‘Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X’ exclusive: Ciandre ‘CeCe’ Taylor on votes, strategy, challenges, and more
Ciandre “CeCe” Taylor had a lot to overcome throughout most of “Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X.” She was on the outside of the dominant Gen X alliance from the beginning of the game, and in one way or another, she was in relative danger of being voted out just about every time the tribe went to Tribal Council. She was able to withstand much of that, but unfortunately the first vote after the move over to three tribes was the one that did her in.
In speaking to CeCe today in an exit interview, we can say wholeheartedly that we’re bummed she didn’t get more screen time — you can tell she loves the game, and she’s got a good attitude about her journey. She also has some interesting insight into what you didn’t see from the edit.
CarterMatt – What’s it been like for watching the show back and reliving this experience?
CeCe Taylor – It is like reliving it! The funny part is that as you watch the episodes, you can feel it. You can taste the ocean, you can feel the sand. You can feel every single moment — when there was the cyclone, I was cold all of the time.
I was watching yesterday, and I just felt the anger, the disappointment, the tears. I was really emotional, thinking ‘yeah, that did happen.’ You kind of get over it, you put it out of your mind, but then you go back and watch the episode and you’re like ‘yeah, this is happening’ (laughs).
You mention some of the sensory stuff you had going on with the ocean and being in the location, and this is something I always wonder — Are you able to separate the appreciation that you have for being there and experiencing the beauty of that place from the feeling of being cold or stressed about the game?
I absolutely can. It was after we swapped — that was the first time I had that moment to appreciate everything, and I think that was the first time I had my guard down. I really didn’t think I was going to go home, and so I was staring at the ocean thinking ‘wow, this is amazing.’ But, I also had bits and pieces throughout the whole time, thinking ‘wow, I’m on this [island in Fiji] right now. Yeah, I’m dirty and not eating, and I’m not with my loved one enjoying this view, but I’m still here. This has been my biggest dream to play this game and I’m playing this game.’ So, all of the time I was like ‘I can’t believe I’m here. It’s a beautiful place. I’m stress-free right now.’ It was a different kind of stress. It wasn’t the everyday work-stress or the everyday kid-stress. It was the stress of the game, but it was the stress I wanted. I want that kind of stress, I want to be hungry for this game, I want to be cold for this game. That’s what I want to do.
For the past couple of weeks, it felt like you were in danger fairly often. Can you explain how difficult it is to consistently deal with that sort of adversity? Did it make you play more defensively than you would otherwise?
Oh yeah. I was a target right off the bat, and going after that first Tribal Council, I’m like ‘okay, I’m tiptoeing, I don’t know what to think or who to trust.’ I was having these shared moments with Sunday and Jessica, and now they just wrote my name down. It definitely played a factor in how I was playing the game later on, because I felt ‘I already got a target on my back — I can’t be as aggressive.’ I can’t be as ‘hey, let’s do this.’
There was a moment in the third episode, the episode where Paul was voted out, where I did go up to the girls and say ‘let’s do a girls’ alliance and bring in Ken or bring in Paul. Let’s do that. Let’s change the game. We don’t have to let the guys run the game.’ That’s something I proposed to them, because I felt like if I’m on the bottom and there’s already a target on my back, why not try to do something different? I absolutely did try and I had to tiptoe a little more so. But, it comes with the territory of being in the game.
What was your relationship with Chris like while you were out there? Did you guys have a lot of conversations on a social level even if you weren’t aligned?
Not at all. I mean, we had some conversations about his upbringing, but that was really a conversation he was having with the entire group. It wasn’t like we were having these one-on-one moments or this ‘a-ha’ moment like ‘yes Chris, I love you. Yes CeCe, I love you.’ I had that moment with Ken, I had that moment with Dave. Me and Chris just never had that moment.
You said you felt relatively safe after the tribe swap. Was most of that just due to the thought that the Gen X tribe members would stick together, since they were already at a disadvantage?
That’s what we discussed even before the swap. We said ‘we already have the disparity, we already have this animosity with the Millennials. We’re not going to make [the disparity] worse, so no matter what, let’s try to have the numbers, at least for the first couple of challenges. Sure, after a few challenges all bets are off, do what you gotta do to get further in the game. But, at least at first, having more Gen Xers in the game over Millennials is only going to benefit you depending on the tribe.’
It was apparent that Chris was playing for himself, and he wanted to vote me out, which he succeeded in doing.
Going into the vote, how certain were you it was going to be for you? Did you have an indication?
Yeah, I felt an indication. What you didn’t see on TV was that there was this moment where Chris and Dave and Zeke were at the ocean, and me, Chris, and Dave had already talked about voting out Michelle. So when Zeke was already at the beach and Chris was yelling at me ‘hey Zeke is on our side, he’s going to vote out Michelle,’ [it felt strange]. Chris has never talked strategy with me — he’s never been like ‘let’s talk strategy.’ I thought that was kind of odd, given that we had already talked about voting out Michelle. Why are you being verbal about it now?
Then, Michelle’s paranoia — she was super-paranoid. Maybe it was natural, but I didn’t think it was as natural as it should have been. Then at Tribal Council Chris started to do his whole spiel about ‘the way this vote goes tonight, I’m going to know if I can really trust this person.’ I was like ‘why would you need to say that if we’re voting out Michelle?’. At that moment, I was like ‘here we go.’
Let’s go to the immunity challenge, since that was all sorts of crazy. How close was it? Do you get the sense that had you moved the basketball goal closer or David hadn’t fumbled the ball like a hot potato, your tribe would have won?
There was SO much going on at that time. We were just gonna do our best. I get it with Dave. I had just learned how to swim myself — I had 30 days to prepare for the show, and everyone else had about six months. I found out the week of finals that I was going to be going into this game, and I’d never been in the ocean for a day in my life. That was my first ocean experience. So whenever we had a water challenge, I had so much anxiety myself, and with Dave, he had confided in me that he also just learned how to swim.
So, we knew that we always had that anxiety anytime a water challenge [was coming up]; but, Michelle was goin’ home about ‘I’m such a good swimmer, I can dive. I can do this.’ We were like ‘okay, we should be okay. Dave and I are just going to try to get across as fast as we can, but Zeke, Chris, and Michelle are solid.’ Michelle wasn’t good at that either! She was struggling. I know I’m not a strong swimmer, but I’m not going to be advocating that I’m a strong swimmer when I’m not. That threw me off a little bit.
Chris, I get it. I know he was tired. I know he claimed he was a basketball star in his heyday, but he did swim a couple of times and was exhausted. That’s why he couldn’t get the balls in. I think it was really time — we didn’t have a lot of time to pull it in closer, so I think at that time we were panicking.
What’s the one move you wish you would have made that you thought about, but didn’t go through with it?
I wish that I would’ve went with Michelle. It was a chess game, because I know Zeke wouldn’t have gone with [it] because he was kissing Chris’ behind at that point. He was ‘oh my god, Team Chris, I love you so much.’ I don’t think we could’ve gotten Zeke to vote against what Chris was going for. Like I said, it was a risk I should have took. I wish that I would have played a little more aggressive of a game. If given a chance, I would definitely play a little different — maybe a villain next time, who knows? I wouldn’t be the sweet person that I actually am.
The last thing I have is a little long-winded. As we’ve talked about, there is this disparity between Millennials and Gen X people in the game, and there have been a lot of close calls in challenges that Gen X has lost. I don’t want to generalize or sound like Jeff Probst here, but as a Gen X person, do you feel like having all of that life experience and stakes puts more pressure on you to do well? Do the Millennials have a better chance to be more relaxed and easygoing? Is that sentiment accurate at all?
A little bit. I think sometimes we think ‘we’ve got all of this life experience, we’ve been watching this game so long, we should know [how to play].’ We definitely should know, so we have more pressure to be successful in the game.
But, you have to understand that these Millennials are faster, stronger, they’re more fit, they’re more flexible. They have more energy. Goodness gracious! None of them have kids. We have our lives and children and the pressures of the day, versus some of the Millennials, they have this carefree lifestyle where they go where the wind blows. I think they had a more carefree attitude, so there were more risks they could take versus the Gen Xers.
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