Survivors Send Cop Packing
Deputy Sheriff Jessie Camacho became the second person voted off Survivor: Africa when fellow Boran tribe members decided she was the weakest link. She joined Jane Clayson of The Early Show to discuss her experiences with the game.
Camacho admitted that she wasn't really surprised she was booted out. "I don't think that people saw me as weak. I think I was just mostly the target at the time."
She explained, "Clarence had the bean incident. Kim had lost the first challenge for us. Kelly had lost the second challenge for us, and I was sick. So I just kind of think everybody said let's just vote her off."
Clayson wanted to know why she was so weak. Was she dehydrated, have a bug, or what?
"I really don't know. I started getting sick the first day I was dropped off. As soon as we started drinking the water, I started getting sick."
She was asked to describe the water.
"As you saw, spring water wasn't the best. It was mixed with a lot of dung from animals and other little creature things. And if you didn't boil it right, of course, you get the bacteria and stuff like that.
"Oh, the smell was horrible. You gotta understand that what we were given was actual tribal stuff that, you know, the Masai use. So we had this clay pot that was chipped, that had mold in it. That's what we had to look at. That thing was full of mold and every time you pour water in it - it was hot water - so a piece of the mold would come into the water. You'd be like tasting this awful, awful…."
And she added that the water actually smelled and tasted worse than the cow blood she had to drink during the immunity challenge.
The blood "actually tasted pretty good. It was a little warm, but other than that, it wasn't as bad as people thought."
Camacho admitted that when she tried out for the show, she had never seen any Survivor episodes. Her sister got her the application. Once she was chosen, she looked at a few episodes to see what she was getting into.
And her experiences in law enforcement played a role in the game.
Clayson asked, "Going into it, did you realize you had to play as dirty as you really needed to, to do well in this game?"
"It was so difficult because I believe strongly in teamwork," Camacho replied. "That's what I come from, teamwork, teamwork, and to be in a show like that, it's sort of the opposite. Teamwork is there, but there's so much more - everybody's trying to win the money. It's all about the money. The backstabbing thing was so different from me. I was like, all right, maybe this is not in me to do this."
Camacho said it was a bit difficult getting used to the camera crews being around all the time.
"The first day was, I think, the hardest. You're not used to having somebody there 24/7 with you. You went to the site; they were with you. You went to another site; they went with you. Towards the third day, you kind of get used to having them around. Thre are times you even forget they're there and you're talking along and all of a sudden you're like, wait a minute. You're on camera. You have to be very careful what you say."
Clayson asked her impression of fellow tribe members.
Camacho said she was not a big fan of Clarence after the bean incident in the first episode. She voted against him saying, "I didn't want to leave without just setting peace with myself. I didn't like him."
She thought Lex- Mr. Tattoo - was "really nice. He kind of set off as the leader of the team. We got along really well."
Ethan, she said, "was very quiet. But he was great. He was very tough. He gave 110 percent."
But her favorite was Tom - Mr. Goat Farmer.
"Tom was my favorite. What you don't see on-screen is me and Tom actually had the best friendship. And we did from day one. We really, really, really had a good friendship. He was excellent."
Asked if she would do it all over again, Camacho, like all the other "Survivor" contestants, replied, "In a heartbeat. It's so much fun. It's such a good experience. You just want to see how far you can take it."
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