Exclusive: 'Survivor: Kaoh Rong' castoff Scot Pollard talks (Part 1)

Survivor: Kaoh Rong -- Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty's merged Dara tribe voted Scot Pollard out during Wednesday night's broadcast on CBS.


Scot, a 40-year-old former NBA champion from Carmel, IN, was voted out of his tribe on Night 27 at the game's ninth Tribal Council session once his close ally, Tai Trang, betrayed him.

Scot, a former Brawn tribe member, became the ninth person voted out of the tribe although 11 castaways have left the game overall -- two of them due to medical evacuations.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Scot talked about his Survivor experience. Below is the first half. Check back with us soon for more.

Reality TV World: The episodes usually make it look like a castaway gets blindsided but then they tell me in these interviews they saw their vote-off coming. Is it safe to say you were blindsided?


Scot Pollard: (Laugh) I was blindsided, and when people say that -- that they saw it coming -- I think it's just a reaction. I don't want to speak for everybody and I don't know, but I do know the castaways I've been around, there's a whole lot preservation of ego.

And I think a lot of people get defensive and they can't admit that they were blindsided, so they have to say, "Oh, I wanted it to not happen, but I saw it coming!" Hey, hindsight is 20/20. Should I have seen it coming? Maybe.

But I don't think so. I talked to [Tai Trang] a lot, which the cameras didn't show. I talked to [Kyle Jason] a lot. I talked to everybody a lot. We actually got along a lot better than obviously they showed, which was Jason and I being bullies or dominant characters or villains -- however you want to say it. But, you know, I guess, the blindside? Yes, for sure. They got me!

But, I'm trying to take it as a positive, like, "Why would you not want me to sit next to you at the finals when no one is going to give a millionaire a million dollars and supposedly is such a jerk that people can't stand him?"

So, I guess I'm just taking it as a compliment, that people thought enough of my game, they figured out I was a threat even though I never won an Immunity Challenge ever.


Reality TV World: Aubry Bracco had warned Tai that Julia Sokolowski was gunning for him before Tribal and Tai voted for you, so he clearly had no intention of giving you his idol. If he did give up his idol, he probably would've gone home since he and Aubry both received two votes and then there would be a re-vote. Were you aware of any of this at the time, and if not, does that make his betrayal easier to swallow now?

Scot Pollard: No, I wasn't thinking along those lines at the time because it was just shock, you know? I was like, "Wait, whoa, what?!" And I know for a fact -- I mean, Tai might feel otherwise -- but I really, really don't think for a second that Tai was thinking along those lines either: "Well, I got two votes so I might go home, so I shouldn't give him my idol."

I don't think he was thinking that far ahead either. I think he was just simply going, "I'm not giving up my idol." I don't think there was strategy. I was looking! I was hoping that while watching the episode last night I was going to see some reasoning for Tai, or some strategy for Tai to blindside me like that, but I didn't see any.

So, I'm still disappointed in why he made the decision he made, just because it didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to move him forward in the game. It was just, what it seemed to me, that Aubry just temporarily brainwashed him and got him to do what she wanted him to do, and not really what Tai wanted to do.

Reality TV World: Did you ever consider just playing the hidden Immunity Idol that Jason gave you before the votes were read? Obviously you were relying on the "Super Idol," but if you played your idol for yourself, then Tai might've done the same and you'd both be safe.


Scot Pollard: Well, we were just thinking it was a re-rack of the previous Tribal Council where, what if we escape this [vote-off] by the girls doing something silly and dumb in voting out another one of their own, and we'd get to save our idols again?

So, no, not really. I was trusting that Tai would rescue me if I needed it, and I knew I was going to rescue Tai if necessary with the "Super Idol." So, I didn't really think about it.

In hindsight, yeah, maybe I should've used the idol and just said, "Screw it!" But that's not how I played the game. I didn't screw anybody over. I didn't backstab anybody or blindside them, and I wasn't going to start with Tai. I trusted Tai.

And to backtrack on whether [Tai] would've gone home, in the scenario of, let's say, he shares his idol with me and it's Aubry and him 2-2 votes and then there's a re-vote, well, then Tai's not voting for me. He's voting against Aubry. And Julia was a swing vote at that point, and I knew that she knew Aubry was gunning for her, so she would've voted Aubry, making it 4-4.

And then we'd make some fire! And guess who's making fire quicker than Aubry? Tai. So, I think if Tai had thought that far ahead -- and I don't for a second think he did -- if the vote goes to fire, I know Tai would've been confident he would've made the fire and saved himself.


So, he could've stayed loyal to me, given me the idol, saved me, and if he did end up in a tie -- which I think it would've, I don't think for a second Julia would've voted for Tai over Aubry -- I think she would've gotten rid of Aubry and ingratiate herself with us still.

And then we would've had the numbers, because Aubry's gone and we got four of us together. And we had already promised Julia -- and this is how I think it would've really gone down -- we were going to go to the finals with Julia, not Tai.

Reality TV World: Do you think there was any need for Jason to give you his idol before Tribal Council to begin with? I mean, couldn't Jason have just held onto it and handed it to you or Tai depending on who received votes and needed the "Super Idol" save?

Scot Pollard: Absolutely! But it showed trust, and he had the immunity necklace, so it was a show of trust in front of Tai to show him and me, "Hey, I trust you, and here it is." People have asked on social media why didn't Tai do the same thing. Well, it would be the same thing as me going, "Here, Tai, here's the idol."

It was, "Okay, Jason has shown that the idol is truly our idol, not just his or just mine." So he gave it to me, and Tai held onto his, and I held onto it. And then, you know, the idea was we'd share it based on whoever needed it. And Tai was the one who decided not to do it. But yeah, in retrospect, it's one of those things, like, "Oof. I wish Jason had just held onto it. That way he'd still have it."


Reality TV World: When Neal Gottlieb got medically evacuated from the game, Aubry complained he didn't give her his idol before leaving. Do the rules allow for that? Because I'm curious as to whether you were unable to give your idol back to Jason after your elimination or if you were just shocked and frazzled and forgot to.

Scot Pollard: Well, somebody told me flat out -- because I heard conflicting stories when I got voted out whether I could've even give it to [Jason]. Some people were saying I could've given it to him and it would've been fine. And other people are saying, "No, once you're voted out, you can't share the idol." So, I don't know.

And somebody this morning said, "No, I talked to Jeff Probst, and once you're voted out, you can't share the idol with anybody or give it back or whatever." But then I'd argue that with the "Super Idol" because once you're voted out, you could save yourself with the "Super Idol." So maybe it's only if the "Super Idol" was played. I don't know the answer to that.

But this person told me, without question, "Jeff Probst said, 'No way.'" [He said] I couldn't have given it away as a valid pass-off. But they gave Neal the opportunity to give his away because they were medically pulling him.

So, that seems a little weird that they would give Neal that advantage to hand his idol off if he wanted to, but not me in the situation of me getting voted off when the "Super Idol" could've been played. So, I honestly don't know the answer.

I don't know if I believe the person that was trying to tell me Jeff Probst said those things. Because I haven't asked Jeff myself, but I know from my point of view, when I got voted off, I had some producers telling me I could've given it to Jason and I should have. And I had others saying, "No," that it wasn't valid. So I don't know the answer.


Check back with Reality TV World soon for more from Scot's exclusive Survivor interview.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski