Rob Cesternino interviews Survivor Caramoan’s Sole Survivor, John Cochran, as well as the remaining final five castaways from season 26 of Survivor.
John Cochran
With tongue in cheek, Rob starts off the interview of this season’s Sole Survivor by claiming part of Cochran’s win. Cochran genuinely thanks Rob for being his spiritual predecessor, someone he could look at and see himself play that role within the game. Cochran states that he would never have played the game if Rob hadn’t. They agree to share the victory… just not the money.
Rob announces that he is happy not to have to refer to Cochran as one of the best players never to win the game. Cochran jokes that, instead, he is one of the worst to ever win. Rob places Cochran right in the middle of the 26 winners.
Rob notes that Cochran seemed to have the game in hand throughout the season and asks if there was ever a time where he felt in jeopardy. Cochran was worried during the family visit and was second voting out Andrea. With Andrea gone, Dawn could have easily gone with Brenda and Erik to the end. When Brenda was voted out, other than the emotional toll, it was the best thing to get Cochran’s game back on track.
Rob wondered if Cochran considered taking Eddie to the final tribal council. In hind sight, Cochran feels he over estimated the number of votes Eddie would have gotten but still thinks he was guaranteed a couple.
At the same time, Cochran thought Dawn could have beaten him. He saw the votes going all one way or the other and was prepared to show how he did everything better than Dawn, but the jury was doing it for him so he didn’t have to pile on. He did decide to go to the end with Sherri and Dawn because they were the most open and honest with them.
When Rob asked if Cochran was surprised by the 8-0 vote, he did wonder about who Michael might support, based on his FTC comment and thought Phillip might support Sherri, because she was his protégé. He was confident about the others.
If the three amigos didn’t vote out Phillip, Rob asks if Cochran would have gone to the end with Phillip and Dawn. Cochran explains that, early on, his final four was Phillip, Dawn and Andrea, but it became evident that Phillip and Andrea could not co-exist. In any event, Cochran worked himself into each person’s final three, so he felt comfortable no matter how that might have played out.
Rob asks how the amazing transformation of Cochran occurred. Cochran downplays his transformation and admits his comments about being a challenge beast was tongue in cheek. He knows some of the advantages he bought or earned were insurmountable. Cochran does feel he learned more about self in the season that he lost… helped him win this time around.
On the topic of Twitter followers, Cochran feels more followers the more careful he needs to be about what his tweets. While some are suggesting trying to take advantage of the amount of followers, Rob’s advice to Cochran it to keep being himself because that is why they chose to follow.
Dawn & Sherri
Dawn knew people on the jury would be disappointed or upset about her game play but she didn’t think FTC would be so intense. She did think taking out her teeth when Brenda requested would gain her Brenda’s vote. Dawn had been through so much there was nothing more that could hurt her.
Rob asks why Dawn decided to vote her out, rather than Cochran. Dawn felt she had no chance to win against Brenda and also wanted to honor pact she had with Cochran from day one. She also felt that they had hurt the same people along the way, so she was surprised when Cochran was being invited to the bar and she was invited to take out her teeth at FTC.
Sherri doesn’t know where Eddie’s attitude at FTC came from since he showed that he didn’t want to stay after Reynold was voted out. Sherri and Dawn did bond over both being mothers and made a pact fairly early on to stay together. Later on in the game, they did talk about voting off Cochran, but went with Brenda.
With tongue in cheek, Sherri expressed her sorrow about being kicked out of Stealth R Us but explains Phillip reinstated her later last night. More seriously, Rob asks why Phillip bitter about Dawn in Ponderosa videos. Dawn isn’t sure but recognises that Phillip doesn’t seem to like her. Dawn wonders maybe it was because Dawn was close to Corinne. She does clarify that Phillip is very nice to her outside the game. Rob notes the irony that Sherri and Dawn were the ones who stayed loyal to Phillip.
Sherri also felt it was guilt by association for her as well. Eddie and Reynold didn’t like the people Sherri hung out with on the island and so they never liked her.
Rob asks if there was a point Dawn could have made that could have improved her fate at FTC. Dawn doesn’t think there is. She feels Cochran’s ability to make positive relationships that helped him.
Rob wanted to know if either of them have been left with a sour taste in their mouth. Sherri looks at the game differently but is still a super-fan. Dawn says nothing has changed. She is still a superfan.
Eddie & Erik
Erik explains that his health is good and he had a fast recovery once the Survivor medical staff provided assistance. Rob shared concern for his mental state based on the previous episode. Erik explains that his hunger was ongoing for most of his time on the island and not some sort of break. His injuries were ongoing for awhile though and not just an instantaneous issue on the night Brenda was voted out.
Erik explains that he didn’t want to be the 4th amigo because of a distrust of Malcolm. He felt burned by Amanda the previous time and she was an immediate returner. He also saw Malcolm as a threat to go impede Erik’s hope of going on an immunity run at the end of the game.
When asked how he would do in the FTC, Eddie felt he would have gotten at least 3 votes and come in at least 2nd. When asked why he was so tough on Sherri, Eddie explains that Sherri thought she was running the game when she was in control of nothing. Erik agrees with Eddie’s assessment of the situation. They get along well outside of the game.
Erik was happy to see Andrea go home with an idol in her pocket because she kept talking about making big moves but he feels she never acted on it. When asked about the hidden idol they found, Erik states he could have kept the idol but thought it would make him a target. And it worked out great because Andrea went home with it. If Erik had his choice, he would have taken Brenda or Dawn to the end because he felt they were more genuine people.
Show Links:
To purchase The Boston Rob Rulebook: www.robhasawebsite.com/BRrules
To contact Erik Reichenbach about his artwork: http://erikreichenbachcomics.com/
