Exclusive: 'Survivor: Caramoan -- Fans vs. Favorites' castaway Brenda Lowe talks (Part 2)

Survivor: Caramoan -- Fans vs. Favorite castaway Brenda Lowe, a 30-year-old paddleboard company owner from Miami, FL, was voted out of the game's post-merge Enil Edam tribe during Wednesday night's thirteenth episode of the CBS reality series' 26th edition.


Brenda was voted out of her tribe at the season's fourteenth Tribal Council session, the seventh time the new Enil Edam tribe had an elimination vote.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Brenda talked about her Survivor experience and emotional departure. Below is the concluding portion of Brenda's interview. Click here to read the first half. Also check back on Monday for our exclusive interview with Survivor: Caramoan -- Fans vs. Favorites' winner.

Reality TV World: Before you got voted off, who had you considered the biggest threat to your own chances of winning the game while you were out there? It sounds like based upon the fact you wanted to go after Edward "Eddie" Fox and then John Cochran, maybe it was Cochran?

Brenda Lowe: For sure. At that point in the game, that's why I was telling [Dawn Meehan] and [Erik Reichenbach] already, like, "I think we should take out Cochran. I think it's the perfect time. It has to happen soon." I was confident. I wasn't taking him out because I thought he was an immunity threat.


I wanted to take him out because he was a strategic threat and I felt like if I didn't get him first, he'd come and get me. And that's exactly what happened. (Laughs) He got me first.

Reality TV World: Do you think you made a mistake gushing to your dad about how purposely humble you had been this time around when you saw him at the Reward Challenge? Like do you think some of the other castaways might have took it to mean you had been kind of insincere up to that point in the game or something?

Brenda Lowe: No, I'm not even sure -- you know, at that moment, everything was kind of a blur and it was hard for me to even concentrate on the things that [Jeff Probst] was saying. I was just very like into my dad and if I had the opportunity to see him, I didn't know I was going to cry so much. I didn't know I was going to tell him all those things.

It's just something that you're so emotional it all came out, and I had to tell him. I had to tell him right away. I couldn't whisper it in his ear and be like, "Dad, I'm so humble!" It's just something that came out and I didn't look at it as a bad thing. It was like, that's how I played and there's nothing wrong with that, I think.

Reality TV World: Well obviously given your reputation during your first season, you had been the opposite of humble I guess. That's why I asked about it.


Brenda Lowe: Oh yeah, it was.

Reality TV World: So I didn't know if it put the idea in people's heads that you being humble [this time] was just kind of a perception, like you had been acting.

Brenda Lowe: No, I know, because it was genuine advice from my dad. It wasn't like a malicious, pretend to be humble and you will go far. No, it was like, just have a good time and be kind and that's what he said.

Reality TV World: When I talked to Andrea Boehlke last week, she said she thought her biggest mistake was telling Dawn she was planning to go after Cochran next because she hadn't realized how close Dawn was with Cochran. Do you feel the same way? Do you think you might've underestimated how close those two were, and do you think that played any role in why they voted you off?

Brenda Lowe: Absolutely. I think whenever you say -- kind of the same thing happened in [Survivor: Nicaragua]. I told [NaOnka Mixon] that it was time to take out [Sash Lenahan]. Even though he was my biggest ally, he was also a big threat to me. Same thing. It kind of backfired.


I think that's one Survivor lesson that I learned, that sometimes you should wait to hear what other people have to say before you start suggesting things, because you want to know where their head is at.

So it's easier to just go along with people's ideas than to make an idea, not knowing that that idea is going to be your downfall. When she asked me, "Who are you thinking?" I should've easily said, "Well who are you thinking?" I should have said, "I'm not sure," instead of just pushing for Cochran.

Reality TV World: Last night's episode seemed to show that Cochran has a pretty tight alliance with Sherri Biethman. Had you been aware of that while you were out there or was that a surprise?

Brenda Lowe: No, I know that, you know, Cochran was also somebody who in a way, like Dawn, loves reassurance. He was like that too. I think he gravitated towards the women, like the older women especially. So I'm not really into babysitting anybody. So I didn't really do that too much, and I saw that Sherri would do it, and I was close to Sherri too.

And she would come back and tell me things, so we were good! And you know, you have so much time out there, that maybe they're just casually [hanging out] in the lagoon not talking about strategy, you know what I mean?


I don't know, but I didn't know that they were closer -- or against me, for example. I didn't know that that's what they would be discussing basically. I thought they would be discussing, "Let's take out Eddie," and that's it. I didn't think they'd be like, "Let's take out Brenda."

Reality TV World: It seemed like Cochran was eyeing Sherri and Dawn as his Final 3.

Brenda Lowe: Yeah, I don't know. I didn't know any of that. I had no idea.

Reality TV World: We actually didn't see much of you this season up until the last few episodes. Why do you think that was, and did that surprise you at all?

Brenda Lowe: It didn't surprise me too much because I was extremely distant and I was very detached from the game in the beginning, because I did it on purpose and I didn't mind other people having the spotlight. I didn't mind not knowing what everybody was laughing about, you know what I mean?


I was very much like, "Okay, I'm going to kind of push myself away from these people, have [Brandon Hantz] get the spotlight, have [Phillip Sheppard] get the spotlight, have all these people think that they're running the show and be nice to everybody but not necessarily from Day 1 making it my mission to be ontop."

Reality TV World: I guess I need to ask you about the whole Phillip thing and the controversy about whether he really was the leader or everybody just let him think he was the leader. What's your take on that?

Brenda Lowe: I do think that because we all enjoyed him looking like the leader and allowing him to believe that he was the leader, that if he wanted to make a choice, we'd just go along with it, you know what I mean? Because at the end of the day, if it's not you, it's a good decision.

So for example, like the [Corinne Kaplan] vote, Phillip was the one who told me it was a good vote. And I adore Phillip. He did piss me off a couple times outside of the game, but he is not crazy. He is a very intelligent person and yeah, he did play a good game. Yes, I think his personality was his downfall, but overall, I do think that he merits some strategy points.

Reality TV World: Obviously you're a member of the jury. What criteria did you deem important to base your jury vote on?

Brenda Lowe: Criteria is strictly strategy.


Reality TV World: Were you surprised when you were approached about coming back to Survivor for a second time? And if so, what was your reaction? Was it an easy decision for you?

Brenda Lowe: Surprised -- an easy decision because I love the game and a hard decision because I love my life and I was just in a brand new beautiful relationship, so it was hard to leave. But I could never say no and it was a dream come true to be asked back and to get that second chance. So I was very humbled and extremely excited.

Above is the concluding portion of Brenda's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Click here to read the first half.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski