'Survivor: Samoa's' Laura Morett: 'Well played by Russell'

Laura Morett was the 11th person to leave "Survivor: Samoa." She tells us regarding John's flip, "the fact that he even voted for Natalie the first time" surprised her.

What were you up to before Survivor?
Before I left, I was working down at our state capital [Ed's note: Oregon] for our legislative session. I run the office our lobbyists work out of so every other year for six months I work down there. And I was a mom.

Are you back doing that?  Did "Survivor" change your plans at all?
Well, legislative session ended in June, but yeah I'm back to being mom and grandma and I'm a student, I go to Liberty University. I do the courses online. Back to being the taxi driver, the baker, and the wife. I have a great granddaughter, Layla, she's two-and-a-half years old.

So tell us about last night's episode. Were you surprised by the initial tie?
Yes and no. I was surprise because I really didn't think that John would've even stayed loyal the first round so the fact that he even voted for Natalie the first time really surprised me. Then the minute that they read my name twice, I knew that Monica and Brett and Dave's plan to use John as the decoy didn't work and when they read Natalie's name 5 times, I was surprised that John stayed true for the first vote.

So you knew John was the person who flipped, even before last night?
Yeah. I knew John was coming after me, even back when Russell Swan was in the game. What people don't know is that Brett and I have a really tight alliance. I knew his family from my church, so Brett and I are tight. So the Galu foursome we're talking about [Ed's note: The four men], Brett would tell me what was going on, so I knew that John was really threatened by me and Monica's alliance, he wanted me out. It was win-win in John's eyes because he's finally getting me out but he's not spearheading the "Let's get Laura out" movement.

So did you know Brett before "Survivor?"
[Ed's note: Laura was not allowed to answer this question]

Before you saw last night's episode, did you know Russell found the Idol a third time?
We didn't actually witness him finding it, but we pretty much knew. You saw the whole cat-and-mouse chase through the jungle. I would say that lasted about an hour and the next thing we saw was him in the hammock, just hanging out. He practically had the mouse's tale hanging out of his mouth.

Who do you think is playing the best game?
I think Brett was playing a good game, I think that Russell was playing a strong game. He was playing a very, very aggressive game. I didn't necessarily like that, that's not how I played, but I knew he was playing an aggressive game. Brett is very likable, he's a great guy, so I knew that he had potential and I was rooting for Brett.

At the time, you were pretty mad about Russell and the Idol being played to get Kelly out, but is it fun to watch on TV now that you're home or are you still mad?
It's fun to watch it on TV. It sucks that I lost, but I'm not a bitter person. I'm a competitor. I'm big enough to stick my hand out and say "well played" and it was well played by Russell.

It sucked, I loved Kelly and to have that happen to her... so unfair. To turn around and slap somebody, and to have it be Kelly, it really hurt to have that happen. So in that aspect it was not fun at all, but it's fun watching the show. Like I said, I'm not a poor sport, I'm not a sore loser and that was good play.

Did you ever repair things with Shambo?
I did apologize to her when the show was over and we were done filming. I said, "Shambo, if there was something I did that made you feel like I was being mean to you or isolating you, I never did it intentionally. I'm sorry if I did something that made you feel that way." Whether she accepted, I don't know, but I went to her and told her I was sorry. I can't change how someone feels about me.

Do you have any final thoughts you'd like to share?
I think that any time you go onto a reality show you put it in the editor's hands how you're being portrayed.  And the one thing I'd like to say is that I'm not a mean person, I'm not evil-spirited and I would challenge anyone to tell me one thing I did that was mean to Shambo, that was evil-spirited. I never did anything to her because if I did CBS would've showed it.

Just because Shambo said it doesn't make it true. It's hard to watch that. My friends and family know and the people on the island know that she isolated herself, played this victim role and then pointed her finger at me. It hurts my heart to think that somebody would think I did that to them. Hopefully the viewers will see that I didn't pick on her, I wasn't mean to her. I'm sorry if there was something I did that made her feel that way but it wasn't ever intentional.

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Kelly's exit interview
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