Mandla had not seen much of the last series of Survivor and had managed only 2.5 episodes, but he watched the US series from the start, whenever he could.
For four years he worked in a remote rural area of northern Nigeria without access to TV. He was with Tetrapak, originally in marketing, and then in social investment programmes developing technical capabilities for rural schools which looked into the uses of long-life food lacks and so on.
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'Survivor was easy'
"Survivor was easy" he said, somewhat surprisingly. But, having got used to living in the bush for such a long time, he didn't mind the hardships, mosquitoes, bugs and worms and said that he had been through it before, so he could concentrate on the mental part of the game.
"I could have managed 49 days or more, so long as there were coconuts."
He managed to succeed at several challenges without really seeming threatening and put this down to being sporty and competitive and said he really enjoyed the challenges.
In the notable challenge where he gave way to Lorette, it was clear that this was indeed deliberate, but he emphasised that in fact he got caught up in the competitive spirit of the occasion and needed her reminder that she really needed the immunity - because although in fact so long as any of his alliance won immunity, they'd do fine, so that he had no need to compete with Lorette, he got carried away before he remembered this.
I'll tell you a secret...
We explored the key incident when Lorette understandably felt freaky when she over heard Mandla saying to Angie,"I'll tell you a secret" and then clammed up when he saw Lorette.
He admitted he froze at the wrong time but explained what happened: he wanted Lorette to go at least as far as hw would. But he had found a significant new supply of the edible roots, by cleverly noticing the sort of terrain in which the previous supplies had been found.
They never found any of Hein's secret stash, if indeed there ever was such a stash. So they decided to all go off and search for further supplies but missed Lorette when they left and so left her behind.
His views on Viwe
And while what he was about to say was no secret from Lorette, he froze as he became aware of how it might sound to her.
"What I was about to tell Angie was: 'Don't be so sure that you're the only one who wants to shake it up' - that I'd done this before, when Nichal asked me to lobby Lorette but we voted him out, and nobody knew when I turned on Viwe - you don't show it all."
This sense of having to some extent betrayed Viwe seemed to bother him as he brought it up twice and said that Viwe was outraged when he didn't support him.
"When Angie retracted the lifeline she'd offered to Angela and Amanda, I didn't like it - I think you should have the guts to stick to your choices. I'll admit what I'm doing when challenged and I warned Hein and Dyke when I saw them at risk so I must do what I ask of others."
Playing the game
He was physically and mentally strong and clear in his decisions and was easy-going and adaptable.
Having an early-formed and strong alliance meant that there wasn't so much drama in their camp and they didn't need to scrabble. He described himself as very lucky, but I suggested this was more of an example of serendipity, of being able to make one's own luck, and to recognise and use lucky opportunities.
Grant had such lawyerly skills and was thoughtful and premeditated and he said he thought Grant was more of a planner rather than calculating.
He claimed that they were not emotional and thus used their brains to take more time to react. "It was good at the end to have someone from a different group with us, so that the members of the original alliance didn't have to vote against each other."
He felt Angela was too dependent on Hein which left her in too weak a position when he left, but said, "She was a fighter and I admire her for that".
Looking back
He claimed he has been thinking about the ski holiday he won but as he has had the opportunity for some overseas travel before he would rather have given this prize to his family. However, it appears that he has to be one of those whom travels, so he has decided to pay for two extra tickets so he can take his mother and two sisters with him.
He is a thoroughly, comprehensively nice man who is physically, mentally and socially strong; is likeable and is such a great role model who was popular amongst all types of viewers.
(Professor M. A. Simpson, aka CyberShrink, November 2007)
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