Last week's stunning blindside at the villains tribal council left few doubters that Russell Hantz is one of the greatest to ever play the game.  Counting himself among those doubters is Tyson, victim of said blindside and the second person voted out of the villains tribe.  To hear him tell it, Russell is an anti-social agitator, who got more lucky than anything else.  With a new episode of Survivor airing tonight at 8.00 pm, Tyson weighed in on the state of the game why he was in the best position to win it.



What was the mood like when you left?  Were things getting tense between Rob and Russell's groups?

It was strange because Parvati and Russell and Danielle seemed to distance themselves from everybody, which was, to me, not very smart game-play.  One of the goals, especially early on, is to make as many friends as you can so you always have the numbers on your side.  That's something that they weren't doing.  I don't think Russell has the ability to win friends, and Parvati and Danielle just didn't put any enough effort into it.  I thought that was a stupid move on their part.

Do you think Russell has a chance of making it to the merge?  He got away with one by voting you out, but the numbers are still very much against him.

The thing is that Jerri wants Rob out, and Coach also kind of wants Rob out.  I actually convinced them to stick with me and Rob until we squashed out the Russell and Parvati alliance, so with me gone they may jump ship.  It would be great to see Rob hold them together, but I know that Jerri for sure wanted Rob gone. 

You've said in interviews that you were the only person who knew you were switching your vote, but Russell seemed pretty confident that he wasn't going anywhere.  Did he play you, or was that just showmanship?

There's no way he could have known.  We all knew that he had an idol, and we all knew that there was a very real possibility that he could give it to Parvati.  I pulled him aside and said, "Either you vote for Parvati, or you play your idol, or you're going to go home, because we're splitting the votes."  He knew that and Parvati knew that, and then on the way to tribal council I started thinking that if Parvati convinced Russell that he doesn't need to play the idol, and then she voted for him, then he would go home.  So I switched my vote to make sure she [went] home as I viewed her as the more dangerous of the two. 

You saw her as more dangerous than Russell?

Yeah, definitely.  Part of it is that nobody likes Russell.  So if Parvati was gone, he'd have to come to me.  The way I had it running is I had Rob, Sandra and Courtney as my core alliance.  Those were the four I was going to stick with.  But I also had Coach and Jerri convinced that they were my core alliance.  Russell was talking a little bit with Coach and a little bit with me.  Parvati was talking to me, but I knew she was lying to me and she knew I was lying to her.  And then Danielle was a complete non-factor in the game.  She has a vote, which does count for something, but as far as strategy is concerned she wasn't on par with everybody else.  I was really in the perfect spot, the most perfect spot of anybody there.  A lot of it is luck, you know? Russell could have never known to give the idol to Parvati.  I think he was calling it quits.  He knew that nobody really liked him out there and that the numbers were not in his favour at all.  I think for his last hurrah he wanted to say, 'This for my alliance, I'm out.'  And then when it worked he was as shocked as anybody else was. 

Who do you think is in the best position on the Heroes tribe.

Oh, I think they're all in a terrible position.  Right now I think the outsiders have a better chance, and who are the outsiders?  Probably Colby, and Candice.  I think J.T has played the game too hard too fast.  He's already burned bridges so many times and people see that.  To switch up your alliance one time, okay maybe there's a good reason for it.  But to switch it up three or four times already and it's only been 4 or 5 episodes?  You can't continue playing that game with people.  So I think J.T doesn't have long to live in the game. 

What are you up to these days?

I raced professionally as a cyclist for a number of years, and now I run my own bike shop, so I can come and go as I please.  I take a lot of time off to travel around and do local mountain bike races and some triathalons and stuff.  Just enough so I can eat junk food and stay skinny.

Would you ever come back on the show if they asked you?

It's a beautiful game, and it's fun to play, and I wouldn't mind having another stab at it.  I really believe out of all the people out there I have all the skills and talents needed to win the game.  It makes me a big threat, but I think every time I play I'm one of the favourites.  There was a point when Sandra came up to me and said, 'people think Rob and Russell are running this game, but I know better and I can see what you're doing.'