Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers interview: Ryan Ulrich on social strengths, jury perception

Ryan Ulrich was a guy with a lot of the makings of a Survivor winner on this past Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers season. He was a strategic player who came into the game as an underdog, but used his social game and his ability to form alliances to make everyone trust him and want to work with him. After seeing him play this season one of the only surprises was seeing him get just one vote, from Devon, at the end of the game.

So what transpired at the final Tribal Council, and how did Ryan make it to that point after starting the game in danger as a non-physical player on a very small tribe? These are subjects that Ryan touches on in our post-finale interview.

CarterMatt – Early on this season I started to think of you and Devon as this sort of JT & Stephen duo, two guys who don’t seem similar who find a way to work together and get really far. Was it in your thinking before the game to get an alliance with someone like him?

Ryan Ulrich – Not necessarily. Devon and I really got along, but the thing with me and Devon was that looking at that Hustler tribe, we knew that we weren’t going to be that strong. We weren’t going to win a lot of immunity challenges and that was going to make it tough on [us].

I just got really good vibes from Devon. He’s just someone I wanted to work with. I tried to maximize the advantage [that I had] by telling someone about it, and that person was Devon. There was no hesitation on my part.

Like you, I’m not the fastest or the strongest guy and if I were to play Survivor, I would be terrified that Jeff Probst would be screaming at me the entire time [to do better]. How do you set things up for yourself so that even if you do screw up a challenge, nobody really looks to target you? How much harder does that make you work socially?

My game was predicated upon that. I was proud that I wasn’t a target early on, especially on a small tribe since everybody’s name has a propensity to come up. Jeff got me a lot during the challenges (laughs), deservedly so at some of them. I was nervous that I was going to be going early just based on perceived physicality. I was proud of what I did in those [early] stages of the game.

I feel like you did a lot of good things strategically and socially out there, including some we probably didn’t see. Why didn’t some of the jury seem to realize that? Were there just so many good players down the stretch? Is there anything you could have done to show them more?

Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t think anyone changed their mind at the final Tribal Council. I think [going in] it was going to be 5-2-1. I don’t think people realized some of the things that I did or the fact that I went to thirteen Tribals and didn’t have any votes cast against me. I made all of these points at Tribal but I think a lot of them fell on deaf ears. I think that Tribal went on for three hours and you only saw eight minutes of it … I don’t know if my game was a little more under-the-radar, but I thought I would have a better chance at swinging people at the final Tribal than what ultimately happened.

You did get Devon’s vote, and I know you guys have a close relationship. Did you hope that he was going to stick up for you more at the end?

Devon’s a laid-back guy. I’ll always be thankful to Devon for voting for me — I mean, anyone voting for you to win Survivor is great. But there was a moment at final Tribal where Joe asked Devon to cosign a motion and he just stayed in the middle and didn’t vouch for me — but that’s okay. Devon’s got a great heart. I don’t think he did anything at the final Tribal to undermine me; he’s just a laid-back guy. It’s all good between me and Devon.

What was the move you made that you think had the biggest impact for your game?

I guess it was with the super-idol, right? My two closest allies of the entire game were Chrissy and Devon, and that’s what the final three was going to be [before the fire-making challenge]. Obviously things change and dynamics change, but that would’ve been a good pitch for me to make, that I told Devon about the advantage and I gave the super-idol to Chrissy. That would’ve been my pitch, so I think that would’ve had the biggest impact overall on my game.

Now that this is all done, would you go back and play again?

It was such a great experience and it was really great timing in my life. I’m not jumping back on a plane to Fiji next week, but if Survivor calls you, you have to at least pick up the phone.

More Survivor finale interviews

Our recent post-show interview with Chrissy Hofbeck is over here; meanwhile, our winner interview with Ben Driebergen is at this link! Be sure to check back over the next two days for more courtesy of Mike and Devon.

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