‘Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites’ interview: Matt Bischoff

Typically on every season of “Survivor” that includes a tribal swap, there is at least one player who goes home a little bit earlier than expected thanks to just being on the wrong side of the numbers. Unfortunately, this is precisely what happened to Matt Bischoff. The Fans were outnumbered four to three on the new Bikal tribe, and he suddenly went from being in a great spot to being the primary target thanks solely to the fact that he and Michael had a close bond that originally helped him in the game.

In talking to Matt on Thursday, it was even more apparent that this was a good who could have benefited from a longer stay on the show. He was very friendly, engaging, and you could tell that he was a genuine fan of the game that felt as though he had quite a bit of it figured out.

Cartermatt.com – One thing that I tend to love about the show is seeing people from completely walks of life come into the game and become so close, and that’s what happened with you and Michael. Tell me a little bit about that relationship, and how the alliance worked.

Matt Bischoff – He’s a dear friend of mine, and we really just hit it off out there on ‘Survivor.’ We both have really laid-back, hilarious personalities; they didn’t show a lot of Michael and I laughing our a**es off and singing songs, but we were dying the whole time.

Michael and I were playing a very strategy, subtle game, and really had a lot of power. We were doing it on the down-low: I had a great relationship with Sherri and an alliance with Sherri, but I was able to really work with Michael through the cracks. It was unbelievable playing with him, and the thing is that people stereotype gay people who have been on the show as not being athletic in challenges, but Michael is an athlete. He’s strong, he’s a runner, and he was really competitive. It was great to play with him.

So was there any one person who targeted you or is responsible for the exit? On the show, it looked like Cochran was largely to blame.

Here’s the deal. I think Dawn for sure wanted to keep me around, and Phillip had talked to me about getting rid of Julia. Cochran is very smart, and he saw an opportunity. Michael and I are obviously blatantly together, and it was a really smart move to break that up. As for Corinne, she had a connection with Michael and said that she loved playing with a gay person. She was gunning [to keep] Michael, and that led to everyone else going along with what [the plan was]. I know it was tough for them, and I have a great relationship with everybody. I was trying my best. It’s a game; I’m not [angry] with anybody; I just had bad luck in the tribe swap.

So here’s the big question: if you had found the immunity idol, would you have hidden it in your beard?

Absolutely, dude! There are so many species of bugs and critters that are in there now, I would have just slid it up on in there.

Do you think that Matt got a raw deal thanks to the tribe swap? Be sure to share some more of your thoughts below, and you can also head over to the link here in order to check out our full review for Wednesday night’s episode.

Photo: CBS