Survivor: Ghost Island interview: Winner Wendell Holland on big Laurel decision, fake immunity idols, and desire to return
So what does Wendell have to say about the move to give Laurel the immunity idol at final five, the fire-making challenge, and the tiebreaking vote? We’ve got more discussion on all of that in our interview below.
CarterMatt – Even if you thought that you had probably won the game, what was the best experience watching the show back for you? Were you looking for little moments where the show was portraying you as a winner?
Wendell – I started off watching the season being like ‘Dom’s getting a lot of airtime,’ and he had a lot of airtime through the whole season! Dom is the worthy adversary that I’m going against. After that, I was like ‘maybe Laurel didn’t write my name down.’ I watched him play such a strong game, but then I then started to see these little hints along the way of me starting to tell my story. There were moments that showed the little things that I did. That was my game — my game was played based on subtleties and smaller, covert moves and friendships. It was great to finally see some of those things after seeing a whole lot of Dom all season.
At the time that you were giving Laurel the immunity idol, did you ever think that it would come back to help you via a tiebreaker? Who imagined that?
You never imagine that. For me, taking Laurel to the end was basically taking a jury vote from me. I really thought she would vote for me if she was on the jury. In making that gesture in that moment, I wanted to sit next to my sister in the final three. That’s what I wanted, and I told her the whole season that I would protect her. Finally, when given the opportunity, I was a little scared. She was a physical threat and I wanted an easy ride to the end. Getting rid of her might have been a little easier, but I wanted to prove to her that I was loyal to her and I would protect her. Regardless of if she got five votes or zero votes, I was there for her in that moment.
Before final five, was there ever a point in which you debated getting rid of Domenick? Was it just a thing where getting rid of him ensured that you were easily the biggest target?
I really wanted to get to the end of the game. My focus was on getting to the end and playing a really strong game. There wasn’t ever an opportune moment to get Dom out of the game. In hindsight, maybe there were a couple of times in which if I made the perfect move, maybe I could’ve gotten him out, but then all eyes would’ve been on me. Every shot people had to take would go in my direction.
Instead of that, how about the two titans go at each other in the end in an epic battle? That’s what we did.
What does it say about you guys as friends and players that you had no problem talking about targeting each other? There was no bitterness or anger that we saw.
I think in the evolution of Survivor, people have started to look at the game as a game and that people can be friends outside of it. In taking that a step further, Dom and myself are a little bit older, we’re both in our thirties. We’ve been through a lot, we’re well-traveled, and we’re smart guys. We’re realists. We would lay next to each other and say ‘when are you going to stab me in the back?’. We had numerous conversations like this! We both knew we were playing strong games and the most difficult thing that could keep one of us from winning was to bring the other one to the end.
We had those conversations a lot. It speaks to our friendship. We would even help each other with our jury speeches. We’re great friends now and it was a special bond.
Did you find yourself practicing fire-making throughout the game in preparation of something like that challenge? Is that something you think about?
Oh, you think about making fire all the time. ALL THE TIME. I practiced for months going out there and a lot out there.
Are you bummed that your fake immunity idol at Yanuya didn’t make it to air? That’s something I’ve heard a lot about through exit interviews.
That was the greatest immunity idol. That thing looked so real and if this season wasn’t about bringing back old relics, I would’ve gotten somebody so good with that idol.
Basically, you saw early in the game I was making a crab trap. I took that trap far away and people were thinking I was working on it, but a lot of the time I was making a fake idol out there. It was a skull and crossbones — I carved out this beautiful skull, and I used charcoal to make the eyes and a mouth. It looked SO real. I used a leather bracelet that I wore out there — nobody saw that I wore it because I put it in my pocket immediately — it was the perfect fake idol. I used the parchment that I found on Yanuya and Jenna found it.
Are there any jury votes you were surprised you didn’t get?
I thought I was going to get Chris Noble’s vote based on the way that he and Domenick were fighting each other out there. I was surprised I didn’t get Desiree’s vote, and I was surprised I didn’t get Libby’s vote because we made a lot of jewelry out there and I made her a little pantry. I thought we had a connection.
Did you ever think that your skill set was going to be so valuable out there? You’re basically like Survivor MacGyver.
That’s what is crazy! My life has been about these random, cool experiences. I used to build treehouses in my mom’s backyard. I went to law school so I’m good at talking to people. I have a big heart so I’m empathetic. I have twelve varsity letters from high school so I’m pretty athletic. I have this collection of experiences and skills — I’m not the best at anything but I’m good at a lot of little things. I think all of that contributed to me getting to the end and winning this thing.
Now that you’ve won, does that ease any temptation to come back and play again?
It doesn’t ease any temptation. It’s great that I came out here and won on my first shot — I think that’s your best shot to win the game, because nobody knows anything about you, but if they were to call me tomorrow I would go back out. I’m dying to go back out there, and I hit the home run on my first shot! It’d be really hard to do it again — only Sandra has done it, but I’d love to try it again.
Is anything changing if you’re coming back? What’s going to happen?
My strategy would have to change a little bit. I don’t think I’d be able to play as honest as I did this time around. I’d have to play a little shadier. I was given information to be a little shady this time around, but I decided to play more of a standup role.
My game would evolve a little bit, but if I give you all the information they’ll know how to take me out! I gotta keep some stuff under wraps.
Related – Be sure to get some other interviews from the finale!
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