As one of Survivor’s grumpiest contenders ever, Randy Bailey, a 49-year-old videographer from Eagle Rock, Minn., was always willing to pick a fight and was never at a loss for words. And after months of reflection on his time on Gabon, his costars and his trick ousting, he hasn’t changed. Randy had some particularly choice things to say about his nemesis Sugar when he spoke with PEOPLE from New York for his official exit interview. – Carrie Bell
Did you go into tribal council believing that was an idol and that your plan would be successful?
Bob was a friend and an ally and the idol was a good facsimile so I thought it was real. I said something on the episode about it looking real enough so I obviously had some doubt. But when Jeff asked for it and I started to pull it out of my pocket, Crystal and Sugar started laughing. Then there was no doubt in my mind that I had been duped. But I had no to play it. Nothing to lose. So the answer is yes I thought it was real going in — and yes I knew it was fake when I played it.
Are you mad at Bob for tricking you or do you understand that it is a game and that he was just trying to buy himself more time?
Bob is basically a good guy but he still doesn’t know what he is doing [in terms of strategy]. What if he makes the finals and I am in the jury as are Charlie and Marcus and we all sat there and watched what he did? How does he expect to get votes? And Sugar, how does she expect to get votes if she makes it to the end by laughing at me? She fell out of her chair when I was playing the idol and pointed at me and everybody was cringing at what she was doing. Jeff Probst included. And Crystal went on that rant that she goes on every week that America hates. What game are these people playing? Don’t they realize the jury has to pick them to win?
For all intents and purposes, your plan was smart and would have worked if Sugar hadn’t found the idol.
I probably would have done that even if I knew there wasn’t an idol out there. I was doing all that stuff before Bob had even gotten back from exile. I knew my days were numbered and I was doing anything I could to shake things up. I thought maybe someone would get I fight; one person defending me and the other not defending me and something could get said that would change the tide. I didn’t quit even though I knew I was on the outs.
You never held back that you didn’t necessarily like this people very much, so did you derive some pleasure from your wicked plan as well.
You sugarcoated it. It wasn’t that I didn’t necessarily like these people all that much. I hated them. Yeah I got some pleasure from it. They didn’t even show my favorite part of what happened on TV. The night before I was gone, I stayed up all night and would wake everybody up every 15 or 20 minutes. It was a blast! I don’t know why they didn’t show that part.
Are you concerned at all by how you were portrayed as the grumpy old man? Is this your real personality?
There’s a part of me that wants to believe that you aren’t as cantankerous as you were portrayed. I am absolutely a lot grumpy and cantankerous. What you saw on TV was real. What you didn’t see was me being human and spending time with Marcus, fishing in the jungle with Marcus and talking about life. The same thing with Charlie and Corrine and even Dan and Matty. You didn’t see a lot of my more human hours out there. A lot of people hated me out there, but there were also a lot of people who liked me out there. A lot of the people booted recently wouldn’t, I don’t think, have anything bad to say about me at all. And look who doesn’t like me — Crystal, Sugar, Susie. I can’t think of a better compliment.
You basically said that being voted out by those bozos was a badge of honor. Can you elaborate on that?
If they didn’t vote me out, then that would mean I fit in. I don’t want to be friends with Crystal and Sugar and Susie. She’s a hairdresser from Iowa. Of course I’m not going to get along with her. If Sugar liked me, I would have to rethink who I am.
This has been a very strange season of Survivor. Most of the strong players are gone and members of the losing-ist team in Survivor history are still around. What’s going on?
It has been a very weird season. From day one when we were picking tribes and Jillian picked Crystal and then Crystal staring down the barrel at Matty and Dan and Marcus, she picked Susie. Explain that to me. And then when we split tribes at 10 they did it again. Even though I got the boot last night, it was my favorite episode because it painted Sugar to be the awful person that she is. She’s been like that since day one but the editors have done a good job of fooling the world, making her look like America’s sweetheart. Nothing is farther from the truth. We had two tribe pick-ums and both times neither tribe picked Sugar. She was dead last and there was a reason for it. Yet she is still there.
What was your first meal after being booted? Was the $180 beer and peanuts and $300 spaghetti you got at auction worth it?
We spent a night at base camp before going to Ponderosa and I had two steaks and a whole bunch of other stuff. Rest assured, I made myself sick. I spent $180 dollars, which is $60 a beer at the auction. That’s some good beer. The night I got booted off they had a shower and food waiting for me, but no beer. They knew my profile, but didn’t even have one beer waiting for me. That was disappointing.
How did you handle the physical aspect of Survivor?
There are lasting effects of playing Survivor. All the weight you lose out there is fat and muscle equally. Then you get home and you’re recovering and all the weight you gain back is fat. It messes with your body a little bit. I need to turn that around or I’m going to have an a– as big as some of the people in Gabon.
Has being on Survivor increased your work bookings? How has returning to real life been?
It has made work difficult. I have been preoccupied. I am talking to Charlie and Corinne and, even though I didn’t play the game with him, Ace every day. We flew back together and I got to know Ace on the planes. And by the way, he did not say that he was famous and he did hit any women. He got arrested last week and I want to tell people, ‘Don’t believe everything you read.’ But I am back in Missouri and I am back to work now doing the same thing at 50 to 70 percent capacity. I don’t know what’s next.
Survivor: All-Stars perhaps?
If they asked me and they put it in my contract that Sugar was not going to be there, I would go tomorrow.
Monty Brinton/CBS
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