by Thinus Ferreira
Wardah Hartley (40), the yoga instructor and fitness professional, from Johannesburg had to forfeit her zen and had her torch snuffed in Survivor South Africa: Immunity Island on M-Net (DStv 101) when she became the 13th castaway voted out and became the 6th member of the jury.
You and Santoni were not friends, then you helped her during the swimming and she had such gratitude and the relationship between you two changed completely with you supporting each other. What went wrong because it ended with you again not being friends?
Wardah Hartley: Santoni is a very emotional person and I've said this from day one from my very first confessional - that was my biggest concern about her as a player: I could see she was very volatile. That's the word I always used. The smallest thing could set her off.
Our relationship was fine up until the night Anesu got voted out. And if you remember in that episode at the beginning of the next episode - the episode that I left - I was sitting at the fire and I said "that was a really difficult vote for me".
I was going through a lot - me as a player, as an individual. Because Santoni was playing so many people and playing so many sides, she always internalises other people's feelings as something that was a reflection on her, or was about her.
She automatically saw me as being emotional because I felt very conflicted about that vote and up until that point I played a pretty straight game. People knew where my alliance were - who I was working with; who I wasn't working with.
That was the first vote, where I said in that episode where Anesu goes home, I say "we're going to take out one of our own".
That was huge for me because I'm a fan of the game and I've watched it so many times, over so many seasons from all over the world, and it was always exciting to watch as a viewer but when you're actually there and you're doing it to somebody you've built a relationship with.
Even more so with me, it was someone I knew, a person in my real world; somebody I respected, someone I liked, who I respected as a yoga colleague, who I had a good relationship within the game as far as I was concerned.
Obviously seeing other interviews and having a 360-degree view now watching it as a viewer, I realise that it wasn't 100% reciprocated. As far as I was concerned, I did feel very bad about voting for Anesu.
So that was me dealing with the guilt and just the sadness of having to turn on one of my own. Somehow Santoni wouldn't allow me to have my moment with myself and somehow she came at me.
My guiding light in this whole process and my north star was my son, when he's older, he's going to watch this and I want him to know that I played with integrity at every point in the game.
In hindsight do you think it was a mistake to put the rice in your backpack?
Wardah Hartley: No, I don't regret that at all.
It was a strategic move on my part. Everyone said that Wardah would never take the rice home with her. They knew it. Without a doubt. It was all an eye blind. That's why Tyson also said at tribal council that he had the lion's share of the rice.
If I was voted out, I would have taken the rice out of my bag and have handed it over.
Also it was the reason why he had the bulk of the rice. He had 80%. If you look at the bag - watch the episode again - the bag that Chappies hands me is pretty flimsy because the bag's not full.
The bag that he actually took out of my bag was a little bit of rice - it was probably equivalent to two cups of rice, which was silly because the bag he put in my backpack was way heavier, way more.
No, I don't regret that at all. It was a strategic move, it was an eye blind to let them think that if she's got all the rice in her bag - which I didn't - they might go: As much as we don't want to keep her around, we have to because she's going to leave with all our food.
It was just a last-ditch effort to save myself but I never would have left with the rice - the mother instinct in me would never allow me to do that. I could never leave people knowingly to starve in the game. I know for a fact, for over 30 days how hard it is, and how hard they struggled for food.
The hunger was never an issue for me because I'm used to fasting but it was a big thing to everyone else who was left over, so I would never ever dream of doing that to them.
Why did you enter Survivor SA and you mentioned your son might one day watch but you can't really do Survivor and emerge unscathed the further you go without backstabbing and blindsiding people. Why did you enter and what did you think your strategy would be?
Wardah Hartley: I entered because it's something that I've always wanted to do. I'm a huge fan of Survivor South Africa and Survivor the entire franchise as a whole.
It was meant to be my masterclass for myself. I come from a working environment that pretty much groomed me for this - it was like swimming with sharks every single day of my life. I've learnt valuable lessons there.
I turned 40 this year and it was just something that I've wanted to do. It was on my bucket list. I've gone skydiving, I've gone shark-cage diving, I've gone snowboarding and done all the exciting things that I've wanted to do with my life and this was one of those things.
My strategy going into the game was to play on my social game. It was noted several times in the show that my social game was my strength.
I remember Renier even saying "Ooh, I like Wardah so much, it bothers me. It makes me uncomfortable".
It's just easy for me to do that, and to play on the fact that people always underestimate me - always underestimate me. I was finally going to embrace that and not fight that anymore, and use it to my benefit to see how far I can go.
I do believe that you can play this game with a certain level of integrity, you don't have to play a completely slimy game to get to the end.
What surprised you in hindsight that you were not aware of what people said and did?
Wardah Hartley: I think the conversation that shocked me the most was Anesu's conversations. I didn't realise how deep of a conniving game she was playing and how she was playing a game that was very underhanded compared to the rest of us.
I thought our alliance was playing together. So I was surprised at that.
It was very interesting to just see people's conversations and takes on things but it was also cool to see that people acknowledge your strengths and things that people thought are your strengths like my social game.
It's cool to see that people saw it as a threat and saying "she's really likeable, we need to get her out, she's making friends with everyone".
Do you stress, do you have tension when you watch yourself?
Wardah Hartley: You know what the thing is, Thinus it actually is. And you know what's the worst - what's the craziest thing - is that your heart starts to beat so fast a tribal council when watching it.
But the weird thing is, watching the latest episode my heart didn't beat fast. My heart was beating fast at every other tribal council and I would tell myself: You're not even going home, why is your heart beating so fast?
That was the weirdest thing now that you actually mention it. I just realise my heart didn't race watching the last episode. My heart raced at every other tribal council. It is sometimes stressful to watch it back and see certain things.
But you know what, it's all part of the game and being sleep-deprived, being hungry, being depleted - it changes people; it strips people down to their core, and it really shows you who people are when their backs are up against the wall.
It's interesting to see what human behaviour comes out in different people.
What did you learn about yourself from this experience and other people?
Wardah Hartley: For a big chunk of my working career I was told that my opinionatedness and my outspokenness was a problem. And I realised it isn't. It is my strength.
I was unstoppable at tribal councils. I was always able to articulate myself quite well and I would never back down from a fight ever. If I believe something is the truth and a certain point needs to be made, I will make it.
Also at tribal councils, when I was outspoken, it was all calculated. It was all for a reason.
One of the big ones that come to mind is when Amy was saying in their "tied destinies" episode that "oh there are people at the bottom within this faction" and me pushing her and going: "Why are you pushing this narrative? Who is at the bottom? Say who's at the bottom?"
Yes, it could look like yes, Wardah's going off again on a tangent but that was me reassuring Santoni that we support her; that she's part of us.
It was very important for us to constantly make her feel comfortable. Within our trio - me, Tyson and Kiran - everyone had an assigned role that naturally people just used that was their natural strength.
I was Tyson's social buffer and I was the person that would strategically say things at tribal council that needed to be said in order for certain votes to be done to get us over the line; to get certain strategies through.
While it did look as if I was just going off on a tangent, it was all calculated; it was all strategic.
Right after you left you said "guys don't let Chappies win", what did you do at Ponderosa and what did you do immediately after you walked away?
Wardah Hartley: You just kind of absorb everything. Ha ha ha.
I remember laughing a lot. Laughing in disbelief and kind of being very proud of yourself for what you've achieved and how far you came. You know, it's a weird point - from seven onwards it's an odd place. You have very mixed feelings because you're at single digits - you're at 9 days left for me.
So you go: Well done for making it 30 days but what could I have done differently to have gotten to that final tribal council? That's what was going through my mind immediately when I walked off.
Survivor SA: Immunity Island is on M-Net (DStv 101) on Thursdays at 19:30
