Exclusive: Randy Bailey talks about 'Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains'

When it came time for their first Tribal Council session, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains castaway Randy Bailey thought it was obvious that his Villains tribe's best move was to vote off Parvati Shallow, the highly manipulative former Survivor: Micronesia winner who could also be a threat to betray the Villains and rejoin with three of her former Micronesia allies once the Heroes and Villains tribes eventually merged.


However Parvati was able to manipulate the majority of their fellow Villains into believing otherwise, resulting in Randy becoming the third returning castaway voted out of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains during last night's episode of the CBS reality competition.

On Friday, Randy talked to Reality TV World about his Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains experience, including how he knew he was going home long ahead of time, what he thinks of de facto Villains leader Rob "Boston Rob" Mariano, and why he's confused about Russell Hantz's stolen machete strategy.

Reality TV World: What type of message did you think you were sending Rob with your vote, did you feel he was the one most responsible for your exit?

Randy Bailey: Yeah, I wasn't sending Rob a message, I was sending my remaining friends a message.


Reality TV World: Okay, what was the message?

Randy Bailey: That this guy is trouble.  We've seen two seasons of him and he's screwed people over twice.  And you know, [the definition of] insanity is making the same mistakes over and over again so I don't know why we would allow him to continue to run the show.

Reality TV World: Last night's episode showed Rob warning Russell about his relationship with Parvati, but [Benjamin "Coach" Wade], [Tyson Apostol] and [Jerri Manthey] seemed to be the only ones that were actually in favor of sending her home instead of you.  What that actually the case?

Randy Bailey: Yeah.  A lot of us wanted Parvati gone.  But what we  -- we knew Russell and Parvati were, you know, Boston Rob wasn't the only one who seeing them sleep together at night.  But Russell aligned with Parvati so Russell had to keep Parvati for obvious reasons.  And Russell, you know, must have played it up like "We've got to get rid of Randy because he's the weakest male left in the tribe."

Reality TV World: If the Villains were looking to get rid of their weakest member, how did [Courtney Yates]' name not even seem to come up?  Did you ever even throw her name out there?


Randy Bailey: No, I didn't because I knew it was a losing battle.  The girls would -- and by girls I mean the three young bikini girls, [Danielle DiLorenzo], Parvati and Courtney -- they would tell us, every day we'd wake up and they'd tell us the next shelter that we'd build.  And you don't do that unless you know that you're safe.

So yeah, no, I didn't bring up Courtney because I knew that wasn't a battle I was going to win.  And logically, the Heroes had already lost [Stephenie LaGrossa] and [Jessica "Sugar" Kiper] which gave us the luxury of sitting out two females in a future challenge but all the men would have to go.

Reality TV World: But you had still been targeting Parvati, so wouldn't the same issue have applied there?

Randy Bailey: Yeah, [but] targeting Parvati wasn't because she was weak, and was because, you know, she's Parvati.  We've seen her flirting game twice before just like we've seen Boston Rob's asshole game twice before.

Reality TV World: During your Final Words, you also said you never felt like a member of your tribe, and the Heroes have been shown making similar comments about their tribe having been split since Day 1.  Why do you think that's happened to both tribes this season, do you think it's just all the all-stars egos or something else?


Randy Bailey: I think it's the all-star egos in the Heroes tribe.  Well, and the Villains tribe, to a certain extent. 

Reality TV World: In your tribe's defense, you did acknowledge you're not exactly the warm and fuzzy type and even called yourself as "an ass" in the CBS.com interview you did the day after you were eliminated, so do you think you were at least partially responsible for not feeling like a member of your tribe?

Randy Bailey: Yeah, it's my fault for not being 25 and falling for the bullshit that those girls are selling.  Yeah, that's totally my fault.

Reality TV World: But what does being 25 have to do with trying to keep Rob from trying to start a fire and other [poor attitude] things like that?

Randy Bailey: Yeah, well, who started that fire?


Reality TV World: Whoever it was, you were trying to stop the attempt from happening, right?

Randy Bailey: Well, yeah. I said "I've watched 19 seasons and no one has ever started a fire."  Rob's idea that he found was a good idea and it worked and he proved me wrong.  But Boston Rob did not start that fire, it took all five of us. 

Reality TV World: Why do you think everybody was so blind or unconcerned about the Micronesia folks?

Randy Bailey: [There were] plenty of people concerned, just not enough of them.

Reality TV World: After Coach and Rob approached Russell about his relationship with Parvati and he told her about it on last night's show, she turned around and told him that he would be gone next if she went.  Do you think Russell believed that?


Randy Bailey: I don't know.  I didn't see it live and I [only] saw it on TV last night.

Reality TV World: I guess I'm just trying to understand why do you think that [unlike some of the similar early girl alliances he had during Samoa] his alliance with her seemed so strong.  Do you have any thoughts on that?

Randy Bailey: They bonded on Day 1.  All I witnessed was them cuddling at night together and that was it.

Reality TV World: Sugar has suggested that the reason that Parvati seemed to see right through Russell's gameplay right on Day 1 was that she had somehow managed to hear about his [at the time] unaired Survivor: Samoa season through the Survivor grapevine.  Do you believe that was the case and were you aware of anything about him?

Randy Bailey: I was told the day we got on a plane that there was one player named Russell from Season 19 that was going to be out there.  Didn't know if he was going to be a Hero or a Villain.  I don't know anything about that, you'll have to ask him.

Reality TV World: It's not anything that you discussed with Sugar at the Loser Lodge?


Randy Bailey: No, it was not.

Reality TV World: Besides Russell and Parvati and Coach and Jerri, what other Villains alliances were you aware of out there?

Randy Bailey: Tyson was awful chummy with Courtney, which concerned me.  And that's the only one that I saw that they didn't show you on TV.

Reality TV World: What did you guys think had happened to the machete? Did anyone remotely suspect sabotage or that Russell might have somehow been involved?

Randy Bailey: I did not, and I don't think anybody did.  You know, I knew I was going home long before the machete went missing.  So I was actually glad they showed it pretty similar to the way it happened. 

You know I don't understand the strategy there because everybody there thinks I sabotaged the machete, and I'm already gone, so what good is that going to do for next time when they have to go to Tribal Council?  They can't vote me out a second time.


Reality TV World: What did you think about [Survivor: Pearl Islands winner Sandra Diaz-Twine]?  She seems to be playing the exact same strategy she did last time, which is just basically write anybody's name down but her own.  Do you respect that kind of gameplay or do you even consider it to be real gameplay?

Randy Bailey: I don't respect it at all.  There was more to it with Sandra last night than just that.  She wanted to keep Parvati over me because has won the million [dollars before] just like she has, and it makes more sense for Sandra to keep million dollar winner than me.

Reality TV World: What were your thoughts on [James Clements'] behavior?  In addition to slamming you after the challenge on last night's episode, you also got to see the tirade he'd had after the challenge on last week's episode, right?

Randy Bailey: Yeah.  He's... I think I won't be voting for him for Fan Favorite this year.

Reality TV World: Was Russell's resentment of Rob as obvious as it's come across on TV while you were out there?

Randy Bailey: No, it wasn't as obvious.  You know, he's saying all that stuff in confessionals when none of us are around of course.


Reality TV World: Sure.  But you obviously don't seem to be Rob's biggest fan either so...

Randy Bailey: No, I'm not at all.  I haven't respected his game the two previous times he's played it, and I knew that going in. 

Reality TV World: What was up with all the feral chickens that seemed to be around?  Where were all those chickens during the Samoa season, it's the same spots, right?

Randy Bailey: I wasn't there for Season 19, I don't know where they were.

Reality TV World: But were there really just chickens all over the place like it's seemed to come across so far?

Randy Bailey: You know, we saw a few chickens.  You know, again, I don't know.  You know, the chickens showed up.  I know what your getting at, but I don't know the answer.  (laughs)


If I see it -- I can tell you with certainty that I didn't see anything.  But yeah, there were chickens running around.

Reality TV World: Did they have something to do with the [lack  of interest] in the giant clam you found?  I mean why would almost everyone be turning some clam meat out there -- was chicken meat just so plentiful?

Randy Bailey: No, in the short time that I was there I think we only cooked two chickens.  The chickens are so small that one time I literally had three bites of chicken.   And the second time we cooked a chicken I was off talking to -- you know, I wasn't there and they were supposed to save me a piece of chicken, and they didn't.

No, those chickens were tiny.  In the eight or nine days that I was there, I had three bites of chicken.

Reality TV World: You seemed to throw your buff into the fire and not say a single word to anyone as you were leaving Tribal Council.  Was that actually the case, and if so, did you consider that to be another parting message of sorts to your tribe?

Randy Bailey: Yeah, what would you suggest I have said?


Reality TV World: Well most people say "Goodbye" at least.  Maybe "Good luck."  Something.

Randy Bailey: No, I'd said all I wanted to say before we went to Tribal Council.  I knew I was going and as far as throwing the buff in the fire, yeah, that was sending a message.

Reality TV World: Were you at least happy that Sugar didn't have any part in your downfall this time around?

Randy Bailey: She didn't have any part -- well, I'm not even going to open up that can of worms.

You know, I don't consider a victory with me lasting longer than Sugar.  If my tribe had lost first I could have been first voted out, you never know.






About The Author: Steven Rogers