'Survivor: Nicaragua''s Brenda Lowe: I Was Labeled a Threat
 Monty Brinton/ CBS |
Brenda Lowe, who appeared to be queen of the game on "Survivor: Nicaragua," got a big surprise when her tribe rebelled on Wednesday night's episode and ousted her.
ETonline: Thanks to Chase, you weren't blindsided, but do you think there was anything different you could have done to save yourself?
Brenda Lowe: Oh, my God. Where shall we start? In terms of the game overall, yes. Maybe I should have done another alliance instead of being so loyal to my one alliance. At that moment, I think I went with my best option. My best option was to go with the people who could understand why it was smart to keep me in the game. That was Chase and Sash. I wanted to show them I was loyal that these people are taking out your main alliance. That means they are targeting you and you will be next. They were the only people who could save me. Sash could have given me the Immunity Idol. At the moment, I think I did what was the best option: showing I was loyal to the last second.
ETonline: And yet, the fact that you voted for Marty last week instead of Jane let Holly use that as a way of showing people that you couldn't be trusted.
Brenda Lowe: I know. I wanted to keep Marty. There is a huge irony in that. Holly is playing her own game. I can't knock her down for that. She is trying to get to the end. It is frustrating because I wanted to keep Marty but we voted for Marty to show Holly and Jane they could trust us. To go the next week and have it backfire in our face, it was frustrating.
ETonline: You welcomed Jane when she first came to La Flor and she turned on you last night. Any regrets you didn't get rid of her earlier?
Brenda Lowe: Earlier? We had a plan in place. We thought we could trust Jane. Her obsession with Marty just got to my nerves. The nastiness came out. She was like Gollum in 'Lord of the Rings.' She started to become a nasty creature. I was, "Where did this come from?" I thought she was a cool lady I would go fishing with all the time. I think she started to realize I was getting close with Marty. It was her obsession with Marty … anybody who was talking with Marty needed to go. She started to hate me. She would pick flowers for all the girls -- we would be in a circle -- and give a flower to all the girls and skip me. She would do that as a daily ritual. The ongoing joke at camp was she would vote for Marty even though he was already gone just to make sure he wouldn't come back. That is how bad it was. What she said about his kids, attacking his fatherhood, was just disgusting. I am glad that they showed that to show the real Jane.
ETonline: Were you surprised that Sash didn't give you the Immunity Idol? At that point, he seemed to be so discombobulated that he seemed to think he was next.
Brenda Lowe: That is one angle. NaOnka was flipping sides. Why would he lose that? It is a big thing. He wasn't the target. The numbers weren't with him. Another thing that they didn't show, I had trusted NaOnka with my strategy. On the reward challenge where Sash went away with the guys, I said, "Naonka, I am not sure we can trust Sash. Depending on what he says when he gets back, we will know where he is at. Is he with us, or with all the guys? She said, "So you are ready to take out Sash?" I said, "Yes." She went and told Sash. So, Sash already knew that I was thinking of taking him out because I thought he was smart and strategic. With that said, why would he save somebody like that?
ETonline: What I don't understand is NaOnka stole food and admitted it and, with the exception of Fabio, no one seems to be upset about it.
Brenda Lowe: We were all upset. It was the first time in the game that I felt like I lost control. I was not happy with her at all. It is part of the game. Having someone like her is risky. She took a lot of attention off of me. From the beginning of the game, they labeled me the "threat." She took a lot of the heat and a lot of the attention. Our alliance was good enough, we are able to allow people to target her and we would target them and take them out. It worked perfect for me. That is why we allowed it. At the time, it made perfect sense.
ETonline: Is it easier to make strategy sitting home on the couch than actually being there?
Brenda Lowe: Yes, one of the things I made a mistake in was not getting closer to Holly and Jane. As nasty as Jane was -- it was easy to be repelled by her -- I should have just gotten over it. You have to suck it up and say: "Yes, what do you want to talk about today?" Even though you are: "You're crazy."
ETonline: Do you feel you were portrayed fairly?
Brenda Lowe: Yes, I think I was. I think people don't understand my frustration with Chase. Another thing was, obviously, the ending, which I hope I explained myself. Chase was annoying for me, because it was very sweet in the beginning, very cute, but the switch happened, and I talked to Marty. I listened. You know Marty, he talks a lot. Chase would start to get paranoid. He would sleep in a sandwich with Marty and Holly all night long. I never doubted him. I never said, "Why are you not sleeping with me anymore?" My one-second conversation with Marty, and he would be, "Well, Jane doesn't trust you with Marty." It became very annoying. I was so focused on what I was doing and I was very loyal to my alliance. Chase would come over and say, "Are you okay?" I was just trying to get information.
ETonline: Now that you're gone, who are you rooting for?
Brenda Lowe: I am rooting for a bunch of people. I am rooting for Sash, who was my partner, who I feel was intelligent. Everyone I am rooting for plays differently. Benry is a physical player, not afraid to be vocal, but he is thinking. He is into the game. The same for Fabio. He is underestimated, but he is a good, likeable guy. He can't help but tell you the truth to your face, even if you are going home. Chase is a sweetheart. As much as it boggles my mind how someone can go with their heart on "Survivor," it works for him and it is a strategy that he stuck with. Yes, he is wishy-washy, but there is a consistency in that he goes where his heart tells him to. It doesn't make sense to me, but he is there and I am not, so it works for him.
ETonline: Was your "Survivor" experience positive enough that you would want to do it again?
Brenda Lowe: Yes, please. That is what I would say.
"Survivor: Nicaragua" airs Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. on CBS.
