‘Survivor: Blood vs. Water’ interview: Gervase Peterson on his big move, ‘mad’ jury, and more

In the first of what is to be many “Survivor: Blood vs. Water” conversations today, we chatted with a man who was a good 13 years between seasons, and a guy who managed to improve his fortune greatly to the point where he made it all the way to the final three this time around. Gervase Peterson was fun to watch, but despite making a number of moves with Tyson Apostol all season long, he didn’t get a single vote at tribal council.

Our interviews are a little shorter today thanks to a cramped schedule, but we had a chance to get in a few questions today with the “Borneo” alum about some of his big moves, jury strategy, and returning to the game after so many years.

CarterMatt – I want to talk about your decisions late in the game, because I know everyone’s been asking why you didn’t try to get rid of Tyson. But wasn’t it a conscious move on your part, knowing that you may have better odds against him than you would have had you faced either Tina or Ciera in the end?

Well yeah, everybody kept saying ‘you got to get rid of Tyson,’ but I’m thinking to myself that if I get rid of Tyson and I’m sitting next to Ciera or Katie at the end, I lose. Their moms are on the jury campaigning for them. If I’m sitting next to Laura or Tina, same thing. If I’m sitting next to Hayden, he wins because everybody loved Hayden.

When I’m looking at this picture, I’m like ‘my best bet to win and make the final three, [even though] it may not be great odds, is [with] Tyson and Monica. That was the plan, and to make sure that Tyson had more dirt on his hands than I did.

Aras specifically mentioned when I talked to him earlier this season that you were the major reason that he went home, so can you elaborate a little on that? Why didn’t the jury really look at that?

The person that Aras trusted 100% in the game was me. He knew that if his name ever came up, I was going to come and tell him so he wouldn’t get blindsided and voted out. [My move] was like throwing a grenade. It took out Aras, but then the shrapnel took out Vytas, Tina, and Katie because they were tied to him. That’s half the jury.

I’m thinking I should get their votes; you guys are talking about big moves, and that’s a big move I just did because it took out three other people. How do you not love that? But, because they were on the jury and I was the one who put them there, they were mad. That bitterness is just tough. And you also had to remember that Aras had never been voted out; he won his season, so he didn’t know what those feelings were like to get voted out, and then by one of his best buds. It hurt him.

Finally, what has it been like for you to go back into this process 13 years later? Has it been fun to sort of revisit this part of your life again?

It’s been fun. I was excited that I got the call, and I was excited to play again. I knew the game was a faster pace, and the players make alliances day 1 and they don’t care. That makes no sense to me. I felt like new players were playing the game. I felt like one of the things that I wanted to come out here and do is that for new players watching the game, they would understand why you [shouldn’t] make a [quick] alliance with someone you don’t like. That’s going to blow up. You know, make an alliance with people you like, you’re going to get further in the game.

But, for some reason, all new players tend to care about are big moves and blindsides.