early show 13 episode 5

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Transcript by James Barber for SurvivorFever.net - 10.13.06

RENE: In the latest episode of "Survivor: Cook Islands", Stephanie thought she'd be safe, but her luck ran out because she really wanted some mashed potatoes. 

(clips)

RENE: Stephannie Favor, good morning.

STEPHANNIE: Good morning.

RENE: First of all, I thought you showed a lot of class though in the way you exited. You said, "Good luck", and "Bye," and all...

STEPHANNIE: Absolutely. That's the person I am.

RENE: Did you really want mashed potatoes that bad that you were willing to throw away a million dollars? 

STEPHANNIE: No! We were all talking about food. It was amazing. We all talked about food, chocolate, cakes, ice creams, whatever, so that one particular statement was just really blown out of proportion. 

RENE: So what was the deal? I thought you and Nate were close.

STEPHANNIE: I thought we had Hiki love. 

RENE (laughs): Hiki love.

STEPHANNIE: We all came from the original tribe. I thought we were all close. Obviously not as close as I thought. 

RENE: Yeah. Yeah. So you blame him for your being here today. 

STEPHANNIE: No, I don't blame him. I take full responsibility for my own actions. I initially planted the seed the week before...

RENE: Yeah, because you said in the failed challenge, you said, "I'm the weak link guys, I'm responsible, I'm the weak link."

STEPHANNIE: I did, I did.

RENE: You think they just never got over that? 

STEPHANNIE: I believe that they actually had gotten over that. I did plant that seed, I internalized that defeat, I thought it was my fault, and I voiced that; a moment of weakness. But there was a redemptive speech I gave at that Tribal Council that got everybody back into the fold at that point. So we were OK. I was forgiven.

RENE: Or so you thought, anyway. 

STEPHANNIE: I think though that when I made that comment to Nate, he spread it throughout the tribe, and that reopened the wound. 

RENE: I was really surprised by that. 

STEPHANNIE: I was too. 

RENE: So you think he was upset with you because you voted out Sekou?

STEPHANNIE: I think that may have been a part of it, yes. Could've been. Perhaps some type of retaliatory act, I don't know. At this point it doesn't matter. (laughs)

RENE: But you were also surprised, were you not, because everybody was talking about Cristina. "She's bossy, she's gotta go, she gets on my nerves."

STEPHANNIE: Absolutely. Absolutely. We came away from that challenge with a defeat, we all knew that Cristina was going. I was very surprised when all of a sudden it was me. 

RENE: Yeah, and everybody voted for you.

STEPHANNIE: Everybody! 

RENE(laughs): It's not like one or two...

STEPHANNIE: Y'know, it's crazy, because we all had this close-knit bond. A lot of that wasn't portrayed but we all were very close. She knew that she was going to be leaving, at least we wanted to tell her she was gonna be leaving. I was told, "Maybe you don't wanna do that," and I'm glad I didn't, because I would've looked like an idiot when it was me leaving.

RENE: You had mentioned to me that this is a lot harder than, cause this is your third time that you tried out for this.

STEPHANNIE: I actually love the show, I've always been a "Survivor" fan. There was an open casting call in my area. I tried out three times, the third time was the charm for me. Yes, I really wanted to go farther in the game. It's unfortunate. The mashed potatoes comment did me in. 

RENE: It did you in. I wanna take a look at the Secret Scene from last night, I think people got to see a different side of you. Let's take a look.

[(morning, around the fire)

STEPHANNIE (solo): We got up this morning. We were all feeling really good. We decided to pray to bring us closer together, and I prayed, for our tribe. 

(Stephannie prays as the rest of the tribe silently pray)

STEPHANNIE (solo): And after that prayer we all felt really good about that. They look to me somewhat as someone who kind of brings hope and encouragement to the tribe.
]

RENE: OK, I think hope and encouragement is not as important as a million dollars (Stephannie laughs), because you're here and they're still there. Do you regret anything you did out there? 

STEPHANNIE: The one thing that I regret is that I said I was the weakest link. At that point, it was just damaged, there was no way of getting over that damage. I'm collateral damage, as you see me sitting here today. (laughs)

RENE: Stephannie Favor, what a joy to talk to you though. Thank you for coming by.

STEPHANNIE: Thank you so much. I enjoyed it.