‘Survivor: Worlds Apart’ exclusive: Vince Sly on elimination, strategy, desire to play again
We made it no secret that we were all in on Vince Sly going into “Survivor: Worlds Apart.” We even went on a limb saying that he would win the whole game, which makes this probably the most wrong we’ve ever been about a preseason winner pick. Still, we don’t regret the choice; he had and still has many of the tools to do well at this game. Also, we don’t put all of the blame on his for being voted out. Nina made a questionable decision telling Will about his medical concerns, and then Will made a questionable decision choosing to be fourth in an alliance of four over being potentially first or second in an alliance of three.
So as sad as we were to see Vince go, we did get a chance to speak with him at length on Thursday about being voted out, how he felt misrepresented at times during the early portion of the game, just how quickly he would return to the game if asked. We start this out with a lengthy story, but we feel like it’s a pretty fascinating one since you learn more about his “coconut vendor” title.
CarterMatt – I think the first question I want to know from you is simple: How did you get on this show?
Vince Sly – I have a side project called Coconut Caravan that’s gotten a lot of press because Jeff [Probst] pumped it so hard. Coconut Caravan is a circus-influenced, gypsy-themed coconut-vending cart that I had for fun. It was a weekend side project; I used to bring boxes of coconuts down the original Muscle Beach south of Santa Monica Pier, and just give coconuts to my friends after a hard workout … After a long day, what’s better than a coconut?
… [Eventually after a while], a lot of people were out watching us do our flips and tricks, and I had a couple of coconuts sitting on the boardwalk wind-barrier. I had two guys walk but and ask me about the coconuts, yada yada yada, I ended up making a whole cart as a part of it, after they were like (uses different voice) ‘I want to buy this, is this for sale?’ Then other people went by and were like ‘I want to have one as well. How much? Five dollars? Seven dollars?’ It became a coconut auction. Within three weeks I had business licenses and everything else, and within six weeks I had a fully-functioning coconut cart and some of my friends working with me.
We did that, it was a lot of fun, and to answer your question, I had reached the end of the day, and was all sold out on coconuts except for maybe two or three. Then, a cop comes by. I only had a license to park this cart in a specific location, you can’t have it on the walking boardwalk. I had parked [where I shouldn’t] next to Santa Monica Pier, and this cop has this face like he wants to write me a ticket. So I immediately jump up and go into this full spiel about how officers in uniform get free coconuts, and how he should come down with his family and his friends. ‘As long as you’re in uniform, whoever you’re with get free coconuts on us, in honor of all the hard work you do’ … As soon as he drives away, this lady on the other side of the cart makes a beeline over to me and offers me [a chance] to be on ‘Survivor.’ I go through the standard process of making the video, applying, and I got on the show.
You’ve probably been asked this question a lot, but do you think that you were sent home simply because Nina said what she did to Will?
I keep saying that I’m sure it had a lot to do with it. Who knows at what point Will decided to make that vote? Was it two days earlier, with the comment that I made on accident about wanting Joe gone by any means necessary, that I was [even] willing to throw a challenge? When you haven’t eaten or slept for days, things come out. You try to recover from those things, saying ‘I say a lot of crazy and wacky s**t, I’m an eccentric person, blah blah blah.’ You try to recover the best you can.
I felt like episode 1 was an inaccurate portrait of who I am, and episode 2 was an accurate portrait of who I am. And so, I felt like episode 2 was almost told from my perspective. I knew that Joe, Jenn, Hali, who I called the Barbie Pack, wanted to have me gone. Joe and I were going at it, and it wasn’t because of aggression or jealousy. Basically, we had strategized two alliances within the tribe, and Will was numerically with us. It didn’t make sense for him to go with them. Joe, Jenn, and Hali, they kind of isolated themselves and did their own thing and hung out all the time from day three on. It made sense we would do something together, but when we went to tribal, it would be a three-three split.
So I introduced the idea of an idol, the idea that Nina, being neglected, is always out there in the woods. She’s searching for it all day. I introduced this idea and I pumped it, so it was like day three she’s out there looking, day four she told me she’s got it, day five, day six right before tribal she showed it to me. They split the votes based on that storyline. Was Will a participant in this plan up to the point where Nina said what she did? As far as I can tell yes. She came and told me right away ‘I think I screwed up, I accidentally told Will.’ I obviously had a [furious] reaction. I went to Will and tried to recover. He just wasn’t entirely convinced.
Let’s talk about you and Joe. What was the real source of the tension; was it just that you two were diametrically opposed as heads of different alliances?
Everybody bought a lot of game, whether it was a social game, a strategic game, a physical game, whatever. Joe and I have a lot of similarities. I really wanted to work with him. One of my first inclinations was to team up with another superhero, someone who could do everything. It shifted because we are very different, and I realized that I had more of a connection with Jenn. Part of it was that I was 32 going into the game, and they were 22, 24, 25 to start the game. There were some differences [in how Joe and I operated] … It was almost father / son behavior, and that could have been a narrative.
We gave them a lot of content that producers could have chose to showcase, but they showed something that I thought was inaccurate, which was a crush on Jenn. I did like Jenn; we had a lot of fun. We did a lot of goofy, quirky joking that they didn’t show. Swinging with vines, telling jokes, playing around in the woods like we were cavemen. There was a lot of playtime in the game to go with hardcore serious conversations. Was there a crush? No. From my perspective, that was all fabricated. Did it drive a narrative that viewers really liked and were drawn into? Sure, it was polarizing. People either thought I was the creepiest person on TV on the most sincere, honest, lovable person on TV.
Do you feel like you would have fared better with a different tribal breakdown, where you were not placed within a certain group [like the No Collars]?
I think that I do actually thrive not necessarily with my peers, because I’m a creator, a fixer, a generator type of person. I do that in my everyday life as a counselor. Put me on the White Collar tribe, and I would have thrived. They would have seen me as some crazy [guy] who’s never worked in my life, but out here I could provide them with things like food, sleep, and shelter. Basically necessities for comfort and life. I think like I had I made it to a tribe swap or a merge situation, that’s where I was going to thrive. I really thought that playing a hardcore game was going to get me to a point where I thought I could thrive, but truly, I don’t regret anything. Put me on any designation, and I’m going to be the same person that I was out there. I loved every moment.
I’ve always wanted a season where people who are voted out early get to return. How badly would you want to go back?
If there’s a flight fueled and ready and the only way for me to get there is to run, I’d probably find a place for me to park my car for [a few] months and run. I don’t even think I’d tell anybody. I would just go, get up and start running there. It’s a fantastic game and I played for the game. I didn’t play for the show elements of it; I went out there, I played wholeheartedly, and I loved every f****ng second I was out there.
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Yep, that may be the best closing sentence in our twelve seasons of doing “Survivor” exit interviews. This one was fun, and we’re going to miss Vince the rest of the season.
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