‘Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites’: Brandon Hantz on Jeff Probst, Andrea’s tears

Ever since last night’s episode of “Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites” aired, this was an exit interview that we were without question excited to see. Brandon Hantz is possibly one of the most complex people to ever play this game. There have been moments from him of genuine sincerity, and there is also a feeling out there from the cast that had he made it to the finals on “Survivor: South Pacific” rather than giving up his immunity necklace to Albert, he may have actually won.

However, these moments have been coupled with moments of emotion and even at times rage, which was clearly what we saw from him Wednesday night upon his unique elimination from the game. While Brandon claimed that he got the chance to out on his own terms, it also made for one of the most uncomfortable eliminations in the history of the show as Jeff Probst pulled him away from the Favorites, forced a tribal council on the spot, and he was sent home.

This was one of the more unusual interviews that we’ve done for “Survivor,” mostly because due to to some time restrictions we didn’t really have a chance to ask too much this time around. What we do want to share is Brandon’s thoughts about Andrea and some other members of his tribe getting teary-eyed in the middle of the fight, as well as how he felt Probst handled the whole situation:

“I was affected by Dawn, but as far as Andrea is concerned, I heard the way that she was talking about me beforehand. Why cry about someone you were talking about for the last three episodes? I have no pity there; that’s called acting. As a person anything I say is not personal, it’s ‘Survivor’-related … As a ‘Survivor’ player, she’s a terrible actor, but in the way she’s an amazing actor because she gets away with it. And [dumping out the food]? No, i don’t feel bad about it: you take the million dollars away from me, I take away the food from you. It was a trade. I wasn’t upset in any with with myself for that.

“As far as Jeff is concerned, he was a huge help in calming me down. I don’t think that it was ever going to get physical, but it could have. It could have, but it didn’t. It scared people. It’s weird that people would go to ‘man, he’s crazy’ for that. I’ve been in two street fights by whole life. I’ve never been in jail … being called ‘mentally crazy’ is the extreme part, but saying ‘man, he’s crazy.’ Me and Russell and a lot of other people are crazy. You gotta be crazy to even get on the show. I’m a dad, I’m a husband, I’m a normal guy. Id o normal guy stuff. ‘Survivor’ isn’t my life. It’s something I enjoy to do, and I’d love to do it again to compete with Russell.”

As for whether or not we will actually see Brandon play again, that’s up to Jeff and CBS to decide, and this is an idea we’ll talk about a little more in-depth later on this season. For now, let’s just wrap things up with this: what do you think about how Brandon handled himself, and do you want to see a season featuring him and Russell? If you want to see our full review for Wednesday’s “Survivor,” you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: CBS