Survivor: Cagayan -- Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty's post-merge Solarrion tribe voted out Latasha "Tasha" Fox during last week's broadcast of the CBS reality series' 28th edition.
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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 concluding portion. Click here to read the first half.
Reality TV World: What effect do you think Tony's threat of having a special idol had on his own alliance, if any at all?
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Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Maybe that's why Woo and Kass didn't necessarily flip, because they didn't know what the power was.
Reality TV World: Do you think the fact Tony didn't play any idols at all left people wondering whether he was actually telling the truth about having an idol with special powers?
Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Yeah, well I can't even speak to how -- what they're thinking right now. But yeah, I think [Tony] at least having one known idol has kept the target off of his back for sure.
And then the threat of the super-power idol is definitely enough to make you reconsider voting Tony out, but again, you don't necessarily need to vote Tony out. He's one that is beatable if you have the right argument and the right bitter jury. So, maybe he's not the biggest threat. Maybe keeping around a Trish or a Woo around [would be].
Reality TV World: What do you think Woo, Kass and Trish's strategies were? Do you think they all basically wanted to get Spencer out and were content with taking Tony to the end?
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Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Yeah, I think that's it. Because I think the sentiment was that, if you take Spencer or you take Tasha to the finals, you won't win. So I think they're sticking -- even though Tony is just as big of a threat to win, I think they feel that Spencer, at this point, is the bigger threat.
And no one hates Spencer, you know? So he'll get jury votes, but they're banking on the fact the jurors are bitter against Tony, so they at least have that solace in saying, "I'm willing to risk sitting next to Tony, because I know that maybe some people are pissed at him."
But sitting next to a Spencer, who hasn't really pissed anyone off, that is definitely a losing situation for every single one of those people that are still in the game.
Reality TV World: Did you ever put a lot of faith in the whole Kass and Woo flipping situation? Because obviously I know when you said you lost Individual Immunity, you kind of lost faith in it. But even if you had won immunity, they could've just targeted Spencer instead.
Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Yeah, for sure. (Laughs) And I think they would have. At this point in the game, once you see how everyone is so loyal to Tony, even if people are wanting to work with you, you just have to make the assumption that they won't go through with it just based on historical data. (Laughs)
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I think I knew and Spencer knew, like, the only thing that was keeping us in this game was immunity or Tony's paranoia. That's something else that could keep you in the game.
Reality TV World: So did you even have a plan for how you saw the rest of the game playing out if you guys had been able to vote Tony or Trish out at the last Tribal Council? Would you have taken Spencer to the end and who would've been the other person?
Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Let's say we took Trish out. I would say, honestly, I would have taken Kass! I would've tried my best to get Kass on my side or Woo. It really doesn't matter because I felt that if myself or if Spencer made it to the finals, we were golden!
There really wasn't much we had to do to convince the jurors to vote for us given the fact we started on [the Brains tribe] and we sucked but made it through. If we made it to the end, especially with the immunity wins we both had, there wasn't much argument that we had to make.
But I would say, if I was sitting next to Spencer, I would just call out the fact that, you know, I saved him twice in the game. So I had counter measures for every single person that I could've sat next to. And Spencer, now that he's the last Brain left, he has a great story too. So I think he can beat anyone that's left in this game if he makes it.
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Reality TV World: If you could've made the choice, would you have taken Spencer to the end with you? And if it wasn't your choice but he ended up in the Final 3 with you anyway, do you think you could've beaten him?
Latasha "Tasha" Fox: I'll tell you this. I would've taken anyone that I could (laughs) with me to the finals. It really didn't matter. At this point, I was willing to work with anyone. Anyone who was willing to work with me, I would've taken them to the end, because it just didn't matter.
At that point, I was grasping for straws and just trying to find someone who was willing to work with me. So yeah, if it had been [Jefra Bland], if it had been [LJ McKanas], if it had been Tony, it wouldn't matter. At this point, I was looking for a friend in anyone.
Reality TV World: I was going to mention that. It seemed like the second time in a row when Spencer and yourself thought you had formed a new alliance to take Tony out only to see it fall apart. You thought you had Jefra and Jeremiah Wood, and that didn't work out. And then you potentially thought you had Kass and Woo with you.
Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Yeah, and honestly, I felt like I was playing the game by myself. I didn't have a strong alliance behind me really at any point during the game. (Laughs) I was really out there by myself. Fortunately, certain circumstances allowed Spencer and I to come together, but he had his own agenda, and I guess I had mine. So the fact I made it this far, pretty much by myself, was phenomenal!
Reality TV World: At the beginning of the season, you had voiced a lot of frustration that no one seemed to really want to play the game out there. Do you feel that ever really changed? Because there have been points this season where, from watching at home at least, it looks like Tony and Spencer and yourself have pretty much been the only ones out there looking to do a lot.
Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Yes! Oh my gosh. And I really felt the last big opportunity for this huge shift came with LJ. I really wish he would've had a conversation with me, because I felt I had a proposition for him that was really great -- not only for myself, but great for him. I really wish he would've wanted to consider playing with me. I think it would've taken the game in an entirely different direction.
Reality TV World: What was your overall impression of Tony while you were out there and what have you thought of his gameplay? I mean, he's obviously made some successful moves, but some people feel he's basically made so many moves that some of them were bound to work out and they're not convinced he's really been playing that great a game.
Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Well, I like Tony. I liked Tony in the game. I thought he was entertaining and I thought he was doing a lot. But when you have, like, loyal minions like Trish and Woo, you can come up with these crazy schemes, because you know they're going to make it work for you. And if it doesn't work, they'll clean up after you.
So, you know, I thought it was hilarious to watch him. But I felt like I was in the Survivor-twilight zone, like, "Okay, you blindsided your alliance twice, but they still follow you. How are you doing this, cult leader?!" It was just amazing to watch, and I just couldn't figure out how he was making it happen.
But I guess that's more a testament to the people that didn't want to make a move more than to Tony. So [props] to him for having loyal minions.
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Reality TV World: What was your reaction when you found out about the season's Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty format and did it change your strategy at all? You were obviously called out right away for being intelligent.
Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Yeah, you know, like that was a double-edged sword. I'm happy that I was on the Brains tribe. Beauty and brawn are something you can physically see, but Brains, that's something that is not apparent to the eye. So I was like, "Okay great! I'm intelligent enough and Survivor is validating that by putting me on the Brains tribe. Woo hoo!"
And then I looked at the people I was standing next to on that mat on Day 1, and I'm like, "These people probably have never participated in PE, (laughs) they were probably the ones who got a pass not to play in [gym]." And I was like, "Great!"
So I knew physically, we were at a disadvantage, and ugh! That was really our downfall. Clearly Spencer and I didn't have any problems in the challenges, so we were probably the strongest people in our tribe physically, but the rest were such liabilities that -- even though Spencer and I were great -- they dragged us down. And that sucked. (Laughs)
Reality TV World: How were you cast on Survivor? How did you end up on the show?
Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Well, this is what I believe, and this is just my theory. When I sent in my application video -- and this is the third time I had applied -- in my video, I said, "My name is Tasha, I'm from St. Louis and I'm a triple threat. I have beauty, brains and brawn."
I literally said that in my audition video unbeknownst to me that was the theme. So, maybe it was just meant to be and me saying that solidified the fact that maybe they should explore me a little more.
Reality TV World: Wow, that is quite the coincidence.
Latasha "Tasha" Fox: Yes, it is!
Above is the concluding portion of Tasha's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Click here to read the first half.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski