early show episode 4

Brooke Struck's Early Show Interview
Survivor: Guatemala Episode 4 Boot 

Video:

Transcript by SurvivorFever.net 10.07.05

Rene Syler:  All bets are off on Survivor: Guatemala after a surprise reshuffling of the tribes last night resulted in shattered alliances and a serious personal betrayal.  In the end, law student Brooke Struck, was stabbed right in the back.

<video clip of tribal swap footage>

Rene:  Brooke Struck, good morning.

Brooke:  Good morning.

Rene:  Judd.  Judd. What did you think when you were watching last night?  You say, Judd, my buddy.  He was on the same team with you.

Brooke:  I was thinking, when he said king of the jungle, during the first challenge, "you'd still be lost in jungle if Jim and I hadn't led you out with a map and compass."  But yeah it was quite the betrayal.

Rene:  A lot of your teammates felt like you weren't athletic enough.  Was that a fair assessment of you?

Brooke:  Part of the thing you have to realize is that when the teams got reshuffled we had less than 24 hours to get to know our new team.  So they hadn't seen everything I had done.  They hadn't seen that I was one of the strongest ones in the jungle.  They hadn't seen Judd throwing up after the jungle hike.  They hadn't seen during the rope challenge, I actually went and got one of the furthest bags when a lot of the guys had gotten closer ones. So I really, I hung in there and did better than some of the guys on my team.

Rene:  That reshuffling, were you surprised that it happened so early in the game?  I had to go back and watch it 2 or 3 times because I still didn't get exactly what happened and all the shattered alliances and what not.

Brooke:  That was the big shocker for us, we just didn't see it coming that soon.  We were expecting,  this was the first time that we were going to be able, as Nakum, to sit a member out of our team and have the advantage in a challenge.  We never got to use that advantage as our team.

Rene:  Tell me about, you guys escaped one of the initial challenges because of the heat, right?

Brooke:  Yeah.

Rene:  It was so hot, did you say 120 degrees?

Brooke:  120 degrees some days.  We didn't have a thermometer out there but during the challenges Jeff Probst would announce the temperature.  You just don't realize how hot it gets.

Rene:  Was that one of the big challenges, just trying to have enough energy to do...you get no food, you got little water.  You can't get in the water because of the crocodiles.  That had to be one of the biggest challenges.

Brooke:  Yeah, the heat was definitely a factor.  I think that's why all the guys got sick right away after the jungle hike is they just couldn't handle the hot weather.  And when we were playing the basketball game, people would, Stephenie was flat on her back on the sidelines from the heat.  People could hardly stand up.

Rene:  She's a formidable player.  Were you surprised that she...do you have any ill will toward her?  She's the one who wanted you out first.

Brooke:  Yeah, as I saw it, Stephenie was almost the weakest member of our tribe.

Rene:  What!  Really!

Brooke:  She got her team lost in the jungle whereas I was able to lead my team through the jungle and not get lost.  Stephenie and Judd were the ones who ran us to the ground during the axe throwing challenge.  They wouldn't, we were kind of yelling to them to switch out, let somebody else try and they just kept going and going and going.  So it took Stephenie about 30 tries to break the first one.  Whereas on the other tribe, Danni walks up and in 4 tries, gets it.  And Stephenie is not much of a team player.  She kind of brings the team spirit down a little bit.

Rene:  Really?

Brooke:  She didn't even know my name and everybody else on the tribes knew each other's names.  So here you have, like Lydia is a much more positive person.   When I was guarding her in the basketball challenge she had all the energy, was running around, smiling.

Rene:  Were you surprised the vote was close because it could have gone either way, I thought.  You or Lydia.

Brooke:  Yeah.  I had thought up until right before we went to tribal council, I had thought that I was safe, that we were all voting Lydia off. 

Rene: Quickly, what's up next for you?  You just graduated from law school?

Brooke:  I just graduated from law school so I will be studying for the bar in February.  Looking for a job.

Rene:  A different kind of Survivor.  Well good luck with the bar.

Brooke:  Thank you.