Survivor star shocked by hidden grudge

HIDDEN GRUDGE: Charlie Herschel says she is shocked by the lengths a fellow Survivor competitor went to in order to have him eliminated.

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Charlie Herschel says he is still "shocked" by the amount of effort a fellow Survivor competitor put in to get him evicted from the show.

Herschel, a 29-year-old lawyer from New York, was eliminated from Survivor: Gabon when tribe mate Ken Hoang - who had a long-held grudge - orchestrated his downfall. 

He told Stuff.co.nz he didn't realise the grudge - which stemmed from a communal dinner in which a hidden immunity idol clue was discovered by Hoang but made public by Herschel - existed until he watched the show on television.

"I'm still depressed," he said in an exclusive interview.

"I guess Kenny had it out for me. He had this personal grudge ... and that led to my demise. There was no way for me to realise that he had this grudge."

Herschel said Hoang had made a bad move by voting him out for personal reasons.

"When I walked off, I thought he was playing strategically and I applaud strategic moves like that. I didn't have anything against Kenny for voting me off.

"Only now as a viewer do I have anything against him. He put his credibility on the line by lying to his alliance (and) he alienated potential jury members.

"I think that if you make enough of these smarmy type moves, they catch up to you and people will catch wind of it. Maybe not immediately but they pile up, and I think he might be in for it."

Herschel said being eliminated had an upside, in that he got to spend an extra 10 days with Marcus Lehman, another eliminated contestant who was on the jury.

He said his "crush" on Lehman was orchestrated by the show's editors.

"Every interview (Survivor's producers) would ask me, ‘Do you have a crush on Marcus?' And every interview I would respond vehemently, ‘I do not have a crush on Marcus but I think he's incredible. He's smart, gorgeous, talented ... like, I love Marcus.'

"I would say similar things about Corinne (Kaplan) and Bob (Crowley) and Kelly (Czarnecki) and all these other people but the way it's chopped up it looked like I had a crush on Marcus.

"Maybe there's a little bit of truth in that but I didn't feel like I had a crush on Marcus."

Herschel said he enjoyed every minute of his Survivor experience.

"What surprised me the most was how well I adapted to various parts of the game. I was expecting the worst but it was 10,000 times better than that.

"I had so much fun. I had fun getting to know these crazy people. I had fun being starved. I had fun sleeping in the dirt. It was a new experience and I enjoyed every second."

"It's my dream to be on Survivor. I'm a super fan I've seen every episode for eight years. To be living it was incredible. I had such a blast."

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

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

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annabelle_luvs_charlie   #13   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

charlie should have never been voted out he was a good player (stratidgicly and physicaly) and nice to everyone around him he was a awsome player and a all around awsome person who should have won

Mark   #12   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Don't hold a grudge Charlie, think of it this way, you are very, very goodlooking and Ken Hoang is so ugly, no wonder he has a chip on his shoulder, hence the bigotry geared at you. It's called jealousy!

NA   #11   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

And yet you felt compelled to read, and comment on, this article?

Jay   #10   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Who cares, the whole show is just a BIG PRETEND SHOW with the producers pulling the strings for viewer rating.....how shallow!

Carol   #9   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I don't think it mattered who they eliminated from the Gang of Three. (although I would have got rid of Corinne or Randy first cause of their unpleasant personalities)What surprised me is how bad most of them were at starting a fire. if I ever auditione for Survivor, I would practice my firestarting skills every day until I left for the show.

Annette McFarland   #8   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

If Charlie watched himself during that feast, he should have seen why Kenny had a "grudge." Kenny was dumb for not grabbing the note sooner but when Charlie saw it, and actually when Kenny had it in his hand, Charlie came off like a snob sticking it to the unpopular kid when he said, in his feminine-with-an-icky-twist way, "I saw it and I think everyone should see it, too" and then snatched it away from Kenny. Charlie's downfall was that he showed his effete side toward people who were, in his view, not his equals. He says he didn't reveal that he's a Wall Street lawyer, but puhleeze, he didn't hide his disdain for the people who were "beneath" him. Frankly, I think it was a lesson he didn't learn when Kenny smacked him down. And I think Marcus is the worst kind of gay man: one who claims he isn't while he surreptitiously twirls Charlie's hair, in bed, on camera. What superficial people he and Corinne and Charlie are. Ick.

ben   #7   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I missed the episode last night and I can't believe Charlie went! Ken is probably playing a bit too hard and will probably end up coming up short.

Oh and Tina Charlie's gay...sorry.

Jodeci   #6   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

If you don't care and it's such a nothing show, I'm surprised you bothered to read this article, let alone post a message.

Peter   #5   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Charlie was a good choice for the dominant alliance to get rid of as he was more likely to win individual immunity than the other candidates from the rival bloc. That they chose him rather than the much more annoying Randy or Corinne demonstrates just how confident of Sugar's vote they were.

tina   #4   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Corine is such a backstabber, she should have gone home and left pretty boy on the show as he was a cutie..

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