- In the latest Survivor SA twist, Amy was voted off the island after her destiny was tied to Renier.
- The ten castaways were paired up through a random draw; if one castaway won, their partner benefited, but if the castaway is voted out, their partner's torch was snuffed too.
- "They knew that writing Renier's name down was going to take me out," says Amy.
Corporate lawyer Amy Eliason (33) from Johannesburg had her "destiny tied" to the chemical engineer Renier Louwrens (30). When he was voted off in Survivor South Africa: Immunity Island on M-Net (DStv 101), it meant that she also had to go as they both became the next two members of the jury.
Do you think you got taken down as collateral damage by the tribemates not liking Renier, or do you think they liked you the least?
(Laughs) it's a good question – I think that at the end of the day, if people wanted me out, they would have voted for Renier, knowing that I would have gone out. So, you know, I can't say they loved me and wanted Renier out, and I was just collateral damage.
They knew – even though my name wasn't written down, they knew that writing Renier's name down was going to take me out. So they had to have been comfortable with both of those eventualities – Renier and I. So, was I collateral damage? In a way. Was it because Renier was more disliked than I was? I don't believe so.
When did you realise that it might be a problem and that you might be the two to leave – when you got chosen to enjoy the reward challenge, or only once you returned back to camp and felt the mood?
I mean, when we got chosen for reward, my first instinct was to be really excited and "oh yay, this is going to be so amazing". You can't help it; your instincts just kick in. And then, while we were sitting there, Renier and I had a little conversation. I think Renier said to me: "We are so screwed", and I was like ", You are so right".
So we had our suspicion, but I thought we had a game plan, we discussed what we were going to do and try and turn the tide, but when we returned to camp, it was ice-cold. You see it in the episode – nobody looked at us, spoke to us, offered us food. And while I was lying there, I thought: This is going to be almost impossible – they hate us.
When Renier spoke at tribal and suddenly pulled out a little bag and said he had immunity, how much of that were you privy to beforehand, or was it a surprise to you as well?
It was a surprise; it was a huge surprise. He hadn't told me he was going to do that. I had to try and keep a straight face and pretend that maybe I'm in on this with the whole situation, but it was so difficult. I was like: What is he doing?
All he said to me before tribal council was, "No matter what I do or say, vote for Tyson". So I didn't know what was coming up, I was just sitting there, knowing that he doesn't have an immunity idol; I didn't believe him either, but I must just let him do his thing, and he's obviously got a plan and if it works, great, but I'm voting for Tyson.
How did you feel when he walked up to Nico as if he had an immunity idol?
My heart – there was, because I thought, no he's completely bluffing, completely, this is a terrible lie – and then when he gets up to go to Nico – my heart nearly fell out of my body. I was so excited. I thought, "oh gosh; maybe he does have an idol! He's a genius!" Literally, it was such an awesome moment but then so disappointing. But also very funny.
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What was your overall strategy in the game to win, and how did it maybe change?
I went into Survivor, and I'm a corporate lawyer; I work in a very tough industry, a very dog-eat-dog industry, and I've always been underestimated. People see this young blonde thing, and they think she must be the secretary, or she must be the one bringing the coffee, and that's always where I've started from – the position of being underestimated and an undervalued status.
I thought, okay, let me use that to my advantage in the game, and it can take me very far in the game. So, I know I'm a very intelligent, capable person, but I'm not going to let them know that I'm that intelligent, capable person. So that was my strategy. I actually told everyone that I wasn't a lawyer, I lied about not being a lawyer, I said I was a PA. So that was part of my whole gameplay, to fly under the radar and I was very underestimated in the game by my fellow castaways.
Many of them only really appreciated my gameplay after – now that they're watching – they had no idea that I was doing so much in the background, especially those with whom I wasn't in an alliance with. I guess that towards the end, I had to play a bit harder. Once we had lost Marisha and were in the merge, flying under the radar wasn't going to work anymore, and I had to play a bit harder and be more active.
Ending second in a competition still means you've lost, so standing on the beams for over an hour and then literally falling out second to last basically cost you the game. Yet you did put in an hour and a half of effort and what you get is a leg cramp.
Obviously, looking back on it, it's devastating. Now that I know we're out, it's a case of if I had held on for ten more minutes – maybe even less – a gust of wind might have come and knocked her off, and that would have completely changed the course of the game. It's something that can drive you nuts to go through that regret and "I should have held on".
In the moment, I played as hard as I could. My body just gave in. At that point, I felt that we still had Anesu on our side and that she was going to swing to our side. So I felt, okay, it's devastating to lose the challenge, but even though we don't have immunity, we still have a chance in this game. Obviously, looking back it's, it's a different story.
Who do you think stabbed you in the back?
I think that's an easy answer, you can probably guess what my answer will be, but Santoni is a very complex character.
I actually have so much respect for her as a player because, look, where she's, got herself from being a complete underdog and outsider throughout the game; she's in an absolute power position. She held our fate in her hands. If Santoni wanted us to stay, we would have stayed; if Santoni wanted us to go – and she did – we would go, and we did.
It's very frustrating because we had a lot of ups and downs in our relationship. We went from being very close friends to being betrayed by her, to thinking she's back with me, to being betrayed by her again. So it's a complex relationship, but I have the utmost respect for her as a player. That's for sure.
Survivor SA: Immunity Island SA airs Thursdays at 19:30 on M-Net (DStv 101)
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