early show episode 7

Amy O'Hara's Early Show Interview
Survivor: Guatemala Episode 7 Boot 

(SurvivorFever.net 10.28.05)

Transcript by James Barber

Video:

HARRY: Well, being the strongest woman on Survivor Guatemala wasn't enough to keep police sergeant Amy O'Hara from being voted off by her fellow tribemates right before the merge. Even a last ditch effort to stay in the game proved too little, too late.

(clip package)

HARRY: Amy O'Hara is with us this morning. Good morning, Sergeant.

AMY: Good morning.

H: How are you doing today?

A: Very good, thanks Harry.

H: You know, when all is said and done and you actually sit and watch the episode - what was it like for you when you watched last night?

A: I was kind of - you know you wanna stay there, so when you see yourself getting voted out you wish you could stay, but I know I did everything I possibly could have done to stay. And I'm happy with it.

H: Did you know, because as I was watching last night and we were talking backstage. The dye was cast, you knew you were leaving. You knew you were leaving last night?

A: Oh, I definitely knew. I definitely knew I was leaving.

H: So you were trying to work a deal with Gary, and he says if he says - there was just no way to get around the past deals that were done so early in the game.

A: Right. I knew it was gonna be down to Gary and myself, I knew it was really gonna be me that was going home, but I did everything I could to try to sway Danni to vote for Bobby Jon, and I also tried to go against Gary too, you know, so...

H: Right. Did you know he was a pro football player?

A: Danni told us. We sorta knew, but we didn't really care, you know, but I would just rag him on it.

H: You were so funny last night when you said, 'If you're lyin' to me I'm gonna take you down.' Pretty funny.

A: Right.

H: We'll have a hidden camera follow you at the reunion and see if you're gonna take care of business.

A (joking): Oh yeah, I will beat him down.

H: How much does it drive you crazy that you didn't make the merge?

A: Well, after seeing myself get voted off, and they merge right away, I was like, 'Oh, I can't believe this, I was THIS close to making the merge.' And all you wanna do is make the merge when you're there. If there's one thing I look back on, it's man I wish I made the merge.

H: You guys looked awfully tight as a tribe. A lot of times when you get snuffed out, people just walk off. You went back and really embraced everybody, it really looked like there was a kind of a warmth there. Is that real or is that just TV?

A: No, that was real. I mean, Bobby Jon, Brandon, Danni and Gary, these people are down to earth, hard workers. They're great, great people. I enjoyed their company. They were awesome.

H: What was it like as an experience for you? Because you look - there was that moment in that game a couple of weeks ago where they were playing with a gigantic ball, you had so much guts, so much grit.

A: Right.

H: You get knocked down, you get hurt, you come back. We have footage of it. (shows the clip of Amy and the ball) You were crushed. You're tough.

A: When I went down there, I snapped my ankle. It was bad. I still have problems with my ankle today. But I got really mad when that happened, because I knew I could really excel in this challenge. So I came back and I really kicked some butt, because I was angry.

H: Everybody said you were down and out, and then you came back and really...

A: No. No, I wasn't giving up. Wasn't happening.

H: What's it like with the police force? You go home after being on national television, and police folk have a certain way about them. How are they taking it?

A: Well, every day I have to go into work on Friday and I have to hear their comments about everything. They sort of razz me on everything. They torture me on a few things but I think most of all they're proud of me and they say, 'Man, I can't believe you did that.' I have a lot of fun with them.

H: What an accomplishment. We wanna take a look at - this is our Secret Scene from Survivor Guatemala, it happens to involve one of your former tribemates. Let's take a look at that.

(Yaxha and Nakum together at Yaxha's pool.

JAMIE: What is it I hear about you being a professional football player?

GARY: I'm not.

JAMIE (solo): There was a rumor when we got to camp here that Gary was a professional football player. (?) I don't know what they're saying. He still might be. Who knows.

(chatter; Gary tells them, "I wish I was")

GARY (solo): I'm totally gonna deny that I'm Gary Hogeboom 'til the end. I'm not gonna blow my strategy. That's my cover. I'm keeping it.)

H: What was that like, with that pool party when both tribes got together last night? It looked a little odd.

A: Yeah. Well, we were there and Gary said, 'Let's not talk game, let's have fun with this.' And you know, I went along with it, but I was watching every move everybody made. I wanted to see what was going on. I was just playing the game there, you know, seeing what everybody was thinking and how they were reacting together.

H: Liked seeing you on the zip line last night too. How scared were you?

(both laugh)

A: Oh please. Oh my God. I was like frightened to death.

H: There you are. (clip) You've got tears in your eyes. You're a cop! You're a sergeant! You're not supposed to...

A: That's like 50 feet off the ground, man. I did it, though. That's the point. I did it. Look at (clip of a howler monkey) - oh, them damn monkeys.

H: Was that the (laughs) - damn monkeys - was that the toughest thing you've ever done? Going out in the jungle, in Survivor?

A: Oh, without a doubt. That was extremely difficult.

H: What was the hardest part?

A: Just being out there and not having the comforts of life. You're stripped to your soul.

H: Yeah. As all Red Sox fans are most every season.

A: Yep, and the Yankees this season too, don't forget.

H: Thank you very much, Amy.

A: OK.

H: Well done.

A: Thank you.

H: What a pleasure to meet you.

A: Thank you.

H: So good.