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A Stacked Survivor Deck with Liz Kim of Survivor: Samoa
by Troy Rogers
 A
week after Galu team Captain, Russell Swan, left
Survivor: Samoa due to injury, the Survivor gameplay
resumed as Foa Foa and Galu squared off in a reward
challenge that saw the winners board a pirate
ship for a sea bound escape to recharge and replenish
their Survivor bodies.
But it was the Survivor gameplay in Samoa between Foa Foa tribe mates that took its toll in more ways than one as Foa Foa continued a near record setting losing streak that carried them all the way to another Tribal Council. Although Foa Foa almost pulled out a Survivor Samoa win in the immunity challenge, it was Jaison who brought the tribe to its knees when he couldn't contribute to solving a crucial Survivor puzzle.
But this week's vote was cemented weeks earlier when Liz Kim confronted new Survivor villain Russell Hantz over his gameplay, which put Liz on his bad side and eventually on the wrong side of the Survivor numbers in her tribe. Although it was clear to everyone that Jaison was the sure vote to leave Survivor Samoa, Russell made sure it was Liz who would be the latest to be voted out of Survivor Samoa.
The next day after Liz Kim had her torch extinguished on Survivor Samoa, we caught up with Liz to learn more about her feelings on Jaison, why Liz didn't like Russell from the beginning, how she endured the rains in Samoa, and her take on what happened to Russell Swan a week earlier.
THE DEADBOLT: Are you upset that Jaison didn't get voted out after he pretty much said that losing the immunity challenge was his fault?
LIZ: Yeah, it was disappointing. But Russell is a chauvinistic pig and he's intimidated by smart women. And when a strong woman confronts him, like Marisa and Betsy did, and eventually myself, he has to make sure they go home. He never wants to deal with any woman showing him up. When I opened my mouth and confronted him, he preferred to keep a dead man walking, like Jaison, than keep a live wire like myself. So there was no competition. It was a pitiful performance that Jaison gave at that last challenge. Yet again, I paid the price. It's unfortunate because I was eliminated because I was a serious threat for Russell. You know, his actions speak for themselves and up to that point I had done nothing than give 110 percent.
THE DEADBOLT: You mentioned that you didn't like Russell from the beginning. Was there one certain thing? What tipped you off to him?
 LIZ:
Oh gosh, it was the very first night when he
was talking about the Katrina story. I was sleeping
right next to him and he talked about how he
turned his back trying to fight his way out
and his dog disappeared. I have a dog, and I
grew up with dogs, and I'm thinking, "Dude,
your dog doesn't just disappear like that."
That's when I was like, "Okay, something isn't
adding up. I don't know what it is, but I'm
not going to trust this guy." And when I confronted
him on the beach two weeks later, I just asked
him, straight up, "You're lying to me, right?"
I wasn't loud about it. I just put it out there
and he flipped out and stomped off like a child.
Any doubt I had went out the window, because
I was like, "Wow, he has the idol or he wouldn't
have freaked out like that."
THE DEADBOLT: Last week, we also saw a lot of people start to lose their minds because of the rain. How did the weather affect you?
LIZ: It was very demoralizing. It made it very difficult for me to motivate and play the game, because I didn't sign up to play the game in a torrential downpour. The one thing I did before I got on that plane to Samoa was check the weather report and it said dry season [laughs]. So when we're there in five days of torrential rain and combine that with losing, it just made it so difficult. But I kept that to myself and you didn't appreciate Jaison being a "Debbie Downer" around camp.
 It's
not a cake walk for any of us. We're not winning
anything. We're not even winning the reward
challenges, which are presumably easier than
the immunity challenges. It's not easy eating,
you can't cook. I mean, it was just horrible.
On top of that, I don't need somebody going
on and on about it. So I just got a bum rap
of a deal when it came to the tribe. Yeah, I
don't know what happened there [laughs].
THE DEADBOLT: Well, what was your initial strategy going in?
LIZ: My strategy was to be flexible.
Talk less, listen more, and try to make it to
the merge. That was really kind of like my short
term goal. I had full faith and confidence that
if we had won just one challenge, I would've
made it to the merge and deep into the game.
By the time it was down to five. We had already
shed and voted off the most corrosive and annoying
and weakest elements in our tribe. So who are
you left with? Easily the vote should've been
to get rid of Russell, but he had the idol.
So he had all of this natural power to wield.
Natalie is not going to speak up. So again,
it's just me, Mick, and Jaison. It was ridiculous.
I felt like the deck was entirely stacked against
me.
THE DEADBOLT: Which challenge was your favorite?
LIZ: Which challenge was my favorite?
Probably the one we won, because we won it [laughs].
I mean, it's a hard question to answer when
your losing everything. I mean, it's the only
one we won.
THE DEADBOLT: How scary was the other Russell incident last week?
 LIZ:
Oh, it was really scary. Laura and I actually
were the only ones who could see, because we
were the only ones who weren't blindfolded and
the Galu members who were off to the sidelines.
I mean, to see him go down, I didn't know what
happened. I though maybe he tripped. It wasn't
until Jeff stopped the game when I was like,
"Wow, this is pretty serious." Again, I don't
know what happened, "Oh, he's dehydrated." I
remember feeling and trying to stand up and
I'm probably half or a third of the size of
Russell. So it was very scary to see him go
down like that. Then again, Murphy's Law, you
know? We were ahead and then all of a sudden
when Russell passed out it ended that.
THE DEADBOLT: After that happened, I thought Jeff would've given you the pizza anyway. Did anyone ask what happened to the pizza?
LIZ: I think everyone was just shell shocked. I mean, it was the first time we were going to tribal council together and that was kind of odd and it freaked everyone out. Then it started raining and then that freaked everyone even more. We all wanted to know what happened to Russell, so it never even came up.
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