An Interview with Yau-Man
“I Have Gotten Over It” – An Interview with Survivor: Fiji’s Yau-Man by David Bloomberg -- 05/14/2007 It’s a wonder to me that Yau-Man didn’t strangle Dreamz on the spot during the reunion, especially when we found out the majority of jurors would have given him the win. What does Yau-Man have to say about the whole situation? And what does he think of Dreamz’ stories now that it was always about the game? Yau-Man was easily the most popular player on Survivor: Fiji, and everybody will remember him as the nice guy who got screwed. But what does Yau-Man think of all of this? Did he expect to be so popular or to win so many challenges? What does he have to say about Dreamz? Read on to find out! RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Yau-Man. I have to tell you, I was rooting for you all the way. Yau-Man: Thank you. RNO: What did you do to prepare for being on Survivor? Yau-Man: I didn’t do that much. The only thing is that I know I’m not a very strong swimmer, so I took swimming lessons to learn how to swim properly. The other thing I did was to look through some websites that talk about the past Survivor series and about the strategies. RNO: Was RealityNewsOnline one of them? Yau-Man: Yes, that’s when I first learned about you guys. RNO: I’m glad we could help! So, what was your strategy going into the game? Yau-Man: Going into the game, I thought my strategy would be to try and win as many immunity challenges as possible, to make sure I find the immunity idol, and to keep a very good alliance throughout the whole season. And not bounce from one alliance to another and be useful. RNO: Did you expect to win so many challenges? Yau-Man: No, I did not. I thought I would do well in the ones that are a lot more mental. I did not expect to do well in the physical. It turned out the other way, which really surprised me and gave me a moral boost. The one that really stands out was the javelin throw and bow and arrow when I pretty much won that for my tribe. And the previous one, I pushed Stacy off and did well. Sure she’s a girl, but she was well-fed and weighed as much as I did. the one where I did the beam over the water, Michelle and I were the only ones who crossed it. And the fireball when I hit the target. And the next one to row the boat, I pretty much again aced it for my team. I thought, “I’m doing fine here,” and that really surprised me. RNO: Did you ever expect to become one of the most popular people on television? Yau-Man: No, I did not. I really expected to be one of those forgettable figures who you say, “Who?” I just checked the poll numbers and I couldn’t believe it is at 65.5%. RNO: When Jeff Probst asked the jurors at the reunion if they would have voted for you to win, and they indicated they would have, how did you keep yourself from strangling Dreamz right on the spot for taking the million dollars from you? Yau-Man: I have gotten over it. I’m glad it happened six months ago. If he had asked the question the day after, I probably would have jumped him. I’ve come to terms with it. I pretty much have to own up to the problem that it was not Dreamz, it was me. I decided to trust him. After the challenge, I asked Cassandra and she said he’d give it to me and Earl said the same thing. I took that advice and decided to trust him. It was the wrong thing to do and I have to own up to it. To be blunt, he outplayed me. As long as I come to terms with it, I can say, “Dreamz, you outplayed me. What can I say?” RNO: You’re a better man than I. Yau-Man: I don’t want to have to live with this for the rest of my life. Life is too short, you have to move on. I’d like to see how he lives with it. He made a decision with 20 million people watching. He’s going to live the rest of his life trying to fix that one. RNO: Do you believe Dreamz’ claim that he was playing you all along, or do you think he intended to keep his word and then changed his mind? Yau-Man: I think he intended to keep his word but when he made that promise, he had not thought through the whole thing. When he had time to think about it, he decided that was not what he really wanted to do. He changed his mind. I don’t think he’s capable of such organized thought at the time he accepted my deal. RNO: So what do you think of the way he’s rationalizing it now? Yau-Man: I think he’s trying to make excuses for himself and they are pretty lame excuses, but you have to rationalize it. RNO: That seems to be unanimous. Yau-Man: The last thing he told a few of us was he is going to sell the truck and donate the money to the homeless shelter that helped him. We all rolled our eyes and said we’ll believe it when we see it – make sure you have TV coverage when you do that. RNO: I actually asked him what he was going to do with the truck. Yau-Man: What did he tell you, what he told us? RNO: No. He said he hadn’t decided yet. Yau-Man: He told us he’d sell it and donate the proceeds to the homeless shelter or to help kids. We all said make sure you have good press coverage. RNO: Did you consider making the deal a conditional one, such that he would only get the truck if and when he gave you immunity at final four? Yau-Man: No, I never thought of it that way. It crossed my mind, but when I decided to make the deal, I put in a generosity clause. You accept the deal, I’ll make the assumption you’re a man of honor. Either way, it wouldn’t work. I don’t know what deal I could make with him to split him and Cassandra apart. they wouldn’t vote for each other. So it was a really bad final four for me. RNO: Then why not take Boo up on his deal and vote out Dreamz at the previous Tribal Council? Yau-Man: In hindsight, I should have taken Boo and Stacy with me to final four. But Earl and I had worked the final four for so long, I didn’t want to change my strategy mid-stream, not having thought through the whole thing. It would have been spur of the moment and having, throughout the game, strategized and figured out the endgame, I wasn’t about to switch because I hadn’t studied Boo except that in physical challenges he’d been beating me, whereas Dreamz had not. But as stockbrokers say, past performance is not an indication of future results. I didn’t want to go up against Boo in the challenge, I wanted to go up against Dreamz. RNO: Although the deal was made in a game situation, it looked to me like an oral contract that was witnessed by millions. Did you ever consider taking legal steps to recover the truck because he violated that contract – maybe Alex could be your lawyer? Yau-Man: No, I have not considered that. I think Dreamz is right in the sense that it is a game about how well you can backstab people and keep your word and to see where your moral compass is. He showed his. I gave it to him in good faith and that’s where it will stay. As for hiring Alex, I’d have to think about that. Though he was at his lawyer’s best at the final Tribal Council. RNO: Did you consider offering to vote out Cassandra as a way to ensure Dreamz would keep his word? Yau-Man: I worked that scenario, but I don’t think I would have enough votes – it would have been an empty threat. RNO: Going back to the previous episode, did you plan to use the immunity idol when you did, even before Stacy said something at Tribal Council about a split vote? Yau-Man: Going in, I was a little bit nervous. I felt safe, that I didn’t need to use it, and I really didn’t want to use it until the next Tribal Council. I knew Dreamz would try to vote me out. When Stacy talked about the votes being split, I lost her vote. So if I lost one more vote, it would be a tiebreaker. I thought, “I don’t want to lose on the tiebreaker, I’m going to use it.” RNO: So if Stacy had kept her mouth shut… Yau-Man: I would probably have felt comfortable enough. That basically tipped me. I have never been so attentive at Tribal Council. They last a long time and ramble on and on and sometimes I got tired. But I was listening between the lines . RNO: It worked out well. Yau-Man: What surprised me was the episode before that when Alex was voted out. Since I was not privy to the discussion, I did not know how closely Cassandra came to switching over. If I had known Cassandra was about to flip on me, I would have used it. RNO: Did anybody ever find your re-hidden fake immunity idol? Yau-Man: I don’t think anybody did. I wish I had thought about it much earlier. If I had thought about it, I would have made a much more authentic one. I didn’t know what it looked like at the time. If I had thought about it earlier, on Ravu with only a machete, I would have put a lot more effort into it, because it would have ensured it would be found. RNO: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your time on Survivor? Yau-Man: I had a great time. I went in to the game with the sole purpose of winning a million dollars – nothing more, nothing less. But once I got there, I figured I’d at least have fun. And I turned it up a few notches and I had fun. RNO: I think we all had fun watching you. Yau-Man: Thank you.