Halfway through the season of Survivor Samoa, one of the most significant turning points came when ex-Marine Sergeant Shannon “Shambo” Waters of the Galu tribe spent a day at Foa Foa where Shambo made key allies to continue her time on Survivor Samoa. When the Survivor tribes merged in Samoa, Shambo played an integral role in shifting the balance of Survivor power to the smaller Foa Foa tribe. As a result, Shambo was able to strategize her way into the final six in Survivor Samoa before Russell and Jaison had to let Shambo go to keep themselves in the Survivor game.

One of the most kindhearted, good natured and often misunderstood tribe members of Survivor Samoa, Shambo was one of the more entertaining Survivor characters in Samoa.

The day after Shambo had her Survivor torch extinguished at tribal council, we caught up with the ex-Marine to find out if Shambo knew she was about to leave Survivor Samoa before the vote, whether Shambo agreed with the final Survivor strategy, and how she endured the Survivor rains in Samoa.

THE DEADBOLT: Hi, Shambo, how are you doing?

SHAMBO: I’m doing good, man. The sun is shining and I have dry socks and shoes on.

THE DEADBOLT: You seemed a little suspicious when Jaison walked away from Russell. Did you know you were going?

SHAMBO: I would say 99.9 percent, because that is the one and only time that Jaison reacted that way and I was really close with J. I love Jaison, he’s an absolutely wonderful, amazing, beautiful human being. And when I snuck up on those guys, he shut up immediately and marched off and wouldn’t even look at me. I went, “Ah, damnit! I am going tonight.” Then I went back to the hut and I asked Russ three different times, three different ways, what the conversation was. But I paraphrased different every time and three times he gave me three different answers.

I started packing my stuff and he goes, “Shambo, what are you doing?” I go, “Baby, I want my sea shells. I need my bracelets and I need to keep Russell’s trinkets he’s been collecting for his daughter before he went out. I just want to know if I’m going.” And he’s like, “I would tell you.” I said, “Russ, you’re so full of crap. You wouldn’t tell me.” I’m like, “You wouldn’t know the truth if it hit you in the head with a hammer. I mean, come on.”

But I love Russ because that was part of his game, being deceitful, and that’s what he felt he needed to do. I knew that he was truly sad to vote me off, but that’s okay.

THE DEADBOLT: So what did you think of Jaison’s rationale that Mick could help them win challenges to get Brett out as opposed to you?

SHAMBO: I absolutely, wholeheartedly agree with that because I was wounded out there, man. I was not in good shape. When I went home on the thirty sixth day, I wasn’t in good shape for the first four weeks I was back in Seattle either.

THE DEADBOLT: Speaking of Seattle, did the rain affect you at all? You must be used to it, right?

SHAMBO: Well, it was a different situation, because I didn’t have the option of putting on dry clothes. I would go back to the Shambo shack, spread some palm leaves on the floor, take off my clothes and lay down with banana leaves on top of me. And was it warm? No, I was freezing to death.

THE DEADBOLT: It doesn’t sound like the tropical paradise.

SHAMBO: It’s not. There were no beautiful waterfalls, no fish, no pretty birds, and those crabs you saw were only about as big as your thumbnail.

THE DEADBOLT: Well, how did the game change for you when Russell Swan went down?

SHAMBO: I was extremely bummed. But we wanted to go to Survivor and challenge ourselves and you could see that Russell was truly in it.

THE DEADBOLT: What was it like when you went to Ponderosa?

SHAMBO: It was a little overwhelming, but in the end everybody was fine and very happy to see me.

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