‘Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X’ exclusive: Taylor Lee Stocker on stealing food, Figgy, Adam, and mason jars
To say that Taylor Stocker was an entertaining “Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X” contestant would be an understatement. He was all over the place in terms of strategy, he had a romance that defined much of his end-game experience — including his thirst for revenge, and his food-stealing from the rest of the tribe led to one of the most-intense Tribal Councils that we’ve seen in some time.
Today, we got a chance to talk a little bit with Taylor about some of his moves, if he regrets the romance with Figgy now that they aren’t together, and how much he knew about what was going on around him at the merged-tribe beach.
CarterMatt – Did you know that it was going to be you going home over Jay?
Taylor Stocker – Yeah. After what was said [at Tribal Council], I knew that it was going to be me.
Any hard feelings at Jay for voting for you when you voted for Adam?
In my mind, I knew I was going home and I had the majority of the votes going my way. I didn’t want him to suffer being on the wrong side of the vote [to get rid of me] … I just look back and am like ‘you gotta do what you gotta do.’ I wasn’t surprised.
Did you think there was any legitimate chance to get the vote changed to Adam? When you were in the moment and calling him out, did you get the sense other people were thinking about flipping?
Definitely. I think if someone would’ve taken a stand and said ‘THAT is something worth talking about. We don’t know what the advantage is, he could be lying about other things, as well’ [there could’ve been a chance]. I really tried to sway them as much as I could, but there were no takers.
Was there a little grandstanding on your part about the advantage, and coming up with the worst possible thing he could do in taking away a family visit? I’ll be honest — when he first got the advantage, I didn’t think it was a particularly big deal.
I was trying to map out the worst-case scenario thinking what Adam would cling to the most, and it would definitely be the loved-ones’ visit. If he makes it to that point, that’s what he is going to use it for. I was looking at it going if I was standing there and I had [just] won and Adam steals that from me, how angry that would make me just [in terms of] the experience of having your family member come out. That could be a huge thing and it could put a target on his back.
Was trying to take out Adam simply out of revenge for Figgy, or was there something else he was doing?
Mostly that he had secrets of mine, I had secrets of his. We knew at that point that we weren’t going to be able to work together, and he was doing things that were in his best interest, but not in mine. I can see from his side where voting out Figgs would work for him. It was interesting things worked out the way that they did.
You know we gotta talk about stealing food.
Let’s do it!
I don’t actually think it’s a bad idea if you can find a way of doing it in secret. Was there a way that could’ve happened, or is that just an impossible task?
I do like the idea of pulling off an impossible task. To everyone’s knowledge in the game [before Tribal], they didn’t know I had stolen food — they just thought I was eating it. It’s funny that I stole a ton of food, but they only noticed that a little percentage of it was gone. I was like ‘do you think I ate two massive mason jars full of food in one night?’ I would be so sick if I did that. Little did they know it was just sitting in the sand. It was pretty hysterical.
So where did you get so good at mason jars? That was SUCH a random confessional so I’m just gonna ask.
The phrase was a little out of context. I think we were talking about canning and bottling and stuff like that. Obviously I didn’t want to steal things like cheese and meat — you wanna steal things that are gonna last, you wanna put them in a mason jar with a tight seal so you don’t get a bunch of sand and air in there. The stuff I stole was non-perishable. That’s kind of the context (laughs).
In terms of stealing the food, was it at least good? Was it worth it?
I would say no, because I was voted out (laughs). I think mostly it wasn’t actually the food-stealing that got me out; it was the scheming and revealing my cards. But within that, I also revealed Adam’s cards and drug him in the mud with me. But, he’s still in the game and I’m not!
After the merge, what was the relationship like between you, Ken, and Jessica? They were the only two Gen X people you’d had a relationship with before then.
As far as my connection with Ken, it was pretty good because he’s a person who doesn’t like being told what to do. I never did that to him. the problem was that there was no trust there; he didn’t trust me, so it wasn’t a good relationship. He’s not someone I could really use, maybe as a secondary [alliance], but not a primary one.
Was there anyone else among the Gen X people who you tried to get to know after the merge?
It was definitely Chris and Bret. After the merge we were eating, all the bigger, strong guys, and I was like ‘I don’t know what you guys are doing, but we are going to get picked off if we don’t stick together. The strongest people always get picked off.’ I really wanted to work with Chris, and I never got an opportunity to.
I don’t want to spend too much time on you and Figgy, just because so much of it’s already out there. (Note: Taylor and a different woman are expecting a child, and Figgy told us the relationship was no more in our exit interview with her.)
In looking back at it, do you have any regret that you were in this relationship and it was such a big part of your game and your story, given that it didn’t work out and you now have to sit back and watch it? Or, do you just try to move on and not have any regrets over it?
You learn from your mistakes; it’s definitely the second one. I’m not going to sit and ponder and wish that I had done things different. You learn and you move on with life.
Obviously if I had known that I was going to have a kid, I would have never gotten involved; but, she has her different opinions about that.
If you were to play again, what changes would you make?
I think I would be less sporadic, because going into it my character was extremely useful. I had played up this sort of dumb snowboarder who was kind of careless, and my name was never dropped until I was voted out. I think that’s really fascinating, and nobody else can say the same thing.
Finally, I just gotta ask about something you mentioned pre-game in your bio — I’m a Millennial, but I still don’t have any idea what ‘sicky sicky gnar gnar’ means.
Yeah, so I think that the ‘gnar’ would be riding down a hillside in Eastern Washington, and the powder is up to your knees. I’d say that is the gnar. And, the ‘sicky sicky’ is the idea of it being so awesome. So you got the ‘sicky sicky,’ and then the ‘nar nar.’
For those wondering, we’re pretty sure we still don’t know what that means.