Survivor Pyro Snuffed Out
by Angel Cohn
Rory
Survivor: Vanuatu castoff Rory Freeman apparently took the show's "Islands of Fire" theme a bit too seriously. When the female-dominated Yasur tribe refused to give him a fair shake, the 35-year-old Iowan raged and threatened to wreck the camp! Here, the wannabe fire-starter tells TV Guide Online it could've been quite the pyrotechnic show if his flame weren't extinguished in a merge that gave the women in the newly formed Alinta tribe a big edge. The outspoken guy also predicts that the days are numbered for Vanuatu's remaining men — Chad, Chris and Sarge — and explains why he couldn't stand Ami.
TV Guide Online: You spent time in both Lopevi and Yasur. Did you get along with any of your tribe mates?
Rory Freeman: Bubba's my favorite. He and I are extremely tight. We hope to keep in touch and we look forward to our families meeting and things like that.
TVGO: I'm guessing you won't be best pals with Ami.
Rory: I'm not going to become best friends with [former Lopevi tribe mate] Brady, and Ami would run a close second. Any time you have a lot of independent people and strong Type A personalities, you are always going to have a conflict. I frankly just didn't like the way that Ami treated me. No pity. She didn't even try and cut me any slack.
TVGO: You threatened to make the Yasur girls pay if they planned on voting you off. What exactly were you going to do?
Rory: I was going to go over, put the largest log into the fire and burn the whole hut down.
TVGO: Really?
Rory: I can be a calm person, but [I kept] getting told, "No, we're not going to help you." And then just dealing with Ami's attitude anyway, it gets to the point where [I thought]: "Fine, if I go, I'm going to burn a bunch of stuff down." I was planning on doing a couple of different things: One, I was going to steal the flint and steal the machete. And two, I was going to burn down the lean-to. But the day that I planned on doing it, we won the Home Cafe [reward challenge]. The next day was the slingshot and I won that challenge, and then after that we merged, so I never had the opportunity. Believe me, all I needed was 10 minutes.
TVGO: Surprised by the harsh comments people made about you?
Rory: No, because when I was with Lopevi, I ran into Brady and J.P. having a conversation about the fact I was going to be voted off at the first opportunity that they had. I was a little astounded to find out that I was "annoying." That is not what my intention was, but the fact of the matter is that I had an X on my head from the first day. And I certainly know that you expected me out a lot sooner.
TVGO: You're right, I did! But when you survived several weeks in Yasur's camp, I started to think you had a chance.
Rory: I know. I got off to a rocky start. But not a lot of people can break up a group of five women. That was a lot of work. I thought all the work and the effort would have come down to a better shake in the game, but it was just the numbers. The guys had the opportunity to change that up last week. Instead of voting off Julie or Twila, they voted John Kenney off. When I got over there to the new tribe, I talked to them and [the guys] are all wishy-washy — "We really like Julie and Twila and they are voting for us." I'm thinking, "What are you talking about? Every woman over in Yasur knows that Julie and Twila are playing you guys. The only people that don't know that, apparently, is the three of you." The part that I disliked the most [about being voted off] was that it was not out of something that I did. I had plenty of people p----d off enough times to vote me off, but I still managed to get through all of that. Then it comes down to a numbers thing based on men versus women. I am a little salty about that.
TVGO: I can tell. You called yourself the victim of a gender war. Why you instead of one of the other guys?
Rory: From what it appears to me, they thought I was a physical threat in the challenges.
TVGO: They may have a point. You almost won the individual immunity challenge.
Rory: I ran out of gas. It was the back-to-back part that killed me. I got two-thirds of the way through the second heat and I was climbing up the ladder and I didn't have anything left. But I still beat Ami. [Laughs
http://www.tvguide.com/news/insider/041110b.asp
