Survivor: "This one has taken a toll"

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The good guys continue to fall one by one on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, and despite his attempts to forge an alliance with hated Russell, Rupert Boneham couldn't escape his fate this week. But the former fan favorite certainly put up a good fight -- competing the entire time on two broken toes. "This game is head and shoulders above any other game that's been played out there so far -- the mental and physical side," Rupert tells In Touch. "This one has taken a toll on us."

To read more about Rupert, click here.


Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
Eliminated May 13: Rupert Boneham

Why couldn't the Heroes get it together?
Before JT gave the hidden immunity idol away and we were down five to five, I thought, "We're going to win this! There's going to be five Heroes in the final five!" And then JT wanted to give the idol away and I tried to tell them that Russell was a villain for a reason. And then when we finally did merge, nobody wanted to believe me and Amanda ran right to Parvati and told her everything we were doing. This was a hard one!

Did you change your strategy at all this time around?
In this game, in the first day, coming up with a broken toe that wasn't just a broken bone in a toe, it was two broken bones in a toe and the toe we were taping it off to was also broken. So I had three broken bones in the first hour of the first day. I went into this game with the attitude that I would be the strong, quiet one. I was still the strong one, but I sure wasn't quiet. I was in so much pain that I had trouble sometimes keeping control of my emotions. When you see JT saying, "Rupert, you've got to calm down," I wanted to just grab him and shake him and say, "Yes, because you're not listening!"

How is your toe now?
At least I can stand on my tippy toes and not scream in pain.

Did you know your Heroes teammates before?
Very few of them. I'm a lot closer with some of the earlier Survivors. They knew of me and I knew of them, but as far as friendships, I didn't really have any.

As a fan, were you excited when you saw your team, about the prospect of being with anyone in particular?
It was more when I saw that Sandra and Boston Rob weren't on my team, I thought, "Oh no, those were the two that I thought I could actually count on." On my team, I didn't really have anybody that I could say, "Hey, you and I are going to be good together."

What one thing would you have done differently?
I would have pushed harder for my team to understand that Russell had to be a villain for a reason. If I had it to do over, I probably would not have gotten so close to Tyson and Boston Rob that they could have actually broken my toe and I would have played it a little stronger in trying to convince people because we had the chance time and time again to get rid of Parvati and Russell, but we kept messing it up.

Russell was definitely one of the biggest personalities...
He might be the evilest personality of the season. I'm the biggest personality! See, there you go -- you're a bunch of A-type personalities that when you throw us all in a challenge like this together, it's crazy what happens.

Did you trust Russell at all?
When the three girls took their loved ones on a reward, Russell was just sitting there fuming, so Colby and I figured that if we convinced Russell that the only way he would make it to the final three is with us -- because those girls had just shown him that they wouldn't take him. That was my whole strategy. I knew that I couldn't trust these people, but those were my only options.

How do you feel about how Russell played the game?
I've run a mentoring program in the detention centers for years -- check out rupertskids.org -- showing our guys that when you manipulate people, use and abuse people and look at people for what they can do for you, you are always going to be a loser whether you win the big prize or not.

If you could have made it to final three, who would you have taken?
I would have taken Colby and Amanda. I really liked that Amanda made it to final tribal council twice and Colby was one of my heroes from Australia. That would have been cool to sit with those two.

Who are you rooting for?
I would love to see Colby make it to the final three, but I don't think he's going to make it!

| Posted: May 14, 2010 |

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