Survivor Exit Interview: “It was a boneheaded and silly move.”

It was called one of the craziest Tribal Councils of all time and when it was all said and done, won of the craziest players in Survivor history had his torch snuffed.  Returning for his second season of Survivor (and I predict not his last) it seemed that Phillip Sheppard would repeat as an easy person to bring to the Final 3, since it would seem that no one would vote for him anyway. But The Three Amigos had different plans and when all three immunity idols were played at once, there was nothing Phillip could do to change his fate.

Here’s our interview.

Morning Phillip, how are you doing today?
I’m doing terrific, I’m having a wonderful time and I just got news this morning that The Specialist: The Costa Rica Job, written by my younger brother Charles Peterson Sheppard as a collaborative effort, is now Number 12 in Asia!

That’s amazing!
You’re right that’s amazing. Out of two million books in their catalog, you bet it’s amazing to be at twelve. We like to think that because I had an opportunity to appear twice on Survivor that that had a lot to do with it. The fans supported me going forward.

The Specialist also doing really well in Canada too, right?
That’s right. In fact, it’s the 40th most gifted item in Canada. (Editor’s note: I checked and didn’t see it in the Top 100.) We’re very, very pleased that the Canadians started the movement internationally, supporting our effort with this book. It’s not doing as well in the States as it has internationally, but it’s doing well.

Why do you think the book is doing so well in Canada?
One of the things I’ve noticed about Canadians when they tweeted me, they get it. They get that Phillip Sheppard is a guy, who recognizes that at some point in the game there’s an opportunity to be creative, to be entertaining and they get it. They realize that’s what I’m doing out there. When I created Stealth R Us and I gave myself the name The Specialist or the Enforcer, Serenity, the Mentalist, they realized that it’s sure a lot better than doing nothing.

Before you went back to play for the second time, what advice to Boston Rob have for you?
Before I played again, I did not speak directly to Boston Rob. He didn’t give me any specific advice. People get confused because I created the Boston Rob Rules. We never spoke about that. The first time I played, everyone thought I was just the wacky federal agent. But I wanted to demonstrate that I walked away from my first season, having learned a couple of things. So I wanted to show that I learned something. Boston Rob never said, “This is rule number one, this is rule number two.” I created that on my own. Once again, I knew that by sharing with the audience, that would be a laughable moment for the show. It was also very effective.

Malcolm came off as a very strategic player during your last tribal council. Did you see it that way?
I’ll describe it for what it is. It was a boneheaded and silly move. Let me get this right, you’ve got two idols in your pocket, you’re sitting next to a guy who had individual immunity and you’re going to use those two idols on a guy that you call a “fun sponge?” So you’re going to potentially limit your chances on a guy who’s going out tenth, who’s a 54-year-old man, who just sat out of an individual immunity challenge and you view him as the biggest threat in the game? Really? Why would he do that? According to what we’re seeing, he’s pretty annoying out there. So two weeks in a row Malcolm never made the smartest moves in the game, it’s a game changer, but we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we?

How do I go about getting a Stealth R Us name?
Well, you can do it very simple. You go out and buy a copy of the The Specialist:The Costa Rica Job and then you tweet me a photo of you holding it and I’ll turn around and give you a name.