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| Jacques Burger, "WTF!? |
Whether you love him or loathed him,
there’s no denying that scrawny industrial engineer Jacques Burger (27) kept his fellow castaways on their toes – and
viewers on the edge of their seats – with all his sneaky moves, wise-cracks,
Immunity Idols and well-earned advantages in M-Net’s firecracker local series
Survivor SA: Island of Secrets. This week, however, he lost the battle against
“the seven-headed dragon”, as he referred to the remaining contenders who’re
now playing for the title of Sole Survivor. Fighting till the end, Jacques
became the fifteenth person to be voted off Survivor SA: Island of Secrets and
the seventh member of the jury.
Going
into your final tribal council, how was your mind set? Did you know or expected time's up for you in the game? Yeah for
sure. I’ve Houdini’d myself out of so many situations up until know and I knew
they were coming for me. So I was ready for what was about to happen.
You've
been walking around for a while now with a target on your back, how did you
deal with that? My strategy was to appeal to the
other ‘Loose Change’ players that there’s people who are just stringing them
along. They going to cut them off and stick with their original alliance.
Unfortunately nobody listened and here we are.
Looking
back, is there anything different you could have done to stay longer in the
game? The game of Survivor is ultimately a social
game. I didn’t have the social capital to work with in the business end. The
couple of people I were really close to got voted out at times that really
hamstrung my game.
You
caused quite an uproar in the tribe when you used the mother*** word, how were
you surprised with the reaction it caused the fellow tribe members, especially
Steffi? Obviously I didn’t anticipate such a huge
reaction. Tempers were extremely volatile after that tribal on account of me
not playing my Idol once again. Steffi was obviously the most vocal but it was
essentially seven people backing me into a corner and telling me my time is
out. I fought back and unfortunately put my foot in my mouth.
Banishing
you, or putting an embargo on you from the fellow tribe members seemed childish
and harsh. How did you dealt with it and how did you kept it together to focus
on the game? I was in a real dark place during that
time period. Not having anybody to talk to and only your own thoughts is really
tough mentally. It clouded my vision, judgement and performance in those final
do-or-die challenges.
Who
would you say was your enemy #1 and explain why you say so? Definitely Rob. Like Dante I was very vocal and open about him
running the show and that the Loose Change players should band together and
form a resistance. Unfortunately nobody heeded the call and now Dante and I are
sitting drinking Pina Coladas on the jury.
What
was your game plan going into the series? Get a
close ride or die ally early on and go with him/her to end. It backfired
horribly when I accidently sent TingTing home on day 7.
How
has the series changed you, if at all? I’ve learned
to appreciate the small things. If you can fit your whole life into a small
backpack you realise what’s important and what’s not.
You
held out with your immunity idol in the hopes to see your wife on the island,
but you played it eventually. Why did you decided, ok, it's now time to use the
idol? I was squeezing blood from a rock using that
Idol. I wouldn’t be able to sit on it for one more round, especially after I’ve
been branded “Public Enemy no 1”. So my last ditch effort was to pre-play it
and appeal to the Loose Change players that it won’t be me. One of them have to
make a move now. Once again, nobody headed the call!
In
the beginning in the game, who was your alliance members, and how did that
unravel? I was close with TingTing and later Seipei
and Durao at the Laumei beach. Seipei got knocked out early in the Merge and
Durao became a turncoat so I had essentially nobody left to work with.
What
was the first thing you did when you got home? My
wife Heil met me at the airport with a huge pack of biltong. I tried to explain
to her how extremely hard I fought to see her and how gutted I was that I came
up one day short. She’s amazing and she understands it completely. She’s just
grateful that I got to live my dream and had the opportunity of a lifetime.
What
is your advice to the rest of the remaining tribe members in the game? Own up to your game. Whether you are the villain or the hero. Claim
your moves and fight until the last Tribal Council vote.
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