Ashley denies 'dumb blonde' claims

BY CHRIS SCHULZ AND MICHAEL FOX

EXCLUSIVE: Survivor victim Ashley Trainer has hit back at a tribe mate's claims that she is a "dumb blonde".

The 22-year-old spa saleswoman from Minnesota was eliminated from the Foa Foa tribe after a gruelling episode in which she had to eat sea slug guts as part of a reward challenge. She is the fifth member of her tribe to go home.

The former cheerleader said claims she was part of a "dumb blonde girls alliance" organised by rogue competitor Russell Hantz - who has caused trouble for his tribe since the beginning of the season - were laughable.

"I truly believe I was voted out because I started to catch on to what Russell was doing, and that scared him," she told Stuff.co.nz, echoing comments made by Betsy Bolan when she was eliminated for similar reasons two weeks ago.

"He knew I knew a tonne about the game and he was intimidated by that. He was worried I was going to catch on. That's why I got booted out."

Trainer said Hantz' game plan "didn't make sense" to her, but she wasn't offended by being called a "dumb blonde".

"People call blondes 'dumb' all the time. It's so clichéd. It's coming out of Russell's mouth (and) how much can you trust what Russell says?

"It sucks because I thought he was a friend to me, but that's Russell. The way he's playing the game, it doesn't make sense to me. He's playing nasty.

"I don't think he can win it, but if he does, good for him."

Trainer admitted using her looks was part of her initial Survivor game plan, but was forced to change tack as soon as the tribes were chosen.

"Everyone has their own strategy in their minds. I had this strategy going in that I was going to be a flirt, but I had to get rid of that straight away because everyone on my tribe had a significant other."

Despite watching several seasons of the show to prepare, Trainer said nothing could prepare you for the Survivor experience.

"It's a lot harder than it actually seems. You have to watch what's going on around you. If you're too paranoid you make everyone else paranoid. It's very difficult - it's much harder playing the game (than watching it)."

It took her two months to recover from her 14 days in Samoa.

"Your body goes into complete shock when all of a sudden you aren't eating and drinking. You feel physically ill when you're playing the game. Then you come out and you're eating tonnes of food, and you get sick again because your body's not used to digesting it.

"My body was horrible, it was so screwed up for two months after I left the game."

Despite her physical complaints, Trainer said it was the best experience of her life.

"It was absolutely amazing. It was the best experience ever. I loved it. I would have made it much further if I had stuck with some females, definitely."

Survivor: Samoa screens on TV3 at 7.30pm on Thursday. Stuff.co.nz will interview every contestant as they are eliminated.

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- © Fairfax NZ News