‘Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites’ interview: Hope Driskill

When you have a big character and a controversial player like Shamar on your tribe, it’s easy to see why would would get in some ways shafted when it comes to airtime. Hope Driskill was certainly a victim of this all season long on “Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites,” and on Wednesday night Shamar also managed to stay in the game longer than her, and really in spite of a heated campaign to get him out the door.

Hope had quite a bit to say in a conference call with reporters Thursday, and it made for a great opportunity to get a window into where her head was during the game, and also why her alliance was really constructed in the way that it was.

Cartermatt.com – One thing I was curious about in watching you was what was going on in with that conversation with Laura, where she tried to tell you that she and Julia were planning to vote for Shamar. Do you think she was trying to keep you from voting for Eddie, or was she just acting scared after she did badly in the challenge?

Hope Driskill – Earlier in the day after the challenge, I had a conversation with Matt and with Michael, and we were all pretty much talking about how Laura hadn’t performed very well in the challenge, how she may have been one of the weaker players, and how we needed to start winning challenges. We needed to start getting rid of the people who were not helping us win. And so, I think that by throwing Laura’s name out there and throwing her on the chopping block, we wanted to make her a little bit paranoid and instill that in her head in hopes that she would do anything to save herself … even if that meant breaking her alliance and voting with us to get rid of Shamar. I think that’s why she did that.

So what really happened to your alliance out there? I know Allie said last week that it was not really just four people as it was presented. Was it presented correctly?

No, not at all. In the way that it was portrayed on TV it was like ‘they have four, and this other alliance have six. In no way does that make sense.’ But in reality, what was happening was that I didn’t even see us as an alliance of four; it was more like an alliance of five. Matt was like our secret weapon; that’s what we referred to him as, and we honestly thought he was voting for us. I thought our alliance with Matt was a really great move and a strong move, but ‘Survivor’ is all about making and breaking alliances, and Matt demonstrated that. Unfortunately, our numbers came up short.

Let’s finish with a couple of questions about the Favorites. First, from the standpoint of pure entertainment, have you pictured in your head the thought of Shamar, Brandon, and Phillip on one tribe? My head would explode.

It would be the best thing to watch. Even in the first challenge right when we got there, you could see Shamar go head-to-head with Phillip, and I just can’t imagine. They both have such strong personalities, and I think the two would just be chaos. Then, throw Brandon in the mix and he’s just crazy and hilarious. I can see Brandon trying to get under Shamar’s skin and provoke him.

So is there anyone from the Favorites tribe you would have wanted to work with had you been over there?

I would probably go with Brenda. I just see her as being someone who is very trustworthy, but still a strong competitor as I saw her play before. I would definitely say her, and Andrea, as well.

Were you rooting for Hope on “Survivor” this season? If you want to go back and read our review from Wednesday night, you can do so over here.

Photo: CBS