‘Survivor: Blood vs. Water’ interview: Kat Edorsson on alliances, Colton quitting, and Hayden (exclusive)

There was a lot to talk about today with Kat Edorsson no matter how you look at it. Not only did she have a memorable exit from “Survivor: Blood vs. Water,” but she also has her boyfriend Hayden Moss still in the game, friendships with most of the players, and also quite a bit to talk about when it comes to her other “One World” cast members who made it onto this season. This is actually one where there was plenty more to talk about that just didn’t make the cut, but out of the subjects covered, we found some of the insight that she gave here about Colton Cumbie to be extremely illuminating, and supports much of what Jeff Probst said about him at the time he quit the game.

We won’t waste any more time on an introduction here, though; let’s just get to this.

CarterMatt – So Kat, first of all, what has it been like watching back this season with someone in Hayden who went through this same sort of collective experience with you?

Am I excited to watch this man go on a rampage without me? Absolutely. Last night when I was watching it, it was really hard to watch. I was a little nervous about last night; I couldn’t have imagined it being harder to watch, but it was also interesting … From now on, it’s going to be fantastic. I’m team Hayden all the way.

Was it tough to watch Hayden especially get emotional? It’s sad in one way because you don’t want to see him hurt, but at the same time it shows how much he really cares about you.

The whole experience was incredible. We feel really blessed that we got to play, and the fact that I was in the duel last night was pretty intense. But I’m really thankful. I’m thankful that he was there and I was able to play. I’m very happy about it.

I know that you really wanted to come back ever since you were eliminated on ‘One World,’ so what was it like when you got the call to come back? Was there any one thing about your game that you were hoping to change?

I learned a lot from ‘One World’ … I messed up during ‘Blood vs. Water’ because I had an alliance, and it was a lot easier to point the finger at me this season than [the last time] because there were a lot more people not in an alliance and not really friends with us on ‘One World.’ I was very valid with Kim Spradlin because I was a wild card. Not in terms of my loyalty; just with my antics and that I would be weird and funny. I was her best friend, so it was easy for us to stick together.

There wasn’t one time this season when I felt like my words were safe, or I was confident with my words staying with one person. That’s tough to say, because in ‘Survivor’ you really do need to have [trust with someone]. It’s hard all around.

How tough was it for you almost from the get-go with your tribe, at least in that you don’t really have a lot of people your own age? You look at [the two Lauras], Monica, and Tina, and then even some of the guys were much older than you or, in the case of Tyson, have played three times.

There was nothing in the season that played in my favor. Everything was against me. The tribe swap was against me, the different backgrounds were against me. It wasn’t my ideal social game that I could easily work with. There were a lot more mothers than there were girls. It was a lot harder for me this season because it wasn’t easy for me to relate, and it was a lot easier for people to point the finger at me than side with me.

But then, it’s so funny. The people [who have] all aligned themselves now are all people who hang out with me outside the game but not in the game. My social game is on-point; it just wasn’t on-point in this season.

Well I wanted to touch on Vytas here for a second, because he seems on the surface like the easy person to take out. What’s going on with this guy? Does he have some sort of power of hypnosis, or is he a more aggressive player than we’re seeing?

Vytas has a great story. It was easy for him to convey [his emotions]. I did something that was untrustworthy, and he was able to play on that. He’s lived a life, and he’s come back and done things with his life. He’s got a great [ability to communicate], and that’s what he does for a living. He’s a yoga instructor; he talks to people and his objective is to make people feel free in their own mind. My objective is to just make people laugh at me; I don’t know how to make people side with me over Vytas. He’s playing a great game; let’s put it that way.

There were three people from ‘One World’ in this game, but none of them were [people in your alliance that season]. And then there is Colton, who decided to quit this season. What was the feeling like for you on that: Was it anger, or were you just thinking that it was one less person to worry about?

It’s embarrassing for someone to quit the second time, but I was so relieved. It was awful. I’ve never been spoken to like that in my life. It was awful. You can’t even imagine how bad it was.

So you are saying that the first time, he did quit. (Note: Colton claimed in our exit interview with him earlier this year that he was pulled from the game back on his original season.)

Yeah. Absolutely. The only reason he quit the second time was that right before we went to Redemption Island, Tina and Aras told him that he was going to be getting eliminated, because my tribe tried to throw a challenge the time before that in order to get rid of Colton. That was our agenda. But he got word that he was going home, and he stood up in front of all of us and quit, because he didn’t control the game anymore. If he wants to sit here and say that he didn’t quit twice, he had the option in ‘One World’ to not quit. He didn’t have to leave … He chose to. And this season he just chose to leave and didn’t have a reason to. We were winning. Whatever anyone wants to say is fine; I don’t believe in quitting. Some people should just watch it from the couch.

And the other thing is that besides Kim, my best friend from my season was Troy (otherwise known as Troyzan). And he could’ve had a chance to play again. I just feel like it was a waste of time.

There were a lot of good characters on your season, in between Troy and Tarzan and Kim, who I think is one of the five or so best winners ever. Are these some of the people you’d love to see play again?

I loved our season. I know people said it was boring because it was predictable, because Kim was man-handling it. But it was amazing; I loved it. I don’t mind being man-handled by Kim Spradlin. (Laughs.)

I mean Troy was great and Tarzan was great, and such a character. You could use any of those people. I won’t say too much else on Colton, since I just don’t want to waste too much time on him anymore. But the last thing I’ll say is that I’ll pray for him.

When it comes to Hayden, just how many times is the guy getting asked what’s harder between this show and ‘Big Brother’?

It’s funny because he’s the only person that can answer that question. He says that ‘Survivor’ is harder, but ‘Big Brother’ is a little overwhelming strategy-wise. It’s kind of like when you’re in ‘Survivor’ when you’re winning, winning, winning. With ‘Blood vs. Water’ when he was losing and everyone was going home, he didn’t have time to sit and strategize. He was living the life that I lived on ‘One World.’ He has an alliance, and when he lost, he knew who was going home.

In ‘Blood vs. Water’ for me, it’s a situation where we were winning all the time and like ‘Big Brother,’ it took a long time to take somebody out. And all that time is overwhelming, because there is so much time to fight because you strategize on everything.

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The two last bits of commentary that we’ll add here is that it makes Laura Boneham’s move last night to proclaim to Vytas that he was going home a little less out of left field, since she had already seen Tina and Aras do it with Colton; but, at the same time, we’re sure that there was much more of a consensus around the Colton decision than there was with Vytas.

Also, we should at add that Kat was not present when Colton was evacuated from “One World,” though she did have friends and alliance partners there and obviously has good sources of information.

Thanks to Kat for chatting with us, and you can click here to read all of our other “Survivor” news and analysis. We’ll have a deeper look at all of the moves in this episode coming up on Saturday.

Photo: CBS