Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites
Erik
Eliminated May 8

What was it like being the last man standing?
Erik: It was pretty weird. I thought it was going to be great, but it wasn't. You would think it's every man's dream to be surrounded by a bunch of beautiful, bikini-clad women. But three or four hours passed and I realized, "This is a nightmare."

Why did you give away the immunity necklace?
Erik: There is no one answer that could help explain it. My strategy was getting overthrown by emotions and inexperience and by what the girls had to say. I was out there for so long, and I considered them to be my friends. Everybody loved Erik, but then all of a sudden I was in between them and the $1 million prize. The attitudes changed toward me and it really started to hurt.

How does it feel to have made the dumbest move in Survivor history?
Erik: There is no question giving up the immunity necklace was the dumbest move ever. It was way dumb! No one is ever going to let me live that down. The only way I can get over that is if someone does something worse in the future. But I don't know what you'd have to do that would be worse than that. It was just really dumb.

Who do you think deserves to win?
Erik: All of them had good reasons for voting me out because I was making deals with each of them. In terms of voting, I have no idea at this point. I would have voted for Amanda two weeks ago, but now, I'm just not sure.

Who's been playing the game the smartest?
Erik: Parvati — without a doubt. She's playing it very smart. Cirie is a close second. It's crazy to see how my opinion changed watching the show as opposed to when I was on the island. I learned so much from the episodes. Cirie is a totally different person than how she presented herself on the island. I was amazed to see all of the things she was saying. From what I knew of her, she was a nice lady who happened to slide by every vote. In reality, she was calling the shots from the beginning!

Do you think the fans were at a disadvantage going into the game?
Erik: Going into the game, no, I didn't think that. I assumed the fans had a chance. But it became glaringly obvious that there was no comparison to how much experience they had over us.

Which favorite were you most excited to get to know?
Erik: It was cool to know Ozzy. I'll put that out there because I think everyone got to see that on the show. It was really great to get to know James. He's a really cool guy. After I got voted off, he came up to me and thanked me for taking the stupidest- move-in-Survivor-history crown away from him.

What was the hardest part of the game?
Erik: Starving was pretty damn bad. I was really hungry. I had a metabolism that was going nonstop. I got to the island weighing 160 pounds and when I left I was down to 147 pounds. I ate all sorts of stuff like chicken feed and even leaves. I didn't care. All the girls were complaining about missing their families. I only missed my family if they had food with them!

What are you doing now?
Erik: I'm not changing my life all that much. I'm still working as an ice cream man. Since the halfway point of the show, the customers have been going crazy. Everybody wants a picture with me. But after last night's episode, I had to turn my phone off because everyone's calling to ridicule me!