Survivor Live Internet Talk Show with Cirie Fields and Terry Dietz

Segment 1 Transcript

(Transcript by SurvivorFever.net 5.16.06)

About Survivor Live:  Every Friday join hosts Jenna Morasca and Dalton Ross for an exclusive interview with the Survivor voted off each week, fan phone calls and in-studio guests.   Visit the official CBS website to hear live interviews with past Survivor: Panama - Exile Island cast-offs

JM = Jenna Morasca    DR = Dalton Ross 

Segment 2>>

Segment 1

DR:  Let's start it out with Terry and Cirie.  What's up guys?  Welcome, number 3 and number 4.

JM:  Two of the more popular contestants ever.

DR:  I'd say the most, judging by reactions that I was getting from people and obviously in the house last night.

JM:  Lots of cheers.

DR:  Lotta fans, huh?  Let's talk about the big finale and what we saw.  You and Aras had this huge rivalry, Terry.  You sort of mend fences a little bit.   Tell me what that process was like?

Terry:   First of all, last night was a blast.  It was so much fun.  The rivalry between Aras and I, a normal competitive rivalry at first.  Then it got a little personal after the family visit thing.  There were some things said and some misunderstandings.  In the long run, America likes a fight and America likes a makeup.  We were both man enough to sit back and listen to what each other had to say.  We didn't have this problem until that point.  We both came to an understanding.  He's a great guy.  A really good competitor.  You can't make a mistake against the guy.  What Danielle was saying in the final episode, she was kind of narrating, it wasn't like that at all.  We really came to a meeting there and it was good.

DR:  Cirie, obviously you guys had some moments with the whole torch dropping thing and stuff.  When did that get cleared up?  Obviously you guys have mended some fences.

Cirie:   We have.  In the game emotions are high.  I kinda felt like Terry was a little bit upset when we got rid of Shane.  Stress levels were high and we had our little thing but then we talked.  And it's all in the game.  I think Terry is great now.

Terry:  She's a beautiful lady.

JM:  Everyone was getting on everyone's nerves.

Terry:  Exactly and I should have kept my mouth shut.  Just picked up the torch and whatever.  It didn't happen.  It just came out.  It's funny because the first time I saw the Casaya members talking about it was in the tape and they go, "He's just mad because we voted off Shane."   You know what, she was spot on.  And I was and it got out of hand.  That was a bummer.  It was almost like a family fight.  Then we cleared it up.

DR:  Last night we had the Finale and then the Reunion and then the GMC Back Exile Yukon after party and all this stuff.  It's funny because of the final four, you two seem to be having the best time out there.  Aras felt some relief and Danielle...it's very hard to come in second, you're that close.  You guys look like you were just having a great time.

Cirie:  I was having a blast.

JM:  Also kind of the way you came out.  You [Cirie] didn't really get voted out, you lost the fire challenge fair and square.  And you [Terry] knew you were a competitor and were supposed to get voted out the entire time.  You lasted as long as you could and it was your time to go.  It's not so bad to go out in the game the way you guys went out.

Cirie:  Right, I was content.

DR:  Let's take a look at that fire challenge.  Cirie had that fire going, we thought she was good.

<video of fire challenge>

DR:  I've never found the fire making challenge to be exciting at all.   We saw Bobby Jon and Stephenie.   This one was really tense.   If you could hear people in the audience watching it.  Your fire was up, everybody was cheering, Danielle's was up, her fans were cheering.   It was crazy.  Were you sneaking a peek over at hers while you were doing yours?

Cirie:  I was because I had only made fire one other time.  I could hear Jeff.  Jeff kind of makes me crazy.  I'm not good under pressure and Jeff's saying, "Danielle's fire is getting bigger. Cirie needs to hurry up."  So I want to see what she's doing.  Why is her fire bigger than mine.  And you know, hey, I tried, couldn't get it.

DR:  I think it was a very admirable effort.

Caller:  First I want to say that the two most deserving people to win Survivor are sitting on there right now.

Cirie:  Awww, thank you.

Terry:  Alright!

Caller:  Cirie, you almost had no chance from the very beginning.  You played the game so well but at the beginning did you think for just one moment that you would ever make it that far?

Cirie:  Oh, no.  Before I even got to the island I thought maybe I'd last about six days.  And at one point, once Tina went home, I was kind of hoping they would vote me out.  It was just too miserable.  I hadn't been there that long.  I hadn't gotten the desire to want to stay yet.  So I was hoping, Shane said I was next, I'm just waiting.  Then after being there for like 15 days then I didn't want to go.  I could never anticipate staying there for as long as I did.

Caller:  Terry did you honestly believe Danielle was going to take you to the final two after she had betrayed you so many times?

Terry:  If one of us had won the I-4 Challenge, if I had won it, I would have given her the hidden immunity idol and we would have been kind of indebted to one another at that point.  And yeah, I think she would have taken me.  She had given me her word and I believed it. What happened was, near the end, I knew we had a little pact on Exile Island but then she also had a pact with Aras.  Both of those seemed to me to have went away, from watching the tape.  She went off and she made her own decision.  At that point it just came down to who she thought she had the better chance of winning.  Personally, I think she made the right decision. 

JM:  She said to you that if you would have given her the idol she would have taken you.  Maybe that played a little bit in her decision.

Terry:  I didn't vote off anybody that was on the jury.

JM:  Also, Aras was kind of threatening her.

Terry:  It's one of the the things about this whole Casaya thing.  They had this tight relationship. It was this brother/sister thing where he could get in her face and say how disappointed he was.  I, on the other hand, did not have that type of relationship where they wouldn't let me in there.  So I didn't have that relationship.  So I had to use a different approach.  I could just piss her off and she'd be spiteful, "I'm not taking you."  I used the like, more mature type approach.  People on the jury would not have animosity towards their old Casayamate.  That type of maturity thing, not because I'm older.

DR:  Once she takes out the pen and paper and starts jotting down votes, that's going to make her decision.

Caller:  Congrats for making the top four.  Cirie, they seemed to find you the mother of that whole tribe.  If you had been voted out early do you think that tribe would have literally gone all to pieces.  And, Terry, if La Mina had stayed whole through the entire thing, would you be like considered the father of the tribe if you had merged with more La Mina than Casaya. 

Cirie:  I don't know.  I think they would have been great without me.

DR:  You were staying out of the way for awhile.  You had to let them act dysfunctional so you could get in there.

Cirie:  I don't know if they would have stayed together if I wasn't there because they hated each other.  I was somewhat like a mediator.  When Aras would tell me things about Courtney I would...especially one time he got really angry at Courtney. I kind of told him, just take a walk. 

Terry:  The whole leadership role on the La Mina tribe when I first got there...they were calling me Poppa La Mina and Poppy and all this stuff.  I personally wanted to direct a lot of that leadership stuff towards Dan the astronaut.  And then for me to kind of do what Aras did, kind of take a role in the challenges.   I didn't necessarily want to step up and become a leader.  It kind of ended up that way.  At the merge I probably still would have tried to keep Dan up there as the leader and elder in the tribe.

DR:  I imagine the hardest part of the game for you was getting rid of Dan.

Terry:  That was bad.  That was extremely difficult. 

Caller:  Congratulations for an entertaining season.  My dad was rooting for you because he was class of '79 and you guys went to the same flight school.  My question is, what was not shown on TV that really contributed to Aras winning the game?

Cirie:  I think a lot of what Aras did for other people out there wasn't shown.  At one point we hadn't had fire for like 3 or 4 days.  We didn't have any water.  Aras came to me and Melinda and said, "Guys, we can get water off these leaves.  We can lick these leaves."  He did that type of stuff all the time.  He would get these cactus plant things and cut them up like watermelons and like basically force you to eat them.  He took care of everybody.  I don't think he did it for jury votes.  I think he did it because he cares about people.  And that's why he's a millionaire right now.

Terry:  I think from the I-9 challenge in one of the things that was brought up that I saw that you didn't see so much of was, Aras became the target of the hidden immunity idol.  Anytime we could get somebody to flop, he was going.  It was no longer Shane.  We realized who we needed to get rid of from the Casaya side.  There was a lot of under...backyard deals or back room deals going on.  Cirie instigating a lot of them to my detriment.  And I loved watching her play it.  Sometimes you didn't see that stuff because he continued to get saved or the alliance we were trying to make to get somebody to flop would go away.  Aras was saved and not enough people recognized that but he was under stress at every Immunity Challenge.  He would voice that sometimes.  But he was the guy we were going for.  They came through somehow and messed up the alliances that we were trying to make and it worked. 

DR:  You saw that look of satisfaction on his face at each tribal council when asked "is anyone using the hidden immunity?"   We've got to take a a quick break. 

Segment 2>>

About Survivor Live:  Every Friday join hosts Jenna Morasca and Dalton Ross for an exclusive interview with the Survivor voted off each week, fan phone calls and in-studio guests.   Visit the official CBS website to hear live interviews with past Survivor: Panama - Exile Island cast-offs

JM = Jenna Morasca     DR = Dalton Ross   

Segment 1>>     

Segment 2:

Probst's thoughts (Cirie):  Cirie knows this because I've already told her this.  She's one of my favorite people to ever play the game.  When I first met Cirie she was doing this and jumping up and down in the casting room and "I can't believe I'm here, oh my gosh."  She kept doing it and we finally said, "Cirie if this is an act, stop."  She said, "It's not an act, I'm really excited."  We all sat there and kind of looked around and said, "We've got to put her on the show. But you're never going to make it".  The fact that Cirie got up off the couch and said, "I want to try this",  is what made her so inspiring.  Watch out for Cirie because she aint no pushover.

DR:  Gotta like what you hear from Jeff Probst?

Cirie:  I do.  I like Jeff.  Jeff has said so many great things about me that he didn't have to say but I loved him before that anyway. 

JM:  You said you felt like Survivor really did change your life.  Maybe more than most people that go on the show.

Cirie:  It did because I used to be afraid of failing, afraid of being embarrassed.  I was safe at home on the couch.  I would go to work, I would come home.  America has seen all my flaws.  There's nothing left to hide.  There's nothing left to be embarrassed about.  I'm still in awe of how far I made it.  I just think back, what if I didn't try.  I wasted so much time.  I feel like I don't ever want to waste another minute of a day not doing something or getting further or pushing myself.  Because look what happened the first time I tried.

DR:  Jeff Probst did have some nice things to say about you but someone else [Jenna Morasca] has had some not so nice things to say about Terry Deitz!  All season long.  Mr. Deitz, Tom Westman got this similar treatment during Palau.  Did he give you any tips or pointers for dealing with Miss Morasca?

JM:  Tom Westman didn't take it nearly as well as Terry is taking it.

DR:  What are you thinking?  You're hearing things, you're seeing Morasca.

Terry:  I do have something for you.  The first thing is for Dalton, it's from my son's baseball team.  This is the famous managerial hat, from the second episode.  I'm a sports guy.  My father coached high school sports for 30 something years. Jenna, this is for you.  When I said this is my Joe Torrey managerial hat, you didn't know who Joe Torrey was.  You live in NYC and this man just won his 1000th game as a New York Yankee manager.  This is Joe Torrey.  [holds up baseball card]

Caller:  I wanted to congratulate both of you.  I think you two should have been the top two.  Cirie, you're an inspiration to all of us 30-something couch potatoes.  How hard was it for you to go from being a couch potato to doing all those competitive physical challenges.

Cirie:  Oh.  It was extremely, extremely hard.  I knew going out there that I wouldn't be a physical threat.  I hated treemail.  When they would say treemail, I was like, oh my God.  My nerves would just be a wreck.  Bruce would come to me and say, "You just gotta believe."  It's because I didn't know if there would be a challenge that I couldn't do.  I felt if there was something I couldn't do that I would essentially have to quit.  I didn't want to quit.  I promised my family that I would stick it out.  If I hadn't been given this opportunity I wouldn't know that I could at least help out in a challenge.  I know that I didn't win any physical challenges but I was there and I participated and I did as good as I could.  If you want to get off the couch, I recommend that you train for about a year.  I only had about two or three months to try to prepare for the show.  I think if I had longer I might have been better in the physical part of the show.

JM:  The athletes have trouble with the challenges on this show.  Terry, you're probably one of the strongest people we've seen in awhile.  You have to say that they are tough. They mess with your head, they mess with your body. 

DR:  We heard that caller say they wish you were in the final two.  You're both extremely, extremely likeable with a lot of fans.  I always said that if you two were in the final two it would be so tough.  You both played the game so well but in such different ways.  You're [Terry] dominating in the challenges.  You're [Cirie] doing nothing in the challenges but dominating socially and strategically.  That would have been a really tough call.

Terry:  She trumped every move I made.

Caller:  Cirie and Terry you are absolutely my favorite players this season.  I think it's time we break the way the final two selections have been made so that we don't end up with one weak player and one strong player.  I want to see a final two where the two best players are in it whether it's strategically, physically, whatever.  How do you think we can make that happen?

JM:  I think we can not give credit to the past final two.  There's always going to be someone who is stronger than the other.  That doesn't discredit them at all for getting there.

Terry:  I think where that starts is after the 3, 4, and 5.  That's where the stronger players are making inroads to try to get a weaker player with them to take them to the finals.  That's where you have a bunch of the stronger players trying to do their magic. 

JM:  That's why you didn't win that last challenge.  That's why it's so important.  

DR:  I think this season was a great final four.  Danielle we didn't see a lot from at all until the end.  She had to win that fire challenge, she did it.  She had to step up in that last Immunity Challenge.  Danielle was going to be up there all day long. 

Caller:  Terry, what would you do if they asked you to do an All Star game?

Terry:  Oh, in a minute.  When I first got home I told my wife and kids there's no way I'm leaving them again.  I'd been out to sea for long periods of time but never away from my wife and kids.  About a month later my wife said, "Would you do it again?"  I said, "Yeah. I'd go again."  It was that great of an experience that I would do it again.

JM:  You know you'd be a huge target.

Cirie's Time Capsule:  Well, Cirie, good luck.  Stay focused.  You're not here to make friends, you're here to win the money and change your life.  Watch out for the backstabbers.  Don't let the bullsh*t get to you.  Do a great job.

Terry's Time Capsule:  Terry, congratulations on winning the million dollars.  Well, if you didn't get that far, I'm proud of you. Your family's proud of you, your friends are proud of you.  What an experience, it couldn't have been better.  People around here are great, everybody in casting and production.  The whole set up, it's something everybody should get the chance to do.

DR:  First of all, Cirie, you little potty mouth!

Cirie:  That is really strange.  I don't even remember saying any of that.  I was so afraid. 

JM:  They make you wait forever.

Cirie:  I didn't mind the wait.  I was like, "Oh my God, they're going to make us start."  If we had to swim to the beach!  I remember that one show were the two people didn't make it to the beach.  They didn't even get a chance to play.  I was just in fear the whole time.  The interviews were fine with me.  As long as we did interviews I knew we couldn't play the game. 

Caller:  I wanted to tell Cirie that we are very proud of her and she is so pretty.

Cirie:  That's my best friend's son. 

Caller:  Cirie, great job, really wanted you to win.  Now that you're back from having your first wilderness adventure do you plan to go camping soon?

Cirie:  I'm going to take my kids camping.  When they saw the fish episode they were like, "Ma, you know how to fish?"  We're going to go camping and fishing.  When I say that I've been on the couch for 35 years, I have.  Essentially by me staying on the couch I've kind of kept my kids on the couch.  I don't want to do that to them.  I don't want them to have to wait 30 or 40 years for something like this to change their life. 

DR:  We've been hearing a lot about this couch.  Is it a pull out couch? 

<laughter>

Cirie:  It's really comfortable.  It's fluffy and it has pockets so I can have everything.  See that's what kept me on the couch.  Everything I needed was right there.  I have the remote, I have a place for my drink. 

Caller:  What did you do to prepare for the show and in hindsight what would you have done differently to get ready for it?

Cirie:  I started working out.  I got myself a personal trainer who was actually one of the surgeons I work with, his name is Karl Stiegler.  He helped me tremendously.  I think I would have done a little more.  While Dr. Stiegler was there with me I would work really hard because I didn't want to let him down.  He was taking out his time to help me.  On the days that he would be on call or he wasn't around, I would kind of slack a little bit.  I would still go to the gym but I wouldn't do the whole regiment.  I knew this was going to be hard but I think if I had a little more time and had worked a little harder I would have been a force to be reckoned with.

Terry:  I pretty much stayed with my normal workout.  I do some Pilates and running and lifting.  Then I added in swimming.  I used to swim a lot but hadn't in awhile so I got back in the pool.  That's about the only thing I added to it.

Cirie:  I have to add two more things.  I would have taken swimming lessons.  I can swim from like point A to point B.  I thought that would be good enough.  That was my first time being in the ocean, the first challenge.  It kind of just freaked me out.  I would have done that and I would have practiced making fire.

Terry:  We watched more videos, more reruns of past seasons. 

JM:  So what's up for you guys next?  Big plans?

Cirie:  I'm going back to work.  Melinda and myself, she kinda wants me to try some motivational speaking things with her.  I might try a little bit of that.  I don't know what's going to happen.  I'm just waiting to see.

Terry:  I'm going back to American Airlines on Sunday, back down to the Caribbean.  Doors might open.  I'm willing to jump through them and see what else is out there.  No telling what can happen. 

JM:  American Airlines is a great airline, by the way. Good first class. 

DR:  Well guys, you were both fantastic this season.  Fan favorites and made it very far and played the game in very different ways.  You both did a great job.  It was great to have you guys here. 

Cirie:  Thanks for having us.

Terry:  Thank you.