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Samoan Injuries and Survivor Instincts with Betsy and Mike
by Troy Rogers
A new season of Survivor is underway in Samoa
and it didn't take long for the outwitting and
outplaying to begin Survivor style, as Texas oil
company owner Russell Hantz took command of the
Survivor: Samoa gameplay. However, as Russell
played his Foa Foa tribe mates, which included
New Hampshire policewoman, Betsy Bolan, and California
private chef, Mike Borassi, L.A. bartender, Ben
Browning, stepped from the Survivor: Samoa shadows
to take the heat off of Russell after a variety
of vocal outbursts that drew the attention of
the Foa Foa tribe and Jeff Probst at Tribal Council.
Although Russell schemed from the start of
Survivor: Samoa, it didn't take long for Betsy
to see the oilman's true colors, which caused
a Survivor split among Samoa tribe mates who
couldn't see that Betsy had Russell pegged.
Although Mike had a Survivor: Samoa target on
his back because of his age, the 62 year old
private chef was bitten by the Survivor injury
bug when Mike saw his blood pressure drop to
dangerous levels after an exhausting and combative
Samoa immunity challenge. As a result, Mike
Borassi saw his time on Survivor: Samoa come
to end when he was taken out of Samoa by medics
at the guidance of Survivor: Samoa host Jeff
Probst.
As for Betsy, who was in the direct line of fire of both her tribe and Russell, her Survivor time came to an end in Samoa when the votes were read at Tribal Council and Betsy Bolan became the second person voted out of Survivor: Samoa.
The next morning we hopped on the Survivor: Samoa hotline for a follow-up chat with Betsy and Mike to get their thoughts on Mike's injury, original Survivor strategies, their views of Russell and Ben, and the alliance between Foa Foa good guy Jaison and Survivor: Samoa villain Russell.
 THE
DEADBOLT: Mike, what exactly happened to
you out there?
MIKE BORASSI: I was severely dehydrated
and I gave it extreme exertion. I gave it everything
I had and blew the engine like my Trooper that
I did like six months ago.
THE DEADBOLT: In the episode they were talking heart attack and it looked pretty serious.
MIKE: No, no. My blood pressure fell and it was like, I think, 90 over 60 or 50, and I just wasn't pumping blood to my extremities and head. But I was coming back. I knew I'd come back and an hour later after they took me away I was fine. I was having ice cream and laughing and joking around and I was ready to go back into the game, actually.
THE DEADBOLT: But that was it, they wouldn't reverse their decision?
MIKE: No. They took the blood test to
check for heart attack but everything was negative.
Even the medics were saying I didn't have a
heart attack. They just said, "you were dehydrated."
And that will do it to you.
THE DEADBOLT: What was your original
strategy going into the game?
MIKE: I was going to kick ass and take
names. I wanted to make an impression and show,
especially the young guys who were kind of cocky,
bring them down a notch. And like I said, jog
some cookies.
THE DEADBOLT: What are your views of
Russell and Ben?
 BETSY
BOLAN: Russell, you can't put it to words.
You just have to look at him - Idiot [laughs].
I never liked Russell. Well, I shouldn't say
that. I probably liked him the first five minutes
when he told me he was a fireman. I was thinking,
"Cool, great alliance." And then, probably after
two more minutes, I'm thinking, "No, firemen
have a heart and soul and he doesn't have either
one. So he's definitely not a fireman." Yeah,
I don't like Russell at all.
Ben, I do like, believe it or not. I do like
Ben. He just needs to smarten up a little more
and respect his elders a little bit better.
It'll come in time, I hope, because he is 28,
now that I think of it, so he should probably
get a grasp of it by now. He just opens his
mouth without thinking, and they played it down.
At Tribal Council he was a real jerk and they
played that down, they edited a lot out. Jeff
Probst had so much patience with him, he really
did. At least there's hope for Ben, there's
no hope for Russell.
 MIKE:
I agree about Ben. I like Ben, I thought he
was a good kid. But he just didn't know when
to shut up. In fact, a lot of times I kept going
up to him, "Just shut up. What are you doing?"
You know, it would be like, "Make a face like
an asshole, that's it." It's like, "What's wrong
with you? Stop!" And Russell, I thought and
I think now, he's kind of a jerk and sleazy.
But I give him credit for being well planned
and organized to do what he wanted to do. And
he did it, he got us.
THE DEADBOLT: Betsy, you seemed to see
right through Russell's crap from the very beginning.
So why didn't you try to rally the troops early
on and get rid of him?
BETSY: I didn't have really great proof
that he was a snake, it was just a feeling that
I had. I didn't know he was emptying the canteens.
I didn't know he was burning socks. I didn't
have real proof that he was an idiot, I just
knew he was. And I didn't have solid evidence
to prove to Natalie and Ashley and Liz that
he was as low as you can be. I did try, but
they would not even [listen]. It just seemed
like they wanted to calculate it. Their minds
just closed down, they didn't want to hear it,
and I don't know how he did it. But he definitely
had them under his spell.
THE DEADBOLT: Does it bother you that no one seems to remember past seasons and realize that strength isn't everything?
BETSY: [laughs] Yes, yes, yes. But being
out there in the game, you forget all of that.
 MIKE:
Yeah. It's a different situation when you're
there, man. I had a whole plan and everything.
As soon as I got there it was like everything
opposite of what I was planing to do. You put
a game plan in your head, but then when you're
out on the field, it's like, "Uh, oh."
BETSY: Yeah, it's so much easier to
play at home.
THE DEADBOLT: Were you guys surprised to see Russell and Jaison working together with the hidden immunity idol?
BETSY: Yes. I was more surprised about that than Russell finding the immunity idol. I just hope he doesn't get sucked into Russell's web, because Jaison is a good kid. He's a good boy and I hope he's going to show Russell up.
MIKE: I don't know. He might be too smart for his own good. He's too intellectual, too cerebral. He's playing chess and Russell is playing checkers. I don't know. I hope he doesn't get screwed up because of that.
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