Exclusive: 'Survivor: Kaoh Rong' castoff Nick Maiorano talks (Part 2)

Survivor: Kaoh Rong -- Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty's newly-merged Dara tribe voted Nick Maiorano out during the latest broadcast on CBS.


Nick, a 30-year-old personal trainer from Redondo Beach, CA, was blindsided and voted out of his tribe on Night 22 at the game's seventh Tribal Council session once the girls joined forces to get him out.

Nick, a former Beauty tribe member, became the seventh person voted out of the tribe although nine castaways have left the game overall -- two of them due to medical evacuations.

During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Nick talked about his Survivor experience. Below is the concluding portion. Click here to read the first half.

Reality TV World: It appeared Cydney Gillon realized she probably couldn't beat people like Jason in the end and that played a role in her choice to work with the girls. From a strategy standpoint and putting your own bias on the subject aside, do you think she made the best move for her own game?


Nick Maiorano: From an emotional standpoint, I would say yes it was the right choice, because she just couldn't take the guys thinking they were running the game and whatnot. But from a strategic standpoint, I would say no.

I give her props for influencing the rest of the group and getting what she wanted, but I do think she's put herself in a worse position moving forward unless she can win immunities and unless she can form new relationships.

Because everything is pretty obvious out there, where loyalties lie, and I just think she made the move too early. I think she could've made it, but I think she maybe made it one move too early for herself.

Reality TV World: You do admit you were pretty arrogant while playing the game. Were you aware you were rubbing people the wrong way while you were out there? Like watching the episodes back, did you know your tribemates disliked your attitude that much?

Nick Maiorano: Only some of them didn't really appreciate it. But I knew because when I was talking to [Aubry Bracco] that was the point where I thought I was the target and I was trying to get more votes onto [Debbie Wanner].


After talking to Aubry, I went into a confessional and was like cracking up. I was like, "Oh my God! That was not the way to approach Aubry. I shouldn't have done that. That was totally wrong."

But, you know, I find it funny. I find it enjoyable to watch as a viewer, and I'm well aware of the egotistical nature that I'm presenting. And I think it's just fun for me. I know that's a weird thing to say or an odd thing to say, but it's enjoyable for me.

Reality TV World: After the merge, you made a huge move in deciding to work with Brawn instead of Brains after Neal Gottlieb got medically evacuated. Considering your fate in the game, do you have any regrets about that?

Nick Maiorano: No, I think that was the right strategic move for sure. But my downfall was not communicating with [Michele Fitzgerald] properly. That was 100% my fault and 100% my error. That's what did me in early on, on Beauty, and I was never able to recover from that.

So, no, we were right to go with Brawn. Unfortunately, I couldn't get her on the same page as me for that vote when I was voted out.


Reality TV World: I'd like to know more about your reasoning behind that decision. I know you said you wanted to work with Brawn because you could beat them at puzzles and manipulate them. But I'm wondering why you thought that was the best choice for you since it was clear Kyle Jason, Scot Pollard -- and Cydney, at least at the time -- were really tight and they were physical threats.

Nick Maiorano: Yeah, so the plan was, Michele and I under the tree before Neal's [ouster], we had listed what our plans were for a few votes in advance. And what we had planned on was voting out two Brains back to back and then two Brawn back to back.

So we were going to play this middle game, and that fell apart after we didn't go to Tribal and we lost momentum. And then, you know, things got a little scatterbrained out there and we lost that middle position because Michele and [Julia Sokolowski] decided to vote me out -- which is fine, but we would've been in the middle the whole time.

Because the thing is, the type of people Scot and Jason seemed to work with aren't the type of people that are Aubry, Debbie and [Joseph "Joe" Del Campo]. They'd just never work together, so that was a good position for us. And unfortunately, we gave it up.

Reality TV World: Did Debbie's crazy antics play any role in your decision to side with Brawn? (Laughs)


Nick Maiorano: (Laughs) Her flirtatious nature, or what?

Reality TV World: That, and how she just seemed to annoy everybody out there. She was very aggressive, for instance, in her conversations when trying to get the numbers for Brains.

Nick Maiorano: Well, here's the thing. I loved Debbie and I was flirting with her and I would talk to her and I would enjoy our conversations privately. I loved it! But if you do it publicly and you ruin my game or ruin your own game, like, I can't be a part of that. So, I cut her off.

And looking back, I should've found some middle ground where I didn't try to cut her off completely. Because she was annoyed with me; She was angry at me for shunning her.

I don't know if she knew the reason why, because yeah, she was coming across as way too apparently over-strategizing. So, yeah, that was a big issue for me, because I can't play with somebody like that -- who is so out there with the plan.


Reality TV World: Did Cydney know about the "Super Idol" twist? Viewers only saw you, Scot, Jason and Tai Trang discussing it. And then how do you think Tai's revelation about the idols might affect the game going forward?

Nick Maiorano: I think Cydney knew from Brawn what the "Super Idol" was. But yeah, we'll see what happens if they can use it together or if they're just going to use it for themselves. I'm not sure.

Reality TV World: I want to understand why you and Michele didn't feel like you had Julia with you. I know she felt indebted to Brawn, and Scot in particular, because they had saved her. But it was surprising she didn't just get into strategizing with you two, her former Beauty tribemates, whom she was really close to for a while there.

Nick Maiorano: She would sit in on the strategy sessions. They just weren't shown because there's not enough time. But she was in on them, and she had her input and was listening. So, she was a part of them.

To read the first half of Nick's exclusive Survivor interview with Reality TV World, click here.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski