MIT Q&A
Ethan answered many of the ezohn.com questions during the course of his talk at MIT (see our review for answers). Some of the other questions we asked are answered below.
* Who do you want to win in Marquesas?
Ethan said he favors Paschal because he thinks he is playing a similar game to Ethan… quiet and in control, not coming on too strong, not making enemies, etc. For what itís worth, I (Darlene writing this now) was watching Ethan while he was watching the segment of S4 which introduced all the players. When they got to the introduction of Robert the limo driver from NYC, I noticed Ethan shook his head appreciatively/knowingly and smiled up at the projection screen. I am probably making too much of this, but I thought it was interesting that he showed the most “emotion” at Robert’s intro… either he knows something we donít know (like Robert is in the final two?) or he possibly has met Robert at an event… being as they are both Survivor alumni living in NYC.
* Were you aware of the cameras or is what we saw the “natural” you?
Ethan said it was a bit of both. He could not ignore the fact that the cameras are there 24/7, and he knew some players were saying and doing things specifically for the benefit of the cameras, but he was not. In that regard, we probably saw Ethan in a true light. The time spent in front of the cameras during the interviews or “soliloquies” was the time the players could vent and say what they really felt. If an argument had just happened on camera, they crews would pull one or another player away for a private interview… at which point the contestants would just pore their hearts out and say all the things that they couldn’t say in front of the competition.
* How hard was the transition to real life once you got home?
Ethan said the transition was quick… only about 24 hours from the end of the game until he was home in his apartment. It took him a while to wind down after being home. Unlike some of the other players, he did not have to go right back to a 9-5 job (two reasons: he didn’t have a 9-5 job and his gig as an assistant soccer coach was much different than going back into an office environment 40 hours per week where people would be asking a lot of questions).
* Were people, including yourself, portrayed fairly?
Ethan commented that we only see 40+ minutes out of each 300+ hours of footage filmed each week (Sarah doing the math here… he must be referring to the fact that there is more than one camera filming at a time, especially before the merge). The production crew reviews the “dailies” on a daily basis. Ethan does not feel that Mark Burnett edits the footage to misleadingly portray any contestant as one way or the other. If someone is basically nice, it is a good chance that their niceness showed through during the 168 hours they were on camera each week. Therefore, they come across as nice for the 40 minutes we see them each week.
* If you had been Kim Johnson, who would you have chosen to go to the final 2?
Ethan mentioned that he felt Kim would have lost against Lex, Tom, or himself. It was his intention, if he had the choice, to bring Lex with him to the final because he wanted to beat a strong competitor.