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I can bring you the VERY FIRST exit interview with Survivor SA Santa Carolina celeb contestant Craig Jacobs who got voted out after he seemed to irritate his fellow tribemates too much by losing the fish hook, eating too much chips and criticizing the choice of contestants after the immunity challenge in the third episode of the M-Net reality show earlier this evening.
When I spoke with him, I found out what was the hardest part of it all for him, who he felt didn't contribute, and what he would have done differently. Craig told me why he felt guilty about Chibudu shedding members, when he realized that he was getting voted out and why he got the chop.
For my full interview with Craig Jacobs, click on READ MORE below!
Not being able to eat. I'm allergic to shellfish so I was eating less than a quarter that everybody else was. When they were having crabs and oysters – I'm allergic to that – that was the hardest thing for me. All that I was surviving on was a little bit of rice, and I think I even tried eating grass and ants at one stage because everyone else was getting their protein and I was completely and utterly starved.
Was there a moment after the show started where you felt or thought you wanted to quit or ''What have I've gotten myself into''?
No. When they all left I was actually bitterly disappointed. I was asked to pick a tribe and I picked people based on what they were going to be able to contribute to our tribe. I took it very personally, because these people that I thought were going to add value, were dropping off like flies. I was disappointed more than anything else.
There was this moment where you spoke to Sade Giliberti and it seemed as if you felt guilty or as if it's you're fault that they left. Why did you have that feeling?
Because I had to pick everyone; because I brought them to Chibudu which was the place that we found. I felt responsible for everyone because they came there, and because I picked them. That what was going through my head. It wasn't something that was arrogant or egotistical. I was just thinking that I wanted us all to be able to work together and win challenges and that wasn't happening.
You are also obviously as somebody in the media – being a columnist, writing about other people – how has it been since the show started to sort of see what people's perception might be of you and of the show and of you being in the show?
To be honest with you, ever since I started my clothing label 7 years ago, I only wrote a column for The Sunday Times since 3 years ago, and people have always commented on me or made opinions. The fact that I also have opinions about other people and have written about them, I think it's not a big deal for me. Everyone has an opinion – go ahead and state them. Everyone should be allowed to have their own opinion.
You know, at that point, because I didn't make any alliances with anyone – because everyone else had been conniving and manipulating, whereas I was just being very real – I realized that yes, the writing was on the wall. That I was going to go.
And why do you think you got voted out?
Because I suppose they needed to vote someone out and I wasn't aligned with anyone besides Gigi. It was basically the people trying to see how they can save their own skin, and it was easy for them to point their fingers at me.
If you had a last kind of intervention, or 10 minutes more, and could go back with everything that you know now, what would you have said to whom or have tried to do differently?
I think what I would have done now in hindsight is building alliances early on in the game. I think that was my biggest flaw, besides being quite outspoken. I think that if I had gone to Okkert earlier and spoke to him and Gigi, then things would have been different.
How difficult is it, because it is kind of an unnatural thing to say ''Oh, lets the two of us go and take a walk along the beach'' to try and get some time or moments to talk to somebody specifically?
I suppose you have to be completely and utterly focused on that and you have to try and find opportunities and do it. I wasn't thinking of that. Clearly the rest of the tribe were. They were looking for each and every opportunity to connive and manipulate. Where I was just going along and enjoying the experience of it all and not thinking about having ulterior motives.
Who did you like the least and why?
[He laughs.] Uhm, on the show I voted for Hanna. I didn't dislike her. I didn't dislike anyone on the show, I thought it was a great bunch of people. But I just felt that she wasn't really contributing enough.
And who did you like the most and why?
Gigi definitely. I think she's a real gutsy person.
Why did you decide to be in the show?
I wanted to check myself. I wanted to see how far I can go. I'm not the kind of person to go camping. I can't swim. I haven't been inside a gym in years. So this gave me an amazing opportunity to get all of that and throw away technology and my cellphone and see what happens. That's why I did the show, to test myself.
What did you come back with from the show that you have learned or got a new perspective on?
I think resilience – the fact that we can survive in the elements. That we as human beings can adapt to environments in which we can survive.
Survivor SA Santa Carolina, Wednesdays on M-Net, 19:30
