early show 12 episode 9

Austin Carty's Early Show Interview

Video:

Transcript by James Barber for SurvivorFever.net  4.07.06

Julie : Last night was a real nail-biter on Survivor: Exile Island. The 3 remaining La Mina members tried to swing the game back in their direction, but in the end, even the promise of the Hidden Immunity Idol was not enough to keep Austin in the game.

(clips package)

Julie : Austin Carty, good morning.

Austin : Morning. Pleasure to be here.

Julie : It was surprising watching last night, you getting the boot. Were you as surprised as most viewers were?

Austin : No. I think that was a brilliant job in the editing department. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion. Danielle and I had created, as everybody saw, a good bond on Exile Island...

Julie : Yeah, and Bruce, also known as Mr. Miyagi, they looked like they were going to turn...

Austin : I think Bruce was always vacillating and right on the verge of coming over, but never quite did. But we knew going into the Tribal Council that Danielle was not coming over to our side, and obviously I knew Terry had not given me the Hidden Immunity Idol, so I was not surprised when the vote went down.

Julie : How about that? When did you actually realize that your buddy Terry had that Immunity Idol, and shouldn't he have given it to you? Didn't he kind of stab you in the back?

Austin : He definitely didn't stab me in the back at all. I didn't find out he had the Idol until an hour and a half before Tribal Council. He had it for all those days and we were not aware of it.

Julie : So why didn't he give it to you? Why didn't you ask him, an hour and a half, "Hey, listen, this is not looking good for me..."

Austin : As you can see, I did. I said, "Hey, Terry, why don't you let me have the Idol." And he thought it was better for his game to hold onto it. Do I feel betrayed? Not at all. I think strategically he could have made a better move on his own part by giving me that Idol. We could have then gotten Aras eliminated and I think that tribe would have completely fractured at that point, but that's all hindsight and hindsight is always 20/20.

Julie : If the tables were turned, would you have given it to Terry?

Austin : I would like to think I would have. Strategically I just think it was the best decision. But when all is said and done, he was the owner of the Idol and it was up to him what he wanted to do with it.

Julie : Every Friday morning we play a secret scene that did not get played on last night's show. I want to play it and then we can talk about it.

Austin : OK, I'll do it.

[(on Exile Island)

AUSTIN (solo):Coming over here, my original intention with the Idol was to make a forgery to look like I had found the Idol. I happened to have the amulet that I won the very first reward challenge in my bag, and all I did was take this scepter-ish looking bamboo rock and wrap the amulet I had around it to make it look like a hidden immunity idol.

AUSTIN (solo): I wanted Danielle to see, so that way she would believe I had the hidden immunity idol.

AUSTIN (solo): I think that my scheme is brilliant, but it's eating me up inside, and I believe I've reached the point where I found out what I'm not willing to do for a million dollars, so I'm not going through with it.

]

Julie : Do you regret that decision as you're sitting here this morning?

Austin : I don't so much as regret it - the thing you have to understand about my time out there is my pride myself on being honest, and there was a lot of vacillation going on about trying to negotiate that line of integrity and advancing myself in the game. And while you're out there, the relationships you have are so intense that you feel anything slightly duplicitous is going to be so magnified. I don't think it would have been a bad thing for me to use that, I don't think it would have been the most dishonest thing in the history of the world, but I walked out of there without having to lie, and I kept my integrity intact.

Julie : Why did Aras call you a slimeball?

Austin : That was rough, wasn't it?

Julie : I thought so!

Austin : He called me a slimeball! No, Aras is a good guy. Like I said, everything is so intense out there, and he's a sharp guy, so I think he felt outfoxed by that maneuver that I pulled. I think he wanted to point out, "Hey, Austin's playing this game pretty cleverly." And the reason I pulled the ultimate bonehead move, probably the stupidest move in the history of Survivor, announcing my plan at Tribal Council, was A) I was fully convinced I was going home, cause Aras had told me I was going home, which I guess is just as dishonest as my getting off the pole, but because it was eating me up inside. I came into this game saying, "Listen, I'm not going to lie." I subscribe very much to the belief that lying can definitely buy you advancement in this life, in this world, but I don't think it can buy you respect. When all is said and done, I try to live my everyday life by that maxim, and I try to live Survivor by that. That's why I announced that plan.

Julie : Austin Carty, good for you. It sounds like you don't regret being the first juror.

Austin : No, not one bit. Thanks for having me.

Julie (shakes his hand): Thanks for coming on the show.