‘Survivor: Philippines’ interview: Pete Yurkowski on Skupin, Abi-Maria, and more

Pete Yurkowski did a lot of things right on “Survivor: Philippines,” whether it be his passion for strategy, trying to forge bonds with other people, and even some of his performances in challenges. Unfortunately for him, what really seemed to hurt him in this game is that he couldn’t see the forest (or in this case, the jungle) through the trees. He was late in figuring out about Malcolm’s hidden immunity idol, he made an alliance with a pariah, and he was at times too in love with being the mastermind for his own good.

Since Pete was the master of giving short answers during his conference call with reporters Monday, we had a chance to get a few more questions in than usual … and it at least gives us some insight into life on the island for him and everyone else left in the game.

Cartermatt.com – So what do you think was ultimately the reason for your demise in the game?

Pete Yurkowski – I think my demise was that I found putting up with Abi to be easy, but I guess everyone else didn’t agree. I thought it was a power play to keep her around, nobody’s going to vote for her; but some people really didn’t want her around.

Did it ever cross your mind to convince Abi to not play the idol, and then you could send her home by voting for her to leave?

Yeah. All day I was trying to convince someone else to come over, but I was also trying to convince her not to play it. I was trying to say something along the lines of ‘they’re going to give the majority of the votes to me, so why don’t you not play it?’ I think she was really considering it for a while, and I was trying to make her feel comfortable by saying ‘I’m looking out for you’ and that ‘you’ll still have your idol.’

Were you not paired up with Abi, do you think that you would have gotten the same sort of villain edit that you did on the show?

Yeah, but probably in a different way. It looks like me and Abi were really close out there, but I was probably closer to Artis. I would tell him everything I was doing, and he was a confidante.

Let’s turn to Skupin, since there was obviously something about him that rubbed you the wrong way. What was it?

It was a bunch of small things. It wasn’t like Russell where he wanted to be a dictator, but he would ask lots of questions like ‘do you think we should cook the rice now, or should we wait?’. The conversations would last for like 15 minutes and then we’d end up voting. After doing that for every little thing, it starts to get really annoying.

Did you get a sense while filming this season that it was going to be one of the best ones we’ve seen in years?

Definitely. You could tell that the majority of everyone was there to play. It wasn’t like ‘I’m going to sit here and let someone take me to the end.’ Everyone wanted to play the game, and that’s why, mixed in with people [not keeping quiet about their strategy], you’re going to get a great season.

Would you go back to play again if it started tomorrow?

I’d definitely go back. I’d go back today.

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Are you going to miss Pete on the show moving forward?