Katie Hanson (CBS)
XFinityTV is blowing up their coverage of “Survivor: Philippines.” Every Monday Jeff Probst and I will tackle a wide variety of topics with the “Survivor” Question of the Week. Every Tuesday I’ll be squaring off against “Survivor: One World” favorite Kat Edorsson in this season’s Power Rankings challenge. Every Wednesday briefly after the show we’ll have a full episode recap and every Thursday we’ll have an interview with the latest eliminated player. Follow me on Twitter (@gordonholmes) for all the updates!
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Somewhere in an alternate universe, Dana is 100% healthy. The Kalabaw women voted out Carter last week and Jeff Kent last night. When they’re not listening to desperate pleas from Penner, they’re trying to figure out how to get Malcolm to join them when they get to the merge.
Unfortunately for the Katie Hanson I spoke to this morning, she lives in this universe.
Instead, the former Miss Delaware and I got to chat about the weirdest reward challenge ever, the ladies’ lack of love for Carter, and Dawson’s indecent proposal…
Gordon Holmes: Good morning, Katie.
Katie Hanson: How are you?
Holmes: I’m sad.
Hanson: (Laughs) Aww…me too!
Holmes: Was your girlfriend voted off of “Survivor” last night too?!
Hanson: Oh…honey! You are so cute! I’m sad too, but I’ve had some time to get over it.
Holmes: What am I supposed to do for the next seven or eight weeks this show is on?
Hanson: I appreciate your sadness if that makes any difference.
Holmes: Alright, that reward challenge last night was a whole new brand of ridiculous. What happened?
Hanson: It almost looked like from out angle that things were going our way, and then they’d go back, and then it was just a stalemate. It went nowhere. And I was thinking, “OK, I’m never going to get to play in this challenge.” Which was alright with me because it’s a reward challenge in the mud, rolling around with these people. Rewards are awesome, but it’s not immunity. So, me not playing last night, kind of made me a little happy because the goal is to not get injured before an immunity challenge.
Holmes: I’m watching it…and Penner has his arm in one of Mr. Skupin’s…sensitive…areas.
Hanson: (Laughs) Uh huh.
Holmes: And I’m thinking, “Jeez, at least buy him dinner first.” Next thing you know he’s literally trading dinner with him.
Hanson: (Laughs)
Holmes: How did you feel when that deal was being brokered?
Hanson: The last two rewards that were food went to Tandang, so we were starving. The idea of winning a full-on meal was absolutely amazing. At this point I was like “Give away the rice! Let’s do this!” The fact that they were bartering for it made my day. They went back and forth a lot. That was the best day of our lives.
Holmes: Artis freaked out a little bit, and I didn’t really understand what set him off.
Hanson: I think he just wanted to earn it. But, it’s easier for someone on the sidelines to say, “No, you guys can win this.” But you don’t know what they’re going through. And don’t you want your strongest players to have enough energy to perform well in an immunity challenge? He was very angry.
Holmes: It seemed like he was giving grief to you and Jeff Kent.
Hanson: He was giving grief to Jeff for sure, but Jeff knows how to get under people’s skin. It was kind of funny to watch, but I was trying to stay out of it.
Holmes: Did Jeff get under your skin?
Hanson: No, no, no…he just knows the right ways to get under people’s skin and he totally did it to Artis. Not me, I like Jeff. Jeff and I had a very good relationship.
Holmes: Did you know about Jeff’s baseball past?
Hanson: No one else to my knowledge knew. And I’m not a big sports girl, so I had no clue. I just really believed his story that he was a rancher. I totally bought it. He didn’t give any indication that he was some great athlete. He performed decently in the challenges but I would never know he was a pro.
Holmes: Dawson was pretty harsh when she was discussing Jeff’s social game. Do you think that’s accurate?
Hanson: I think that’s totally false. Jeff Kent was playing the game from the get go. He knew the right people he wanted to align with. He had Carter following his every move. He got Penner, who actually wanted to play with him. He was, in my opinion, the dominant male force on our tribe. So, I think Jeff has an excellent social game.
Holmes: Dana leaving really screwed things up for the Kalabaw ladies. Was there ever a chance for you to sneak back in with the guys?
Hanson: It just about broke my heart that Dana got sick. Not only for her health but me lasting in this game. And Denise wanted to be on the side with the numbers and why wouldn’t you want to be in an all-girl alliance? We would have had four. As soon as she got sick, what’s going to make Denise stay? We’re not strong anymore. That sucked for me. I think I was just getting played the whole time. People were giving me the run around because they knew I was going to be the next one out. Honestly, it makes sense, because not knowing when the merge is coming you want your strongest players. And let’s be honest, I’m not that. I’m not Denise and I’m not a man.
Holmes: Dana also had some harsh words for Carter. She called him a “chauvinist.” Did you witness any of that? Did you get along with Carter?
Hanson: I think all of us can agree on this; he had nothing to talk about. He had nothing to say. The only thing he had to talk about was the exercise. He was just so boring. He didn’t have much character to him. And I couldn’t respect him because all he’d do is follow Jeff around. I think all of us girls, if Dana had never gotten sick, Carter was our number one priority to get out of there. Because then Jeff wouldn’t be so powerful. He wouldn’t have this little tool he could manipulate. So, I definitely agree with Dana.
Holmes: Let’s do some word association. We’ll start with Dawson.
Hanson: Bubbly, out-going, wild, love her.
Holmes: Dana?
Hanson: Strong, powerful woman who takes no crap.
Holmes: Carter?
Hanson: Not that intelligent and a rat.
Holmes: Denise?
Hanson: Strong, smart, mother-like figure.
Holmes: Jeff Kent?
Hanson: Very intelligent, athletic, good manipulator.
Holmes: The first Survivor from the first state?
Hanson: (Laughs) She’s a sweetheart! The best player ever. We love Katie!
Holmes: We do. Let’s finish this with Penner.
Hanson: My father-figure on the island. But, he’s also a snake so you’ve got to watch your back.
Holmes: What the reaction from Kalabaw when you had to watch Dawson molest poor Jeff Probst?
Hanson: (Laughs) I think all of us were like, “What is she doing?!” But that’s totally her. She’s had the biggest crush on that man from the moment I met her. That’s one of the first things I learned about her. If anything, she did what she went there to do.
Any Questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes
Tags: jeff kent, jeff probst, jonathan penner, katie hanson, Lisa Whelchel, michael skupin, survivor, survivor philippines
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