'Survivor' hero Tom Westman wishes he had lasted longer but 'loved every minute'

"Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains" has seen the Hero tribe lose 4 out of the first 5 Immunity Challenges. Tom Westman was the latest booted contestant.

What made you want to do Survivor again?
Originally it was very easy to say no. I said no to "Fans vs. Favorites" and I said no to this initially. My wife, who was responsible for sending me out the first time, she started working on me -- "I'm afraid you'll regret it, the opportunity's not going to come around again." It's such a fun game. Just to get out and play against these people, it was an opportunity that was tough to say no to.

Were you excited to be a Hero? And then were you disappointed by the Heroes tribe?
You know, I didn't put too much stock in that labeling. If anything, I kind of cringed because you know some of these idiots are really going to buy into this and you're on a show where the premise is to deceive, you know that they were going to get the opportunity to show us not being Heroes and to show the Villains being heroes. I would've rather had some ridiculous made-up indigenous tribe name and let us take it from there. Once you're calling them the Villains, you're poking them with a stick and giving them a reason to come back and prove otherwise. I just kind of cringed at the whole thing.

We've sort-of named this season Brawn vs. Brains instead of Heroes vs. Villains because the Heroes keep getting these physical leads then getting smoked in the puzzle portion. Is that a fair assessment?
People talk about a lack of teamwork, but the physical part of these challenges required teamwork too. WE just cannot beat Boston Rob. I don't know that it's how bad we are or if they just have somebody who's so much better. I just think there was this consistent puzzle theme and we're out here going, "Hey when are we getting in the water or having something else involved?" I'm surprised even in the sumo challenge that we won, I'm surprised that after you knocked the person in the mud that it wasn't who can do the Rubik's Cube first. But Boston Rob was single-handedly cleaning our clock in puzzles and there's no two ways around it.

Why do you think the Heroes got off to such a rocky start, but the Villains gelled?
You get off to a rocky start as soon as you go to Tribal Council and then that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once you knock a tribe back on their heels, they never get going again. We're not working well together because there are alliances and I think it's a function of losing that first immunity. Certainly the second tribal, when my main ally of Stephenie going home, that was it for me. You know where the lines are drawn. Amanda has a couple guys willing to follow her and that's what you're up against.

When you were eliminated, who were you rooting for?
Colby and Candice, especially Colby. Candice, I love her, but you can never get her to make a bold move and to stick it and say let's go, let's do this. But Colby is as loyal as they come, what you see out there is the real deal.

Anyone from the Villains tribe?
I personally have never played with him, but from what I've seen of the season, Boston Rob he's owning this season. He just really is playing so well. He's got nice control over there and he's coming across great. He's one of those players where I didn't think he had a good enough social game to get to the big win, but I don't see that problem now.

What about Russell, the new kid that nobody knows?
I only know what everybody else has seen. The uncanny ability to find Idols is like getting old now. He's a little delusional. He is that guy who plays a great game but not a winning game.  A great second place game. I would love to play the game with him because you know you'll beat him, just about anybody can beat him in the end. He's a one dimensional player.

Final thoughts?
I wish the run was a little longer, but it was once again, you can't believe where you are and you're laying out there under the stars and having this crazy adventure. I loved every minute of it.

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Photo credit: CBS