Exclusive: 'Survivor: Cagayan -- Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty' castoff Latasha "Tasha" Fox talks (Part 1)

Survivor: Cagayan -- Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty's post-merge Solarrion tribe voted out Latasha "Tasha" Fox during Wednesday night's broadcast of the CBS reality series' 28th edition. 
 
Tasha, a 37-year-old accountant from St. Louis, MO, was voted out of her Solarrion tribe at the season's twelfth Tribal Council session, which marked the sixth time Solarrion had attended Tribal together.


Tasha was voted out of her tribe when Kassandra "Kass" McQuillen and Yung "Woo" Hwang decided to stick with Tony Vlachos' majority alliance instead of flipping on them and working with her and Spencer Bledsoe to split the votes and potentially get out either Tony or Trish Hegarty. 

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Tasha talked about her Survivor experience. Below is the first half. Check back with us soon for the concluding portion.

Reality TV World: Were you surprised to be voted out and been expecting Kass and Woo were going to follow through with the plan to vote for Tony and Trish, or had you been expecting to be the one voted off?

Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Yeah, so, I pretty much knew the moment I lost immunity, like, I was going home. It was great to have that little glimmer of hope with Kass and Woo sticking with [Spencer] and I, but it was Kass and Woo, so I didn't put too much weight in that just given the fact they really were under Tony's thumb.


And yeah, I didn't expect too much to come from that. I was hoping, but I was very realistic and I knew that, more than likely, I'd be going home. So I was prepared.

Reality TV World: So why was that? It sounds like you didn't really believe that Final 4 deal Spencer had struck with Kass and Woo was really going to happen?

Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Yeah, I just, again, you know, for weeks and days, you have Kass as the antagonist and Woo as the faithful follower. I'm an accountant; I recognize trends. So it's just unlikely that someone would all of a sudden, like, grow courage and decide to make a move in the game when they had plenty of opportunities after being blindsided twice, like for example, Kass.

We voted off [LJ McKanas] and [Jefra Bland] without her knowing but yet she went back to Tony. So there was really nothing that would convince me Kass was ready to do anything other than work with Tony.

Reality TV World: Clearly then you didn't put a lot of stock in the feuding between Kass and Tony there? They seemed to be on the outs with each other.


Latasha "Tasha" Fox: No, and Kass is emotional. And all that back and forth in the arguing, it was emotional in the heat of the moment. And as you saw, Tony would always go back and be like, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go off like that," or whatever, and they would make up.

So, it was just a trend that had always happened -- Tony pissed you off and then they'd make up and would be cool after that. So that was just a typical day on the island.

Reality TV World: What about Woo? You felt he was permanently in "sidekick mode," I guess? (Laughs)

Latasha "Tasha" Fox: I really did, and you know, I would say I had more hope in Woo than I did in Kass, because I think Woo realized, "In order for me to win this game, I have to make a big move," and this was his opportunity. I had a little more faith in him versus Kass, who just didn't have a chance at winning at all.

So, there was no value proposition for her. But for Woo, yeah, I was like, "Okay, here we go. We might have something with Woo." And it appeared that Kass was prepared to do whatever Woo was going to do, you know? So, if Woo would've went along with it, I think Kass would have.


Reality TV World: So you think that's what happened? Even though the show made it look like Kass was the one to approach Woo about backing out of the deal, you think it was the other way around -- that Woo was the one hesitant to follow through with the plan?

Latasha "Tasha" Fox: I do. I do.

Reality TV World: Last night's episode suggested that scene where you told Kass that Tony was basically your season's version of Russell Hantz was what had made Kass believe Tony would be a great person to take to the end and decide to vote you out instead.  It sounds like you don't think that's what actually happened.

Latasha "Tasha" Fox: No, I don't think so. And, you know, to spin it like that, I don't know if Kass really thought she had a chance of winning. (Laughs) Maybe she did, but I think it was common knowledge that, regardless of who she sat next to, she would not win the million dollars.

Reality TV World: I was going to ask you about that. Do you agree with Kass' thinking that Tony is a great person to take to the end because people don't like him? Or do you disagree with that, and by trashing Tony, did you hope Kass would think he's too big of a threat?


Latasha "Tasha" Fox: I didn't think she would somehow read into it, but I would say this. Kass next to anybody -- whoever anybody is -- would win. Tony wouldn't necessarily win next to anybody, because I think people are pissed at Tony and, depending on who he's sitting next to, that other person could win even if they are a goat.

So the fact Kass is still trying to strategize and get a victory is just crazy to me. But I don't think that my saying [Tony] is like Russell Hantz had anything to do with her decision.

I think whatever Woo would have done, she was going to follow along. Because I felt like the two of them, it was either all or nothing. And if Woo said, "I'm in," Kass would've been in. If Woo said, "I'm out," Kass was out. So it was, you know, an all or nothing deal.

Reality TV World: Who do you think could potentially beat Tony in the jury vote? Because a couple of episodes ago, you and Spencer made those Tribal Council comments about how Tony would get your votes in the end if he made it to the end with anyone else.

Latasha "Tasha" Fox: That was strategic right there, just to make the other players realize, like, "Hey, if you guys don't start playing, then you're basically going to give the game to Tony." But honestly, I think if Tony sits next to Woo and Trish, maybe they could win. I think you have a bitter jury right now, just based on the eye-rolling and the looks that they're giving to Tony.


But here's the thing. Trish, if she can tell a great story -- if her strategy was to be the clean-up woman and play that role -- or if Woo's strategy was to be the faithful sidekick and he played his role and that's how he made it to the end, maybe the jurors are bitter enough to say, "Okay, I recognize that was your strategy. You pulled it off. Great. Good job. You're in the finals. I'll give you a million dollars. Plus, I hate Tony."

So, I think it's not that Tony is a shoo-in, and I don't think Tony's game would be as great as it appears to be if he didn't have the two role-players like Woo and Trish. (Laughs) Give me a Woo and a Trish, and I think my mirror would look just like Tony's.

Reality TV World: What was your reaction when you saw Tony didn't play an idol before Jeff Probst revealed the votes on last night's episode? Were you surprised given he had two idols and only two Tribals left to play them? And did his behavior make you start to wonder whether he was telling the truth and one of his idols really did have special power?

Latasha "Tasha" Fox: I really didn't have too many thoughts about Tony not playing his idol, but when you have role-players like Trish and Woo, yeah, I think he felt very comfortable and confident that he didn't need to play it. And that, again, just speaks to the loyalty of Trish and Woo.

So anyone that has two idols that they can just play just to be safe and doesn't play it, oh, he's feeling really good right now with the people he's with.

Reality TV World: Now that you know what the special powers of his idol are, looking back at it, would you agree he probably just didn't play the regular idol before Jeff revealed the votes because he knew he could just play the special idol if he actually had been voted out to save himself?


Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Sure, sure. And we didn't really know what the special powers were and we didn't know the expiration date on the special powers. So, I guess at that point, we were just thinking, "Okay, maybe he's using it for a later vote." But yeah, I think that he didn't play the regular idol because he knew he had the special power.

And I think after that big argument with Kass, he made it known like, "Hey, I have it." But he had lied so much about what the powers were that we didn't really -- we still didn't know what it would do.

Reality TV World: From a gameplay perspective, do you think it's fair the rest of the season's castaways don't even know what special powers that one idol holds?

Latasha "Tasha" Fox: No! I think, yes, that was definitely -- I wouldn't say unfair, but it made the game harder, because you didn't know how to necessarily strategize. We were thinking that the special power would be that the person who had it could select whom they wanted to go home.

So, you know, when you really don't know what this power is, you're more cautious, if you will, with who you're voting for if you know that person has it. So we were thinking if we voted for Tony and he plays his idol, then he gets to select who goes home, and it's hard to play under that cloud. (Laughs)

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






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski