‘Survivor: Kaoh Rong’ exclusive: Neal Gottlieb on being evacuated, keeping immunity idol, and more

It’s never easy to leave “Survivor” with an injury; it’s probably even harder when you are leaving with the sort of infection that Neal Gottlieb had. If it was just a little less severe or on a different part of his body, he may have been able to stay; however, the proximity to a joint on his knee is what forced him to follow the path of Joe Dowdle and Jonathan Penner in being sent home from the game. Ultimately, medical deemed it too risky for him to continue.

Speaking today in an exit interview, the Three Twins Ice Cream entrepreneur talked a little bit about his evacuation, keeping his immunity idol, and whether or not he knew the tide was turning against the Brains on the Dara tribe.

CarterMatt – So do you think it was harder for you to go out like this, as opposed to being the victim of a big blindside?

Neal Gottlieb – I think the way that I went out on one hand is entirely frustrating. I’m thoroughly convinced that where I went out with the idol, the ‘family jewels,’ with Aubry likely getting voted off that night, going into individual immunities where I’m strong and I’m fast and I’m really good at puzzles, I felt like I stood a really good chance at winning that d–n thing. That’s what I said going out, ‘you guys are lucky, because I was going to beat each and every one of you.’ I looked at them, and I think they knew that, and I said goodbye.

That’s why it’s frustrating, because I’ll always wonder. What if they let me stay? Would it have gotten better? Would I have won? I don’t know.

Let’s talk about what we saw last night in terms of strategy. Were you aware that the Brains probably didn’t have Nick and Michele, and that Aubry was the target? Would you have used the idol?

We were pretty aware. It’s hard to tell watching on TV, but you’re around these people all the time and you see the body language, the eye contact. You can get a pretty good read typically on whether or not someone is telling the truth.

It looked like they were targeting us, and that they were going to go after Aubry thinking that I had an immunity idol. They didn’t want to get into a tie with someone who they thought had an immunity idol. We had four votes we were going to put on one of them, they were going to split 4-3. That would have caused a tie or a re-vote, and then they could send someone home unless I played the idol. It was likely that they were going to go after Aubry, and it was pretty likely that I was going to hold on to that idol.

We saw a lot of Nick on the episode, being courted by both sides. He said he was the ‘pretty girl at the prom.’

Well he is a very pretty man!

(Laughs) Debbie definitely thought so! How much were you aware of what he was up to?

Pretty aware. At this camp almost everyone was sitting around all day, and it was pretty frustrating when we got there because nobody actually gets up. But a little bit did happen. When Nick went and got water with them it was obvious, and then he went and got water with us. It was pretty clear, and then Julia basically wouldn’t talk with any of the Brains. I think she was threatened by us, so it was pretty clear that [Nick and Michele] were the swing votes, and it was unfortunate that they weren’t going to be on our side.

Let’s go back a little bit and talk about the origin story of Mount St. Neal, as you called it. Do you remember when it started?

Absolutely. It was day 15, after the reward challenge that we ended up losing, I basically got what looked like a pimple on my knee, but it really hurt. I had them bring out the doctor, knowing that so many people already had all of these infections. It really hurt at that point, so I was just like ‘let’s just get this thing lanced so it stops hurting’ and that’s what they did. There wasn’t really any pus that came out, but it stopped hurting … but it just kept getting worse. By the time we did that obstacle-course challenge, it was a pretty big gaping wound. They cleaned it out, I went over that second obstacle, the one where I had to jump up and do the steel hooks. At the bottom I rolled off and I just filled the wound up with sand. And it just kept getting worse; it didn’t hurt, but it kept getting worse.

By day 18, I was pretty positive that Mount St. Neal was going to be my downfall.

I can only imagine that when Jeff showed up at camp, since that’s not something he often does, that you felt like it could be the end for you.

There was no doubt in my mind. I actually packed up all my stuff that morning before the immunity challenge because I was convinced that I was going to be pulled from the game. I was shocked [that I didn’t], and I got to go back to camp with my luggage. There was this sense of hope; ‘maybe I’m overthinking this, maybe they’re going to keep an eye on it and see what happens.’ But then when Jeff came by … It was clear that the executioner was there. If you look back at the press photos from this past week with me sitting on the log, how’s my body language? Everybody’s looking back now and saying ‘it’s clear Neal is going; his body language says it all.’

I couldn’t even look at him. I couldn’t believe this was how my game was ending.

How are you doing now? It’s been a long time since filming and hopefully everything’s healed up.

Oh, I’m great! That’s the funny thing and the frustrating thing about the wound. It didn’t affect me. Yeah, it was gross and I wasn’t the pretty girl at the prom, but it was fine. I spent two nights at the hospital, they cleaned it out, and they brought me to a hotel the night day. My first morning at the hotel I ran four miles on the treadmill; the next morning I ran five. I felt good, and I felt like I could’ve won the d–n thing.

A couple of days before heading home from filming (remember, Neal is a juror) the wound started to close up, so it took about two and a half weeks for it to close.

The wound on the back, when it was cleaned out it looked like two bullet holes. But, it was fine. I’m also not one to complain. People thought going out there that I was this dandy boy in ice-cream pants, ‘he’s probably wealthy and been handed things on a silver platter,’ and that’s not the case. I worked really hard to have the things that I have in my life, to build my company, and I don’t complain. I just put my head down and work.

So, it’s frustrating, and I’ll always wonder what could have been.

I know you’ve been asked this question a million times already, but why did you decide to keep the idol?

It’s complicated. On day 18 I was convinced that I was going to be yanked from the game, and that’s when Aubry and I had our romantic sunset talk, and I let her know that I had the idol. Then, she gave me the indication that [if events went a certain way] she’d slit my throat. Knowing I’m probably getting evacuated the next day, that just wasn’t something I wanted to hear, even knowing that this is a game where you slit each other’s throats.

So there was that, and it was pretty clear that it would’ve been Aubry going home, so my death gave her life. Also, as superficial as it is, this little thing that meant so much in the game was this last thing that I could clench onto and grasp. It was something I could keep. It’s ridiculous because there are so many memories, and if I forget I could just download the episodes on iTunes. But, it was just in the moment, and it was a painful, awful moment. I just wanted to hold onto it.

What you don’t see is that I did give her something. I did give her my sports coat, and I took a handful of stuff out and put it into the pocket of her sports coat. You could say that this could make a target, but you could also say that it helps her out, because people could think she has an idol. The threat of an idol can be even more powerful than the actual idol.

I have time for a couple more questions. First of all, you were with Debbie the entire game. What was it like playing with her?

Debbie is an incredible human being. She really has done a lot of things, and she’s a lovely lady. She just sometimes talks a little too much, and the funny thing is that when she’s done talking, which is pretty much only when she sleeps, she snores.

But, she’s fun! She’s entertaining. She’s a good person. She’s also bat s–t crazy (laughs), but we all are to some degree.

Last thing. Jonathan Penner went out with a knee injury and then came back down the road. Are you hoping for the same thing?

Absolutely. I’m still training as though I’m getting back on ‘Survivor.’ I want to win this d–n thing more than almost anything else in my life.

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