Bobby Mason was the fifth Survivor to leave Exile Island when he was voted out of the show in last Tuesday’s episode after receiving three of the seven votes cast.
The three votes he received were from the three Casaya girls who stuck to the alliance they formed just before voting and the tribal split in votes that resulted makes Survivor history.
It’s only the second time since the start of the show that someone who’s received less than half the votes has been whacked. The first time it happened was in Survivor 1: Borneo where Gretchen Cordy was voted out when she received four of 10 votes after the tribes merged in Episode 7.
I caught up with Bob Dog on Thursday to see whether talking about Casaya’s circle of evil still makes him want to hurl:
Tashi: After you were voted out you were hysterical when you said that Courtney, Shane and Danielle are spineless little twerps who made you want throw up. Why’d you loathe them so especially much?
Bobby: It’s been a while now so I don’t feel as strongly about it anymore as I did then and I’m on decent terms with them but at the time it was so obvious that everybody there was insecure. Like Danielle and Courtney in particular - they had something in for me as soon as we met.
I dunno if they had a crush on me or what the deal was but there was something about me that they didn’t like right off the bat.
When you see it it doesn’t look like it - they kept that part of the story away - but as soon as we got there they had a problem with me. Everytime I said or did anything or tried to help out with working they’d jump down my throat and start snapping at me.
I think Courtney’s got insecurities in life generally and I think Danielle came from being an attractive young lady who’s used to getting everything she wants and then she ran into me and it doesn’t go down that way. I’m not gonna give her the kind of treatment she’s probably used to getting and I think that shook her up.
Then Shane - we never really talked. It seemed his whole game was based on Danielle and Courtney being insecure and needing some guy to lean on. Shane was insecure because he knew his game was a house of cards and that I was a threat to him.
They all just always attacked me and they were disrespectful to guys like Bruce. They saw us as outsiders. It was just hostile. It wasn’t like being around adults. It was like being with a bunch of pre-schoolers and it was tough.
Tashi: Did the girls flirt with you?
Bobby: I didn’t get any of that openly. I think it may have been on a sub-conscious level. We were cordial at first when we first got there but there was no open flirting or anything like that.
Maybe I was kinda kidding about that but I’ve actually talked to people about it and they say maybe there was some kind of sub-conscious attraction. Like when you’re in the third grade and you like a guy or girl and throw spitballs at them - maybe there was some of that.
I dunno what else it could have been ‘cos I know I didn’t do anything. Danielle was actually walking around telling people she wanted to get rid of me first. She wanted to get rid of me before Melinda. You didn’t see it but as soon as we met, that first day, she said she wanted to vote me out first and I hadn’t even had time to do anything wrong.
Tashi: Don't you think that your breaking in the sparkly new Casa del Charmin had lots to do with them voting you out? Chicks don’t like that type of thing. Also,
I see you were on the TV show Blind Date before Survivor. You obviously have a rough time getting girlfriends?
Bobby: No, actually the opposite is true. I’ve never had a shortage of women. I’ve always been - I hate to say it - but a player or a dog really. That’s where my nickname came from in college. I always did really well with the ladies. They never agreed, they were always bent out of shape ‘cos I was never a good boyfriend but I’ve never had trouble attracting women.
Part of the way I attract women here in LA is that I have this bad boy image. Like a big muscular dude with tattoos. I talk a lot of smack and have a foul mouth sometimes and I tell long-winded funny stories where I brag about things and women are sometimes attracted to the bad boy side of me.
Then when they get to know me they realize that I’m just kidding and that I’m not being serious but rather I’m just down to earth, normal and funny.
When I went on Blind date it was more to be Bob Dog and enjoy myself.
Tashi: Did you meet anyone special on the show?
Bobby: I wasn’t trying to find a girlfriend of get married or anything. I just wanted to have a good time so my buddies and brother could see me on TV. I walked in and I was being very cocky and they tried to match me up with a woman who was supposed to be some badass feminist type who was gonna put me in check and break me down.
We ended up going toe-to-toe, I put her in her place, she backed off and by the end of the show we were friends. There was no connection or anything like that but I had a good time. I was actually seeing someone when I did it.
Tashi: So going back to you christening Casaya’s loo - do you think this contributed to them voting you out?
Bobby: It probably did but the real dynamic started way earlier than that. By the time that came around it was clear I was already on Danielle’s bad side and it wasn’t going to change.
Also they made it look like I was the only one who used the bathroom but everybody used it. They made it seem like I just overrode everybody’s vote to use it as wood storage but I didn’t - we used it as wood storage and a bathroom.
I helped fill it up with wood and I didn’t realize it was big deal until I saw it on TV. They made it look like I used the bathroom and then stole the wine and that’s why Danielle hated me but that’s not what happened.
They never showed me cracking jokes and being nice and trying my best to be friends with everybody. Around the time of going to the bathroom I realized that being a nice guy wasn’t gonna help and that I may as well watch out for myself.
Tashi: What are your tattoos of?
Bobby: I’ve got two dragons on my right arm, one dragon on my left. I have a couple of angels. Dragons are there to show you that I breathe fire and I’ll bite your head off. The angels are there to show that I have a sweet, soft sensitive side but even angels have swords and spears, so even when I’m in sensitive mode I’ll still stab you if you mess with me.
I have my family crest. My last name is Mason and I have my family coat of arms and crest on each arm. I got my first tattoo in ’97 and I’ve gotten one big one every year on birthday after that.
Tashi: The alliance you made with Bruce when you were drunk - would it have lasted until the end if you’d stayed?
Bobby: I think so yeah, if Bruce had stayed around. If I’d survived that vote I think Bruce would have gone home so he wouldn’t have been around but in terms our bond that definitely would have lasted.
Bruce is one of my best friends from the show. We made a pact way before the out-house. By the time we got to it Bruce and I were already friends and had made an alliance before. Not really an alliance because I didn’t want to make an alliance with somebody who was on the outside like I was but we had a pact.
It seemed to me that Bruce wanted to be in with the Casaya four and from a strategic level I wanted to be too but on a personal level I wasn’t impressed.
When we got to the merge I was looking forward to hooking up with Austen and Nick and some of the other people I hadn’t met to do some damage with them over there and I would have taken Bruce with me. We could have gone pretty deep together.
Tashi: Why were the two of you such outsiders?
Bobby: I think they were intimidated by Bruce because he was older. He worked hard. He was probably the hardest worker after Aras. I mean he talks a lot and he definitely could get annoying and I know people were annoyed by him. He thinks he knows everything and he’s always trying to teach people something but he means well when he does it.
They only people the Casaya four really liked was Cirie and she just basically kept her mouth shut.
Tashi: Are there things you’d do differently if you were to do it again that you think would have made you stay longer?
Bobby: I think there are. At the end they still needed the team to be strong. I was hoping that even though a couple of people didn’t like me that they knew they needed to keep me around for the challenges.
I was hoping that either Cirie or Bruce would get voted out that night without me having to fight for it or make a strong case for myself. I didn’t want to tear down Bruce or Cirie and I could have done that and made them look really bad and kept myself around I think but instead I took the high ground and defended myself without attacking them.
In retrospect I think if I’d made it obvious to everybody that one of them should have gone I’d probably have passed that vote.
If I could do it again I’d be more open and aggressive about talking to people but in the end I really thought Danielle and Courtney had it in for me from the get-go. I worked at it for seven or eight days to see if I could make friends and they just weren’t having it and Shane wasn’t either. There wasn’t much else I could do. I think if I was on La Mina I’d probably have gone through to the top four.
Tashi: Who’s your fave Survivor of all time?
Bobby: I was gonna say Bob Dog but I can’t include myself. It would probably be Rudy from the first season and All Stars. I like his attitude. He’s an old guy that I’ll be like when I grow up. He’s an old, tough guy who says what’s on his mind.
It doesn’t always come out the prettiest but you can pretty much take what he says to the bank and that’s kinda how see myself.
Ends