GREG: Welcome, everyone, to another edition of Good Morning with Greg! This morning we have a very special guest, Rick, the deceitful, arrogant, back-stabbing, purely evil venomous snake. And that's how his friends and allies described him! Pull up a chair, Rick! We've already checked for explosives.
RICK: (nervously laughing) Thanks, Greg. It comforts me to know you're looking out for me. Thanks for having me. Though I noticed you had to clear the set of all other players to bring me in here.
GREG: It's a requirement of our insurance carrier. (smiles) Before we really get started, Rick, with all the excitement of the final vote you never really had a chance to put in your final words. You can take the opportunity to do so now, if you please.
RICK: Thanks for the opportunity, Greg. I do appreciate it. Looking back on the game and looking at myself playing the game, I now see what everyone else saw. At the time, I was so focused on playing the game and getting me to my goal that I lost site of the fact that it wasn't just a game I was playing. I wasn't manipulating just points, challenges and votes, I see now that I manipulated emotions, friendships and simply — people, as well. I do apologize for the harm I did cause to others. It was never intentional, but caused by my own blindness. An excuse? No, but reality. Am I still proud of my accomplishment — Hell Yes! However, now that pride is tinged with a remorse at what measures I took in playing. I just hope now that the game is over, and all is said and done, I can be forgiven by those I hurt and that we can all move on and hopefully rebuild what friendships we had.
GREG: Very well-said, Rick! I was in a similar situation not too long ago, and I know what you mean. But for such a one-sided decision, I'd have almost preferred third place. Was it a big disappointment?
RICK: I have to admit there was disappointment in that I got all that way and didn't win the whole thing. However, I think it was Diana that said it in her reason for voting, perhaps my not winning could be a lesson. I will take it as such. I got myself as far as I could go. I am satisfied with how it turned out. Besides, Jon is a great guy and well deserving of the win. I don't begrudge him anything!
GREG: There was an episode of The Apprentice where one contestant wouldn't admit to being duped by another, and instead insisted that they'd been cheated. Do you think that sort of thing had a part in your vilification by the jury?
RICK: No, Greg, I don't think that was it at all. If I have heard the other players right, and understood what they were really meaning. They all realized that I outsmarted, outwitted and outplayed them, they all, also, felt that I was just downright mean about it. I see their point, now. I not only backstabbed them, which they expected in a game such as this, but I led them along, dangling my 'alliances' in front of them, all the way to the Tribal Councils where I orchestrated their votes. I had more than one of them tell me that if even at the very last minute, when there was nothing that they could do about it, I would have admitted to them that I was going to vote them out, they would have been able to handle it better. As I said, its a learning event. And, I'm not one to miss a lesson. hehe
GREG: That was very tricky, the way you played. I think what shocked me most was that, when it got down to final six, the first three people you voted out were your top three allies. That was a stone-cold move. But in terms of strategy, weren't you concerned that you might need a solid ally to get through the last eliminations?
RICK: As far as alliances go, the only alliance I was truly concerned with was Diana, and her and I had planned Shane's ouster weeks prior to his demise. Diana, herself, in my eyes had truly become someone that no one could have faced in the Jury vote and expected to win. She was the 'darling' of the game. I really did labor over my decision to break my promise to her. And, once Diana was gone, I guess nothing was 'sacred' to me any more, so my betrayal of Tabatha was almost a logical next step at that point. Looking back on it, the order in which I betrayed everyone shows just how 'into' my deception I, myself, was. I, really, don't even recognize the person named 'Rick' in that game. Especially towards the end.
GREG: The game certainly can play tricks on you... playing it is so much different from watching it. But let me play my "what if" game: Do you think you might have fared any better with the jury if you'd gone to the end with your chief partner-in-crime, Diana, letting her share the blame for the negative stuff while still yourself being the more active strategist and challenge-winner? She was the darling of the game while she was in it, but you've seen know how a few betrayals can harm one's image.
RICK: You know, I have thought about it, and if I had gone to the end with Diana, I most certainly would have 'let loose' about her in the Jury deliberations. Plus, by then, she would have had to betray Jon and Kelly, so she wouldn't be so nearly as loved as she was, but it still would have been a hard sell because she was so beloved and I had the 'evil' reputation.
GREG: If Eman was the luckiest player before the merge, I think you were the luckiest player after the merge. You did work alliances and win challenges, but your reward picks were phenomenal and you won a challenge without even participating. So, and I ask this in good humour, how's it feel to be such a lucky bastard?
RICK: I realized throughout the whole game that I was damn lucky! At any moment things could have turned on a dime and the entire outcome would have been different. While I think I played a good 'game', luck was a more important part of getting me to the final two than any scheme I ever hatched.
GREG: I said earlier that you won the game but you lost the jury. I think you've won something else, as well — you've won in the episodes. Is that a good consolation prize, do you think, being the "star" of the show even if you didn't win first-place?
RICK: While the person shown in the episodes is a 'character' of me and not me, really, I do feel kind of happy knowing that I had such an impact on the game overall. While I may not have won, my own sense of 'self-importance' (yeah, there's a little arrogance inside me... hehe though no one could ever have guessed it, right?) is elated that I got so much 'face time'. But, at the end of the day, it all comes down to the fact that while my strategy got me to where I wanted to be, and got me a lot of 'time' in front of the camera, it came at a price. And, thankfully, the people I played the game with are good people, and they have been able to forgive and the price wasn't too high.
GREG: That's good to hear. Well, congratulations again, and thanks again for being a 'character' — I seriously don't know what I would have had to write about in the last episodes without you! Thanks for the interview, and good luck in All-Stars!
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