Exclusive: 'Survivor: Worlds Apart' castoff Hali Ford talks (Part 2)

Survivor: Worlds Apart's merged Merica tribe eliminated Hali Ford during the seventh episode of the CBS reality competition's 30th season.


Hali, a 25-year-old law student from San Francisco, CA, was the eighth person voted out of the game. Her Merica tribe got her out on Night 21 at the season's eighth Tribal Council session.

The majority alliance of seven castaways, comprised mostly of former Blue Collars, targeted Hali to split up her tripod with Joe Anglim and Jenn Brown, who are all former No Collars.

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

Reality TV World: What do you think Jenn is going to do now that you're gone? In the preview for the next episode, she seems pretty distraught like she may even want to quit the game. I don't know if you think she'd have that in her.


Hali Ford: No, my Jenn is not a quitter!

Reality TV World: So you think Jenn is going to do everything it takes to stay in the game?

Hali Ford: Yeah, you know, we went and talked about non-Survivor things because there was a lot of Survivor going on and I think she was... like over it. But she's not a quitter. She's never going to quit. So, I wasn't really worried about her.

Reality TV World: Do you think Joe opted out of taking you or Jenn on his Reward simply because you guys were solid or were you worried at all he had some other motive?

Hali Ford: Yeah, I think he thought he had us both in his back pocket, so I don't think he needed to do that. But he would've been surprised, you know, if he hadn't won that immunity.


Reality TV World: Do you think Joe is pretty much screwed now unless he wins every Immunity Challenge going forward? What position do you think he could put himself in to better his chances?

Hali Ford: (Laughs) Joe is "Golden Boy Survivor Extraordinaire." You'd have to be an idiot to want to take him to the end.

Reality TV World: So you don't think there's really anything he could do to rectify the situation?

Hali Ford: No. I mean, he'd have to really pull some strings. You know what he should've done was not win every challenge. I mean, he had immunity but not the reward. Make yourself look a little weaker! But it's too late. You can't unring the bell of being awesome at everything.

Reality TV World: Do you think the castaways viewed him as just a physical threat or more -- like a strategic player?


Hali Ford: I think social and physical.

Reality TV World: Mike Holloway announced Joe had found a hidden Immunity Idol when that wasn't true. Did Joe tell yourself and/or Jenn the truth?

Hali Ford: Yeah. He was great with us. He was great with everyone. He's a blabber-mouth about the whole clue and idol thing.

Reality TV World: If you knew Joe didn't have an idol, did you think anyone else did? Did you have any inkling at all Mike, for example, had it?

Hali Ford: Yeah because Mike was looking for the idol before sun up to after sun down. He took me to his secret spot and we thought that was where the idol was, so I thought that he had already gone and raided it. So the idol was, for sure in my mind, Mike's. I thought there was a very high probability that Mike had it.


Reality TV World: So Mike clearly did a bad job of being secretive about his efforts. (Laughs)

Hali Ford: Oh yeah. (Laughs) When we got back from Tribal, Mike was like, "Alright, so everyone just go in and talk about strategy! Everyone knows what we're doing. We're not going to try to hide it or anything." I mean, he'll talk strategy right in front of everyone. It's just Mike. What you see is what you get, so I didn't expect him to be especially surreptitious about his idol hunting or anything.

Reality TV World: While you were out there, did you feel like Mike was running the show over in the Blue Collars alliance?

Hali Ford: No, I didn't feel like Mike was running the show. He has a voice, for sure, but on my vote, I was hustling with Mike. I was like, "Mike, come on! I am yours if you'll just swing this one vote for me." And he was like, "My hands are tied." So, no, I don't think that he was running the show. I don't think he was and I don't think that that's what anyone thought. That's what I thought.

Reality TV World: Do you think Rodney Lavoie Jr. has the resources to pull a fast one on Mike and Dan Foley later in the game? It just seems like he's relying on Will Sims II for that, and Will seems to be a wild card.


Hali Ford: Will is unpredictable. He's unpredictable. Rodney is sneaky though. He's a hustler. (Laughs) So I underestimated Rodney. That was probably my biggest underestimation in the game.

Reality TV World: At least the editing makes it look like Rodney's major goal in the game right now is to basically flip it upside-down and betray people. He seems to be looking for an opportunity to have fun screwing with people...

Hali Ford: You think that's Rodney's primary motivation? You think that's what he's come off as?

Reality TV World: I do. Ever since his fellow Blue Collars tricked him and voted out his best buddy Joaquin Souberbielle, he seems to be obsessed with going after them.

Hali Ford: Yeah. All I heard from Rodney was: "Ride or die! Ride or die, baby! Blue all the way!" So, I had a different take from what I saw. (Laughs)

Reality TV World: In last week's episode, Jenn played her hidden Immunity Idol, saving her and sending Kelly Remington home. Before Tribal, how much had you talked with Jenn about playing her idol? Was that her plan all along or a spontaneous decision?


Hali Ford: Oh she dropped that bomb on me about five minutes before we headed out [to Tribal]. So, I do know that she had no clue whom she was going to play it for. She had to decide that and I told her, I was like, "Don't play it for me! That's your idol! This is your game." I think she was going to play it for me though, but I'm sure glad she went with her gut.

Reality TV World: Whom did you envision going to the Final 3 with you? Was it Jenn and Shirin Oskooi?

Hali Ford: You know, I played this game with my heart a lot more than I intended to or expected. I was surprised with how I played the game. I probably would've taken Jenn and Shirin, but looking back, I should've distanced myself from Jenn. But I don't know, I liked playing with Jenn.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on Survivor? How did you end up on the show?

Hali Ford: Well, so, I sent in a video when I was 21 and applied, and I wasn't cast for a while. But my uncle encouraged me to put it on YouTube and I did, and then it got about 6,000 viewers or something. Then I get a call from casting and sent in a video and they liked it. And then I went to LA, had an awesome time interviewing and then got on.

Click here to read the first half of Hali Ford's exclusive Survivor interview with Reality TV World.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski