‘Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites’ interview: Julia Landauer on Cochran, Phillip
Let’s face it: it’s pretty easy to feel for Julia Landauer after her edit on “Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites.” She received little to no screen time for the better part of the season, and the race car driver only really entered the picture the past two weeks when she was targeted in the newly-formed Bikal tribe.
Ultimately, it seemed as though her fate was sealed on Wednesday night when “Specialist” Phillip Sheppard caught her telling information from their conversation to Dawn Meehan … but was there really more to this story? We talked to Julia on Wednesday about everything from this to Cochran’s “vanilla” comments and how tough it was to see herself receive such a marginal edit on the show.
Cartermatt.com – Is it frustrating for you to go through this experience, and then to watch back the show and see how little of yourself was actually on the show?
Julia Landauer – It’s very frustrating. I mean, you go out there for ‘Survivor,’ and I was on three weeks almost, and I was disappointed with how little screen time I was on the show and how people thought that I came on one week in.
At the same time ‘Survivor’ did give me an opportunity to [gain an audience] on Twitter and Facebook, and I’ve had a lot of fun with my supporters and my fans and people who don’t like me so much. I knew what I signed up for with ‘Survivor’ and I did the best that I could.
I’m going to try to get into Phillip’s head here, which is a difficult proposition in itself. He kept talking all the time about Boston Rob, but don’t you think that Boston Rob would’ve tried to split up Michael and Corinne rather than voting you out?
Exactly. And he brought that up in the episode, in talking about how good Boston Rob is. I don’t think he flattered himself that much [in doing that]. Part of the reason behind [me] making that move was that I wasn’t really convinced that he had my best interests in mind and that he was going to keep me and take me past the merge. Because I was feeling that way, I saw a small window of opportunity without other people really getting upset with him and having an emotional reaction. I thought ‘now’s my time to make a move.’
I didn’t really have a lot of options when it came to people that I should approach, but I thought Dawn would be the best. Corinne made it very clear that she was not going to vote out her alliance pre-merge and Cochran was right under Phillip’s wing. I tried it on Dawn, but it didn’t quite work.
So what was your plan after the merge? Would you have stuck with Bikal had they kept you in the game?
Had they kept me and voted Michael out I would have stuck with that group, because I wasn’t close to Reynold and Eddie at all, since I repeatedly lied to them with the voting, and I wasn’t that close with Sherri. So my best bet was going to be staying with Cochran and Dawn, but I’d also have to reassess what happened post-merge with the alliances on the favorites tribe … Maybe I can sneak in somewhere as an extra vote. I was willing to figure out my [choices] and adjust my game.
One last thing: was it particularly fair that Cochran called you vanilla, mostly because he looked a little bit like a strawberry with that sunburn?
I don’t think so, especially with the way that he made it clear. Him saying I was vanilla was just kind of redundant and beating a dead horse, and it was kind of interesting coming from him since obviously he’s super ‘Survivor’-nerdy and very smart, but he doesn’t have the most engaging presence, either. Maybe he was proud of himself for making these analogies and running with it (laughs), but I was surprised that came out. It’s not my personality at all, though you wouldn’t know that from watching the show.
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We will ultimately say that Julia came off much more engaging during this interview that she did on the show, so with that in mind we’re rather sad to see her gone from the game.
If you want to go back and read our full review of Wednesday’s episode, you can do so over here.
Photo: CBS