since they struggled so much with whether to take you or Shirin out?

Max Dawson: It was a brilliant decision to get me off because I'm clearly the most annoying person out there playing Survivor and you always want to make your votes based on who's most annoying.

No, I mean, the reason why you want to get me off is because -- and I'm not saying this from a position of arrogance -- I'm saying this because, do you want to be dealing with me at the end of the game?

Do you want to be going up against someone who's not going to be perceived as a physical threat and will not [escape] a couple of votes early post merge but then who's going to beat you in a puzzle? Who is going to use his "cerebellum" to make you do things you don't want to do? And who is going to give an amazing final Tribal Council speech? I wouldn't want to go against myself.

Reality TV World: Before and after the tribes got switched up, a lot of people said you'd always walk off with Shirin and the two of you would constantly strategize. Was that accurate or more the editing? And do you think that was a bad move on your part, that maybe you should've spent more time with other people trying to strengthen other relationships?

Max Dawson: I definitely should've strengthened my relationship with Carolyn more. That was my biggest mistake in the game. As for how much I interacted with Shirin, I was very cognizant of the fact too much interaction between two people puts a target on both of them.

I voted [So Kim] out of the game partially because of that very reason. She and Joaquin were so tight and so close, they represented a big threat. I tried to avoid Shirin as much as I could, especially during those three days in Nargarote.

And I think most of our interactions took place in a concentrated place before Tribal Council that day. We did strategize blatantly and that was a terrible move on our part. But at that point, we were going to Tribal and we needed to talk desperately because we had tried so hard to not talk for the two days prior.

Beyond that, I probably could've spoken to Shirin less but I probably would've had less fun playing Survivor had I done that, because she is a great person to play with. And to play it with another super fan, and let alone a super fan who's an alumni of my university, it was one of the greatest blessings I had in this game.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on Survivor?

Max Dawson: I was recruited to be on the show. I was in consideration for the two previous seasons on the basis of my class and my professed love of Survivor. But I never applied.

To read the first half of Max's exclusive interview with Reality TV World, click here.


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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