by Thinus Ferreira
Kiran Naidoo (29), the Durban-born strategy consultant from Johannesburg, left Survivor South Africa: Immunity Island on M-Net (DStv 101) and became the next member of the jury after his torch got snuffed when Chappies yet again won the immunity challenge.
You never told us in the show that you're a superfan. We realised it in the episode of the family get-together where you said anyone who's a superfan will know there's an immunity idol at the sponsor's sign. When did you become a fan and why did you enter?
Kiran Naidoo: I became a fan in season 1 of the American version.
Funnily enough, the first-ever episode that I've watched of Survivor was the final tribal council where Richard Hatch wins the million. So, if there ever were a bad episode to start off with, it's the final episode of a season but I was hooked thereafter. I've loved Survivor for about 20 years.
When I went to university I went through a period of not watching Survivor and funnily enough I was working in Ghana in 2018 and at that time Survivor SA season 6 in the Philippines was playing, so in the mornings as I was getting ready for work, I'd be watching Survivor SA as a taste from home while in Ghana and that's what got me back into it.
And I thought: I need to apply. After season 7 came out I said to myself that this is my shot. I've been a lifelong fan and it was a fortuitous trip to West Africa that actually got me back into Survivor wholeheartedly.
Why do you think some people want to put themselves through such a harrowing experience?
Kiran Naidoo: On the extreme end I watch shows like Naked and Afraid. I would never be able to last on that. Survivor is almost "Naked and Afraid Lite".
There's just this element of everyone wants to see how they would be able to cope.
On the one hand it's the survival aspect - would I actually be able to survive in the outdoors compared to my cushy life?
And then, I'm deeply competitive, so on the other side, I've spent so many years staring at my screen and screaming at people and going "you idiot, what are you doing? You should be looking to your left, not your right".
There's this element of wanting to test yourself and to see whether you're as good as you think you are, or whether you're just better as an on-the-couch analyst. It's a combination of putting yourself through your paces and also putting your money where your mouth is.
It didn't seem as if you were as outspoken at tribal initially, and then you just had zingers in the last few episodes burning everything down. Was it a learning curve of figuring out how to speak at tribal and what to say and to reveal and getting comfortable in that conflict zone of did you held back initially as part of strategy?
Kiran Naidoo: That was definitely me reverting to the norm.
My friends and family watching the season, asked: "Who's this kid who's quiet all the time?".
I'm very outspoken, extroverted and opinionated. That's one part of me. The other part of me is that I'm quite a people's person. I love being liked. So there are these two conflicting pieces where at tribal council sometimes you want to speak up.
But then the other part is that you realise this is actually a popularity contest, it's not in my best interest.
The times where I did really get emotional with Renier, with Santoni - that was me reverting to my norm and just getting a bit of a temper and it came out.
In the tribal council where Santoni goes home where I started calling out Anela - that was very much deliberate. That was part of the plan to really throw Anela as far under the bus as possible.
Santoni and I had a back-and-forth for about 20 minutes before I got really upset and then the fire came out, so that was not deliberate.
When it rains like what we saw happen in the last episode, viewers forget that the content producers and cameramen are also there and just standing in the rain.
You were in the shelter and couldn't go anywhere which didn't leave you time to actually talk to anyone one-on-one before going to tribal. Was there anything you could have done differently to talk more to Nicole or Anela?
Kiran Naidoo: It's something I've thought quite a bit, right. If I look at how I played the game compared to everyone else - if you look at Tyson and Chappies - they have great CVs at this point but they have upset a lot of people.
Anela and Nicole are almost at the other end. A lot of the jury might feel that they haven't played the game as much but they haven't stepped on anyone's toes. I'm in the middle where I played the game and I haven't stepped on anyone's toes.
I really didn't know what more I could say to Anela and Nicole short of putting myself in a similar light to Chappies and Tyson, or maybe throwing the rest of the rice into the fire or taking the machete and hacking down the camp.
I felt that there was very little I could do to change their perception of how I was viewed by the jury.
You and Tyson held on to each other in the final moments of tribal and it felt as if even at that point neither of you really knew who might be voted out. To what extend did you think it might be you or might be Tyson?
Kiran Naidoo: At that point I was 100% convinced it was me.
Anela and Nicole came back and I asked if it was me or Tyson and Anela said it was me; Nicole had tears in her eyes. It was quite a surreal experience.
I knew I was going home and I thought I need to figure out what else I can do.
That's why Tyson got emotional. It was quite funny to see someone who's been playing the game so tight-fisted and keeping his emotional cards close to his chest, and having this real pouring out of emotion.
We really, really trusted each other. Anela was right when he said it doesn't look as if the two of you would vote for each other.
What would be your advice for people for season 9 of Survivor SA and how they should approach it in terms of gameplay?
Kiran Naidoo: A lot of people have told me that I'm really good at strategy. For me the game is a social game first and foremost. It's people. It's one thing to be liked. That's good. That's the base layer.
If you're liked, you can go a distance because people will first vote out weaker players and the people they don't like before making bigger moves. So, be liked.
The next thing is to take the time to actually understand the people you're playing with. You need to understand what motives them, what's their background, what are their beliefs.
Understanding that level of people gives you insight into their decision-making. So it's people and then context. You also have to understand what is happening in the game - who has advantages, who's in whose alliance and what's the landscape after the previous vote. If you then put the two together, you get a good sense of what could potentially happen.
An example, as a kid, if your mom tells you do not touch this hot pot on the stove you will drop it. And you know your mom, so you know the person and you know what the outcome will be.
So you know you're going to get a hiding. And as a kid, you're equally aware that if your dad tells you the exact same thing, dad is a lot more calmer, he doesn't care so much - I can get away with it.
By understanding people in a specific context, you can get a sense of how they will react. Take the time to not just get people to like you but to understand who they are and then get a good sense of the context of the game.
What did you learn from people or life in this experience?
Kiran Naidoo: It's so hard to see on TV but there is a shared trauma of being left on a beach and having to fend for yourself.
As much as I'm a fan there is a moment where you go: "Oh my gosh, this is really, really real." It's pouring with rain, there's lightning.
The producers are not coming in and telling you "hey listen guys, there's lightning and we would advise you to stand in the shelter". No. If you want to go climb up a tree and get struck by lightning, that's your prerogative. You think: "I'm really alone".
It's funny how, as humans, you will always form a mini-society wherever you are.
It's so important for your mental space that you play an active part in the society that develops. You don't want to live in a camp life that is completely divergent from your belief system.
I think that's why a lot of people were upset with Chappies for stealing rice. It's not the action of stealing rice and giving him an advantage. When your house has been robbed, it's not the loss of the possessions that matter so much as the feeling that someone has come into your space and invaded your privacy.
With Chappies people were more emotional around "what about our community? What about the way in which we lived?". In the game, there is a point where you almost forget about the game and you want to keep this community going.
What surprised you that you didn't know about?
Kiran Naidoo: The one person that definitely comes to mind who played a really strategic game and that I had no idea, was Amy. Amy was always there, tanning on the beach. Deeply smart. When she said she was a PA, I thought she's hiding something.
She said she was a PA at a law firm and I said that "I think you're probably a lawyer just because of the way that you articulate yourself is very, very lawyer-like". She is a proper player. She is so good, so strategic, so social. Watching it back that really surprised me.
Watching it back I'm shocked that I could swim as well as I did. I definitely, definitely did not see that happening. I thought I'd be better at puzzles and much worse at swimming.
This last challenge I was shocked that I was so close to Chappies before getting to the platform.
How did you feel when your torch got snuffed? Everyone waved at you which didn't happen for the majority of castaways, and what did you do at Ponderosa?
Kiran Naidoo: Because I realised that it was probably my name going up, it allowed me to really take in the moment.
It's a bad analogy but it's like having a family member suffering from a terminal illness: At least we're aware. We can appreciate the moments with them.
It's a similar mindset of "my time in this game is coming to an end". I was hyper-aware of walking along the beach, looking at the sun setting, really just taking it in and enjoying myself.
Even in that last tribal council, you can see that I'm having fun with all the castaways. I'm having jokes with Chappies and Nicole and it's really just embracing the moment and enjoying it as the fan and not the competitor. It was quite great from that perspective.
The wave at the end - it really does sum up my game: Every blindside that we had, maybe barring Santoni, everyone left with a smile on their face and still had kind words to say about me.
At Ponderosa it was all about food. That was the main focus.
But the first question I asked when I got to Ponderosa was: "Guys, if I got to the end, would you have voted for me? Would I have won?" It's almost part of the grieving process to find out, was I voted out because I was actually a threat, or did these guys just lie to me?
Survivor SA: Immunity Island is on M-Net (DStv 101) on Thursdays at 19:30
