Survivor Forum
Smashboards Interview with Ken
Posted on: Dec. 19 2008,11:27
Hey, I thought you guys might enjoy this interview that the Smash Boards community conducted with Ken a couple of days ago, so figured I'd post it here.
Normal text = Interviewer Speech
Bolded text = Ken Hoang
So when you found out you were a contestant on the show, where were you when you found out and what was the first thing you did?
I found out when I was actually at my house. They called me and told me and I couldn’t believe it, I was on the show. I was like ‘There’s no way, there’s no way’. Then next thing I know I’m in Africa playing the game.
Alright, which player do you think had the best game, played the best and why?
I thought Ace played differently, a really good game, and you know, his allies betrayed him, and he got far. I thought Randy played a pretty good game and Sugar played a pretty good game but I don’t even know if she was playing a game, because she wasn’t playing from the start. Bob started playing the game later, but I don’t think he was playing a good game throughout the entire game, he played a good game later, and I thought Crystal and I played a good game, but I wouldn’t say we played the best game.
What was the most surprising thing you learned from being on a reality show?
I learned from being on a reality TV show that they can edit the way they want you to be portrayed, they can do whatever they want. They can give you the best edit or the worst edit in the world and people have gotten really good edits and it wasn’t really like that from what I saw on the island.
Okay. A lot of people on the Smashboards community want to know what you would recommend for someone who wants to be a contestant on the show, how to they get to be a contestant, or what would make them stand out?
Just be yourself, and in the video, and if they like you, they’ll call you back.
Was this your first time applying?
Yeah, this was my first time applying.
Could you go into detail about what your audition tape entailed? Was there anything about gaming in there?
I just told them about my life, and what I do, and you know, what I do at school, what I do at home. I was definitely just being myself and telling them why I believed I could be the sole survivor and that I think I can play this game.
Okay. What was the most memorable moment of the show for you?
Definitely going to be the family visit and the family theme and y’know you got to see your family and ask them about what happened at home and y’know you met them all there. It was definitely the family visit.
Describe one day at Gabon, right from when you woke up, what were the things you did on a typical day.
Well I was basically the provider at every camp I was in like Fang, Kota and Nobag. Basically around base camp I would set traps. Sometimes I would go get fruit then I’d boil water. Daily chores, and then if there was a challenge that day, we would do that. It really depends on what you do at camp, and of course strategizing and talking to your allies about what to do next. You get used to it after nine days out there, you don’t even realize there are cameras out there.
Being a gamer, did you ever get the itch to game? To say “Man I wish I just had a Gamecube or a Wii with me right here to relax”.
When I was out there, I didn’t even have like, an itch, to play video games. All I was thinking about was surviving the game y’know. I was hoping for some challenges that had to do with something about video games or something like that, but no…
(Laughs)
If there was an All-Star version of survivor (sometimes they do that), would you do it again?
If they asked me again, I would do it again. I learned from my mistakes and if I played the game again, I’d probably do a lot better. I’d definitely do it again.
I just have a few more gaming related questions, obviously, because it’s for MLG and Smashboards. Smash obviously is a fast game, y’know, you have to act fast, react fast, you have to think fast, you have to strategize pretty quickly. Given that Survivor’s just a much longer, an extended time. Did you think that you maybe over-thought things too much, or maybe spent too much time thinking as opposed to what you’re normally accustomed to when you play other people?
Yes, that was definitely my downfall. I over-thought the situations so much so that I kind of just sat back at the end and thought what if I took control, someone else took control, etc. I over-thought both situations and that was definitely the downfall of me.
Another forum member wants to know, are you going to throw a tournament or a celebration for your success on the show. If not, do you plan on playing smash competitively, what do you plan on doing afterwards?
I am never ever going to throw a tournament ever again after my last tournament. I’m done with tournament hosting for sure, and right now I’m just worried about school and y’know living life and getting out more, doing other things and maybe after I’m graduated and want to play smash again, then I’ll probably come back, but it doesn’t look like I want to do that right now. I just want to take a huge break from competitive gaming.
Do you still play any bit recreationally? Not just smash, just gaming in general?
I play party games from time to time, but just for fun. Other than that, I haven’t been playing a lot of games lately. I’ve just been doing other things.
Here’s another question. If you could describe the other final four finalists for the show, Matty, Sugar, Bob and Suzie as smash characters, and yourself, who would you be able to compare them to?
Uhhhhhhhh
If you had to? (lol >.>)
I don’t even know, that’s a tough one.
What about for yourself then?
(Ken stutters and stammers)
I’d like to see myself as Marth, maybe Marth. I don’t think that survivor could relate to smash characters, I don’t think there’s no way in hell.
(Laughs)
Do you still keep in touch with anyone from the show?
Yeah of course. Crystal and I are like really good friends after the show. I call her home maybe every week and we talk about things. I’m really good friends with Matty, I’m really good friends with Dan, Randy, who else? Michelle, Kelly. I get along with the majority of the cast, but you know, its just like some of them are not really good friends but you know these people I mentioned stand out.
Do you think you influenced the gaming community at all being on Survivor?
Yeah definitely, the thing is like no one really knew, when I first got on the show it was like ‘Oh, he’s definitely going to be the first or second voted off’ a week, we’ll give him that. When they saw me doing so well, (and saw me making it through every week), they were actually jumping on the bandwagon then, rooting for me to win. At first I got a lot of comments on my (Facebook and Myspace). A lot of people underestimated me, everybody else on the show underestimated me, but I proved to a lot of people that I’m actually a good player and that I was behind the majority of people going home. So I guess as a game you base perspective on what you can do when you’re a personal threat in the game.
Did any of the other survivor contestants remind you of any of your other, former competitors in smash, any other pros? Did you see any similarities with them?
Ummmm…
Did anyone remind you of Isai, Chu dat, PC Chris, KillaOR?
I don’t really know. It’s kinda hard to relate the survivor contestants to smash pros. I guess Crystal was my Isai out there. She stuck with me, and she was very loyal. We were a team, we had each other’s back.
Okay, just one last question. Is there anything you want to say to the gaming community, MLG community, Smashboards community?
I’d like to say thank you for your support for me the whole way.
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Posted on: Dec. 19 2008,11:27
Hey, I thought you guys might enjoy this interview that the Smash Boards community conducted with Ken a couple of days ago, so figured I'd post it here.
Normal text = Interviewer Speech
Bolded text = Ken Hoang
So when you found out you were a contestant on the show, where were you when you found out and what was the first thing you did?
I found out when I was actually at my house. They called me and told me and I couldn’t believe it, I was on the show. I was like ‘There’s no way, there’s no way’. Then next thing I know I’m in Africa playing the game.
Alright, which player do you think had the best game, played the best and why?
I thought Ace played differently, a really good game, and you know, his allies betrayed him, and he got far. I thought Randy played a pretty good game and Sugar played a pretty good game but I don’t even know if she was playing a game, because she wasn’t playing from the start. Bob started playing the game later, but I don’t think he was playing a good game throughout the entire game, he played a good game later, and I thought Crystal and I played a good game, but I wouldn’t say we played the best game.
What was the most surprising thing you learned from being on a reality show?
I learned from being on a reality TV show that they can edit the way they want you to be portrayed, they can do whatever they want. They can give you the best edit or the worst edit in the world and people have gotten really good edits and it wasn’t really like that from what I saw on the island.
Okay. A lot of people on the Smashboards community want to know what you would recommend for someone who wants to be a contestant on the show, how to they get to be a contestant, or what would make them stand out?
Just be yourself, and in the video, and if they like you, they’ll call you back.
Was this your first time applying?
Yeah, this was my first time applying.
Could you go into detail about what your audition tape entailed? Was there anything about gaming in there?
I just told them about my life, and what I do, and you know, what I do at school, what I do at home. I was definitely just being myself and telling them why I believed I could be the sole survivor and that I think I can play this game.
Okay. What was the most memorable moment of the show for you?
Definitely going to be the family visit and the family theme and y’know you got to see your family and ask them about what happened at home and y’know you met them all there. It was definitely the family visit.
Describe one day at Gabon, right from when you woke up, what were the things you did on a typical day.
Well I was basically the provider at every camp I was in like Fang, Kota and Nobag. Basically around base camp I would set traps. Sometimes I would go get fruit then I’d boil water. Daily chores, and then if there was a challenge that day, we would do that. It really depends on what you do at camp, and of course strategizing and talking to your allies about what to do next. You get used to it after nine days out there, you don’t even realize there are cameras out there.
Being a gamer, did you ever get the itch to game? To say “Man I wish I just had a Gamecube or a Wii with me right here to relax”.
When I was out there, I didn’t even have like, an itch, to play video games. All I was thinking about was surviving the game y’know. I was hoping for some challenges that had to do with something about video games or something like that, but no…
(Laughs)
If there was an All-Star version of survivor (sometimes they do that), would you do it again?
If they asked me again, I would do it again. I learned from my mistakes and if I played the game again, I’d probably do a lot better. I’d definitely do it again.
I just have a few more gaming related questions, obviously, because it’s for MLG and Smashboards. Smash obviously is a fast game, y’know, you have to act fast, react fast, you have to think fast, you have to strategize pretty quickly. Given that Survivor’s just a much longer, an extended time. Did you think that you maybe over-thought things too much, or maybe spent too much time thinking as opposed to what you’re normally accustomed to when you play other people?
Yes, that was definitely my downfall. I over-thought the situations so much so that I kind of just sat back at the end and thought what if I took control, someone else took control, etc. I over-thought both situations and that was definitely the downfall of me.
Another forum member wants to know, are you going to throw a tournament or a celebration for your success on the show. If not, do you plan on playing smash competitively, what do you plan on doing afterwards?
I am never ever going to throw a tournament ever again after my last tournament. I’m done with tournament hosting for sure, and right now I’m just worried about school and y’know living life and getting out more, doing other things and maybe after I’m graduated and want to play smash again, then I’ll probably come back, but it doesn’t look like I want to do that right now. I just want to take a huge break from competitive gaming.
Do you still play any bit recreationally? Not just smash, just gaming in general?
I play party games from time to time, but just for fun. Other than that, I haven’t been playing a lot of games lately. I’ve just been doing other things.
Here’s another question. If you could describe the other final four finalists for the show, Matty, Sugar, Bob and Suzie as smash characters, and yourself, who would you be able to compare them to?
Uhhhhhhhh
If you had to? (lol >.>)
I don’t even know, that’s a tough one.
What about for yourself then?
(Ken stutters and stammers)
I’d like to see myself as Marth, maybe Marth. I don’t think that survivor could relate to smash characters, I don’t think there’s no way in hell.
(Laughs)
Do you still keep in touch with anyone from the show?
Yeah of course. Crystal and I are like really good friends after the show. I call her home maybe every week and we talk about things. I’m really good friends with Matty, I’m really good friends with Dan, Randy, who else? Michelle, Kelly. I get along with the majority of the cast, but you know, its just like some of them are not really good friends but you know these people I mentioned stand out.
Do you think you influenced the gaming community at all being on Survivor?
Yeah definitely, the thing is like no one really knew, when I first got on the show it was like ‘Oh, he’s definitely going to be the first or second voted off’ a week, we’ll give him that. When they saw me doing so well, (and saw me making it through every week), they were actually jumping on the bandwagon then, rooting for me to win. At first I got a lot of comments on my (Facebook and Myspace). A lot of people underestimated me, everybody else on the show underestimated me, but I proved to a lot of people that I’m actually a good player and that I was behind the majority of people going home. So I guess as a game you base perspective on what you can do when you’re a personal threat in the game.
Did any of the other survivor contestants remind you of any of your other, former competitors in smash, any other pros? Did you see any similarities with them?
Ummmm…
Did anyone remind you of Isai, Chu dat, PC Chris, KillaOR?
I don’t really know. It’s kinda hard to relate the survivor contestants to smash pros. I guess Crystal was my Isai out there. She stuck with me, and she was very loyal. We were a team, we had each other’s back.
Okay, just one last question. Is there anything you want to say to the gaming community, MLG community, Smashboards community?
I’d like to say thank you for your support for me the whole way.
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Am I the only one that thinks...
That Sugar...
Posted on: Dec. 17 2008,20:08
Looked a LOT like Marilyn Monroe at the reunion? I mean, scarily so.
I need a side by side comparisson. I mean, Sugar even had the more curvy body that Monroe had, which is soooo much more healthy for going onto Survivor with. The skinny girls always look like they're starving to death by the end...
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That Sugar...
Posted on: Dec. 17 2008,20:08
Looked a LOT like Marilyn Monroe at the reunion? I mean, scarily so.
I need a side by side comparisson. I mean, Sugar even had the more curvy body that Monroe had, which is soooo much more healthy for going onto Survivor with. The skinny girls always look like they're starving to death by the end...
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Last Tribal Council questions
Pity
Posted on: Dec. 15 2008,10:28
Well, that will go down in history. How can that many people feed off each others hate?
And as I was sitting there squirming, embarassed and truly sorry for all the hatred stored up in those hearts, I kept trying to justify the reasons.
Corinne, Marcus, Charlie, Randy, Crystal, Kenny and Matty.
Yes Marcus, Randy and maybe even Crystal were blindsided. Corinne brought her exit on with her hatred and meanness. Charlie, Kenny and Matty were just hazards of the game. No surprises...just the game. In all of these cases...there is only one person who couldof/shouldof/wouldof had a slight reason for sour grapes....to me....and that was Randy. And I say that only because of the way his ousting was conducted. Not that they got rid of him but their laughter at his expense. That one jesture nullified the reason or lesson the people were trying to convey.
Crystals dismissal of Susie's answers was unexcusable. " I done with you." And then she wonders why she is treated with unkindness. Randy, didn't surprise me at all. I expected his hatred and meanness to continue throughout.......and it did. It was Corinne that was the cruelest of all. Never have I been so happy to hear boos from a crowd. Let one's peers try to make a point. And they did. And even though she acted like it didn't bother her..........you just know it had too. Even Jeff telling her she was beyond cruel and that her words and actions were beyond reproach.
Frankly, I glad Bob won. He deserved the win. And Susie's 3 votes were meant as nothing more than a slap in Sugar's face. I loved her responses to everyone in the jury. And frankly, she was IMO the most HONEST person in the room. " You were a jerk, I didn't like the way you treated people, etc." She called a spade a spade. And her finger wave was justified to Corinne and without words.....just that stare while she was waving......sealed the moment. I do wish however, that she would have explained her position a little better to Matty than she did. In confessional she said that she couldn't choose between her father and her brother. Let fate decide who goes to the finals. Why didn't she explain that to him. It would have been a little more acceptable if only he had had of known. But, I think that him sitting right beside her in the after show.......proved that he now understands. Or listening to the tape will explain it.
All in all.........I'm ready for TPTB to clean up their personalities a little. You don't need angry, mean and half psychopathic people to make a television show more entertaining. Steering away from lonely, no friends but my dead dog people like Randy will be refreshing. Corinne's personality screamed from the onset that she would be the *bitch from hell...and she was. The posse that left us with that stink and the horrible taste need to be hosed down and washed away. There are true, real and wonderful people who would give their eye teeth to be on Survivor. Take a little time next season picking your contestants. Listen to the comments of your fans. We don't need all the hatred displayed this season. There is enough of that in the real world.
** Anybody else notice Randy's wit last night? That smile he was trying so hard to hide. His humor came so easily it had me wondering if some of his spewings were just an act. I mean, he fired answers back at Jeff with lightening speed. And they were hallarious. The...." I cheated" line was priceless. You just never know why some people act they way the do or if they are pretending.
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Pity
Posted on: Dec. 15 2008,10:28
Well, that will go down in history. How can that many people feed off each others hate?
And as I was sitting there squirming, embarassed and truly sorry for all the hatred stored up in those hearts, I kept trying to justify the reasons.
Corinne, Marcus, Charlie, Randy, Crystal, Kenny and Matty.
Yes Marcus, Randy and maybe even Crystal were blindsided. Corinne brought her exit on with her hatred and meanness. Charlie, Kenny and Matty were just hazards of the game. No surprises...just the game. In all of these cases...there is only one person who couldof/shouldof/wouldof had a slight reason for sour grapes....to me....and that was Randy. And I say that only because of the way his ousting was conducted. Not that they got rid of him but their laughter at his expense. That one jesture nullified the reason or lesson the people were trying to convey.
Crystals dismissal of Susie's answers was unexcusable. " I done with you." And then she wonders why she is treated with unkindness. Randy, didn't surprise me at all. I expected his hatred and meanness to continue throughout.......and it did. It was Corinne that was the cruelest of all. Never have I been so happy to hear boos from a crowd. Let one's peers try to make a point. And they did. And even though she acted like it didn't bother her..........you just know it had too. Even Jeff telling her she was beyond cruel and that her words and actions were beyond reproach.
Frankly, I glad Bob won. He deserved the win. And Susie's 3 votes were meant as nothing more than a slap in Sugar's face. I loved her responses to everyone in the jury. And frankly, she was IMO the most HONEST person in the room. " You were a jerk, I didn't like the way you treated people, etc." She called a spade a spade. And her finger wave was justified to Corinne and without words.....just that stare while she was waving......sealed the moment. I do wish however, that she would have explained her position a little better to Matty than she did. In confessional she said that she couldn't choose between her father and her brother. Let fate decide who goes to the finals. Why didn't she explain that to him. It would have been a little more acceptable if only he had had of known. But, I think that him sitting right beside her in the after show.......proved that he now understands. Or listening to the tape will explain it.
All in all.........I'm ready for TPTB to clean up their personalities a little. You don't need angry, mean and half psychopathic people to make a television show more entertaining. Steering away from lonely, no friends but my dead dog people like Randy will be refreshing. Corinne's personality screamed from the onset that she would be the *bitch from hell...and she was. The posse that left us with that stink and the horrible taste need to be hosed down and washed away. There are true, real and wonderful people who would give their eye teeth to be on Survivor. Take a little time next season picking your contestants. Listen to the comments of your fans. We don't need all the hatred displayed this season. There is enough of that in the real world.
** Anybody else notice Randy's wit last night? That smile he was trying so hard to hide. His humor came so easily it had me wondering if some of his spewings were just an act. I mean, he fired answers back at Jeff with lightening speed. And they were hallarious. The...." I cheated" line was priceless. You just never know why some people act they way the do or if they are pretending.
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Was it really nesscesary
Charlie we all know your gay
Posted on: Dec. 15 2008,09:30
Did charlie really need to promote his agenda and make bob squirm because they slept on the ground to gether, was it really important to make sure the world knew that a homosexual selpt next to a normal old man???
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Charlie we all know your gay
Posted on: Dec. 15 2008,09:30
Did charlie really need to promote his agenda and make bob squirm because they slept on the ground to gether, was it really important to make sure the world knew that a homosexual selpt next to a normal old man???
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Survivor on DVD
