Survivor Student Tangled Up in Ivy

If you think Survivor's Brian has some stories to tell, be sure to read our Insider Q&A with The Apprentice's Kristi!

As if switching up the tribes wasn't enough, on last week's Survivor: Guatemala, Jeff Probst uncorked another twist: He declared it a double-elimination week and both tribes had to send a player packing. The Nakum tribe ejected Margaret Bobonich, hoping to stop the constant fighting between her and Judd, while the Yaxhas snuffed Brian Corridan's torch. Apparently the Yaxha crew thought the recent Columbia graduate who not only had book smarts but was also a student of all the past Survivors was the weakest link. TVGuide.com caught up with Brian while he was in New York, and after we giddily discussed the fact that he was an avid reader of this writer's column, we got down to the business of his ouster and some comments that Blake had made in his own Q&A.

TVGuide.com: You are my new favorite since you read my column! Anyway... every castoff I've interviewed this season has said that you know everything about Survivor!
Brian Corridan: I'm crazy, I'm nuts! About Survivor, I mean. I wanted to be on it so badly.

TVGuide.com: You must have deduced everybody's strategies?
Brian: Everyone was complaining that Steph and Bobby Jon had the advantage because they played the game before, but I was like, "No, we have the advantage because I know how they play." With Bobby Jon, what you see is what you get. It's not just this big game where he's pretending. Stephenie's tough, and I knew she was going to do what she needed to do. It was an advantage to us. They have nothing to hide we know what they've done.

TVGuide.com: So you thought you had a leg up?
Brian: I put my leg right up there I was like, "Let's go!"

TVGuide.com: I thought that you were completely responsible for getting Blake out, but he seems to think differently.
Brian: To be fair, he's totally right. I'll open up and admit to that. Gary and Amy had sold me out way before and I didn't know about it. Gary and Amy had gone to Danni and Bobby Jon and said, "Listen, if you get rid of Blake [on night 14], we'll give you Brian next time."

TVGuide.com: What? We didn't see that.
Brian: You didn't, because it wouldn't be as fun. It's more fun for me to bait Blake.

TVGuide.com: I love that game, by the way!
Brian: Thank you. Me, too. That was a good game, wasn't it? I could play that game all day! Regardless of whether I was the reason Blake was voted out, I did have a strategy and I did work it and play the game. He is correct that I wasn't the driving force, but I didn't know I was the driving force at the time. I was playing as hard as I could, because that's what you have to do if you're given this opportunity. You don't squander it. Do what you can to make sure you have some plan going on.

TVGuide.com: When did you come up with "Bait Blake"?
Brian: It was way too easy. When we first had the tribal swap and Bobby Jon, Danni, Blake and Brandon came over, I was like, "Danni and Blake look really close; I've seen them hugging and stuff. They're going to be tough ones to break up." Then you watch and see Blake tell a story and Danni doesn't respond, or looks away. That's where the weakness in their group is. You're watching this whole story about his girlfriend's big boobs or this time he was really drunk and you watch Danni's reaction and Bobby Jon's reaction and you're like, "Ooh, they don't like that at all." Thus, "Bait Blake" is born. You say: "Hey, Blake, what's your best drunk story?" "What's the craziest thing you've done with a girl?" [Sarcastically] "Ohh, that's great! Ha-ha."

TVGuide.com: Did we get to see the best story? The "double-D" one was good.
Brian: That was a pretty good one. I think you missed the one about how he fell out of bed one time and broke his arm and he walked into the stadium the next day for a game and all the dads in the stadium cheered him on, because they knew why his arm was broken and thought that was really cool. Gary was like, "Blake, I have three daughters. You don't tell me that story. That's not cool." Danni's an evangelical Christian, Bobby Jon's an evangelical Christian, you've got Brandon who may or may not be real religious.... I love, by the way, how Blake was like, "Oh, we were all talking about sex." [Laughs] Yeah, Danni and Bobby Jon were talking about sex all the time. Also Gary, and Brandon. What are you, crazy?! No, Blake and Amy were talking about sex all the time. Amy was very funny, but she was telling the stories in almost a self-deprecating way; Blake was not. To be fair to Blake, he's really articulate and intelligent, genuinely a nice person. On the show, you see me calling him an idiot, stupid and a moron, but he's none of those things. Although at the time, he was being stupid.

TVGuide.com: Were you on to Gary's whole line? I don't think he's a good liar.
Brian: It was like, "Gary, were you an ex-NFL quarterback?" He'd play dumb, saying, "Who, me?" No, that Gary, the one behind you. When Danni asked if he went to Central Michigan, he said, "Yeah, but I never played football." That's crazy talk! [Laughs] Gary, come on! When I was wrestling with Danni in the mud [Smiles] ah, good times she told me, "What's it like having a quarterback on your team?" I thought she was talking about Amy, who had played professional football. She went on to say she meant Gary  she knew which college he went to, she knew his stats, where he lived, where he was from. It was all too much of a coincidence for her to be making it up. I asked Gary if he was an NFL quarterback, and he denied it. We didn't really care. I totally understand why he lied, though.

TVGuide.com: Blake also mentioned that he defended you from some gay rumors. I didn't even hear those.
Brian: They didn't put them on. It's funny, that was such an unnecessary potshot from Blake. I don't exude masculinity and I am completely willing to admit that I have traits that are probably more associated with women than men  I talk with my hands, and quickly. Amy was the chief one saying, "You don't know it yet, but you're gay." I'm not confused; I know I don't like men. They're so quick to associate a lack of masculinity with homosexuality. Amy and I are much different people in that she's more masculine than I am. [Another] difference is that Amy's very crass, very rude at times. Brazen, aggressive, abrasive. [As a cop] she works with a lot of testosterone-driven people and my parents would always take us to theaters, and to the library to read books.

TVGuide.com: You're well rounded.
Brian: [Chuckles] Right. And that just gets confused for being gay. Blake knows I'm not gay. But thanks a lot, Blake!

TVGuide.com: I kind of got a straight vibe with your mud-wrestling comment about Danni.
Brian: [Smiles] Brooke was actually my favorite. She's exactly the kind of girl I could see myself with. She's intelligent, articulate and has a sense of humor. I really liked Brooke a lot. It's too bad we weren't on the same team, actually.

TVGuide.com: Since you are a fan, who's your favorite Survivor player of all time?
Brian: Oh, god. I really enjoyed Rob Cesterino [Survivor: The Amazon and All-Stars] playing the game, because he was like I was. He loved the show, got on the show and was like, "Let's play!" Unfortunately, I can't hold a candle to him in terms of how far I got.

TVGuide.com: Is there anything else you could have done to stick around longer?
Brian: No. They played better. Amy and Gary never let on that they had that agreement. They never let me know I was in danger. They kept leading me on, and that's what you need to do. They totally beat me. I never saw that coming, and that's great.

TVGuide.com: I have to ask: Bobby Jon, this nice guy, said all these nice things about you at tribal council. Is that genuine?
Brian: It is. "I'm a kamikaze, gonna bust a wedge?!"

TVGuide.com: Yeah, can you explain that to me?
Brian: I think he just meant that I went all out in the challenges. I was a kamikaze, gonna bust a wedge. What could you say? I think he's one of the most generous, honest, hardworking people I know. He's a great guy, and I have nothing bad to say about him at all.

TVGuide.com: Are you going to be neighbors and hang out like he suggested?
Brian: Maybe we'll "bust a wedge" together, see what we can do. Me and Bobby Jon. I'd love it, he's a good guy!

Now click here for our Insider Q&A with The Apprentice's Kristi!