Exclusive: "RC" Roberta Saint-Amour talks 'Survivor: Philippines' (Part 1)

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour was voted out of Survivor: Philippines' newly-merged Dangrayne tribe during Wednesday night's seventh episode of the CBS reality series' 25th edition.


RC, a 27-year-old investment banker from New York, NY, was voted out of her tribe at the season's seventh Tribal Council, which was also the first elimination vote for Dangrayne.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Monday, RC -- who was unable to do post-show interviews last week because she is still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy --  talked about her Survivor: Philippines experience.

Below is the first half of RC's interview. Check back with Reality TV World on Tuesday for the concluding portion.

Reality TV World: You talked about being "blindsided" in your Final Words. So were you completely surprised to be the one voted off?


"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: No, see, no. I wasn't. Blindside has a lot of different definitions. I took every single thing with me to Tribal Council and I knew I was going to get votes. I was hoping for the best, and so, I had obviously a plan with Kalabaw and I thought that they agreed to vote with me... And of course I knew that anything could really happen, which I knew I could possibly be it.

So the problem was, when ["Pete" Peter Yurkowski] went up to vote, I saw my name get written down by him. It's only two initials and he didn't really hide it well, so I knew the entire time that it was me. I was just trying to keep my composure.

Reality TV World: But before the voting then, you still didn't think it was going to be you?

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: Yes, and again, I knew that they were targeting me, but I thought that Kalabaw would've made the smart decision -- which was to be at the top of the major alliance with me and [Michael Skupin] flipping versus being at the bottom of the Tandang alliance that was already formed.

So, I thought I got them to make a rational decision to switch over with me. So again, I knew it was a possibility, but who would've known that they would've done something like that. It's stupid.


Reality TV World: You seemed to think Mike and yourself had formed a strong alliance with Jonathan Penner, Jeff Kent, Carter Williams, and Denise Stapley. What had made you so confident the alliance was solid -- because viewers saw Mike having a lot of conversations with them, but we didn't see a lot of you taking part in those conversations.

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: Yeah, so it's a small amount of time that they can actually show things, but I literally did not stop hounding people. (Laughs) They were making decisions and I was very, very honest about what had happened on the Tandang beach. Michael was very honest about what happened on Tandang beach.

And so, going into that, we thought that they knew where me and Michael lied. Plus, you have Tandang saying that they don't want us and they don't like us and they want us out. So it really made no sense to me. If these people are hearing it from both sides of two people saying the same thing, why wouldn't they take us and form the major alliance? It really made no sense.

Reality TV World: Do you mind elaborating on that a little bit? During last week's episode, you were shown saying that you felt like you had been "ostracized for 17 days..."

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: Yeah! So when the whole idol -- or the whole [hidden Immunity Idol] clue -- came out, literally, everyone in the tribe stopped talking to me and Michael. I would try to even have like a decent conversation about the rain or the weather, and literally, no one would talk to us.


Even when [Malcolm Freberg] came on the beach, if I went up and tried to have a conversation with him, he would walk back to camp or just try anything to not have a private conversation with me -- because he was so afraid that the other people would see it and think that he was getting swayed.

And so, it was really like a fear-based decision that everyone was making, ostracizing me and Michael to the point where we couldn't do anything right on our camp.

Reality TV World: Pete was shown calling you "dangerous" when he was trying to convince Jeff Kent to join his alliance. Did that surprise you?

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: No. It didn't, because I know that Pete thought I was very dangerous. The problem is, I don't think Pete's ever met a woman like me before. (Laughs) I'm very strong and I'm very intellectual and I'm a lot of things. One thing that he correctly made an assumption of was that I couldn't be told what to do.

He wanted to run the game and he wanted to take people with him that he could tell what to do, and he couldn't tell me what to do. So, he was correct in thinking I was dangerous, because he couldn't run straight past me. I was going to sort of be his equal, but I don't think that he really wanted that.


Reality TV World: Pete during an interview was also shown saying he originally intended to have all six Tandang folks stay together but that you wouldn't let that happen.

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: Right.

Reality TV World: ... And then he also kind of took a shot at Skupin, saying he "doesn't have a brain of his own" and just did whatever you told him to do basically. It sounds like none of that was really a surprise to you?

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour:  No, because that's like -- they would say worse than that to our faces at camp. (Laughs) So, it's funny because no one really played with their cards close to their chest. And so, again, me and Michael always knew where we stood with them.

It was never a secret, and so, it really was not a smart decision how Pete played the game at all. Because I would have gone in strong. I wouldn't have even known that they turned on me if he kept it a secret, but he didn't.


So, I would've more than happily not flipped if I thought there was any possibility whatsoever that people even wanted to talk to me or have a conversation with me at my old beach. But no one anticipated that we would go on this [Immunity Challenge] run and not even lose or have to go to Tribal Council once.

Reality TV World: I noticed at Tribal Council Michael actually voted for Jonathan instead of joining you and Jonathan in voting for Pete.

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: Yeah!

Reality TV World: So did that kind of surprise you to have that come out? Because it seemed like Michael kind of had an idea you were going home well before Pete cast his vote then.

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: Oh yeah, that's for sure. You know, I understand that only one person can win this game, and really, the rest of us are all losers, right? (Laughs) But I thought that we had an alliance -- a true alliance, a lifelong alliance. So, I did not think he was going to do what he did, especially since he told me he wasn't or didn't even warn me.

And that's not a decision that I -- if I was in his shoes -- I [would] have made, but I guess he did what he thought he had to do and that was to also not vote with me, not tell me, and not tell me that I was getting voted out that night. And so, that's certainly something that you'd have to obviously bring up with Michael. But yes, it was a shock to me to find out that that's really how everything went down.


Reality TV World: What was your reaction when you learned that Pete was the one who put the hidden Immunity Idol clue in your bag?

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: I found out earlier than when it aired, so I was prepared for it.

Reality TV World: But after you were voted out of the game? Because it seemed like at Tribal Council, you still didn't know.

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour:  Yeah you know, nothing really shocks me about Pete. He's not a smart player. He's not a strategic player. He did something I know he regretted because he has since apologized and he knows that that's where everything unraveled for the Tandang tribe.

And so, you know, clearly he regrets it. So nothing really surprises me that he did, because he's an irrational player as well and he made an irrational decision.

Reality TV World: That clue incident really seemed to be what destroyed your alliance with Abi-Maria Gomes. Do you think your alliance with Abi would've survived if it hadn't of happened, or do you think it still would've crumbled?


"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: Oh no, it was crumbling. It was in the process of like just like almost having burst. That was just sort of like a little bit of a catalyst. And really, her whole argument to me was that I betrayed her. And obviously, we all know that she already had the idol at this point when she was screaming her head off that I betrayed her.

So it really made no sense that she would even think that, because she knows that she shared the clue with someone else. She knows that she betrayed me, and so, we were so far down this path of never working together and not working together, that the clue didn't really matter.

I think it probably would've maybe been smarter not to do that, because that was really like the nail in the coffin for us, and we certainly knew after that, that it was over. If they were smarter players, they maybe would've kept it more to their chest and then really blindsided us.

Reality TV World: So what is your overall opinion of Abi at this point?

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: You know, it's really hard for me because there is no reason Abi should like me. (Laughs) I represent the complete opposite of who she is as a person and represent everything she really isn't. And so, there's really no reason for that girl to like me or to work with me at all in life or in the game. And so, I don't blame her for hating me by any means.

Reality TV World: So you think Abi actually hates you? (Laughs)


"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: Yeah, I think so! (Laughs) But I'll let your readers decide that. That can be one of the questions at the end, like, "RC doesn't know. What do you guys think?" (Laughs)

Above is the first half of RC's interview. Check back with Reality TV World on Tuesday for the concluding portion.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski