Topic: YAU Man

[georgiapeach]

Nice exit interview! Lots of info re the challenges, Cirie, and strategy:

http://www.fansofrealitytv.com/forums/survivor-micronesia-fans-vs-favorites/72318-survivor-micronesia-interview-yau-man-i-don-t-read-people-very-well.html

Last week’s challenge looked rough, but it was more brutal than we realized. According to Yau-Man, it was originally supposed to be three rounds long, but when the first round had dragged on for forty minutes without a winner, the producers stopped the game and told them there would only be one determining round because the first round was turning out to be so difficult.

“It dumped heavy, heavy rain on us. You see the water is about one and a half feet deep, but what you don’t see is that under the water it’s not sand, it’s broken coral. So a couple of people who didn’t wear shoes were in trouble. When we were holding down the pillows, we were down on our knees – all our knees were cut up. It was brutal. I’m glad they changed the rules – everybody agreed, this round is it, because we were not going to last for three rounds. At one point someone tried to keep my head under water to drown me. I don’t know who it was, but Eliza would know because she started screaming, ‘They’re trying to drown the old man!’ They stopped the game and made the rule that you couldn’t hold someone underwater.”

[puddin]

Exclusive: Yau-Man Chan talks about 'Survivor: Micronesia' ouster

   
By Reality TV World staff, 02/25/2008

Previously defensively-minded Cirie Fields made the decision to suddenly go on the offensive during her second Survivor adventure, and Yau-Man Chan was her first target.

 
As a result, the 55-year-old computer engineer and former Survivor: Fiji contestant from Martinez, CA became the third castaway eliminated from Survivor: Micronesia -- Fans vs. Favorites during Thursday night's broadcast of the long-running CBS reality show's sixteenth season.

On Friday, Yau-Man talked to Reality TV World about why Cirie grew suspicious of him and organized the support for his ouster; how the romantic interests of a few of his fellow Favorites forced him into an alliance out of necessity; how he basically knew he was going to be booted prior to Tribal Council; and why he feels Jon "Jonny Fairplay" Dalton deciding to quit indirectly led to his own downfall.


Reality TV World:  Okay, I have to ask the obvious first question.  What was Cirie's issue with you?  Was she really just that paranoid that you'd find the idol if you got to Exile Island or had something else happened between the two of you?

Yau-Man:  Pretty much I was very surprised because I think she... I thought, first of all, we all know she was sort of the odd person out.  There were two four-person alliances going there, and I thought her game plan was to, "vote anybody but me" type of strategy...

Reality TV World:  Absolutely...

Yau-Man:  So I thought given the fact that the other four are two very tightly coupled couples, that her chances with us [Jonathan Penner, Eliza Orlins and Amy Cusack] would be much better.  With the other side being [Ozzy Lusth, Amanda Kimmel, Parvati Shallow and James Clement].

Reality TV World:  I would think from a strength -- a physical standpoint as well.

Yau-Man:  [Ya,] I thought it would be easy to bring her to our side.  But I think she felt that because Jonathan and I allied ourselves first and then brought her in -- she found out at that we brought her in [after that], and she didn't think that... She [thought] that we brought her in and now she's on the outer fringes of the alliance. 

Then -- actually, they didn't show it on the episode -- but I spent a lot of time talking to her one-to-one and said, "Cirie, we can play the same game.  You and I can play the same game as we did with me and [Earl Cole played] during the Fiji season where the two of us were allied, but nobody knew about it until very late.  If I go to Exile Island and find the idol, I'll share the use of it with you."

I did a lot to try and convince her, "Hey, I'm your friend.  We can actually go far together."  But I guess I never did.

Reality TV World:  Do you know why she seemed so sure you'd be the next Favorite to get to Exile Island? Had you guys drawn straws...

Yau-Man:  There wasn't drawing straws...

Reality TV World:  Was there some type of schedule set up?  She seemed pretty confident that the next time the Favorites got to choose who to send to Exile Island, you'd be the one to go.   

Yau-Man:  Right, I don't know why she was so sure.  Amy gave us the clues -- the first few clues -- to whoever goes next, [so] we can just switch it back and forth and just go to the fourth clue and keep going from that point on.

Reality TV World:  So is that why Amy was the only one to raise her hand after you guys won the third episode's Reward Challenge -- because the tribe had already agreed on who would get to go to Exile Island ahead of time?

Yau-Man:  Well, yeah.  Pretty much.  We were going to -- as much as possible -- take turns.  But I think that the thing was if we could not agree, we'd have to draw rocks.

Reality TV World:  But there wasn't any agreement you'd be the next one to go, correct?

Yau-Man:  There wasn't an agreement... I was trying to make an agreement with Cirie and say, "Look, if I ever make to Exile Island and find the idol, I'll share it with you.  And your chances are good with us -- with our alliance -- because the other four are all coupled together.  You're on the outside also."

Reality TV World:  I know you were basically "recruited" for Survivor: Fiji so I'm not sure how much Survivor you'd watched before then, but what has frequently happened to Survivor "fence-sitters" is two alliances team up and vote the fence-sitter out.  In fact, Eliza and Ami -- who were in opposite alliances at the time -- did exactly that to Dolly Neely way back in an early episode of Survivor: Vanuatu.  Why didn't that happen here?

Yau-Man:  We were not playing that.  I wish that had come up.  Our worry was -- and that's our downfall -- that our alliance was worrying too much about the tightly-coupled alliance, James and Parvati and Ozzy and Amanda.  We were determined to split them up.

Reality TV World:  So the two four-person alliances never discussed the possibility of both just voting for Cirie? 

Yau-Man:  No.  We weren't talking very much to the other alliance... We were quite determined to first get Cirie into our alliance and the other thing was to target Parvati to be voted out.  Either Parvati, or maybe even Amanda.  It's important to split up those two couples early.

Reality TV World:  So it was basically "Cirie or Bust" for you guys?

Yau-Man:  Yeah.

Reality TV World:  So you guys really hadn't given any thought to the idea that you could just vote Cirie out -- and for all you knew there might have been a tribal swap before your tribe ever even went back to Tribal Council again?

Yau-Man:  Yeah.  We never really -- we talked about that, but we never took it very seriously.  Never to where we would approach the other guys say 'Hey look..." We never took it to that level.

Reality TV World:  From what was shown on the show, it really Cirie seemed to have previously made a pretty clear choice to join your alliance with.  Was that just the editing or had your foursome really spent the first week on the island thinking you had a pretty solid five-person alliance with her?

Yau-Man:  We did.  But I guess Cirie, the more she thought about it, the more she felt like she's on the outside given the fact that Jonathan and I and Amy spend a lot more time together than with her.  She came in after Jonathan approached me to form an alliance, so from that point on... As soon as when we approached her, she already felt that she was an outcast right then.

Reality TV World:  But even with yourself and Jonathan, that still would have out her third in a five-person alliance.  What made her so convinced she was the fifth person?

Yau-Man:  I don't know.  I wish... When I get to talk to her again, I'd like to ask her that question (laughing).  "Why do you think somehow that Amy and Eliza, why would she consider us being so tight?"  At first, we could see she would have a much, much better chance with us than with those two couples.  We couldn't see why she couldn't see that.

Reality TV World:  So basically that first week, you guys thought everything was all set and suddenly on Day 9...

Yau-Man:  She changed.  She was very nice to me, we were doing things together and then I never thought that suddenly she'd have a change of mind -- a change of heart.  It started out with a big fight with Jonathan, and she kept bringing up all the things that Jonathan did in [Survivor: Cook Islands] and how he would flip back and forth and so on, and so she kind of kept carrying that idea forward and said, "Hey, you're going to do that here also and I don't want to get caught in that."

Reality TV World:  So it was really Jonathan more that she seemed to be focused on -- you and Jonathan specifically?

Yau-Man:  Right.

Reality TV World:  During Tribal Council, Cirie also made a big point of mentioning how she'd only be "the fifth member of a five person alliance" if she'd voted with your group.  Did anyone in your group ever turn around and point out that she would also seem to be in the same spot with the other foursome?

Yau-Man:  Yeah, in fact that was very early [before we even left for Tribal Council].  When we first figured out that she is not as tight with us as we thought she would be, that's the first thing that I pointed out to her.  I said, "If you go with those four, look at them.  They are very tight."

Reality TV World:  What was her response to that?

Yau-Man:  She then from that point on went around trying to convince Eliza to vote me and she went to Amy and so on.  She kept working on the other people.

Reality TV World:  So she started to pick-off pieces of your alliance then?

Yau-Man:  My hats off to her. From a defensive position, she took up to become an offensive position.  She then worked on our alliance to turn them against me. 

Reality TV World:  Do you have any explanation for how Cirie suddenly went from the passive, "I'll write anyone's name down as long as it's not my own" person we saw in Panama and during the first couple of Micronesia episodes to this incredibly forceful power player?

Yau-Man:  No.  That was a surprise.  I could kind of see the change in heart from the point she had the big argument with Jonathan and what his game plan is and so on.  It got more and more intense, and from that point on I think she was determined to break-up whatever Jonathan's alliance had.

Reality TV World:  You mean the Episode 3 argument that viewers saw taking place in the cave?

Yau-Man:  In the cave, and it actually went on for a long time.  It went on for a long time, and my name was brought up.  I was there most of the time, and from that point on I went, "Oh my God."  That was pretty much the turning point.

Reality TV World:  That was the argument that took place after you got back from losing the Immunity Challenge, right?

Yau-Man:  Right.

Reality TV World:  So I guess it's safe to say that by the time you left camp from Tribal Council, you were pretty much...

Yau-Man:  I was pretty much [expecting to be eliminated].  I thought I still had some hope.  In fact, before we went off for Tribal Council, I pulled [Cirie] aside one last time and we had lots of one-to-one conversation.  I gave her the last chance, I said, "Look, I will be with you.  I'll protect you.  You know that my word is good."  I did try to talk to her until the very end.

Reality TV World:  What was your original strategy going into the game?  I'm guessing the couples wasn't part of it.

Yau-Man:  No.  I was surprised the couples happened so early and they were so obvious so early.  I didn't think that was a good thing to do.  So our strategy was certainly break-up the couples.  But...

Reality TV World:  But before the couples happened, what was your plan?  Jeff Probst has mentioned how some of the Favorites began talking about alliances and strategies before they even knew that they'd be coming back for sure.  Had you had any of those types of talks?  If so, with whom?

Yau-Man:  It was difficult because I was the only one from Fiji.  And also Cirie was the only one from Panama.  So my assumption early was there were three from Cook Islands, two from China, two from Vanuatu.  So they would pretty much already have played with each other and they know each other, so I assumed that there's some kind of an informal, unspoken alliance.  Not only that... Cirie -- who has been on a season three years before -- she would have met with some of the other players like Amy, Eliza. I had only been off a season [one year ago]...

Reality TV World:  Yeah, you hadn't have as much time to run into them...

Yau-Man:  I was by myself out there, so my assumption was I had to work myself into some alliance.  I knew if I could get to the merge, I'd be okay, so I knew I was in trouble.

Reality TV World:  How tight was your alliance with Jonathan, Amy, and Eliza, really?  Because last night we saw Jonathan and Amy both talking like they were willing to switch to the other side, and then Amy and Eliza both failed to vote for Parvati at Tribal Council.

Yau-Man:  Ya, Amy came to me at the end and said, "Hey, in order for me to survive, I have to not vote Parvati.  So I can have the flexibility of telling them 'I was with you guys.  I didn't vote with them.'"  So I guess she through the vote in for Cirie instead, and I was surprised that Eliza and Jonathan -- Jonathan I thought was quite tight with me all the way.  Then Tribal Council, he pointed out why it was a silly thing to not keep me around.

Reality TV World:  Who do you think you would have ended up allying with if the couples hadn't formed their alliance?  Were Jonathan, Amy, and Eliza just an alliance of necessity or convenience?

Yau-Man:  They were an alliance of necessity.  Basically at that point I said I really had not made any friendships with any of these people going in, so I have to say whoever is willing to adopt me; I have to go along with them.  Plus, they're all strong players, so there's nothing to lose by aligning.  At some point, I probably should have gone up to Ozzy and so on just to make an alliance with them.  They were all coupled up.  It was really weird that they coupled up so early.

Reality TV World:  During his post-show interviews, Jonny Fairplay tried to pin a lot of the blame for his "non-quit" on that hit you gave him when you guys were scrambling for the initial idol. Do you believe that?

Yau-Man:  He wasn't hit that hard actually.  We were both diving for the idol, and I just got there first.  It really was an accident and I wasn't [meaning] to push his head into the boat like he's telling everybody.  I think he was just [finally] sober.  [After] many years, he was finally sober for a few weeks... and he finally realized it was a stupid idea to be on an island with a seven-month pregnant girlfriend.

Reality TV World:  Who do you think would have been voted off that night if Jonny hadn't quit?  Would it have been Eliza?

Yau-Man:  It probably would have been Parvati.

Reality TV World:  So you think you had Cirie at that point?

Yau-Man:  At that point, Cirie was with us on it.  See, at that point, until Jonny Fairplay came around and said, "Hey, I've had enough of this.  I'm really worried about my baby and so on," we had enough votes for Parvati and Cirie was with us.

Reality TV World:  Do you think Jonny's quitting is what ultimately set up the scenario that led to your own elimination?

Yau-Man:  Yes.  Definitely.  Also, what they showed a little bit, Jonny took individual people and walked down the beach talking with them.  I think in that episode they show him talking to Amy, but he did that with everybody and he disclosed everything we told him in confidence.  Basically, he's telling everybody what everybody else's strategies are.

Reality TV World:  During your first Tribal Council, you also made no secret that you were skeptical that Jonny's quitting talk wasn't just a "scheme."  Did you ever end up believing him?

Yau-Man:  Yeah, in the end.  Going into Tribal Council, I sort of mostly believed him.  But on the other hand, there's always that doubt that he was going to pull a fast one somehow.  But I couldn't figure out how he could pull anything at that time.  The other people in my tribe thought that he would pull a fast one by making an alliance with me, and in the end, I would give him my [Individual Immunity Idol] that I grabbed off the boat.  So as people had the doubt that, "Hey maybe at the very last moment Yau-Man will give him the idol so he gets to stay and whoever he votes for gets to get booted out."  So that was the worry on everybody's mind I guess.

Reality TV World:  Ozzy really seemed to go out of his way to try and deflect the vote away from you before your tribe went to Tribal Council.  Did you have some type of side-alliance with him?

Yau-Man:  No.  He later on... I think either before or after the Immunity Challenge, he sort of made a gesture that he would like for me to be a part of his alliance.  But I pretty much turned him down, my thought being, "If I'm in your alliance, you guys are four very tight people together.  I'm on the outer fringes."  Maybe I should have taken him up on that and made it to the merge with the five of us.

Reality TV World:  During Thursday night's Reward Challenge, the momentum really seemed to have swung the Fans' way until Erik Reichenbach kind of seemed to begin smacking some of the women around.  Was that some type of turning point for you guys?

Yau-Man:  It was a brutal challenge.  It went back and forth.

Reality TV World:  It really seemed to fire James up quite a bit, when Erik hit Eliza in the face and flipped Amanda over his head...

Yau-Man:  And not only that, what they didn't show is somebody tried to pull my head under the water at some point!

Reality TV World:  Who was that?

Yau-Man:  I don't know.  Eliza was the one who kept screaming, "They're trying to drown Yau-Man!"  I asked Eliza who it is trying to drown me and they stopped the game and changed the rule and said, "No sticking people's heads under the water."  (laughing)  That was a very brutal challenge.  What they didn't show of course is that the water is [only] like a foot-and-a-half deep -- but underneath is not sand -- it's like broken coral rock.  So it's sharp.  Most of us were wearing shoes, people who don't wear shoes would have gotten their feet cut up.  Any many of the times when we were holding the pillow, we were kneeling down, so our knees were all cut up.

Reality TV World:  Geez, that doesn't sound like too much fun.

Yau-Man:  Ya... and at first, it was supposed to be best two-out-of-three.  But the first round took so long they changed it and said, "Oh no, we'll just do it once" and everybody agreed.

Reality TV World:  Was life at the Favorites' camp really as easy as it looked during that first week?  Your tribe looked pretty comfortable out there.

Yau-Man:  I think with our experience, we were able to... Because we got on the beach and we were able to build a shelter quite soon.  Then we found a cave -- the infamous cave -- and so we were able to move into the cave and keep dry.  I mean the weather was horrible.

Reality TV World:  How much weight did you lose this time around?

Yau-Man:  This time around I only lost a couple of pounds.

Reality TV World:  Did you prepare any differently the second time around?

Yau-Man:  Not that much.  I did manage -- because I had more advance notice -- I did try to start eating a little bit more.  But I don't have a big appetite, so it's tough for me.

Reality TV World: Have you kept in touch with Andria "Dreamz" Herd since Survivor Fiji's reunion show?

Yau-Man:  I tried to send him email and so on and I haven't heard from him so...

Reality TV World:  So what's next for you, back to work at your university job?

Yau-Man:  Yeah, same old thing.  I cannot afford to retire early, so I'll be a good employee for another few years until I retire.

http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/exclusive-yau-man-chan-talks-about-survivor-micronesia-6591.php

[Texan]

good article.

[puddin]

Survivor: Micronesia Interview - Yau-Man
Once again, Yau's considered too good of a guy to keep around.
by Christine Seghers
 February 26, 2008 - When it was announced that CBS would be bringing back some of the game's favorites to play against a team of fans, the first name that sprang to many minds was Yau-Man Chan, the wily computer expert from Martinez, California. Whether he was using his physics know-how to open supplies and hurl spears, fashioning and planting a fake Immunity Idol or bartering a brand-new truck for an empty promise, Yau-Man captivated Survivor fans with his intelligence and his integrity. Perhaps his smartest move in Fiji was listening between-the-lines to his tribe's answers during a pivotal Tribal Council. His last minute decision to play his Immunity Idol that night saved him from eviction. Later, he showed his maturity and graciousness when, as a jury member, he forgave Dreamz for breaking his word (and essentially stealing his truck).

Yau-man's major handicap in Fiji turned out to be his undoing in Micronesia: he's likeable and the worthiest of opponents -- and that makes it dangerous to keep him around for the Final Vote. Still, it was stunning to watch Yau's second chance at the million-dollar prize end in only the season's third episode. All signs pointed to either Parvati or Eliza being sent home depending on which alliance swing-vote Cirie chose to join. Seemingly nobody else wanted him gone this early, but when Cirie steadfastly refused to vote for anybody else, Ozzy and James eventually bent to her will. While I still haven't completely embraced the "Survivor Fantasy Camp" concept, I've had to admit that this has been the least-predictable start to a season we've ever seen. Unfortunately, this week that meant a truncated return for one of our favorite "favorites."

I recently spoke to Yau-Man about his approach to returning to Survivor as a major target and how it all went wrong.


IGN TV: What was your reaction to being asked back to the show?

Yau-Man: Well, I was very surprised, it's so soon -- because it was just a year after my Fiji season but, on the other hand, you know, I thought that if they ever have an All-Star, I thought that I would probably be asked back, but I didn't expect it to be so soon. And definitely I would say yes, I said if they ask me back I'm certainly going to give you another try since I was so close the first time but I was disappointed, definitely, that I didn't go any further.

IGN TV: Last time you had to prove yourself to stick around. How was it different coming back as a favorite?

Yau-Man: Well, coming back as a favorite, I know going in there I have a big target on my back. I thought that, you know, I can no longer play my "feeble old man, under the radar, to get to the merge." I know everybody will be gunning for me so, you know, I thought that I have to step it up in terms of the social game and I guess I missed on that in that I didn't get to know Cirie well enough to figure out what a power player she can be.

IGN TV: Were the conditions easier than in Fiji? I know your tribe really suffered when you were there.

Yau-Man: Yeah, well, in a way it was easier in that there were a lot more fish to catch -- there were no sea snakes, so we can do swimming a lot, we can do fishing a lot, which we could not do in Fiji because of the sea snakes. However, the weather was horrible this time. I mean, you've seen every episode the rain just comes down in buckets so we got dumped on by downpours after downpours and so everything was wet, wet, wet. It was pretty horrible. And also, all the challenges were a lot more physical too.

IGN TV: How solid was your alliance with Jonathan, Ami and Eliza and how quickly did that form?

Yau-Man: That did not form that easily. Jonathan was the first one to approach me and I was glad he did because I didn't know where I'll fit in and Jonathan, being an older person and a married man with kids and so on, I thought, you know, we have enough in common, and so we formed an alliance and then Ami and Eliza came up to us at some point while we're building the shelter to see if we can form an alliance. And I guess what we forgot was to include Cirie in this whole scheme and so when we needed the numbers and wanted her to be part of it, she felt that, you know, we wanted her just for the numbers and she thought that Jonathan and I are too close an alliance. And also, she remembered all the nasty things that Jonathan did during his season and she counted it out for him, laid it out on the line and had a big fight over it, and then I knew I was in trouble [Laughs]!

IGN TV: What was your reaction to Jonny Fairplay quitting so quickly?

Yau-Man: Well, it took a while for us to believe him, right? I mean when he first brought that up we were totally surprised and said, "Aw, no, he's up to something." And so after talking to him for a day or so we started to believe him and say, "Maybe he's for real." And certainly, I mean, like Jonathan and I said if our wives were seven months pregnant, we would not be here, right? And why are you here? And so I guess maybe he's sober for a change [Laughs] and got to think about his circumstances and so on. But the funny thing is that at that time I had the Immunity Idol from out-racing him to the boat, right? And so other people must've thought that it's some scheme of his that involves me, right? Somehow, everybody vote for him and then at the end I will give him the Idol so whoever he votes for gets voted out. So people were suspecting that somehow, I'm in it with him or something like that!

IGN TV: It was strange to have an Exile Island without seeing you on it. Was it the plan to have you go next?

Yau-Man: No, everybody wanted to go, you know, from the Favorite tribe. Every time we win and get to choose one of our own everybody wants to go so we've been drawing, you know, rocks -- colored rocks, to see who gets to go. So it's by luck and I was hoping I'd get to go but I'd never got around to it.

IGN TV: Cirie seemed terrified that you'd get the Idol.

Yau-Man: Yeah, and I was surprised that she made such a big deal out of that. What they didn't show is right after her big argument with Jonathan, and I begin to feel like, oh my goodness, I should have read up on her on her a little bit more, I should have approached her earlier, all the things I should have done more with her, but it's not too late, I can talk to her. So I talked to her quite a few times on a one-to-one, where I tried to convince her that, look, I am a perfect ally for you. We can play the same game I did with Earl in my season, in Fiji, where he and I were hidden allies, you know, nobody knew that we were together. And not only that, if I go to Exile Island and find the hidden Immunity Idol I'll share it with you, like I shared the use of it with Earl. But I guess I wasn't able to convince her.

IGN TV: Did you know you were likely to be voted out that night?

Yau-Man: By the time we were about to go to Tribal Council, I pretty much knew that, you know, I had not made headways in convincing Cirie to join us. But I didn't realize how far she got to convincing other people to target me. Because all along our target was Parvati, because of her, you know, getting romantic with James, and then with Ozzy getting romantic with Amanda and we thought that the obvious target is to split up the couples. But then when we were unable to get [Cirie] into our alliance and she start turning, I did not know how far she went but I had a sneaking suspicion that, yes, she probably were able to convince enough people to go her way.

IGN TV: Eliza wound up voting for you and Ami voted for Cirie. Do you think Jonathan can recover from the alliance imploding?

Yau-Man: I don't know. I was very surprised to see Eliza voting for me, I thought I had Eliza on our side and Ami actually told me that she thinks that it's a lost cause and that she wants to make sure that she can stay longer by not voting with us, but she don't want to vote for me either and so that's why she voted for Cirie. So, you know, she wants to be able to let the other side know that, "No, look, I didn't vote for Parvati," and so I understood why she did that. I was definitely very surprised that Eliza voted for me.

IGN TV: What's the reaction that you get from fans when they see you?

Yau-Man: Well, I guess they still like me [Laughs] and so I get stopped in the street and I have people saying hello to me, people I didn't know. It's still a very strange feeling. I'm getting a little more used to that now, after a year or so.




Yau-Man: I've been asked to do some public speaking, especially to libraries and community events. They just want to know my experience and they want to get the behind-the-scenes look at Survivor and reality shows, you know, how it's actually done and so on. Most people are surprised when I tell them, yes, it's real, they don't feed us if we don't win any rewards, you know, they don't even give us a bottle of water after a challenge that takes two and a half hours to do in hundred and four degree weather! So, people are interested in those, you know, behind-the-scenes things.

IGN TV: Given the way it all turned out, are you glad you came back?

Yau-Man: Oh yes, I definitely am. When asked to do it again, I had no hesitation, I wanted to do it, you know, to get another chance. But, I was really hoping that I would go further.


http://tv.ign.com/articles/854/854944p2.html

[puddin]

Survivor: Micronesia's Nice Guy Finishes Early
By NINA HÄMMERLING SMITH
TV GUIDE

Yau-Man Chan became the second favorite sent home on last week's Survivor: Micronesia — Fans vs. Favorites (Thursdays at 8 pm/ET, CBS) following a power play by alliance-hopping Cirie. Gracious and kind-spirited to the end, the 55-year-old chief technology officer for the University of California, Berkeley's College of Chemistry talked about the favorites' overconfidence, his run-in with Jonny Fairplay and Dreamz's broken promise back in Fiji.
TVGuide.com: First off, I have to admit I'm really disappointed — you were my favorite of the favorites!
Yau-Man Chan: Thank you. I was more disappointed to have to leave the show so early!

TVGuide.com: Why do you think Cirie was so determined to get you out?
Yau-Man: She had a change of mind. I thought we had an alliance going, and suddenly she went from a completely defensive position to offensive. She was the odd person out, caught between the two alliances [Yau-Man, Jonathan, Ami and Eliza vs. James, Parvati, Ozzy and Amanda], and we thought we had her. Not only did she not vote our way, she got her way and convinced people to vote me out. I did a lot to try to convince her, telling her that I could be an asset to her — I said I was willing to share the immunity idol with her if I found it. She probably thought that she and I were playing the same kind of game, not very physical. She felt sort of left out, like an afterthought to our alliance. But I thought that once we had her in, I could work with her very well.

TVGuide.com: Do you think that aligning yourself with Jonathan put a target on you?
Yau-Man: I didn't until that morning in the cave when Cirie and Jonathan had it out; that was when I realized, "Uh-oh, this is not working out." Cirie dragged out every dirty deed that Jonathan ever did in his Cook Islands series. I knew some of it, but during Cook Islands, most of the time I was out filming Fiji. I came back for the last two episodes, so I didn't know all the things she was accusing Jonathan of doing.

TVGuide.com: Was it a mistake for Malakal to vote you out so soon? You proved on Fiji that you're awesome during challenges.
Yau-Man: That's what I tried to convince Cirie, that I can be an asset. If you look at the coconut-toss challenge, I tossed in most of the coconuts! But she wouldn't budge. She felt that I was a threat, that my alliance with Jonathan was way too strong and she would always be an outsider.

TVGuide.com: What did you think of the romances between Ozzy and Amanda and between James and Parvati?
Yau-Man: I was very surprised that it took place so early and that they were so blatant about it. People who are coupled up in this game are dangerous. That was very weird. I thought it would be easy to vote one of them [Parvati or Amanda] out now and another the next time. When Jonny left, it was Parvati we were supposed to vote out.... She escaped that vote because Jonny decided to not want to play anymore.

TVGuide.com: Speaking of Jonny, he said that you bashed his face into the side of the boat to get the immunity idol in the first episode. Were you going for blood?
Yau-Man: It was totally, totally an accident! I don't think I even knocked him that hard. We were both diving for the idol. I really didn't knock him on the head.

TVGuide.com: Who do you see going far among the favorites?
Yau-Man: I would like to see Jonathan go far, and I got to like Ami, who's quite a nice person. And Ozzy is very nice — the guy is definitely very athletic. He's a fish! He moves as well in water as on land. During the challenges, I'm cheering for him.

TVGuide.com: What do you think of the fans? They seem pretty evenly matched to the favorites.
Yau-Man: I was very surprised that they did so well. The favorites were a little bit overconfident; we did very well in setting up our camp and finding food; we were living it up, but in the challenges we were too cocky.

TVGuide.com: How hard was Micronesia compared to Fiji?
Yau-Man: Mentally it was easier, because I was much more prepared for the hardship and everything that goes along with it. But physically it was harder, because the weather was horrible — the rain dumped on us every day, and everything was wet all the time. But we didn't have the snakes we had in Fiji!

TVGuide.com: I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you about Dreamz's broken oath to you on Fiji. You've always been very forgiving about that situation, but doesn't it still infuriate you?
Yau-Man: Well, no, I've gotten over that. I've tried to contact him; he has not contacted me back. I understand that he comes from a different life background than I and we have different worldviews on these things. [Laughs] I wish he had kept his promise, but he didn't, so what can I do?

TVGuide.com: I mean, it cost you not only a truck but, in all likelihood, a million dollars.
Yau-Man: It probably did.

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