‘Survivor: Philippines’ interview: Carter Williams on regrets, endgame, and more
It would be a lie to say that Carter Williams had much of a presence on “Survivor: Philippines,” as he was clearly the only remaining player in the game who was a little bit of a mystery still to viewers at home. Really, his only story at all prior to his elimination Wednesday night was that he was a man without an alliance, and was hoping that he would be carried to the next round based on respect as a physical player rather than any sort of strategy. However, that did not quite work out for him.
We found Carter (whose name is perfect brand synergy with our site) to be far more talkative in our chat with him than he was on the show, and he also did give us a little bit more insight into just what he was thinking during his time on the island … including a smart final three strategy that could have actually gotten him the win if the jury was bitter enough.
Cartermatt.com – This is the million-dollar question for me: do you regret taking Denise to the merge rather than someone like Katie? It’s pretty clear now that she was the reason why Penner had to play his idol, and Katie may have allowed you an extra number down the road.
Carter Williams – I don’t know in what way, but it would have been completely different. Denise, we kept her around for a handful of reasons, one was that she did have a foot in the door with Malcolm and that she was hard-working. The thing that we didn’t think about was that Denise was playing a game at this point strictly to survive. She had no allegiances. I had been relationships with Jeff and with Penner. Denise didn’t have those, and when she got over there we wanted to work together.
That’s what we liked about Denise was that she was a player, and we thought that would end up helping us. What we didn’t see happening was her getting over there and playing the game, but not wanting to do it with us … She didn’t feel like she owed us anything.
If we had kept Katie, I would have said ‘I know you don’t like me, but let’s find a way to make it to the end.’ She would have listened.
Since we didn’t get to see much from you in the game, I wanted to ask you this: last night, you tried to use the argument that people should vote with their hearts rather than their heads. But had you had an opportunity to take Abi-Maria to the end, would you have? What were your plans doing into the episode?
At the final 7, I wanted to be in the endgame with Penner and Skupin, partly because I really liked those guys, but partly also because everyone at the start of the game was talking about how they didn’t want a returning player to win. I’m thinking ‘these guys played a great game, but they’re returning. No one wants them to win.’
[When it comes to] Abi, I guess it hadn’t crossed a little of people’s minds [in the camp to keep her] … but that’s what the people at home don’t realize is that we’re making connections and starting to care about these people. While you are out there you want to play an honorable game, but people at home want you to play a great game despite whether it involves honor and honor. If I had to t take someone to the end, sitting here now I would say Abi.
So were you planning to make your main jury argument be that you were likable, hadn’t ruffled any feathers, and performed well in challenges? I know you’ve compared yourself to Fabio in the past.
It was similar to that. I was also going to make the point of how much I’d grown out there since the game was so hard, but also that we came into the merge down numbers, and I came into it as a young, athletic guy. I had to win challenges and get people to like me. That would have been my campaign: we were a limping Kalabaw tribe, but [I manage to persevere].
—
Who are you rooting for moving forward this season? If you want to check out our full review of Wednesday night’s “Survivor: Philippines” episode, you can do so over here.
Photo: CBS
