Name: Mark Caruso
Age: 48
Current Residence: Forest Hills, New York
Occupation: Retired NYPD Detective
Tribe: Savaii
Gordon Holmes: Does your police experience translate into “Survivor” at all?
Mark Caruso: Definitely, you can look at people and assess them quickly. You can decide who you want to be with and who you don’t want to be with real quick.
Holmes: You’ve been around the players already, have you assessed everyone already?
Caruso: I already know who I want to play with and who I’m going to vote off immediately. You can tell by what people are reading. Who opens doors for other people. Who’s stepping in line in front of you.
Holmes: Someone stepped in line in front of you?
Caruso: If someone’s willing to do that, they’re willing to cut your throat. Who jumps in the chair you were about to sit in. That person’s basically telling you, “Screw you, I’m taking what’s mine.”
Holmes: Your bio says you’re a very honest person. Are you going to stick with that heading into the game?
Caruso: Depends. In life? Yeah. In the game? You do what you have to do to survive. I don’t need to lie to win this game, good people can win this game. You just cut your losses real quick and build on what you have.
Holmes: Do you have any experience living in the outdoors?
Caruso: Basically, I worked in the morgue during the 9/11 disasters. We lived outside the morgue, we lived in lean-tos and trucks for six months. We had two beds there, a TV, a little kitchen.
Holmes: What do you do with the million dollars after you’re named the sole survivor?
Caruso: When I win the million dollars, which I will win.
Holmes: Good attitude.
Caruso: I’d love life, but I’d also donate. I’d give to the Police Foundation, the Police Widows Foundation, AIDS foundations, anything that helps animals.
Holmes: Are you a nurturer?
Caruso: I am…and I will be. I’m going to be everybody’s daddy bear.
“Survivor: South Pacific” premieres Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
More “Survivor” Fun: XFINITY TV sent Gordon Holmes into the heart of the South Pacific to get a first-hand look at the filming of the latest edition of “Survivor.” Be sure to check back for exclusive interviews with the returning All-Stars and host Jeff Probst, behind-the-scenes photos, and Gordon’s personal (and injury-filled) account of what it’s like to compete in an actual immunity challenge.
Any Questions about “Survivor: South Pacific”? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes
Tags: jeff probst, mark caruso, survivor, survivor south pacific
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