by Thinus Ferreira
The medical doctor and yoga teacher Anesu Mbizvo (29) from Johannesburg, eventually got voted out of Survivor South Africa: Immunity Island on M-Net (DStv 101) as the 13th castaway to get her torch snuffed after a blindside from her alliance.
She's has become the fifth member of the jury as she secretly handed over her unused Tribal Council Pass to Chappies as he swore to exact revenge on her behalf.
You are such a great player. What went wrong?
Anesu Mbizvo: That's a tough one Thinus, you know, one of my strengths that I think you might have seen at the start of my game is being able to relate to people really quickly.
But what I know I struggle with sometimes, is that it takes me longer to really connect with people on a deeper level.
So I'm the type of person who had loads of acquaintances, but just one or two best friends. I think part of that played a role in my game where I established these surface-level relationships with almost every single player.
And then towards the end, I started to notice, you know, personality differences, differences in terms of the way that I wanted to play the game with a lot of those kinds of surface-level alliances and then I ended up forming a deeper relationship with just one or two players.
I think one or two of the other players who I formerly connected with, picked up on that. I think that's kind of where my demise came from. You'll see Tyron, Kiran and Wardah - I ended up going towards the outs of that alliance. I was very aware of it.
I'm a very strategic player, I'm very competitive. So I think they picked up on the fact that I was a threat and all of those factors combined, I think were the reasons why I ended up being sent home.
I thought you'd made top 3 because of how you created networked and spoke to people in a nice way. Is there something towards the end you think you could have done differently?
Anesu Mbizvo: Towards the end, my plan really hinged on Anela and Nicole and their swing of the vote ended up being my demise.
Anela was actually the player with who I played the least throughout the entire game because he was the original Zamba - he was in Zamba the entire time - I was in Vuna the entire time, so our relationship only kicked in in merge.
I decided that I wanted it to be a "slow-burn" in terms of the way that we connected. I think if I had gone in on our relationship and really tried to fortify those bonds, early on in the merge game, I think that that might have led him to rethink his idea of who he thought was a threat or who was going to be more loyal to him.
So that's one relationship that I think I wish I could have just spent a little bit more time on just to further myself in the game.
Why did you decide to enter Survivor SA and my mouth fell open when Fezile Mkhize who was a winner of SABC3's Top Billing Presenter Search reality show popped up in your video message from home. He found fame through a reality show, so why did you enter and did he give you any advice in terms of reality television competition?
Anesu Mbizvo: That is such a good question, so my main reason for entering Survivor was I grew up watching Survivor with my dad.
My dad is a die-hard Survivor fan, he messages me on Whatsapp throughout all of the episodes - he absolutely loved it.
Through watching the show with my dad, I remember as a young girl saying: I want to do that one day.
There was just something about the idea of being thrust into the wild with nothing to tether you.
As I got older, my ideas of why I wanted to be on the show just got stronger and stronger, you know, as I wanted to learn more about myself.
I'm very much a yogi and I'm into self-evolution and growth and we are taught that the best way to grow is through our difficult moments and through the discomfort.
I've thrown myself into discomfort throughout my life, you know. I chose to step away from a very cushy if you want to put it that way - career - being a doctor. I've flung myself into running my own business, which is not cushy by any means.
So I've experienced discomfort but I felt that Survivor was the ultimate kind of form of discomfort where you're getting dis-ease from every single angle.
I wanted to see, once everything was stripped away - my business, my friends, my family, my comfort -what was left and the type of person I become. So that was my primary reason for going on Survivor.
Then part B of this question, my partner and I met at medical school - that's where our story began. We were best friends throughout medical school, but always dating other people. And then at the end of med school we were finally single and we thought let's give it a shot, and we've been together for eight years since.
One of the things that I think I've brought to our relationship is just constantly inspiring both of us to try something new and to live life to the fullest.
Fez has always been excited about the concept of being in front of camera and telling people's stories.
So, I had a friend who was keen to try a reality show where the prize was to become a presenter.
Fez and myself went along to support and to cut a long story short he auditioned on the fly because they liked how he looked and he ended up getting the job.
So, throughout his journey I was able to see that reality show, kind of behind-the-scenes of what goes on at a reality show: The early callbacks, the interview process, the whole thing.
I definitely feel like that that prepped me a little bit for how - I don't want to call it "invasive" - but how really you almost give a part of yourself to the show, to viewers, to be able to connect to you.
Just keeping a level head, having an anchor and someone who had gone through that experience, I think really helped me with just navigating, apart from the actual experience on the show, more so watching the show as a viewer and seeing people's reactions to how I was performing on the show.
Santoni and some of the others got flack for doing some of the exact same things you did. But you didn't seem to get the same reaction and also you seemed more serene and not so troubled by the physicality of things like the cold and rain.
I loved it when we would even see a tear in your eye at tribal although you voted that person out. How did you stay so mindful to remain focused and calm and to present yourself in a strategic way as a calming influence among the conflict?
Anesu Mbizvo: So this is where I think my person life really comes into play with being a yoga teacher.
I have to constantly hold space for people who are going through a lot. So I'm used to portraying an image that will make people feel calm and comfortable, while in the background having to run a business and make profit and make more strategic decisions.
I'm quite used to making people feel that they can trust me, that they're in a safe space to heal, and on Survivor that's all you want because you're surrounded by danger - whether it's the elements, or the players in the game.
Anytime you feel like you have the space of safety and an environment where you can talk to somebody on a real level, you almost feel like you can open up a bit more.
I started off my game from day one with making those connections. Day one on the beach I was already pulling people aside to have personal chats. And I wasn't strategic - I decided for my first 3 or 4 days not to talk any strategy if I didn't have to.
Luckily we didn't - we won the first immunity challenge. So I was able to establish the fact that I liked having conversations and if I was talking to someone, that didn't necessarily mean that I was plotting.
So that helped me further on in the game where I think a lot of people were just assumed I was just doing the same thing.
They knew that I had spoken to them earlier on in the game and that it was more personal. I think that's part of the reason why I got away with so many things.
Letting go of the chickens was something I was expecting to get a lot more flack for but people kind of laughed about it, and people knew at that point that I was plant-based and was comfortable with them eating meat and rewards and I tried not to be judgy or critical with people eating meat, so that they felt comfortable to do so.
I think it has a lot to do with my real life really helped to prepare me for playing this game.
What surprised you that you were not aware of?
Anesu Mbizvo: I think I had my ear on the ground quite a lot in the game. What was a bit of a blindspot for me is that I didn't realise how close Tyson and Kiran were.
I was obviously on the Vuna tribe with them after the first tribe swap, so I viewed our relationship more as a trio - as opposed to a duo and me as the plus one.
I didn't know that they shared so much in common in terms of high school, you know, "bro bros", I'm sure Tyson is a sports fanatic, Kiran is too. So I think they really bonded a lot more than I thought that they would.
And I think that another part of game that was a blind spot for me was what was going on in the other tribe at Zamba.
I still am a little bit "lost" if I can put it that way, as to how Kiran, Tyson and Wardah fortified their relationship in those two tribal votes - after the second tribe swop - because after having been with Tyson and Kiran, and then seeing them at merge, I was very aware that something had changed.
I don't know if you've spoken to some of the other players about the experiences at Zamba, but it's kind of sounds like "the terrors of Zamba binding people together" in that hardship.
They had really connected at that time, I think that's also when Tyson connected with Anela - which was another blindspot of mine: I knew Tyson and Anela were close but not as close as I've seen on the show, so it's those little blindspots of relationships that I wasn't privy to witnessing that I think really would have helped to inform a bit more of my decisions later on in the game.
Did you have an inkling or did you expect that your name would be written down?
Anesu Mbizvo: I thought it was possible, but you know, Kiran was great - Kiran was so good with the blindside, he tends to be able to lull people into a false sense of security in the same way that I can.
So, I knew that there was a possibility but I also was very aware of not wanting to let paranoia to get the best of me and to let fear run my decisions.
I knew that it was a possibility but from what I've heard from everybody I told myself: Let's take a risk, let's gamble, let's use the Tribal Council Pass at the next tribal council when the numbers are going to be a bit more difficult for me.
I don't know if that's overconfidence but maybe me playing my Tribal Council Pass would have been my saving grace and I wouldn't have been talking to you this early.
Can you talk about the split decision to give Chappies your Tribal Council Pass after you got voted out and also what did you do when you went to Ponderosa?
Anesu Mbizvo: To give you context with Chappies' relationship - Chappies for whatever reason ended up being my safe space in the game.
You see it when we're letting loose shucking oysters and plotting and scheming. Our relationship was really at the forefront of my gameplay and my plan for going forward in the game.
As soon as I revealed that Tribal Council Pass to Chappies, that was almost me saying that this is an advantage that I'd like to use to help us both advance.
Even in that split moment when I was voted out, Chappies was really shocked. I saw his reaction. He was quite upset and immediately I was concerned about what his gameplay was going to look like because he had just not a number.
Giving him my Tribal Council Pass he already knew that the rules of it, it just felt like it was the natural and the right thing to do for me to help my ally to get further in the game. I was also aware that being part of the jury is a big responsibility.
Throughout my time on the game - after we hit the merge point - I was very aware that becoming a member of the jury was a possibility.
I decided very early on to make sure that if I did become a jury member that I was constantly aware of people's interactions at Ponderosa, as well as their views of the players in the game.
I really wanted to look at other people's interactions at Ponderosa - who is hanging out with who - what they would talk about, what their perspectives are of the players still left in the game, and all of that I thought would help me make my decision on the winner so much more informed.
I really wanted to take my responsibility as a jury member super seriously and that's really what my Ponderosa journey became - along with, of course, decompressing and connecting with the players who had already been voted out.
Survivor SA: Immunity Island is on M-Net (DStv 101) on Thursdays at 19:30
