Victim defends 'elephant dung' idea

Last updated 14:30 09/10/2008
MULTI PURPOSE: Survivor victim Gillian Larson says elephant dung has several different uses when you're living in the wild.

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The second person eliminated from Survivor has defended her controversial ideas about elephant droppings, saying the dung has several uses while living in the wild.

Gillian Larson, a 61-year-old retired nurse who lives in California, was eliminated from Survivor: Gabon when her Fang tribe faced its second straight elimination.

The ailing tribe voted Michelle Chase out last week.

Larson caused controversy by asking team mates to collect elephant dung, saying it was good fuel for the fire, and that any berries in it could be eaten.

Chase told Stuff.co.nz last week that Larson's ideas were "useless" and their tribe thought she was annoying.

But Larson defended herself, saying she was misinterpreted.

"I didn't want them to eat the elephant dung," Larson said.

"They made out like I wanted them to eat it. It's a great mosquito repellent, it's good clean-burning fuel for the fire.

"Plus you can drink the liquid that comes out if you squeeze it so you don't die of thirst."

Larson, a huge Survivor fan who has applied to be on the show 15 times, said she knew the "writing was on the wall" for her when she struggled with the show's physical challenges.

But she agreed with her tribe's decision to vote Chase out first.

"I totally agreed Michelle should go home first. She was miserable."

She said the Fang tribe lacked leadership and was in disarray.

"Our tribe was crummy. There was no team work, there was no union. It was all over the place. There was no leadership, no one wanted to step up."

Larson hoped Robert Crowley would win because he was the last representative on the show from her age group.

Survivor: Gabon pits 18 competitors against each with a US$1 million prize up for grabs. It screens at 8.30pm on TV3 on Thursday nights. Stuff.co.nz will exclusively interview every contestant as they are eliminated.

* Should Gillian have been eliminated? Post your comments below.

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- © Fairfax NZ News

25 comments
Mahara   #25   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Now THAT I would watch! For their following seasons they could be dumped in Johannesburg, Mumbai, and perhaps Iraq!

Don   #24   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

In response to #16

The most expensive coffee available is ferreted out of the poo of the Sumatran civet cat. You would be missing out on a real treat Ivo.

Dom   #23   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

When they run out of ideas (and god knows they already have) they should do a survivor baghdad and just drop them in the city, last one standing wins...

Marc Boulle   #22   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I think that they should drop the term "tribe" from Survivor. A tribe consists of young men, young women, old men, old women, and children, each having a role to play. It is all about the "tribe" surviving. This series is far too individualistic. Gillian in a real tribe would not need to run the 100m in under 30 seconds. That would be left to the young and fit. Some are warriors some are hunters, others are gatherers. As in "hunter-gatherer". Drop the word "tribe" because tribal members don't act as individuals. Rather use the word "rabble"

Tagasas   #21   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

You're obviously still watching it so it can't ba all that bad?!?!?

krystal   #20   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

God Baly, what a hater. if you dont like it go and find something else to do. This is CLEARLY a place for people to discuss the show who actually watch it and enjoy it....Durrr

ben   #19   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

They could get rid of alot worse shows first. Like "it's me on the dog" "piha rescue" anything to do with superheroes having powers, gosssip girl.

Survivor is both a fun and strategic show. This season admittingly is not good on the strategy stuff so far. but it's far from the worse show on tv.

Baly   #18   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

oh my god. this is absolute rubbish. who the hell cares. stop it. stop it now. right now. this is not news. its not even entertainment news. if i see another story about survivor get into the top ten stories on stuff i swear to god i am going to switch to the tv3 news site.

please. Try to maintain your the last of your dwindling integrity Mr Shulz. I can see it now, you, once a bright eyed journalism student, wanting to embark on a career to make a change in the world, travel to the far reaches of the globe and inform the masses of what really matters in life. But now you have become broken hearted, all hope lost, as you are forced by your bosses at Fairfax to write out another meaningless story about some god awful show that has absolutely no cultural significance, purely so you can get a nice cheque from its television network in an attempt to boost its dwindling ratings.

Good god man, make a stand, this isn't journalism, this isn't what you wanted to do with your life. its time to say no, to take back your beliefs, to not succumb to the media sponsorship that has reduced your dream of being a great journalist to this absolute mass of defecation.

I still have hope Chris, I still believe in you. The question now is, do you believe in yourself?

Next time your asked to write the story on the next "survivor" to be "eliminated" of this sham of a tv show, I think you know what to say.

Good day to you sir.

Bruce   #17   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I think Gillian should have been voted out in the first week. Anyone could see that she would not be able to stand up to the physical challenges.

Whilst her ideas about elephant dung may have had merit it is probably not something you would put up as soon as you got there. In terms of drinking water they had fire pretty much straight away to boil water to drink.

ivo   #16   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

if I was there, and one of my team mates suggested searching through animal poo for food, I would ask the producers if we could vote them off INSTANTLY


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