Lumberjill Is First Axed on Survivor

Tina Scheer may have learned to logroll when she was 7, but nothing prepared her for being thrown the way she was by the very first tribal council for Survivor: Panama  Exile Island (Thursdays at 8 pm/ET on CBS). The day after her torch was shockingly snuffed, TVGuide.com invited the logging sports promoter to get her cuts in.

TVGuide.com: First of all, is the term really "lumberjill"?
Tina Scheer: Lumberjill! One word, just like lumberjack.

TVGuide.com: It's nice that somebody at some time decided to come up with that.
Tina: [Laughs] It's better than being a lumberjackess!

TVGuide.com: Your talents sure seemed to come in handy. The older-women's shelter was the best of the four.
Tina: It appeared so! The younger-men's shelter "lacked a little." For one, it lacked a roof, and how can you call it a shelter when there's no roof on it? But ours was good, and I was happy with the way things were going in our camp  we got the fire started right away, we got water right away, we built a shelter and we had some food!

TVGuide.com: Did you think your hearty disposition would let you last at least a few rounds longer?
Tina: Well I was hopeful that that would happen, but going into it and not knowing the twists they were going do... putting me with three women alone was to my disadvantage, I believe.

TVGuide.com: I can't believe that leaf-fearing Cirie squeaked by. You rounded up a damn fish, for heaven's sake!
Tina: There's just no rhyme or reason to it. The girls felt threatened, and in their minds, they decided, "Get rid of the threat." I am sure they were confident they were going to die out there with me, so they figured their odds of getting a million dollars were better without me than with me. Good for them, I spite them not.

TVGuide.com: You expressed what all of us were thinking when you said, "Did anyone tell Cirie what show she was going on?"
Tina: Can you believe I said that?! [Laughs] It just made no sense to me. We're going to be in the wilderness how can you not like leaves?

TVGuide.com: She may not be the biggest Survivor follower, but were you?
Tina: You know what? I'm not the biggest, no, but I've always enjoyed it. There are certain times I've watched all the shows, and others when I've only caught little pieces of it. But I like it a lot.

TVGuide.com: What did you think of the "Exile Island" twist?
Tina: I thought it was brilliant. I'm glad I didn't have to go there, because I would have hated it. I know I would have hated it.

TVGuide.com: I'm sorry about the loss of your 16-year-old son, Charlie, which was mentioned during the episode....
Tina: I appreciate that.

TVGuide.com: Was doing Survivor some part of a grieving process for you? Did you want Charlie to look down and see his mom doing something really cool? Were you trying to take your mind off it all?
Tina: I don't know. Of course I think he would have thought it was good and he would have wanted me to do it, but it was more of, "What am I going to do with myself? What am I going to do?" To have an opportunity like that when you have an empty house  he was my only child  was better than sitting home alone. It was an opportunity that we had started together [Charlie died a week before Tina was to leave for Survivor: Guatemala; CBS invited her to defer and do Panama, instead] and I just needed to finish it.

TVGuide.com: There's something poetic about leaving his name scrawled in sand some place tranquil and beautiful.
Tina: Oh, man, that just happened. Here I am walking in the sand, and you always write things in the sand, and that was the only thing I could think of. He was born on St. Patrick's Day, hence the little shamrock.... I just felt like doing that.

TVGuide.com: As short a stay as yours was, did you have fun on Survivor?
Tina: [Pauses] Yes.

TVGuide.com: "She said after a prolonged pause."
Tina: [Laughs] It's like, "Fun?!" Have you ever gone on vacation with 15 people who didn't want you there? OK, it was three people who didn't want me there. It was "interesting" and it was a good experience, but fun, to me, is going on the road with the [World Champion] Lumberjills [traveling show] and chopping and sawing. Fun is being with friends, where you're not at risk every moment of no longer being there.