Roger Gets Rousted

Viewers who were looking for a little escapism got it last night on Survivor: The Amazon. The two tribes merged into one, but it quickly became clear that it was no longer the men versus women. Instead, it was almost everyone against Roger.

Roger Sexton joined Co-Anchor Harry Smith on The Early Show and talked about his jungle adventure.

Smith said, "It was amazing to watch on television last night, because it seemed pretty clear to me that you had no idea you were about to get voted off."

Sexton agreed, "That's correct. I had no idea until tribal council. But then I knew. Jeff asked some questions about how confident we felt, who was going to be tossed and Alex gave an answer and I go, 'I don't like that answer.'"

"Because originally it was men versus women," he said. "Then the tribes went men and women."

Sexton said he had thought that based on the original tribal structure, the men were going to stick together.

"When the women came, those guys went, 'we're together.' And we got back together. There's six of us. They came and said everything is cool."

Smith asked if he had been stunned at getting kicked out of the game.

"Absolutely, yeah. I was," he answered. "On two levels there, too. Because I figured the six of us, we had it locked. And then on the other level of the game, I did have a sense that these kids felt I was too bossy, the term they used. And I figured, somebody would want to carry me to the end."

Smith said that "in this game especially, the leaders have gotten lopped off fairly quickly. You know, the people who kind of get out there and sort of say, 'let's get this done; let's get the shelter built.' Last night, for instance, there was a big party going on and you said we gotta get the shelter built. And everybody is looking at you like, Roger, get a life."

Sexton agreed. "Well, you're in the jungle. And your shelter's the most important thing. And water and so on and so forth. That didn't change. It never changed. And I would never change what I did."

It's part of his personality, Sexton explained. "Get stuff done. Get it done right."

Asked if he should have tried to temper that attitude a bit, he said, "The worst enemy in the whole show was myself. And I said going in, 'I need to bring that down.' But unfortunately, we were stuck with all guys. And they had those two young guys, Dan and Ryan, and they pressed the wrong buttons with me, and that was it."

Still, he said he enjoyed playing the game. "I had a great time. I really did enjoy the show. It was a great time."

Smith wanted to know what Sexton, a Vietnam War veteran with several tours under his belt, thought about the war on Iraq.

"To me it brings back the Gulf War. And this one is more like Vietnam, though," he replied. "It's interesting because the Gulf War was strictly a live fire exercise. Now, we got the troops on the ground. We got the Marines on the ground doing house-to-house. And it appears as though they're doing a good job and we've got to support them."

Smith then changed the topic back to the game and asked if there was anyone among the castaways for whom Sexton held a long-lasting animosity.

"What they did show when I got off, I said, I questioned the integrity of two individuals -- Alex and Rob."

And he said Deena seemed to have it out for him, as well. "That's another thing they didn't show. Deena, when we came together, she had this cocky idea about how to do the water, which was totally incorrect. And I said fine, we'll do it your way. And the issue with the fire. She wanted two fires. I said 'hey if you want two fires go build two fires.' Had nothing to do that she was a woman - just her ideas were out there."

Still, like almost all of the other castaways before him, Sexton enjoyed his time on Survivor. "I had a great time and watching it has been good. It's been fun and I'm looking forward to see the ultimate outcome."