Exclusive: Michael Snow talks 'Survivor: Caramoan -- Fans vs. Favorites' (Part 1)

Michael Snow, a 44-year-old event planner from New York, was eliminated from Survivor: Caramoan -- Fans vs. Favorites' merged Enil Edam tribe during Wednesday night's ninth episode of the CBS reality series' 26th edition.
 
Michael was voted out of his tribe at the season's ninth Tribal Council, the second time the new Enil Edam tribe had an elimination vote.


In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Michael talked about his Survivor experience. Below is the first half of Michael's interview. Check back with Reality TV World on Monday for the concluding portion.

Reality TV World: It seemed like there was a lot of scrambling going on before Tribal Council but last night's broadcast didn't really show you being a direct part of any of it.  What had you gone into Tribal Council expecting to happen?

Michael Snow: Well to be honest with you, I wasn't sure. I wasn't in a position to have a plan that was going to be following through at that Tribal Council.

But what I was hoping would happen was that they were going to split the vote and then [Dawn Meehan] would jump with us -- [Edward "Eddie" Fox], [Reynold Toepfer], [Malcolm Freberg], and I -- and we would vote for [Andrea Boehlke] and she would go home.


But did I think that was going to work out? I thought there was a slim chance, but if that didn't work, I thought it was going to be either Eddie or Reynold. I had no idea that they were going to vote for me and nor did I have any idea that Malcolm was going to jump up and go, "Give me the idol!"

Reality TV World: So it sounds like you thought if the "Favorites" were going to split their votes, it'd be between Reynold and Eddie, and if they didn't split them, the votes would still be for Reynold or Eddie. Is that right?

Michael Snow: No, no. I thought that they were going to split their votes. So whether Dawn came with us or not was one of the questions, so if she came with us, I would still know they were going to split the votes. But if she didn't come with us, it was still a split vote. I had no idea they were switching it to me. I was hoping it was a split vote that would go our way with Andrea going home.

Reality TV World: So you had no idea that the "Favorites" alliance was thinking Malcolm wasn't with them and was planning on voting him off instead?

Michael Snow: Well, like I didn't know to what extent they were all aware of our giant plan with [Corinne Kaplan] and Malcolm and stuff. I knew that Corinne was telling everyone that she had Malcolm and I, but I didn't know that they were so aware of the overall plan that we had. I knew -- I didn't know that Dawn knew the plan. I knew that she knew Corinne was going to go wayward.


I didn't know that she knew Malcolm had been planning as well, so I thought maybe they thought he was a little with them. So I wasn't sure where he was with that giant "Stealth R Us" alliance. There were so many things that I was unaware of, so the only leverage that I had was really, on that particular day, was with Eddie and Reynold.

Any leverage I had with Dawn was precarious. I didn't trust her. [John Cochran] was sick. He's laying there sick all day, so I couldn't go to him. And then Malcolm was like a new person and he was a new alliance, so I didn't know where he was coming from.

Reality TV World: So you knew they had voted Corinne off because they had some awareness of the rebellion she was leading?

Michael Snow: Yeah, but I thought that was coming from a place of like panic about Corinne. I didn't think it was a -- I thought it was more about like how they could see her gathering power, not that she had it. I saw a subtle difference in where I thought they were. But they really were into how far she was ready to go.

Reality TV World: It sounds like, based upon what we saw on the show, the rest of your allies there -- Malcolm, Reynold and Eddie -- you guys all kind of had the same thought that they got rid of Corinne not so much because they were fully aware of what she had going on but that they were concerned about the possibility down the road?


Michael Snow: Yeah, I mean, I knew Malcolm knew he needed to flip. Malcolm was a huge threat out there the moment I met the guy. I was like, "I can't go to the end with this guy. He's the perfect type of winner. He's good in challenges, he's very social, he comes across as very laid back."

So I knew he was a big threat and I knew he felt like he needed to make a big move. So you know, I was ready to work with him. We just hadn't established that working relationship at that point.

Reality TV World: When did you first begin to think things weren't going to work out like you had expected them to play out at Tribal? Was it some of the comments that people began making?

Michael Snow: There was trouble when it -- like I knew that Reynold had shown Dawn the idol. He told me that he was going to do it and then he told me that he had done it.

So when it came out that the whole "Stealth R Us" knew that Reynold had the idol and [Phillip Sheppard] was kind of like giving him a hard time about showing it to her, so it was all talked about. We knew we were kind of screwed at that point. I just didn't know how it was going to play out.


Reality TV World: You just didn't think you were going to be the one taking the fall, right? (Laughs)

Michael Snow: No, because the whole time, I was always like -- one of my games was to make sure that one of these other guys was the target. So even during all that, I was like, "Well he's the target. Malcolm's the target," you know? "So I can slink back into the shadow again and let them be the voice of what I hope will go down.

Reality TV World: I'm sure we only got to see a small part of it based on the editing, but Phillip's Tribal Council comments seemed to convince Malcolm that the other "Favorites" knew he was turning on him and they had voted for him. Had you had the same take on Phillip's comments or what had you come away thinking?

Michael Snow: Well, Phillip was very confrontational in that Tribal Council. He was kind of coming at me indirectly. He was going on and on about "Stealth R Us." He always talked about "Stealth R Us" and he always talked about "In my season..." and "Boston Rob..." and "In my Season 22 of Redemption Island..." He just talked about that all the time and it was so tiresome.

Like I didn't know -- I didn't watch your season. So he was so contentious that whole Tribal Council, but he never attacked me directly. He and I had been getting into it at camp, so he knew that he didn't have to attack me at Tribal Council.


It was already known that he and I were not getting along. So, he didn't come at me directly, and I think maybe he didn't come at me directly because he didn't want to be pointing the finger at me. It was okay for him to attack the other guys because they were voting me out.

Above is the first half of Michael's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Check back with us on Monday for the concluding portion.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski