by Thinus Ferreira
The volunteer firefighter Qieän Wang (35) became the 8th person voted out of Survivor South Africa: Immunity Island on M-Net (DStv 101) after she went from Zamba to Vuna and back to a reconstituted Zamba - and ate in front of them.
The last time I saw and spoke to you, you were all dressed up and glamorous in the line to audition for another show and now we saw you on television with a buff roughing it in Survivor SA and I didn't know that you're a fan of this show and would ever enter this - why did you decide to enter?
Qieän Wang: Oh no, this is definitely up my alley.
I've always been somebody who said to myself I can't be a single-faceted person, this is your life, you've got to take life on, you've got to be multifaceted and as multi-dimensional as possible.
I've climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, I was a volunteer wildlife firefighter at an organisation in Cape Town, so to people who know me very well this is no surprise that I entered Survivor.
And why did you wanted to do this - what part were you looking forward to experience?
Qieän Wang: Actually, I've been watching Survivor since high school and I was 19 years old when the first season happened and I was sitting in the computer lab at Wits thinking, oh, wow, this is incredible, I've been loving this show for a few years and I really want to enter.
But back then I felt that I wasn't quite interesting enough to be entering a show like this and I felt that I needed to build more on my life CV and see and do more things before I can actually enter Survivor SA.
Every single time I've watched Survivor I just want to crawl into the TV and be a part of it. I have so much passion for the show, the game and every single element of it.
For some people it's the prize money, some people just enjoy being winners - for me, it's every single experience, every single second being on Survivor SA and eating food with no spice and flavouring.
For me it's the biggest bucket-list item I could possible have ticked off on my list of things I want to conquer. I felt very blessed and grateful for the experience.
You all were seen shivering and it rained a lot, how was the lived experience of it different from what you expected it to be and prepared for it to be?
Qieän Wang: You can never really truly prepare for Survivor - you just don't know where you're going to land.
But I definitely wasn't expecting to be comfortable, definitely didn't expect to be well-fed.
Being a Survivor fan you know that these things happen. Despite the seeming discomfort, the surreal factor of being on Survivor SA made even the most uncomfortable days incredible because you wanted to be there so much that those things don't matter.
It doesn't match expectations - yes. But as a Survivor fan that is exactly what you want to do: Go there and be uncomfortable and enjoy that, embrace it. So definitely - yes what a ride! I loved it.
What did your parents say when you were told them you've made it as a final castaway for the season?
Qieän Wang: Despite the fact that I grew up in South Africa and have a very strong South African upbringing, my mom is still very much Taiwanese to her core.
So for a lot of Asian older generations, they feel like "What are you as an Asian girl trying to prove by putting yourself in that kind of a situation because Asian women don't do things like that" because you are breaking the stereotype by being a part of something like Survivor. No ways.
We emigrated to South Africa in 1994 and my parents are not fluent in English. Back then my parents didn't speak a single word of English and still today it's very basic communication in English, so I didn't have any fear of them spilling the beans on me being a part of Survivor.
And watching you, what was the reaction of friends and family?
Qieän Wang: Knowing that I was on the show there was a lot of excitement to see me on television and to them it's all very fresh and new. To me, goodness, it's just so strange to hear your voice on TV and to realise that oh, it's me speaking in there.
They've been so supportive and I'm currently in Hong Kong and my friends have watch parties for me so we have lunch and then we watch Survivor SA together which is fantastic.
Some of your tribemates in the last episode during which you were voted out said behind your back that it looked as if you're selfish by eating in front of them and not sharing the food you brought over. Do you think that was a mistake?
Qieän Wang: Thinus to be so frank, in that moment, my journey to that point has been so rocky, I was so emotional at that point - all that I could think about was: What can I do to contribute to ensure my safety in this tribe so that no-one goes home?
So obviously if you lose tribal immunity, you go to tribal council and I didn't want to be a liability through losing immunity challenges.
My first thought was, if I need to contribute, what do I need to do? I need sustenance. I feel so bad that I made them feel that way. It just wasn't intentional.
From my side I just wanted to make sure that I have energy to stay strong and I didn't want to become a liability to the tribe.
In real life, since then, I've spoken to Santoni and Wardah and you've seen in my final tribal council that I was sent off with a lot of love because the girls had tears in their eyes and we had pet names for each other on the parchments.
I really do feel bad but back then I was thinking about the tribe and not of myself and guilty that it came across that way and not taking into account that they haven't eaten. Survivor puts you in such a strange and weird space and sometimes your truth in Survivor isn't necessarily your truth in reality - so reality TV versus reality.
In real life my social skills are definitely not inept.
What went through your mind when you spilled the food and to pick up all rice and did you think that it could cost you the game?
Qieän Wang: No, definitely not for spilling the rice. I have been on the outside of the Vuna tribe.
Tyson said I was picking up every grain of rice out of fear that it could be what would send me home. For me, I was thinking that our food supplies were so scarce and that was literally one handful of rice that we needed to feed how many of us and Anela wasn't there, so 5 of us.
All I was thinking was, oh my gosh, we have such limited supplies of food, I cannot - and especially being Asian - I cannot waste this rice. I have to pick up every single grain of rice. We need this food as the tribe in order to sustain ourselves!
I think you can see from the episode that that wasn't actually the reason why I got sent home.
The last time we spoke we talked about Asian representation and I'm wondering how you feel about having been able to bring a South African Taiwanese flavour to South African television, Survivor SA and popular culture?
Qieän Wang: I think especially in this current climate where there's anti-Asian hate now, it's critical to have this Asian representation because there are so many misconceptions that happen around the world because people don't take the time to get to know the other person.
When people have this misconception of you, no matter how much you try to convince them otherwise, it can't change their minds.
So, what I really tried to bring into television as an Asian person is to be kind and what I really wanted to show is that we are not any different from other races whether you are white, black, Indian - at core we are all the same human beings - especially with South Africa that had an Apartheid background as well, I think it was quite important as a message to send out.
At tribal council you were quite emotional. Did you have a stronger sense that this time it is your last tribal and that you're the one going home?
Qieän Wang: So, I don't know if you noticed that during tribal council, Santoni and Wardah actually had tears in their eyes when they saw that I was leaving. Santoni's hairstyle at tribal council was actually courtesy of me - I did her hair that day.
We actually did have a bit of time to bond prior to tribal council. That day we knew it was either me or Santoni going home.
You could see Wardah said that Santoni was a double-agent and that she can't trust her and she and Anela have a full, straight-on open disagreement. But the turning point was during our immunity challenge where Wardah sorted out her differences with Santoni.
Santoni was petrified of going into that river again and having to swim and Wardah stayed with Santoni and I think that that was a massive turning point for their relationship.
Wardah did an incredible job in being able to iron out those differences and to think about her game going forward because we knew that a merge was going to happen.
I think that I did build quite a good case to Wardah as to why it would be in their interest to take me forward but that strong bonding moment during tribal immunity made a huge difference.
I was also glad that I was able to bond with them just before tribal council and me - I felt that that was the first time during my entire Survivor SA journey that I felt there are people who I can be loyal to.
My tears - a lot of my tears - were that I finally, after a rough 18 days found my people and also because my journey was cut prematurely. I've been such a massive fan of the show, and so passionate about the game that I just really wanted to be able to go into merge, to have that feast, to do a merge challenge.
My strategy was to stay under the radar and I knew what kind of strategy I wanted to go in with but having that Survivor knowledge doesn't necessarily mean that it will work practically in this specific Survivor SA season.
I felt comfortable that I would make it to merge, and I think it made me slightly complacent in terms of my gameplay. Wardah had so much experience on the other hand with tribal council and you want to play Survivor like that.
Looking back and seeing everything, what surprised you that you were not aware of?
Qieän Wang: We haven't had much time to get to know each other so watching it I was shocked some of them thought I was selfish - I'm naturally very nurturing and giving and a provider.
And described as a loner - unfortunately I wasn't able to find my number one and my number two during the game but I so desperately wanted to find those people and be that person for somebody else.
I wanted somebody I could hopefully take far with me and that, strangely enough, was actually Dino.
Dino I consider - we actually never got too close - I mean we all know that he has quite a bit of a paranoia persona, but he for me was someone who was my frenemy who I wanted to keep close as my shield but unfortunately when he left I thought that at the next tribal council it would very probably be going home but I did not go home without a fight.
I wanted to be there, I wanted to last 39 days and I wanted to give all the Survivor fans a really great show to watch.
What do you think you could have done differently if anything?
Qieän Wang: There is absolutely no regrets. I do not regret anything that I've done.
I went in there with one game plan that I was going to stay under the radar, I'm going to hopefully smooth-sail into merge - although my journey from the start was never smooth - and then go bright, go shine and going hard.
I said that I was born to be like water and in the ocean I thrive and I think I did conquer. I was thrown in a lot of deep oceans during my time on Survivor and I think that I did manage to pull my way back and to get that beautiful send-off where I was actually loved and not hated and not have animosity and bad relationships with anyone.
For viewers, that's very much not what they want to watch but I've accomplished what I've wanted to do on Survivor SA.
I see you're wearing your tribe buff on your arm and they're obviously very valuable - a lot of people want them and they just can't get them. Would you ever put it on eBay and sell it for thousands?
Qieän Wang: This is indeed very valuable and very sentimental to me. I still haven't washed it.
In fact, my entire - and it sounds so disgusting - my entire outfit that I've worn on Survivor SA - I've not washed. It's in a bag and they still stink.
You're going to see everyone again at the reunion, what is there that you might want to ask or are wondering about?
Qieän Wang: One of the biggest things that I wonder about is when I asked for help, I heard my name being spoken when the decision was made who to send to Immunity Island. And you know, why wasn't I sent there?
Obviously, you want to go to see what it looks like, but I was so loyal to Vuna 2.0, to the people there and the alliance that we supposedly had built, and we had been speaking about going into merge together. It did hurt at that point to have not been sent.
Then again, that is what the Survivor gods want me to overcome as an obstacle.
Definitely, that is something that I want to ask. There's Renier, there's Marischa, there's Paul. It's something that I want to speak to them about, I guess. But obviously not coming from a point of me feeling so hurt by it because those are bygones.
I'm sure for them, at that point, they felt that that was the right decision for them to make for the game going forward and to protect Anela instead of me. Or maybe they felt like I stood a better chance of staying anyway than Anela. We haven't spoken to each other since the game. It would be nice to have that closure.
How long did it take you guys to realise or make the judgment that going to Immunity Island is a "good" thing?
Qieän Wang: The moment when people come back and you start finding out that they actually have advantages.
From Santoni onwards we knew. Especially after the first tribe swop when Paul relayed a message to Tyson to tell him where to find the hidden Immunity idol.
That's when we knew that actually, by sending the weakest person to the Immunity Island, you give them so much power. It granted them a lot of power.
I mean, the first time Santoni went, she had the Immunity necklace at tribal, secondly she had a clue where to find the hidden Immunity Idol at camp, thirdly she found another clue in the Immunity Island sign for the hidden Immunity idol at tribal council.
I mean that's massive - so many advantages with just one visit to Immunity Island! I mean, who wouldn't want to go? Really amazing on the part of the production to give the underdogs the opportunity to rise up, so kudos to Afrokaans for such an incredible season.
Survivor SA: Immunity Island is on M-Net (DStv 101) on Thursdays at 19:30
