Angela was another bright and cheery contestant. There's a disorienting disjuncture between watching someone struggling in the jungle one night and wandering sadly off into the dark and then talking to them the next morning - the gap between when it happened and when we are speaking is curious.
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We were limited in what we can talk about with evictees with Dyke and Angela as they are all members of the jury. Whereas former evictees knew nothing more than us about what happened after they left the game, the jury members know a good deal more.
We talked about the way so many contestants take the line Angie did so explicitly in this last episode, and feel able to indulge themselves in any nasty or wicked behaviours they fancy while assuming they can excuse anything by saying 'it's just a game'.
But within the very wide boundaries of the game itself, the contestants are not playing the game itself so much as their own individual game. And they play it in their own specific, personal style and their own way.
Chatting about talking
She said she felt she was typically talkative – as that's her nature and since she and Amanda found they lived near each other and they shared experiences and explored what else they might have in common, such as the Midrand traffic.
Apparently Dyke had remarked to her that he had never really experienced awful traffic congestion until visiting Joburg. She agreed that these conversations could have been awfully boring for other people to listen to, but then, of course, they were not performing for anyone else to listen to them, they were merely having a conversation.
People like Angie, who despised that chatter, were entirely free to move down the beach, out of earshot.
Playing the game with heart
She described herself as an outgoing soul and is maybe outgoing more than some. If she had been sent to Exile Island, I could picture her chatting away to a coconut.
She decided that it was best to try not to appear either too strong or too weak, as people perceived at either end of this spectrum tended to get picked on first when tribal council rolled around.
She found life on the island not especially stressful compared to the urban rush she is used to and indeed found it rather 'peaceful', free of deadlines, and even boring at times as there were such severe limits on what one was able to do with their time.
Learning all the time
She said she found Hein fascinating. She claimed to have read up all she could on survival methods before she went off to Malaysia, but he of course was an expert at actually doing it.
She learned from him directly about making fire and making the smoker and the practical fridge they constructed. Even where, as with the smoker, she had read about such a gadget, she had never seen one that worked.
She would watch and pepper him with questions such as, "Why did you do that? How do you know which type of wood is suitable for this?" and so on. So she learned a lot from him.
"Every experience in life can give you a chance to learn something" she commented and stated that since "Knowledge is power, it is something people can't steal from you."
Looking back on the game
She admitted she was content with the way she played the game. Ahead of time, she thought she would be able to play ruthlessly and heartlessly, as there was so much at stake; but in the event, she found she just couldn't behave that way.
"I couldn't bring myself to do that. Maybe I'm too soft-hearted." But, looking back, she wouldn't want to have played it any other way. She said she believed in taking all opportunities that turned up and this was a great one she couldn't turn down. She sounds like a rather jolly soul, seeking out the positive in all situations.
She talked of her last major challenge against Mandla, when for the first time she really gave it her all.
She really, really wanted to win the extra immunity idol, even if this meant showing that she had more strength than other contestants may have realised, which could have risked making her a more defined target.
Analysing the last episode
Apparently many others have found the machinations in the last episode just as confusing as I did, and even those who were on the island didn't follow all that was going on.
She insisted that Angie approached her and Amanda first, and said she was bored and tired and wanted to join with them, to create a 3/3 split in the tribe. But then Lorette reported that she had seen Angie stealing the tapioca and this changed their view and then it could have been a 4/3 split, with them plus Lorette and Mandla.
Then Angie won immunity which threw all the plans awry and Grant manipulated things suitably to meet his own needs.
When Angie denied any wrong-doing, they weren't sure whether to believe her or Lorette. Watching the programme afterwards she confirmed that Angie was a bare-faced liar, on this occasion at least. She is convinced that 'lying catches up with you eventually' and thus was not particularly disturbed by these events.
Gentle hearts and home truths
Personally, she said she decided to avoid lying and deception as far as possible, but otherwise to play hard. She said, "Everything in life happens for a reason and God has a plan for us all," and when she said that sort of thing, it sounded credible and genuine, whereas when Lisa said something similar, it sounded a naive comment from someone congenitally spoiled.
She stated she believed that everyone is born with a good heart and that some people learn to develop what she called, 'nasty hearts'.
The best news, though, which she has revealed, was that she is pregnant (some seven months now) and married to the love of her life, John. When she left for the island, she didn't know she was pregnant, or she would never have taken the risk of malnutrition and strain which the game imposed.
(Professor M. A. Simpson, aka CyberShrink, November 2007)
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