Despite losing her alliance to the jury, accountant Amanda Hoosen managed to make it to last Wednesday's Malaysian final four but failed to make the crucial final two after losing the balance challenge to Lorette.
I tried to find out whether she's moral or cunning and grilled her on why she messed with Irshaad. Here's what she had to say:
Tashi: The mix of morals, integrity and cunning gameplay - did it all mess with your mind?
Amanda: Ja I think it did - especially having watched the show now, there was a lot more of it going on than I thought there was - people did a good job of hiding it but it was kinda inevitable in the game. Everyone at some point was being deceptive, but I’ve always maintained there’s a line you can cross - like
Jonny Fairplay lying about his Grandmother dying, that's crossing the line to me - but at some point everyone in the game had to lie to someone.
Tashi: Your cunning move came at the end when you worked on their paranoia surrounding Angie to keep yourself in. I was very embarrassed when you worked on Lorette about why she had to take you but you basically had to do it.
Amanda: You know I’ve listened back to it and I didn’t know how it was going to come out and looking at it it does kinda look like I’m begging and grasping at straws but I had to say something - if I didn’t I’d be sitting here today thinking, “What would have happened if I’d said something to her?”
I had to capitalize on the Angie situation - use that as far as I could get - and I think I got as far as I could get using that tactic. Lorette and Grant had the benefit of being together from the very beginning so Grant knew her a lot better, knew to just be quiet - I only got to know the final three from Day 18.
Tashi: Why were you and Angie so rough on sweet Irshaad?
Amanda: (laughs) Shame, you know that was the one episode where I watched and felt really, really bad but on the other hand I also said some really lovely things about him that I still maintain - I think he played the game with more passion than anyone, even Lorette - I mean he didn’t complain a single solitary day about anything.
I stand by everything I said about him because everything I said I felt and that was true but I also feel other things for Irshaad and that didn’t come through. At that final Tribal Council other things were said that weren’t shown and when he left I hugged him and I was crying and I told him I’m sorry.
At the end of the day I don’t think he was any less deserving to go through to the merge than Angie was. When Dyke and I formed our alliance with Angie it just happened that way because Irshaad had walked off with Rijesh and Angie was there. We just needed to get someone on our side and it happened to be Angie.
Also I did sometimes feel that he didn’t channel his energy but he always had high spirits playing his game and I know I was a little bit mean to him. I watched the episode going, “Oh My God I’m so horrible to him - but I like Irshaad!” Obviously that didn’t translate and you only saw what you saw.
Tashi: What was up with the whole stepchild thing - where did that come from?
Amanda: Oh gosh, I honestly didn’t expect it turn into what it turned into. In my circle of friends it’s a term we use as a joke amongst each other - sometimes I call myself a stepchild when I do something a bit silly.
I think it started when Irshaad tackled Hein in the tug of war challenge for Rezki and I used it ‘cos of him doing something silly when the rules were clear that we couldn’t interact - and that’s kind of where it started and then it caught on with other people and then it was in the media everywhere and became more than it was.
It was funny because yesterday when we were the hotel one of the show’s production people said, “Oh I feel like a red headed stepchild, “ and Irshaad and I just packed out laughing and I was like, “See it’s not just me, it’s just a stupid term that became more than what it was intended to be.” I know it sounds mean - because I’ve got nothing against stepchildren, it's just a term - I thought: “Oh my gosh the whole friggin’ adoptive community’s going to latch onto it.”
Tashi: (laughs)
Who did you think was gonna win?
Amanda: I wasn’t 100% sure - after Hein left I knew that the probability that it would be someone from Iban was obviously quite high - with that final four challenge - if I had to think about it at that stage - I thought that if Lorette took me to the final two I’d have a pretty good shot at it because I had the numbers on the jury - you never knew what Angie was gonna do but I thought Grant might vote in my favour.
If I’d fallen first it obviously would have been Lorette and Mandla and I think Mandla would have won but also, when Grant fell, I was hoping we would have time to converse so I could negotiate something with Lorette. That challenge was all or nothing for me to get to the final two. I thought it would be someone from Iban and I thought it would more than likely be Mandla.
Tashi: How long did you stay in the challenge for?
Amanda: I think it was a minute or two just shy of three hours - it was very, very long.
Tashi: Did it the show change you?
Amanda: You know, I don’t think it did. Before I went on I was expecting to have some kind of epiphany about what life’s all about - like have a lightbulb moment - that never happened to me but I did affirm a lot of things I already believe like: “Never give up,” which is something I had to keep telling myself.
It was pretty rough for me there a couple of days, especially emotionally and everything about the show that viewers got to see was a part of me. I don’t look back on anything in shame - I think I’m the person you saw, like me or not - some people are going to like me and some people aren’t. I did however learn that I really, really love food. (laughs)
Tashi: (laughs) What’s your advice to future Survivors?
Amanda: One thing I will say, that I don’t think anyone else realizes - one of my biggest frustrations is that I have pretty bad eyesight. I had glasses and contact lenses - the deal was that I was allowed contacts only for challenges - especially for the wafter challenges - and then I’d have my glasses for the beach. My glasses broke on like Day 3 and I asked for my contacts but I wasn’t allowed to have them for obvious reasons so that very frustrating not being able to see for 90% of the day.
If you don’t wear glasses it’s very difficult to understand but it was one of my biggest frustrations so if you do wear glasses you should maybe take two pairs of glasses. Other than that, just be yourself and pay more attention to the social aspects of the game.
You know Grant made it to the final two without winning a single individual Immunity Challenge and I think that proves that it’s not about your physicality solely. Obviously it’s a very physical game but I think the platform for the show’s about the social dynamics of the goup at any given time - that’s what I focused on and it really can carry you further than you think.
Ends
PS: Forgot to tell you - I had Deju-Vu at the
after party while talking to Amanda about Foschini's.
PPS: Don't you think Irhsaad's the perfect husband?