Entering last week's tribal council, the La Flor tribe seemed split on who they were going to send packing.  But after calling out his tribemates, threatening to vote people out, and commenting on the gay population of New York City,  Shannon Elkin made the tribe's decision pretty easy.  We chatted with him yesterday about the dynamics of his tribe and his explosive departure from the game.



How long was the actual final tribal council?  They let it run for about 10 minutes but it seemed like it was something that probably went on much longer than that.

What I heard before I ever went to a tribal council is that they can last for a few hours, becaues there's a lot of things that Jeff has to go over with you.  That part took a while but once he started asking questions it was real quick, maybe 30 minutes total.  There were enough fireworks in there that (Jeff) knew that he had what he needed to have.  We were all begging to vote anyway, just to get the hell out of there.

You got a lot of screentime at tribal, is there anything you wished there was more context on, or were you comfortable with how you were presented?

It is what it is, you know?  Like I've said before, Mark Burnett makes great TV, that's why he's a billionaire and that's why he's been doing this for 10 years.  He knows what he's doing and he got ratings and it was a big show.  But as far as the editing and stuff, what I asked the guy was on day 1, I asked him to get it out of the way 'are you gay?'  That was on day 1.  Cause everybody else was too chicken to ask him, so I went ahead and did it for them cause what's the big deal?  If he is, who cares?  They couldn't so I went ahead and did if for them and everyone was around and they heard it.  And then they just threw it in my mouth at tribal.  Tribal went down a little different than that, but all in all was I edited fairly?  I think so.  I think they made me more stupid than anything.  I know everyone thinks I'm a gay-basher, but to myself I think it made me look more stupid than anything.  Why the hell would I need to ask this guy if he's gay out of the blue?

So you didn't even ask him that at tribal council?

No!  I asked him at the beginning of the show on day 1.  What happened in tribal was he kept calling me a liar, and I hadn't lied to anybody on the show.  I said, 'fine, I lie to you when you lie to me.'  He said, 'when did I lie to you?'  I said, 'when you told me you weren't gay.'  That's how it really went down.  When I was leaning over pointing at him?  That's how it went down.  The audio is just thrown in there.  But it's all good, I'm not mad, I just think it made me look dumb.

Going into tribal council Chase seemed pretty undecided, but you seemed to approach it as if he was planning on voting against you.  Why?

Let me tell you something, I've been married since I was 19 years old, that's 11 years, okay?  I know that you attract more bees with honey.  So if I had thought for one second that I could con him over, I would have did it.  But we all knew he wanted Brenda from day 1, it was like a little schoolyard crush.  So I knew that he had lied to all of us, he tried to sway it right before we went into tribal council, and didn't really give me a chance to fight for myself.  So I had no other choice than to go in there and go off on everybody. 

You told Chase that if you got voted off that he would be next in line.  Do you still believe that?

No, I felt that if Brenda went home, he was going home next.  Because I was going to boot him.  I gave him my word that I would never vote against him, but once he pulled that I was going to send him off.  But now he's safe, he's got his little boo-boo with him and they're going to hold hands and kiss all the way to the end.

I'm also curious about the NaOnka and Jud showdown that happened.  From watching it it really seemed like Jud was completely innocent and was almost getting bullied by NaOnka.  Was he really as innocent as he seemed?

Let me tell you something, I also bashed Jud on the first show but what they didn't show is that I came back and apologized and said this guy's a great guy, he's hilarious, great character.  Funny, funny, funny dude.  And I felt that you're right, because she didn't talk to any of us like that but she went after him because she knew he was weak.  I mean she took the guys socks!  What a chump - he can't even get his socks back from a girl!  I would have been like 'look, those are my socks, I need them for the challenge.  You're going to give them back to me or I'm going to take them off of you.'

With the way things ended, if you were ever approached to play the game on an all-stars season, would you consider it?  Or is the Survivor experience done for you?

Did you see my tribal?  I don't think they're going to ask me back, my brother.  But if they asked?  I really don't know what I would do.  I won't do a fricking young vs old again, I can tell you that.  If they put me with adults, people my own age who have life experience?  I'll take that.

What have you been doing since the show?

You know, just trying not to have anybody come down and kill me from New York.

Have you been getting a hard time about your comments at tribal?

I've been getting a lot of bashing, man.  You know, there's still people out there who believe in Santa Claus, dude, and it's the same thing.  You believe in Santa Claus that's like believing everything you see on TV.  It's called an edit.  They can make you look like whatever they want.  Of course, you have to say it, and I did say it.  But they can make you look like whatever they want.  They made me look like a villain and that's not even the case at all.

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Survivor: Nicaragua airs Wednesdays at 8.00pm on Global.