Last week's Survivor: Gabon was a beauty with nearly every player's name being mentioned for possible expulsion from Africa after both tribes found out they had to go to tribal council. Sugar, Susie, Crystal, and even Corinne were mentioned as possibilities for torch snuffing, but, interestingly, both tribes decided to say goodbye to one of their stronger players. The people in Gabon are clearly playing not for individual tribes wins any more, but under the assumption that the merge is imminent and it's not a bad idea to get rid of two healthy, strong players just before the merge.

So, we waved goodbye to the charismatic and aggressive Ace Gordon, the 27-year-old with his own fashion photography studio, and the slightly paranoid Dan Kay, a 32-year-old lawyer. The Deadbolt got some time with both gentlemen the morning after their elimination aired and both were easy-going and affable interview subjects.

THE DEADBOLT Ace, do you think it’s possible at all that you played the game too aggressively?

ACE GORDON I think it was definitely applicable that I had more faith in their potential or capacity to be game playing than they actually were. The idea that I played too hard? Anything’s possible, you know? In retrospect, obviously we would all change how we played the game. But on the same note, there were so many twists and turns you can’t go in with a premeditated idea anymore it’s so fluid. It’s just become haphazard almost. So, yes and no. I think my only regret is the fact that I didn’t console - I mean, I have multiple regrets in relation to the show... I didn’t console Sugar enough that she was okay prior and that’s the luck.

THE DEADBOLT A similar question to you, Dan. In the regret category, do you regret not looking for the immunity idol harder when you were out there?

DAN KAY I looked hard. I just looked in the wrong places. So, given the condition of my body when you think about it, it was day four and day five that I was there, we’d only had fire for one night. We did not boil any water and fill up any of the canteens. We went to a challenge, it was the ball roll up the hill that was really difficult. I sweat a lot. But, you know, I was really dehydrated and hungry and given the condition of my body and the exhaustion that I felt I do feel I gave it a good faith effort. I just unfortunately overanalyzed, I guess, would be a polite way of saying I couldn’t find it. I think I overanalyzed the clue a little bit too much.

THE DEADBOLT I do wonder if you did have it would you have thought to play it that night at the tribal council? Did you think there was a need to play? Let’s say you did have it?

DAN That’s a good question. I don’t know if I would have played it. I definitely would have thought about playing it because there was a small amount of anxiety that they might be trying to flush it out. But, I don’t think I would have. I don’t think I would have.

THE DEADBOLT Who are you rooting for? Who do you want to win?

ACE Obama.

DAN He loves that. He’s been saying that all day. It’s funny, though, every time. Who do I want to win? I find myself rooting - and again - anything can happen, it’s Survivor. I would like Sugar to win. I would also like Matty to win or Randy. I think they’re good people. I think they play the game hard and that’s why I would want them to win. But you know who knows in this game. Who knows.

THE DEADBOLT If either of you were on the jury, is there anyone you definitely would not give the money to? You know, for sure I’m not giving the grand prize to?

ACE Crystal.

DAN Corrine.

THE DEADBOLT Interesting. I think I know why for both.

DAN If you don’t then you might need therapy.

ACE You’ve been watching The Amazing Race.

DAN That’s coming from a guy who’s had therapy.

Other Conference call Highlights:

Dan on whether or not Marcus is in control and as cocky as he seems to be lately:

"I’ll tell you something. I’m glad you saw that last night. I’m glad it’s starting to come out. We would have these talks. And, I’m sorry I’ll try to answer this as quick as possible. We would have these talks at camp when we switched up tribes and he would say, 'I don’t know if I can trust you, you three old Fang members.' And we would spend hours, maybe an hour, two hours trying to convince them that they could trust us and how miserable it was at the old Fang tribe and then I’d ask him, 'Well, how can we trust you? There’s four of you.' And, he would say 'Well, I don’t know what to tell you about that.' And, I never really understood until I read what Jeff said about Marcus being subtlety arrogant. It’s perfect, you know? He’s more concerned with himself than other people and that story kind of exemplifies that. I wish him the best. I think he’s an accomplished person but I do think that’s the case."

Ace on if he would have kept his alliance with Sugar had he stayed:

"Well, I must have trusted her. I gave her her immunity idol back and I didn’t turn on her when I could have assassinated her four times in a row so, yes. I can see doing what she did it wasn’t a blindside although Jeff would love to claim that. I mean, I knew I was going. That’s why I stood up before the final vote was read. But on the same note, for god’s sake, I walked out thanking who turned on me. It wasn’t like I went, 'Oh, Matty!' I said 'Thanks Sugar.' There’s a reason. I knew it was coming.

But, the whole thing is - you know, at that point I thought she was the best and most strategic alliance because of the fact she needed me. And the only frustrating thing for me being voted out was not that I got voted out. I mean that’s Survivor. But that the frustrating thing is more the capacity that I got voted out for no reason."

Ace on if his accent is real:

"All day long everybody’s been, 'Is the accent real? Is the accent real? Is the accent real?' It’s sort of become part and parcel of a joke. Yes, the accent’s as real as anybody else’s. I mean, I lived in England for 8 years. Both my parents are English. You know, it’s one of those things? My accent goes in and out depending who I’m talking to or how irritated I am."

On if his accent may have led to feelings of intimidation:

"In retrospect, the logical thing would have been to fake an American accent during the game and then talk in my normal accent during confessionals. It would have been good TV and it would have helped. I mean, there were times that people felt I was more of a snake or more untrustworthy because of the fact I had an accent, which is kind of ridiculous if you think about it. But on the same note it’s completely applicable because I talked to Survivors post facto from this season."

Ace on if Sugar turned on him to eliminate a threat after the merge:

"No, it wasn’t. She honestly didn’t have the capacity to think to that extent. I wasn’t a threat to her. I was protecting her for four in a row. It was for no reason. That was the only frustrating thing. I just don’t think she realized that I was still protecting her. But she just got a bee in her bonnet and that was life."

On if Sugar told him she was turning:

"No, she didn’t. But she refused to look me in the face for an hour and a half, so that sort of gives you a clue. When somebody’s been laying on you for 15 days or 21 days and then suddenly won’t look you in the face, it sort of gives away the fact. That’s why I stood up before they read the final name."

On if he respected the gameplay or hated her after tribal council:

"Well, I care about the game and I love Survivor and I was very frustrated that I didn’t . . . I mean I would have been less irate if I made it to the jury but on the same note I’m not going to run around hating people just because of some inane thing we do when we’re starving out in the middle of the jungles of Africa, you know? Obviously, I wasn’t pleased but it is what it is. I’m bigger than that. At least I hope that I can move on beyond that."

Dan on why Kota kept sending Sugar to Exile Island:

"Geez, there’s so many reasons. There came a point where we did think it was funny. But, more importantly, from a strategic standpoint I was the only one that had been to Exile besides her. And I had talked about it with Kota and I told them it really is emotionally difficult to be secluded by yourself for 24 full hours when you’re already secluded from your family and friends for a significant amount of time and it is not fun and it is not fun sleeping in the cold. And at that point we didn’t know if she had chosen comfort, so she could have just been sleeping out in the cold and we knew she was an emotional player and I was emotional, so we thought that maybe she might just quit.

And then it got to be the point where we knew she had been out there for three or four times and so we figured that she would be voted out by her tribe at a tribal council a) because she couldn’t bond with them because she was always at Exile and b) if she had the idol she would most likely have to play it again and then it would be in circulation again for one of us, and I really think that’s really the main reasons."

On if he realized that his Kota tribe mates thought he was eating more than his fair share of food:

"No, I wasn’t aware of that. It’s funny because it couldn’t have been a significant amount of food for a number of reasons. First, it’s not like we had a lot of food to prepare for each meal. The pot that we had we would only fill half way up, which wasn’t much, and so what is it? Like maybe four extra spoonfuls? So I think you saw some of the pettiness that happens and I’m not downplaying the importance of food out there.

It’s just I think Corrine has to attack. She has to have someone to focus negative energy on and it happened to be me. But what I really found funny was that there came a point where I was actively watching Marcus and how many scoops he took and I was taking the exact same amount, but it was always - Corrine was always, “Extra food! Marcus! Marcus!” Let’s give it to him. She was really, really in love with that kid I felt. So although I was surprised I don’t think it was as much as it looked on TV."

Dan's thoughts on Randy:

"It’s interesting. Randy is coming across as making fun of people and being mean and Corrine is as well. And Corrine is someone I don’t care for. So the normal inclination would be - 'Why is it okay for Randy?' I personally think Randy does it in good fun and he has times where he recognizes a line, a fine line, that Corrine doesn’t recognize. My thoughts on Randy is that you can’t help but want to give the guy just a hug, you know? He’s kind of like the guy who wasn’t loved enough as a kid. But you’ve got to love him now, you know? I don’t know what it is about him."

Dan's animosity towards Corrine:

"I’m dealing with that and I know it’s probably not very mature of me to have this animosity, and I’m working through it. But I don’t like people that are constantly tearing other people down and doing it behind their backs and crossing boundaries that I think are the difference between doing it with tact and doing it without tact. And I think Corrine has told me some things, some personal stories of herself, not just things she says but things she’s done, and that is probably steering my judgment a little bit. That being said, I know part of working through this is saying to myself that I wish you the best, I wish everyone the best, and she’s just someone that probably will not remain in my life.",/p>

Ace on trust issues with Matty:

"Of course I had trust issues with Matty. The problem was that he hadn’t proved his loyalty at that point. So, I mean it was just that initial thing once you switch tribes, you’ve got to rebuild all the connections you didn’t have with new people. It was really just a timing issue, you know? If I could have started out with Matty, I would have trusted him. It’s just the fact you know people had prior alliances so that was just precarious. He wanted to flush it out. Matty’s a great guy. I’ve got nothing bad to say about him but he had no idea what he was doing on Survivor. Put it this way: He’s a nice guy but he is who he is and he just really didn’t understand how to play the game. And, I don’t mean that in a bad way."

Dan on why he wore a suit to tribal council:

"It’s cold there at night. It was really cold. I personally thought it was kind of funny when you think about what we’re going through and how dirty I am and how cut off and miserable I felt. And I said, 'You know what? I’m going to dress up for tribal.' My warped sense of humor. And then the more I thought about it I was like, 'Alright, if anyone’s going to be remembered on this show, it’s for having a role.' I didn’t feel like I had a role. So I figured that might make me more memorable."

On what his strategy was going into the game:

"Going into the game my strategy was not to have a strategy. To try and be as relaxed - I do think that I tried to include everybody and tried to make everyone feel comfortable and it’s whether I meet them through a friend or if I meet them on the street, or whatever I try to extend myself, and make people feel comfortable because I think that the majority of people are either shy or nervous about meeting other people. So I knew coming into the game I was just going to try to keep that strategy and try to adapt to the given situation. And then, when they switched up the tribes, I tried to keep that strategy. But with Marcus and Corrine, I couldn’t. Corrine was too overbearing for me. I didn’t even care about making her feel comfortable. And Marcus I didn’t feel extended himself towards me and that bothered me a little bit so maybe I was outwitted in that sense. The further it got into the game the more it was a challenge to do that because of the personalities."

On Markus and Charlie's relationship:

"I think they share a bond of going to very good schools. They’re both very accomplished individuals. But more importantly I really think Marcus enjoys the fact that Charlie likes him so much. From what I observed of Marcus’s relationships, I think he enjoys when people look up to him and that’s nothing to frown upon. But, I can see why they’re friends. "

On if Randy got any letters from home:

"Randy didn’t get any letters from home. I can understand why. [laughs] No, that’s not a complete sentence. It made me appreciate Randy a whole lot more, I think, because I wasn’t sure. He’d told us before that he wasn’t close to anyone and I wasn’t sure if I believed that or if he just felt like he wasn’t close to anyone. But when he didn’t get any letters, I really understood a lot more about his personality and why. I think he’s mean because or he says mean things. He’s being brought down to Crystal’s level, not Crystal, Corrine’s level a little bit. I noticed that the more he started hanging out with Corrine the more he would joke at other peoples' expense. So I think he’s just a guy who doesn’t have a lot of friends, doesn’t have a lot of close people. I think he wants that, and I think he can have that, so the game is great to see him come out of his shell and really be accepted by a lot of people in the game."

On if Bob is the really nice guy he seems to be:

"I’m not so sure that when you say Bob seems like a really nice guy, I’m not so sure they’ve focused on him enough yet. I think Bob is a nice guy but I think just like everyone else out there he has personality traits that people are starting to get a little bit tired of. He can talk down to you. He’s been a teacher for a very long time. He is a good guy. He has the ability to go far in this game but nobody in this game has gotten through the game without upsetting people or annoying people. Everybody has been annoyed with everybody but Bob is a nice guy."

Ace on what would surprise us most about the Survivor experience:

"I think for me it’s the fact that it’s changed so much over the years. It’s no longer a Thailand where people start out with a plan. I think the whole idea of going in with a plan out there nowadays is outdated because of the fact there’s become so many twists, so many tribal switches and mergers, and this and that. And the amount of things that can happen, it’s so dominate that’s it’s no longer applicable the idea that you go in with one pure strategy and are going to align with this person or do this and I’m going to win. It has to do with luck as well as ability nowadays."

Dan on the same thing:

"I think for me the most surprising thing that viewers at home would find is how mentally and physically demanding this game is. Watching on TV does not do it justice. How the mind can be affected as time goes on. How physically awful you feel on a day to day basis. The only thing I can compare to is feeling like you have the flu constantly. You stand up and you’re dizzy. You just don’t want to do anything, and I think that probably contributes to the way your mind works out there too. I don’t think by watching the show, I don’t think it does it anything close to near what it actually is like."