U.S. Army Sergeant Jerry Sims was used to teamwork and remote living, so how did he get voted off on Survivor: Tocantins after just nine days? He got sick and appeared weak, and I was actually surprised how little effort he gave in staying. I expected more out of a man with so many years of service and hard work under his belt. Here are some highlights from an interview he did after Thursday’s episode:

Last night’s episode didn’t show any of the show’s medics ever coming to visit you or anything like that. Could you go into some more detail about exactly what was wrong with you?

Jerry: I had a stomach bug, a stomach virus or something. It lasted from around Day 4 ’til Day 9 and I couldn’t shake it. I mean, I couldn’t eat much, I couldn’t eat at all there at the end [other than] a little water here and there, so it was taking a toll on me.

At Tribal Council, you singled out [Brendan Synnott] as the best person in the tribe to be a leader instead of [Benjamin "Coach" Wade].� Can you talk a little bit about why you felt that way?

Jerry: Well Brendan, he reminded me more of myself. He’s a laid back type of… he has a laid back type of mentality. He doesn’t get excited when things go wrong, he doesn’t yell, he doesn’t go off the handle. And I figured with his character traits and characteristics he would make a better leader than Coach because I’ve seen Coach go off on one female in the tribe and I figure a good leader shouldn’t have to beat up on a person just because something don’t go right.

Does that fact that they were kind of laughing at him a little there, do you think that means that you guys had started to “see through” some of his [Coach's] stuff by Day 9?

Jerry: Oh yeah, without a doubt, without a doubt. Because what I’m thinking in my mind is that a guy who’s done as many adventures as Coach has done, and I never saw him start a fire. And on the truck [at the beginning] he wasn’t the strongest guy that was carrying most of the load. So I’m thinking in my mind “This guy’s putting on a good front. He’s pretending to be this macho hero when really he’s not.”

I just want to clarify something that you said on in your Final Words — Do you really think that competing on Survivor was tougher than what you had done serving in Afghanistan?

Jerry: Oh yeah! (Laughs) I mean, in Afghanistan people are trying to shoot you and kill you, but as far as the essentials that you need to survive, in Afghanistan I had everything that I needed. I didn’t have any need for anything. But on the show you have a need for everything. You need shelter, you need food, you need water, you need supplies, you need medical attention, you need anything. In Afghanistan I had all that at my disposal. That’s why I said it was tougher than Afghanistan.

Is there anything that wasn’t shown on the show that you wished had made it in?

Jerry: Well some of the stuff that I did around camp I wish they woulda showed. At one point I was the first one up trying to get the fire going and the fire pit. I mean I pretty much constructed a fire pit myself, several little small things like that I did. But I guess it wasn’t important as far as in the public’s view of selling ratings.

Who would you like to see win the season? In your exit statement you seemed to be pulling for one of your tribemates.

Jerry: Oh yeah, yeah. I’d like to see either Brendan or Tyson win it all, take it all home. One of those two guys.

Best of luck to Jerry in the future. He seems like a really great guy!

[image: CBS]

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