Sekou's Exit Interview In CBS’s effort to draw us into their morning news program, The Early Show, they always interview the reality contestant that was voted out/eliminated/sent home from the “show de jour” the evening before. It’s a blatant attempt to steal viewers from their competition, the Today show and Good Morning America… but it’s also effective! I, for one, tuned in to see what Sekou had to say about his short time on the island. The episode recap pretty much zoomed in on the gender split in the Hiki tribe. There was Sekou telling Nate that the girls would be stupid to get rid of one of the stronger men, and there was Rebecca telling Sundra and Stephannie that the guys are on thin ice and that one of them must go. During the interview, when Sekou was asked if he knew that he was in danger, he admitted that he assumed he was as soon as his tribe lost the challenge. But according to Sekou, it was his phenomenal leadership skills that got him the early boot from his tribe. He recounted what he assumed was his tribe’s thought process when the girls targeted him: “Since they think I’m this courageous leader, they may think I’ll be a threat to them.” So according to Sekou, they took him out in order to secure a place for themselves in the tribe. Hmmm, well yes… I guess it could have happened that way. But from where I was sitting, I think it was his nap on the beach that did him in. When he was asked about it during the interview he said, “I was being relied on a lot for fire, as you can see.” He went on to say that the nap was a result of him being exhausted from the effort of making the shelter and making fire. Okay Sekou, I’ll give you the shelter bit, no problem. I did see you kind of orchestrating that whole scene. But fire…? Once again, did they actually ever even have fire during Sekou’s reign? I don’t think so. So this continual use of his “fire making ability” as a bargaining chip was a pretty bad move on his part, in my humble opinion. You know how they got fire, Sekou? They voted you out! And then immediately after, Jeff handed them flint and four burning torches. So yes, I guess in a roundabout way you did help them get fire. Good man! It turns out that Sekou was recruited for this season of Survivor. In addition to trying to cast a racially diverse cast, the producers were also trying to find folks that didn’t know that much about the game in and effort to recapture some of the “freshness” that the show had the first couple of seasons. Sekou said that he received a call on Friday that they wanted him for the show, and by the next Thursday he was already sequestered as they got ready for filming. I have to hand it to him; I don’t know if I would be ready to go on an adventure like this with only seven days notice! Although they don’t go into any details about what happens to the survivors one they’re voted out, they did show a picture of Sekou with a truly huge fish that he caught during the rest of his stay on the Cook Islands before filming finished and everyone was allowed to go home. So even though he wasn’t part of the game after the first three days, he did get to enjoy a paid vacation in the South Pacific, with sun and fun and fishing. Heck, as long as you’re not going to go home with the million dollars, you might as well get out early and enjoy your stay with showers, real beds, and three meals a day. By the way, Sekou also gave a plug for his upcoming CD that is being released in early 2007. So if you’re a fan of jazz, look for Sekou Bunch’s CD, “The Next Level” in January.