UNPACKED REALITY - AUSTRALIAN SURVIVOR - AILEEN

It's in the news today, but it was actually on tv Reload the podcast last week. Hey guys, welcome back to tiv Reload. I want to thank you for clicking and downloading. On today's episode, with Superfan Eileen, the thirteenth eliminated contestant from this year's Australian Survivor, which is now on Network ten, I will be talking about Eileen's time in Samoa and of course what she thinks now that the smoke has well and truly been snuffed out on

You, Hi, Ben, I'm having a lovely time. Thank you so much. How about yourself?

It's at that point now where all of the fans of Australian Survivor at like fever pitch like where we're addicted.

Ah, I'm loving Look, I'm as a super fan myself. You know I was sitting on the other side just a year ago, and to have the fans backing me up on this one just means the world to me, and it warms my heart. You know, when I had my exit yesterday, I knew I was gonna be fine. And Twitter's rioting everyone on Instagram's like.

Bring back Kylie Hat, I'm like, bring back Kilie.

I don't think I've ever seen that though. Like I'm a big fan of those train and Survivor as well, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone being demanded to be returned, do you know.

I know, and I think it is because I came in as a superfan and that was my backstory. And also I think a lot of people see themselves in me, you know, the Asian community, but even more so, you know, the underdog who has been told that the way to success is to find a steady career and climb up that ladder. And all I wanted to do was to prove to everyone, but mostly my parents, that you know, by winning the game of Survivor, you can achieve success

I don't even think that people who have won this show have walked away with as much adoration. It's a matter that you didn't win this show, people's You're still proving to be more popular with the fans than some of our past winners.

Ah. It means the world, honestly, and I'm just soaking it all in and just trying to be really humble about it and just really thankful as well.

What's the rationale behind the spelling of your name and the pronunciation being Eileen? Because am I getting that right? So the pronunciation correctly is is Eileene?

Yes, Well that's.

How my parents want to pronounce it. And little backstory, So my parents are obsessed with Celene Deon and I think at one point they were considering calling me Selene, but they were like, no, let's call her Eileen. And I think in Asian cultures he pronounced the ai as i Aii means love in Chinese. But I know I had an Irish teacher in high school who would refuse to call me Eileen. He would say Aileen because he was like, that's the correct Irish way to say it, and I'm like.

Okay, do you don't have many people. I've argued this with like so many people, And it's interesting to watch most of the pronunciation because you've obviously explained it to everybody. All the other castaways. They are calling you Aileen, they're not calling you Aleen.

So yeah, good.

And I know someone on Facebook tagged me and asked for me to clarify the situation and I was very happy too, So I think it's settled.

Now it's done, and now it's officially on my podcast. You know, we talked about you being a fan favorite, and I just think it's so exciting that people want to celebrate you. Was it hard then to see yourself go at this point of the competition.

I don't feel like I've let myself down, especially since I had my journey play out the way it did. You know, I could have gone home two weeks ago had I not won that challenge at the Tribal Council. And then again when I was pretty much going to be going home, I held on for dear life on that Triangle challenge and made it through. And I was like, look, I've proven to everyone and surprised myself that when my back is up against the wall, I can pull out the win. And so I feel like I had achieved

How funny was it that people were saying last week because Aiden was also a super fan, and people were saying, you know, the next person who comes out is going to be put on the jury and they should give up their spot for Aiden because he's a super fan. And then you are the next person out and no one wants you to give away your say to Aiden.

Look, I was absolutely, I truly in that moment. I was crushed when we found out that Eden didn't make the jury, and I personally didn't think it was his time to go yet because I could see him either being my shield or my ally because we both really thought alike. And it was such a shame that we only ended up on the Merged tribe that late in

Well, I saw on x which you know, for people like me who are a bit older, it's the old Twitter. I saw a graph that someone was putting together of the percentages of most likely to return to the game, and Eden and yourself were at the top of that list.

So really, oh, I hadn't seen that, But that's honestly, keep I keep getting shocked by how much love both of us and myself are getting, Like it's so surreal.

And had I been watching the.

Season and not have been on, I would have been rooting for those people as well. So I completely understand and thank you everyone.

I mean, I think your rebel underdog package, that's what I call it was one of the most likable backstories that we've ever seen, just the way in which it was so celebrated. As soon as it happened, there was like a match had been lit and all of these people were ignited into celebrating you. What was your reaction to watching.

It, Well, I was so excited because I knew that I had a pretty good backstory coming into the show. A little nervous because I knew that I had mentioned that my parents were really strict with my upbringing. But you know, I credit my parents to my sense of motivation and determination and perseverance because had I not had that upbringing, you know, maybe I didn't have I wouldn't have had the mental endurance to last that long.

So but I just.

Wanted everyone to see to feel represented. You know, there are so many people like me. I'm not just this anomaly. Everyone I feel feels like they're the underdog or that you can achieve. You want to achieve success in a very different way than what society thinks it should look like.

And so I felt that.

Once I released that story, people would resonate with me in that way.

You know, yes, you said you mentioned that that's sort of how you'd referred to them. I guess everyone wants to know. Did they enjoy watching.

You know What's wild?

So I had not told my parents until the very last second when I was when I knew I made it on the show. I had asked my siblings. I was like, do you think I should tell mom and dad like, I don't. I don't want the weight of disappointment bearing on me when I play the show if they don't approve. And they were like, you know what, you should just tell mom and dad because you'd rather them not worry, you know, And so I was like, okay, I'll tell them. So I told them, and the opposite

He had no.

Electricity, he had to dig an actual well to survive, so he was giving me tips here, there, everywhere. And my mom was just like typical Filipino mom, and I was like, this weight had just lifted off my shoulders and I felt like I had permission to play the game. So they were so excited to watch, you know, they

The woman the fuzzies, you know what I mean, Like we always have all of these ideas about, you know, wanting to seek approval from our parents, and then to be able to get that in your lifetime means money come by, I know.

And I think I just proved to them as well that you can do something that you're passionate about. You know, it's not my career, it's Survivor, it's a TV show. And I think now they understand that this little fan and Eileen who has been dying to go on the show since forever, you know, can finally do something and be really happy and have a great outcome and just prove my worth.

That immunity challenge was so intense with the blocks I really wanted you to win. How frustrating is that outcome now that you know that you were already the target.

Well look, if I had known that my back was up against the wall and I was a target, maybe I would have held on a few more breaths long her and not made that table term sway or anything. And I've proven before that you know, when I feel like I'm going home, that I actually perform my best. So someone should have just told me that I was going home and I would have probably won that one.

But yeah, it was frustrating.

But look, when you're focusing on a challenge where mental you know, focus is the key, you don't want to fluster, and that's I didn't fluster at all when I dropped those things. I was just like, oh, okay, I'll start again. So honestly it was fine. But had I known that I was going to be the one voted out, I think I would have zoned in even one hundred and ten percent more.

And fl and my sweat glands are working, So thank you, because much like all of the astraints, Survivor was watching that show, we were sweating, We were sweating for you.

Yeah I was sweating watching it back yesterday as well, and you could see the beads of sweat on my nose. At that challenge, I was like, God, they're not filtering anything.

What do you think would have happened if you had won that? Because Kirby herself even said that she didn't have a backup plan. What do you think the ramifications of you beating Kitty and that immunity challenge, what do you think that would have resulted?

In either we would have been able to secure Caroline and Kitty and then voted out Mark, or maybe Raymond would have become a target because he didn't have an IDOL on him and I would be safe. And you know, one way or the other, I think because we were a strong alliance of four perceived Ferris, myself, Raymond, and

Anyway, What do you think though about Caroline and Kitty lying to Ferris? I mean, were you because I mean you were kind of his right hand man to a certain extent, depends on who you ask. Ferris could be your right hand man to a lot of people because you well and truly even he explained that he couldn't do much without running it all by you, the invisible hand might have been yours. What did you think about lying to Ferris? Did you suspect that they might have been gunning that way?

I didn't, And you know what, and I had a one on one conversation I think the day before or maybe just before that challenge, and it seemed. And I spoke to Caroline yesterday about this, and she said it was a very genuine conversation that we had about us potentially working together. So I think maybe the paranoia must have gotten the best of Caroline at that moment, and the you know, the persuasion of Kirby and her crew. But at that point, now I actually thought that they

Mean a day in any of these reality shows. You know. I did a series of Big Brother, and I worked out that the day of the nomination, I actually did

Well, you know what happened that day. I basically did that.

So I was pretty comfortable with where I was at, and I was truly blindsided that I was like, at the scramble, guys, I'm going to make the coconut rice. So I made the best goddamn coconut rice that tribe has ever tasted. And I was feeding everyone. I was feeding Mark. Mark and I were looking at each other even though we knew we were well. He was voting

But that's how it played out.

That's how it played out. Was it hard to watch last night? I mean, we got to see this moment as they were walking away from the tribal council and you hear feris talking to Kirby and saying thank you for eliminating her, you know, because I wouldn't have been able to. How did it feel for you? What was your reaction to being able to see that.

I mean, I'm not surprised because if I were in his position at one point, you got to take out the person who you've been aligning with the closest, because you guys are going to be playing a very similar game and pitching very similar pitches at.

The very end.

And I think, honestly, at that moment he was probably just trying to save his own ass and say to Kirby, oh, this is really not affecting me the way it actually is. But you will see later in Confessionals that he was angry. I think it was in the promo as well.

We got to see that in the promo. That was what was really cool was we got to see him saying, oh, well, thank you for doing it. But then straight away we've got this promo where you do see him saying how upset he is, and you know, you can see he's devastated by that blindside. It's good to hear that you. I'm assuming it sounds to me like you're believing he's upset rather than the backstabbing kind of comment that he made to Kirby.

Of course, of course, and you got to take everything really lightly it's a game at the end of the day. And I respect when you can speak to your enemy me and make it seem like it's all good, because I would have done the same. You know, a good Survivor player doesn't show their cards and show their frustration because it just shows that you're more unlikely to work

Yeah, what was your plan to get rid of Ferris though, because you must have been already putting that plan in process.

Yeah, So my strategy was, I actually wanted to keep Kirby in the very beginning, keep Kirby and Ferris as my shields, and then had I been successful, now at merged to vote up Mark. It was actually my next pitch to vote out Kirby. Once Kirby was gone, then I would round out everybody else because Kirby was a huge leader, you know, she was so endearing and able to pull everyone in. But without that person, then I'd be able to work with everyone else have more agency.

So that was your plan to keep him to the end and then vote at Ferris well, to vote.

Out any big players that I thought would go against would be competing with me at the end.

Yeah, So I guess there's what a lot of the super fans want. They want to take the biggest players to the end just to beat them. So I guess that's kind of what your plan was, just to make sure that at the end, if you're going to win, you want to beat the best.

But also if you want to win, you got to increase your chances, right, And so I understand the logic as well, And I'm not upset at any past player who has decided to take a goat to the end because you are increasing your odds and yes, title of Soul survivor also the other hand, five hundred thousand dollars, right, so yeah, increase your odds.

Well, you and Raymond have been accused of being Ferris's goat for a while now there's a lot of goat memes that have been happening on social media. Right, did you worry about that title for yourself while you were playing the game, like while you're on the bea Samoa.

No, because I had been told by other people that they didn't perceive me as a goat. So what you didn't see on the island was, you know, Valeria literally came up to me after her Aussie Barbecue reward challenge with Caroline, Mark and Kitty and I was like, so, what happened at the reward and she basically just told me that they went through each player and said what

You must have all been thinking that there was an immunity idol being heaten somewhere in that auction. Did anyone suspect that Raymond had a clue or an immunity idol inside that popcorn barrel?

Oh?

One hundred percent. You know me.

I know that there's always an inkling there, that something's hidden in the well in the popcorn in this instance, and when Raymond was bidding so hard for it, I was like, look, I don't actually care for a popcorn at the stage, and I know that he's in my alliance, so I'll ask him later about what he found in the popcorn.

I was going to ask you about Raymond. Raymond made a comment in this episode where he said, Oh, maybe my jokes don't land anymore. Maybe maybe my jokes never did. What did you have to say about Raymond's sense of humor, because he did sort of make a joke at some point that was didn't land with the audience, and it was kind of a little bit rude. He was kind of like Aileen, you know, what's she going to do after survival? There's something like that comment.

I have no future yeah, you have no future.

That to me because I was obsessed with Raymond up to that point, but that really cut me as an Eileen fan. How did you relate or understand that comment from him?

No hard feelings at all, and I totally know where he came from, and I'll just explain it now. So from the very first day day on the beach, I had not revealed to anyone that my full time job is an operations manager for an investment fund. All I said was I was this happy, go lucky waitress, just happy.

To be there.

So I think he thought that I wasn't as smart as I was, or that that was sort of the reason why he thought I had no future.

Not to say that, you know.

People in hospitality, they can find success in their own ways, but I think that's where that comment derived from. So when I watched it back, I just laughed out loud to be honest, like it didn't phaze me at all, and I just wanted to make sure that everyone on social media knew that I was okay. And poor Raymond made an apology and I was like, this is so unnecessary, like it's I don't understand.

It was rude, it was so rude. I was so annoyed. I was like, no, it.

Was random but funny, like loll.

I appreciate the explanation though, because that's making me feel a little bit better. And Raymon's still in the game, so I can go back to my love of Raymond again.

We all love Raymond, Okay, everybody.

Loves Raymond as his advantage stresses me out. And when he was reading out the information on his advantage, I was confused. Thankfully, in the Magic of Australian Survivor, we got to see the explanation, you know, explained pretty quickly. I still don't know how I would use that advantage. If you'd got that advantage, had you or have you been able to try and think? How do you how you would use it?

Oh? God, if I got that advantage, I would be spinning in my head because why would I want everyone to put their votes on me? Because once they first of all, that was almost going to happen previously, and I feel like if you constantly aim for people to target you, well you're just going to be front of mine for the next one and the next one. So honestly,

But like why would I want that?

And also like I had, you know, everyone kind of liked me on the tribe, Like, I don't know how I would have done. The one to eighty in the next three tribal councils is the wild advantage, and we'll see what happens.

Yeah, it's a wild advantage. I mean I think it would take me a couple of days to try and work out how to use it. So, I mean he's got a timeframe, there's a time frame. Yeah, who do you think at this stage of the game is in the best place to win in regards to sort of the people that are standing out in front or looking like the biggest or strongest contenders, Well, how do you think that those how do you think they're going to go?

Look, if Kirby can manage to lower her threat level for the next however many tribal councils, then I think she has played one of the best games we've ever seen. But she's just exposed herself and you can see that in her confessionals. She just wants to be in control a lot of the time. So all I have to say is, like, good luck, Kirby. If you can, if your personality is able to pull everyone in, I think, and not be voted out, then I think you can

And Caroline, And you know, she's doing very well, but she's not exactly the most popular player. What advice do you have for her? Because I mean, that's interesting advice for Kirby, but what advice do you have for Caroline.

Well, the thing for Caroline is I had not played with her for the first half of the game, right, so I had come into this merge and I didn't really know what her previous moves were. So I guess from watching in hindsight, my advice to Caroline is you got to like be very certain with which direction you want to go and not be paranoid, because once you're paranoid, you kind of let other people dictate your game and you're just gonna go with whoever's not going to vote

Actually, I feel like I want to know every single person's outcomes in the world of Aileen. I'm like every month, but we don't have enough time on the podcast, so you know, I think I'll just leave it with you. What advice do you have for your bestie Ferris? How is he going to move forward from this point?

Good question.

I think Ferris is doing a great job already at inserting himself in every single conversation, but I think maybe he needs to build slightly stronger personal connections with everyone and not make everything about strategy, because you know, back at Titan's camp, I had a conversation with.

Winner and Valeria and I was like, well, I know why.

You didn't work with us, but what else can we do to maybe convince you guys to work with us? And he was like, they were like, look, you have attempted to make these personal connections and talk about your life, Raymond and Ferris nada, and I went straight to Ferris and Raymond. I was like, guys, you need to start talking to Valeria about your life now, because otherwise they're not going to feel that connection. So I think he needs to do that, and we'll see how far it can take him to the end.

Amazing, amazing, My god, good, good advice on all accounts. I've got no idea, but I think that you certainly do, so I'm ready to take it. I've been asking everyone to finish this sentence in the Game of Survivors.

In the game of Survivor, be prepared to adapt to any situation because you never know what curveball is going to be thrown at you, and you're put in a scenario with twenty three other players that you have no idea how they are in their actual life, So just be prepared to be open minded and play that game.

I would say your audition for any show, and I would cost you. Woman in there she is write television like it's really do you know what? One of the things I want to finish with with you is so many people will apply to go on shows and want to be a fan favorite, you know, and then you can see that in them, where with you, there was this humble quality and it's really hard to pull off, you know, and it's something that makes a show like

Sense, Yeah, that you know, those words are really touching to me because it wasn't like I was trying to be anyone's favorite out there.

I was just trying to play my own game.

But I think if you just go into it knowing that you have this opportunity that's a once in a lifetime and you don't, you know, expect too much of an outcome. You just play the game, and if you're really passionate about it and you make those connections, I think people will be able to see that you're just genuine self on there, and that's what people love.

They certainly do, they really do. Everyone who joins the podcast gets asked this question, what is something from behind the scenes, something we didn't get a chance to say throughout your time in Samoa.

Oh my god.

So you know, as a survivor super fan, I was freaking out when we had that very first scene where we walk them to the mat and it's that fired challenge and Jonathan is there and we're meeting him for the first time and there's all these cameras. So I was beaming, but I was so nervous, and I knew for some reason, Jonathan was going to ask me a question, and so I was like, Okay, when he asks me a question, I'm gonna Curtsey because he's royalty and it's

And I was like, I hope this isn't air, and.

Thank god it didn't air, and I told all my friends about it. I was like, just watch out for the curtsy. It is going to become a meme or something.

But it's the worst part I'd been a part of a show and you're waiting for the show to go to air. I remember I did this show for the ABC and it was something like nine months between you know the record and TX and I tell you what, I just had so many nightmares about it, and then

Like, yeah, I just.

Want to say thank you so much for the passion, the energy and the level of entertainment that you've brought to this series. I think you were so fantastic and like a lot of the super fandom, I think we're going to be in your audience for a very long time.

Oh, thank you so much.

Thank you for the opportunity and the compassionate space to be able to talk on your podcast.

And yeah, I hope this isn't the last that you guys will see me.

Hell no, like you. But by the way, when that chart was there with you and Aidan at the top, you were still at the top. You were still beating Aiden on most wanted to Return. I think it was most wanted to return and the charts had other players from other seasons as well, so to be sitting at the top.

Wow, you know I need to scroll through Twitter x later and find these. I know, straight after the episode last night, I was like, do not disturb vote. I'm going to get my beauty sleep because I have these interviews. So I haven't really seen much, but I feel all the love