Exclusive: "RC" Roberta Saint-Amour talks 'Survivor: Philippines' (Part 2)

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour was eliminated from Survivor: Philippines' newly-merged Dangrayne tribe during last 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 concluding portion of RC's interview. Click here to read the first half.

Reality TV World: What was your relationship with "Pete" Peter Yurkowski like early in the game? Because it seemed unclear whether you, Abi-Maria Gomes and Pete were ever in an alliance all together in the beginning or whether Abi just had separate alliances with the two of you.

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: The problem with Peter is I never trusted him and I know he has this quote at the end that said he didn't like me, and it's like, "Same buddy." (Laughs) But the problem was that I was [in] a six-person tribe. I didn't have that much wiggle room. He's a young, fit male -- never will an unfit male be outcasted or targeted, because we need you to win challenges.


And so, I sort of had to come up with an alliance with him because there was no reason he should be voted out first at all. And so, I thought if I worked with him and he was smart enough to work with me, that we could both benefit. But he just didn't see it the way that I saw it, which is a mutual...

Reality TV World: An equal type thing.

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: Exactly. He didn't want an equal thing. He wanted to like boss me around or tell me what to do, and I'm just not that kind of person. He had that with Abi. He had that with [Artis Silvester]. He had that with a couple of other people, and he could do that with me, which is why I think I was also really targeted. Because yeah, he knew better. (Laughs)

Reality TV World: Yeah, he didn't seem to like the strong, independent woman-type.

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: No, not so much. (Laughs)


Reality TV World: Do you have any explanation as to why Jeff Kent was so blindly focused on getting Jonathan Penner out that he passed on the chance to be part of the core six-person alliance that would be in control of the game?

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: I have no idea. I think maybe -- I tried to think about this one logically and I still have yet to come up with a good, sound answer. I do know that he also regrets his decision, and when I saw him again for the first time, those were the first words out of his mouth. So I know that he really regretted it.

But I think he was just so scared about Penner. I think he -- in one of the clips from the show, he said, "What about RC?" And someone said, "She's dangerous." And he goes, "Yeah, I can see that." So he also really pegged me as someone he didn't want to work with either. So when I'm saying, "Hey, take me, take me!" He's like, "Eh, not so much." (Laughs)

So I think it was the combination of the two. Maybe if it was a [Lisa Whelchel] or someone else that he didn't think he had a chance of winning against in the end, he might have wanted to make the move. But it really wasn't a rational move that I don't even know if he can really justify at this point.

Reality TV World: Well even Lisa was pointing out that you're going from being the core of a four to being fifth and sixth [members], you know what I mean?


"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: Yeah, and kudos for Tandang to get him to do that and vote out me. Really, this guy is an MVP MLB baseball player, and that was the decision that he made? As a competitor, it's like, "Wow, if you can pull one over on him, jeeze."

Reality TV World: I was going to ask you about that. After the tribes merged, Jeff Kent seemed pretty sure no one recognized him as a former baseball player -- was that actually the case? Did you or anyone else know but just choose to keep quiet about it?

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: No, 100% percent I had no clue. I think it's kind of awesome. I really like him as a person and he does -- he's got this huge competitive edge. So I'm not surprised to find out after that he was as successful in his sport as he was because he just has it.

Like when you meet a real pro athlete like that, they just have something that's different than other people. And that was something that he certainly had. I didn't notice it as strongly in the game because I didn't spend enough time really in the game with him, but certainly afterwards. And knowing him afterwards, I have such respect for him as an athlete.

Reality TV World: You had seemed excited to have Malcolm Freberg join your tribe and thought you'd be able to align with him, but that obviously didn't happen -- what went wrong?


"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: I really had no options, so I tried a million times and a million different ways to sort of have logical, rational conversation, strategy sessions with people from my tribe. And no one really wanted to listen or give me the time of day, and I think that's because I was ousted and everyone was so secure with their position that they didn't want to be seen talking to the outcast.

And so, when Malcolm came, it was like, "Okay, maybe I actually have a chance here to do something." Malcolm's also a very rational guy and a player, and I noticed that he voted the weak people off of his tribe first.

And so, anybody who looks at our tribe would see that me and [Michael Skupin] were really contributing to every single one of our wins. So if push came to shove, why would you get out the strong player?

Because you need us to keep winning. And so that was really my angle with Malcolm, but at the same time, very early on -- within the first couple seconds of him being on our tribe, when I had that little moment when I went in the water to play around -- I knew that Malcolm was with them.

Reality TV World: Had you been hoping that Malcolm or Denise Stapley would be the one that would join your tribe, and do you think things would have worked out any differently if it had been Denise instead of Malcolm?


"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: Oh yeah, 100% percent I think Denise would not have gone along. I think Denise would've put a stop to it or would've recognized it and would've wanted to come along with like the older, more rational, nicer people -- which were me, Michael and Lisa. And what you're missing is that me and Lisa had a great, strong relationship on that island outside of the game.

And she was very honest with me that she was not in my corner and she couldn't be in my corner because she wanted to be in the major alliance, and I understand that. But if Denise had come over, I 100% percent think that Denise would've come over with me and Michael.

Reality TV World: What can you tell viewers about Artis? Because we've seen quite a bit of Pete and Abi on the show, but Artis really seems to have gotten very little screen time so far.

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: Um, (laughs)

Reality TV World: Is there any reason for that? (Laughs) Is there nothing to say?

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: He's a great guy. (Laughs) I don't know. He played a very under the radar-type game, but he also made his alliances very, very well known. You could see that he did not like Michael or anybody associated with Michael out on that island and also would not really talk to me either.


So, it's a little bit of an unfortunate situation that I'm sure if he had to do it all over again, we would've had conversations or he would've thought things through a little bit more. But when you got caught up in the moment, I don't understand. It's like Survivor 101. You talk to every single person in your tribe even if you're not in an alliance with them.

Reality TV World: You mentioned how you felt you had a pretty close relationship with Lisa. Did you know anything about Malcolm having a hidden Immunity Idol and Lisa having accidentally come across it?

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: No, I didn't and I remember going back to my bag and having all of our clothes laid out, and I was like, "Why did she do that? That's so like, again, Survivor 101." You don't eat extra food and you don't go into some people's personal belongings. And so it's one of those -- it was like, "Okay, well, what was she doing? Why was she doing it?"

I didn't get to put two and two together just yet. I think I had so much else to worry about that there was a lot that I didn't have time to think about. So, did I think that there was a possibility that Malcolm or Denise had the idol? Yes. Did I think that it was going to affect my gameplay? At that point, no, because I was so concentrating on just staying and getting numbers with me that that didn't really cross my mind.

Reality TV World: Do you think the game would've turned out differently for you if your tribe had lost an [Immunity Challenge] before the merge or do you think you just would've been the first one out of your tribe if you had gone to Tribal?

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: Well, at a certain point. So up to the third or fourth Immunity Challenge, it would have been Lisa, and I can say that with 100% percent certainty. When the clue happened, then it probably would've been a toss-up between me and Michael.


I don't know because push never came to shove, but yeah, no, 100% percent. So that's also why like every single day I had after Day 7 was a blessing, because I knew it was my neck on the line -- which is also why I tried 110% in challenges and really never gave up. Because I knew that was like my only -- the only ability that I had to still control my portion of the game.

Reality TV World: Did you have any idea about Lisa's Facts of Life past?

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: I wasn't even born yet... (Laughs) I hadn't seen the show. I never saw her act in it, so to me, Lisa will always be the woman on my tribe. She will never be a child actress, like how other people remember her. And I think that's really nice. It's nice that I have that experience with her than watching her on television.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on Survivor? How did you end up on the show?

"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: I applied. I was such a fan of the show that I finally got the courage to send in a tape, and I got picked. I went through all the rounds and it was like a dream come true, really, to be able to experience something that I've wanted to experience for so long.

Reality TV World: Wow, all on the first shot -- first application?


"RC" Roberta Saint-Amour: First application.

Above is the concluding portion of RC's interview. Click here to read the first half.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski