'Survivor' hero Colby Donaldson: Dumbest Move award 'a classless move on CBS' part'

Colby Donaldson was the last Hero left standing on "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains."

He talks to Zap2it about his lack of enthusiasm this time around, how the game has changed and how classless he thought the Dumbest Move in "Survivor" History award was.

What made you want to do Survivor again?
Good question. It is a game that I fell in love with 10 years ago. I really did. I hold a lot of nostalgia for it. When the call came in, I was stoked. I was so excited. I immediately responded with yes. Unfortunately, I just didn't have a great experience.

It really seemed like this time around your heart wasn't in it. Is that a fair assessment?
[My heart was in it] in the beginning. It was tough for me when Stephenie and Tom got voted out, not just because they were my alliance and I really like them as players and people, it just didn't make any sense to me. That showed me really quickly how this game was going to go. It didn't matter about keeping your tribe strong so you could win your challenges and succeed, it was about alliances. I just didn't make sense to me.

How has the game changed since the Australia season?
It's obviously more aggressive, but I kind of knew that from watching the seasons on TV. The most important dynamic that exists now is a strong alliance. It doesn't matter if you contribute at camp, if you provide fish, if you get along well with others or if you dominate in challenges. Which all used to matter. It used to be a big part of the game.

Now it only matters if you have a strong alliance. That's it. That's the dominant factor in the game now. J.T. agreed on day one to align with me and Tom, but little did we know J.T. was double-dealing. That was a bad move on his part because he went with the other side and voted out Stephenie, which is a poor move. Not because it went against me, but because she's one of the strongest players who has ever played this game and that made the tribe weak. And lo and behold, we got annihilated by the Villains.

Would you do Survivor again if they asked you?
First, based on my performance this time around, I'm not sure they would ever invite me again. [laughs] But I think it's time to move on and now that I am hosting -- I just finished with this new show that I'm hosting -- it's doubtful that i would ever play again.
 
Were you surprised to see your taking Tina to the finals make the nominations for Dumbest Move in "Survivor" History? We were surprised, we've always looked at that as a really upstanding move, not on the same level with the other nominees.
I'm not sure I agreed with being nominated, but to tell you the truth, I thought it was a low-class move all together. We're going to have a trophy made up and take time out of the reunion show to point out the dumbest move in "Survivor" history? Really? I thought it was a classless move on CBS' part.

What is the hosting gig you mentioned? We hadn't heard anything about that.
It's called "Top Shot" and premieres on June 6 on the History Channel. We just north in L.A. at a beautiful ranch in the mountains. We took 16 of the countries top marksmen and pitted them against each other in historical challenges using old fashioned weapons. History's had to be quiet about it because I was on "Survivor." Contractually we weren't allowed to promtoe me as host until "Survivor" concluded.


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Photo credit: CBS