by Thinus Ferreira
Anela "Smash" Majozi smashed his way to second place in M-Net's Survivor South
Africa: Immunity Island, making it to 39 days and just losing out to Nicole
Wilmans.
You're a math educator and a rugby player. How would you say did you math
skills help you in Survivor?
Smash: That's a good question, I think obviously when you
are a math teacher you have a very a naturally, strategic, analytical way of
viewing things and looking at a situation.
I think when it came to problem-solving
on my feet, it really did come to the fore in that regard.
In instances where I
was faced with situations and looking at it from different points of views, I
was naturally able to navigate it from different angles and what a better move
forward might be.
I wish it came out a little bit more in the puzzles and stuff
but from the homework I did do to prepare for the show I thought: Let me not
put my hand up for puzzles. I never, ever wanted to put up my hand for puzzles
while we were still in our tribes.
You're also a rugby coach, and a rugby
player. As a team sport it's constantly drilled home that you need to be a team
player, and we're all a team. How did you adjust between playing coach and
playing an individual strategy?
Smash: Both are of big importance just at
different stages of the game, particularly at the beginning when we were still
in tribes that was the name of the game: be a team player, encourage the
players. So the coaching was more there.
Obviously once we got to merge it
became more an individual game – that’s when the player Smash came out.
That's
when it was, "okay, gloves are off, you're fighting for your life
now". For me both of them played a big importance – it was just bringing
them out at the correct times.
You're a big guy. Chappies. Some of the
others. Some of the girls and others are physically smaller. When it's time to
divide up the food it's the same quantity for everyone. You don't get more. Correct me if I'm wrong but you actually get weaker therefore quicker. If
you're bigger like you, how do you navigate the situation of getting even less
food than others?
Smash: You ask a brilliant question there, I
mean, I've also wondered why. Chappies lost 12kg, I lost 13kg so it definitely
takes a bigger toll on us sort of having to downsize all of the food.
I probably
got onto the show in arguably some of the worst condition I've been in in more
recent years.
My normal weight is about 83kg, 84kg
and I've been 93kg, so in all honestly to adjust to eating less was challenging
but as I got lighter than when the athleticism improved. I felt that as my
weight got lighter I got quicker so I actually welcomed the "lack" if
I can say.
You took a cowboy hat which I think was
the best piece of clothing besides maybe a waterproof, thick jacket. Was that a
deliberate decision?
Smash: It's obviously hot out there and I
wanted something to protect myself from that but the significance with the
cowboy hat in particular is – some of the contestants would know – I had
written on the inside of that, in the lining of that hat – I've written
messages to myself to just keep me going.
For instance, all glory goes to God;
and small little phrases like "I will be the winner". So for me, I
was always very intentional where I saw myself landing up, and when times were
tough that really did bring myself back, and helped to calm be down.
During quarantine before the game
started I had time to watch SuperSport's Chasing the Sun documentary and
Makazole Mapimpi and the achievements in his life and where he's come from.
I
wrote in my hat just his name.
And when times were tough I would think: There's
nothing that says you can't be what you want to be in life. If you have
the intention and you have that goal and vision, the only person stopping you,
is you.
That small little hat literally gave me all of that, so I was very
grateful for taking that.
When you stepped off as the first of
the three in the final immunity challenge, did you think now you're definitely
out, or did you think that you still might have a chance going on as one of the
final two?Smash: Sjo, it's a very good question, I think
at the time I was sort of there I think I felt that either way these
people – both of them view their chances in the final as being better with me
being there.
So that's how I perceived things then.
I could clearly see how Nicole could argue her game against mine and that she
carried me there, plus we had that really solid relationship.
So I thought if
she wins, I'm going. On Chappies' end, again, we spent a lot of time
together from Zamba 2.0 and I felt that if you just draw strength to strength
comparisons, I thought he also fancies his chances winning against me.
For me it was a personal victory to
last that one hour 58 minutes.
I was really on the sidelines for only 15
minutes or so. Now that I've seen it from the perspective of home and a fan,
it's interesting to see that Chappies as he outlined in the finale that he
might not have had a better chance with me in that final.
What did you learn about the
experience?Smash: There are so many amazing things I
could take away from this experience.
I feel that everything happens in the way
it's supposed to happen and anything that happens that I miss on in life was
obviously not meant for me and I have no regrets with how everything has
happened.
This is going to change my life going
forward and I've learnt a hell of a lot on the good side and the bad side of
things.
I didn't know how much of an influence I could have on someone else's
decision making process. Obviously as a coach and as an educator I'd be
pretty bad at my job if I couldn't motivate someone's thinking.
I was quite surprised at how
effectively I was able to do that. The relationship building I've always knew I
had. I'm a nice guy and I'm a flirty person and I get on with people. I knew
that part of me was going to come out naturally.
But then weaknesses that I was
able to identify, having played the game of rugby, and being a coach now and
always having this temperament of being resilient and that you are going to win
– it was humbling to realise that you're not invincible.
If you know where your weaknesses are
and you know where your boundaries are, then you can better then or say, I'm
going to focus on highlighting the strengths.
The most important thing is just
being grateful for how everything played out in the end. Although I'm not a
million rand richer, I feel very richer for having experienced this show. I
made amazing friends that I'll probably have for life now and life lessons that
are priceless.
It's an insane thing to do or want to
take part in, like climbing Everest. What would be your advice for people for
someone even remotely considering entering Survivor SA?Smash: My key pieces of advice would be, if
you're going to play, play to win.
And I say it with the greatest respect
to the cast because obviously it was fast and furious from the jump, but you
can almost immediately identify the people that are here to play and have a
strong chance of going all the way, and the others that are just happy to coast
along kind of thing.
Secondly, the deeper you get into the
game, you're probably going to be revealed more – the core of yourself.
With
that in mind, yes – there’s obviously a right time to highlight yourself or
downplay yourself – but be as true as you can be as an individual because it's
bound to come out anyway.
If I reflect on my game personally, I
knew that I wanted to be this strategic player or physical but I knew even with
that in the back of my mind that the thing that makes Smash, Smash is he is
friends with everyone. That was my strength. So I naturally just played my own
strength.
I didn't shirk away from it but I knew that that was the thing that
was going to get me there. You can see it when I spent 5 days with Zamba 1.0
and they still saved me over Dino and Qieän who've spent all their time
and that was not for nothing besides that I genuinely got to know these
people.
How are you dealing with the fame
aspect? You've become an iconic character associated with Survivor SA fandom.
People will forever seek you out for advice and to tell stories of your time.
How do you handle the fame of it now?Smash: It's been surreal. For me personally I
feel like when you do things well, or when things go well, you want to take the
least amount of credit, and when go bad in life, that's when you put your hand
up and own it.
For me, I like to stay in the shadows,
I don't necessarily want the fame and stuff.
I was genuinely just playing for
the million. Having said that, it's been absolutely incredible and overwhelming
just to see how much this show means to and how big Survivor is to so many
people.
If you're going to engage with it and you're going to engage with the
fans and you're going to engage with the show, there will be good and bad that
you'll see and that's welcome to. Everyone must have their opinion and
everyone's opinion deserves to be heard.
I've really enjoyed engaging with every
single aspect of this game. It's crazy and it really hasn't sunken in. When
people want to have a photo with me, I think but I'm just me. Ha ha. Why do you
want a photo with me? But I'm really appreciative of it.
I try my level best to, if I'm ever
speaking to someone – there’s an age old question that you get where someone
asks, "How was it?". And you've probably been asked that a thousand times
all of us as contestants.
But I try to answer it to someone like
it's my first time answering it because I know for them – either meeting me or
engaging with me – even if I've been asked these questions a thousand times,
this show means so much to someone, I want them to experience Smash like
it's the first time.
If someone asks me for a photo I never
say no. If someone want to have a quick chat the energy will always be up. I'm
so grateful for that stuff – that again is not something you necessarily go
looking for, but it's really appreciated.
