For a couple “Survivor: Worlds Apart” episodes, it looked as if Joe Anglim might be able to pull off the unthinkable.
Targeted for elimination at every vote — when your nickname is “Joey Amazing,” people don't like to keep you around — Joe was spared pre-Merge elimination when the Joaquin-Rodney romance somehow made them into an alleged power couple. Then he won two consecutive Individual Immunity challenges and it seemed fair to wonder if he would ever lose.
“100 percent,” Joe told me regarding whether he began to believe he could run the Individual Immunity table. “I was very confident that I could possibly go all the way.”
And in Wednesday's episode, even though he lost Individual Immunity, it briefly looked as if the combination of an elaborately designed fake Idol and Jenn's desire to semi-quit might earn him at least one more day in the game.
Joe admits he doesn't know what he would have done strategically if he'd gotten that reprieve.
He did not. Mike was briefly confused by the fake Idol, but he wasn't fooled and Shirin made a play to get on Mike's good side, leading to Joe's elimination.
In this week's “Survivor” exit interview, Joe discusses the “kryptonite challenge” that ended his Immunity streak, his ideal fake Idol design choices and the questionable Reward participant selection from the previous episode.
[Note that this interview was conducted via email due to my travel schedule, hence a couple places where I wasn't able to have direct follow-ups.]
Click through for the full Q&A…
HitFix: It seemed like you all went into Tribal Council with a lot of uncertainty. Were you pleased at the time that there was at least that chaos and it wasn't inevitable you were going out?
Joe Anglim: The whole time that I was in Tribal I was trying to create a little chaos. At the same time I was 50/50… I was hoping my plan would work and I could swing a couple votes my way but as soon as Mike pulled out the Idol I think he confused everyone that wasn”t a part of that. As soon as Mike asked Jeff about it, I knew it was a fake Idol and I was 90 percent sure I was going home.
HitFix: Going into that Tribal, what would you have told me your chances of survival for that night were and why do you think Mike and I guess Shirin went the way they did?
Joe Anglim: The best way to put it is if you have bullet in the chamber and the deer comes in your cross hairs to take the shot. I think it is in their best interest to not take me anywhere. Shirin and Mike were using each other and I had no part of either one of their plans. I”m an optimist and I would never count myself out completely. It was a true 50/50 going into tribal. Either I am going home or I pulled some magic to buy one more day.
HitFix: Now had you made it that extra night, what were you going to do so that it wasn't just a brief reprieve? Did you have a plan?
Joe Anglim: You know, I didn”t really have a true plan. I just knew that every day is another day to survive. If I stay in one more day now I know that I have some people I can possibly work with. I was pretty confident knowing that I didn”t have Immunity going home, even though I didn”t want to believe it.
HitFix: Jenn's quitting, but not actually quitting, do you view that different now from a distance than you did in the heat of the game?
Joe Anglim: I felt that the edit portrayed how I felt pretty accurately. I was unsure if Jen was doing it strategically or if she was truly that upset and considering leaving the game. I still think that Haley being voted out resulted in Jen losing her good friend in the game and a part of her wanted to be with her in Ponderosa… she was torn.
HitFix: Given that jewelry design isn't just a hobby for you, in retrospect grade the fake Idol you made. What would you have liked to do differently?
Joe Anglim: If I could go back and do it again. I would make a round Idol and I would have used paint from the tribe flag to make a red, blue and yellow merge Idol.
HitFix: You didn't know at the time that Mike had an Idol of his own. Knowing it know, how much do you think he was seriously considering your deal?
Joe Anglim: I think that Mike was considering it more than he thought he would have. I assumed Mike might have had the original blue idol from the start of the game and I was trying to pitch to him that this could be a potential merge idol. But knowing now that he for sure had the blue idol I think I maybe should have given it to someone else.
HitFix: And, in retrospect, I assume if you'd known he had the Idol, presumably you wouldn't have still approached Mike with the offer, right? Who would you have gone to and do you think you would have had more luck?
Joe Anglim: Yeah, I think if I had potentially gone to Rodney or even Will, who knows what could have happened. Honestly, it could have been anybody and maybe I missed a huge opportunity to change my fate. I knew Mike was the next bigger threat after me so I was trying to use that against him and unfortunately, it didn”t work.
HitFix: You had those three Individual wins in a row. Did any part of you believe that you could somehow run the table?
Joe Anglim: 100 percent. I was very confident that I could possibly go all the way. Improbable but I was trying to stay as confident and determined as I could because I knew if I don”t win I go home.
HitFix: You started having discomfort almost immediately in that last Immunity with the block balancing. Talk me through what started going through your head immediately and then as you managed to stay in as long as you did?
Joe Anglim: As soon as Jeff said, “This challenge is on, I knew I was in trouble. That challenge was probably my kryptonite challenge. I knew I was in trouble before it even started. I just tried to stay focused on keeping as much pressure to the top of the platform as possible and not think about the sweat dropping down my face and into my eyes.
HitFix: Dating back even to after the shuffle, did you feel like people were willing to even contemplate strategizing with you? Was there anybody from another alliance you felt like you were close to making progress with?
Joe Anglim: I tried to socialize with everyone in my new tribe and feel out who maybe would consider taking me. Then, I tried to make anyone else a bigger threat than myself.
HitFix: You had that Reward and you selected people outside of your alliance to go with you. What had you hoped for strategically and why didn't it happen, do you think?
Joe Anglim: I hoped to curry some favor with all of the White Collars and reestablish my bond with Will cause I noticed he was spending a lot of time with the other members of the majority alliance and I wanted to pitch to them that we needed to take out a Blue Collar in the next tribal council.
HitFix: Ultimately, how do you think being No Collar from the beginning helped or hurt your game? You got a solid alliance, but a brief alliance. Might you have had more in common with different people under different circumstances?
Joe Anglim: I think it did both, help and hurt. It helped in the sense that I see things from a very different perspective and while I was playing a hard fought game I was enjoying every single second of my time out there. It hurt it by me not really thinking through all of my decisions and the direct consequences that they all had.
Other “Survivor: Worlds Apart” exit interviews:
Hali Ford
Kelly Remington
Joaquin Souberbielle
Max Dawson
Lindsey Cascaddan
Nina Poersch
Vince Sly
So Kim