Blindsides and Betrayal with Brendan Synnott of Survivor Tocantins by Troy Rogers
After Jalapao tribe member, Joe Dowdle, was airlifted out of Brazil last week due to an injury as the tribes merged on Survivor Tocantins, the deceptive action heated up in a big way when the Tocantins game continued and Brendan and Coach took center Survivor stage. After spending nine days on Exile Island, Brendan found himself in an awkward position after the merge when J.T. and Stephen held strong and used their sweet-talking smarts around camp to form new alliances. But this week marked a turning point for Survivor Tocantins in that the power of the game clearly shifted toward Tyson and Coach.
Down on Survivor numbers, with an Exile alliance with Taj falling by the Tocantins wayside, Brendan came out the victor in a reward challenge to go whitewater rafting that Coach was salivating over. Brendan's whitewater reward victory not only twisted a knife in Coach's hopes but also allowed for time to get to know J.T., as Brendan picked his ex-Jalapao foe to go along for the adventure with he and Sierra to try and win him over into a new alliance. But this week's episode of Survivor Tocantins was as unpredictable as you'll see on Survivor as Tyson and Stephen's three day old plan remained intact to hedge the bets on the Tribal votes to see either Brendan or Sierra leave the game.
Although Brendan made an impressive, last minute charge down the Survivor field into Coach's territory, he was blindsided (Ray Lewis and Lawrence Taylor style) when Tyson, Coach and Stephen had the votes in a tie between Sierra, Brendan, and Coach before only Sierra and Brendan were left and the entrepreneur from New York City, Brendan, was sent packing despite having the hidden immunity idol in his back pocket.
The next morning we caught up with former Survivor Tocantins tribe member Brendan Synnot to find out what went wrong and why he didn't get along with Coach near the end, who told one of the most ear-popping stories in Survivor history.
THE DEADBOLT: So how does it feel to be slain by the dragon slayer?
BRENDAN SYNNOTT: [laughs] I am so proud to be partnered with probably one of the better nicknames, I think, in Survivor history, and part of Coach’s master plan. Oh, no, it wasn’t his plan. It was Tyson that really got me voted off.
THE DEADBOLT: Well, how good did it feel to take that whitewater rafting reward away from him?
BRENDAN: Oh, that was so beautiful, especially because you know he talked so much about his kayak story, which I really don’t believe. And so he talked about how he can dominate the river and he wanted to run the rapids so badly, and to be able to go and take that away from him was, now, particularly really gratifying.
THE DEADBOLT: Yeah, it was a pretty nice burn.
BRENDAN: Thank you.
THE DEADBOLT: Even though you were confident that you were safe at Tribal Council, why did you feel that you had to answer Jeff’s question and reveal that you had one of the hidden idols?
BRENDAN: I think at that point in the game, one of the things that put a target on my back was the fact that I’d been to Exile so often. And because of that, because I was there so often, I thought it would make a target on my back. And I thought that was a perfect opportunity just to come out and come clean with it, and be like, ‘Listen guys, I have it,’ because I was confident in the Exile alliance that, at that point, if we voted one more person off, the Exile alliance could’ve taken control.
THE DEADBOLT: So do you remember Coach’s ultra rare meditation technique?
BRENDAN: I do not remember the name of it. Although, I’ve replicated everything I saw Coach do on the show and I’ve incorporated that into my life, because I want to be like Coach.
THE DEADBOLT: What do you think Sierra has to do now to save her skin?
BRENDAN: To me, the way I see Sierra is very similar to the way I see Jalapao overall in terms of coming into the game. You know, since the merge, Jalapao basically just morphed into whatever Timbira wanted to have happen and they went along with it. And I think Sierra needs to do the same thing in order to stay alive. There’s a great opportunity for people that are at the bottom of the rung to kind of cling onto some other folks. You just don’t want to be at the top.
THE DEADBOLT: What sparked the antagonistic feelings between you and Coach? What didn’t we see?
BRENDAN: I actually didn’t have a lot of antagonistic feelings. I didn’t necessarily like how he treated some of the women on the show. I didn’t think that was real cool. I also didn’t like how he would talk a big game and then not step up around camp or in the reward or immunity challenges. But other than that I just thought Coach was just, overall, pretty amusing. I didn’t have any hatred for the guy. I just thought he was living in his own world.
THE DEADBOLT: Knowing what you know now, who would you choose from both tribes, at full strength, to make a dream team alliance?
BRENDAN: I think J.T. would’ve been awesome. Then, from my own tribe, Sierra was totally loyal to me. She had my back from the start. The only problem with Sierra was that she would run her mouth every once in a while and that would get her in a bit of trouble. But other than that, those two are probably my picks. I thought Taj was awesome, too. I thought we had a good bond, especially considering both of our backgrounds, and I was a little sad she kind of bailed on me.
THE DEADBOLT: What’s the one thing you shouldn’t do while playing Survivor?
BRENDAN: Trust anybody!
THE DEADBOLT: What’s it going to take to vote Coach off?
BRENDAN: I don’t think that Coach is really well liked by everybody so I think it’s just about the right opportunity and the right time. You know, Coach isn’t that big of a physical threat. So it’s not that scary to take him deep into the game. I think that it’s just a matter of when it makes sense. Coach, to me, I thought was relatively benign. So it’s somebody you want to have in your alliance.
For Taj and Stephen to vote Brendan off was even dummy than James not playing his TWO immunity idols a couple of seasons back. Taj and Stephen have now pretty much guaranteed that neither of them will make the Final Four; just plain stupid!
After Jalapao tribe member, Joe Dowdle, was airlifted out of Brazil last week due to an injury as the tribes merged on Survivor Tocantins, the deceptive action heated up in a big way when the Tocantins game continued and Brendan and Coach took center Survivor stage. After spending nine days on Exile Island, Brendan found himself in an awkward position after the merge when J.T. and Stephen held strong and used their sweet-talking smarts around camp to form new alliances. But this week marked a turning point for Survivor Tocantins in that the power of the game clearly shifted toward Tyson and Coach.
The next morning we caught up with former Survivor Tocantins tribe member Brendan Synnot to find out what went wrong and why he didn't get along with Coach near the end, who told one of the most ear-popping stories in Survivor history.
BRENDAN: Thank you.
BRENDAN: To me, the way I see Sierra is very similar to the way I see Jalapao overall in terms of coming into the game. You know, since the merge, Jalapao basically just morphed into whatever Timbira wanted to have happen and they went along with it. And I think Sierra needs to do the same thing in order to stay alive. There’s a great opportunity for people that are at the bottom of the rung to kind of cling onto some other folks. You just don’t want to be at the top.
BRENDAN: I think J.T. would’ve been awesome. Then, from my own tribe, Sierra was totally loyal to me. She had my back from the start. The only problem with Sierra was that she would run her mouth every once in a while and that would get her in a bit of trouble. But other than that, those two are probably my picks. I thought Taj was awesome, too. I thought we had a good bond, especially considering both of our backgrounds, and I was a little sad she kind of bailed on me.