By Andy Sloan

 

In the law world, she's a shark in training. However, in the world of Survivor, she became the prey. Survivor's recently voted off castaway Hali Ford talks Dan, Shirin and the all girl alliance that never was.

 

What was your strategy throughout the game and did studying to be a public defender play into your strategy at all?

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My pregame strategy was thrown out the window in the first two minutes with the No Collars. I had to play a social game and learnt quickly that any strategy that I did communicate with them put me lower down the rung and was rejected.

 

My strategy became a purely social game. Post merge I tried to diversify my risks and assets. I tried to have a lot of conversations with people and give them reasons on how I could help them. The girls alliance was my favorite option. I was more excited about the girls alliance than I was any other strategy the entire game. Obviously it didn't work out though. I played mostly a social game and that's not what I expected to play at all.

 

Did you want to play a more physical game and win challenges?

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No, I wanted to play a really cold, calculated game. I expected my experience in the big city and in law school to play out on Survivor. That's how I attack my work: thought out, long term, big plan. I don't play life with my heart as much, I just think about things. But in the game I played with my heart.

 

You brought up the girls alliance, so lets touch on that for one second. Last night you seemed very confident but ended up being blindsided. What were the steps you took going into tribal? Did you think you really had Sierra's vote or were you talking to anyone else?

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My confidence at tribal council wasn't because I had a specific little garrison of votes I knew were mine. It was because I thought I had good probability on a few swing votes that could go my way: Sierra, potentially Mike, Carolyn and by the second post-merge vote I thought Will was back with us. I didn't think the risk was as high as it was to warrant me going home that soon. I thought I had established conversations with people on why I'd be good for their game. BUT I WAS WRONG!

 

AHH! Ya did great though, ya did great! What happened with Will? When you merged, he took the first deal that was offered to him just like that. Why?

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I know!! I mean, it's sad! The best explanation we've had so far is that he wanted to play with some grown-ups. I guess he sees Rodney as more of a grownup than Jenn and myself. Will... that's a quandary! I don't get why strategically it was a good idea. I think it was just his personal preference and had more to do with Shirin. But I'm not sure. At this point, that's my thought.

 

Well you definitely lost Will, but you gained Shirin. At the beginning it seemed you were just using her as a number, but then she solidified a place in your alliance. Can you talk about how your relationship changed throughout the season?

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Yeah! I liked Shirin from the beginning. I was excited when she got on our tribe. I championed her cause and I think she would've went home instead of Max if I wasn't on her side. Then at the merge she was running around scrambling so much. I was like, "Shirin you need to chill out and you need to be real. Are you with us?"

 

I definitely overestimated her "connivury." I second guessed her and really wished I didn't waste time doing that. I'd say our relationship was parabolic. We started out not so good, then we had a strong relationship and then it kind of went down. Now it's great though! I love her to death.

 

Yeah I saw you chilling with Shirin on twitter... wait, that probably just came off really creepy.

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Hahaha, we all social media stalk, you're good!

 

Well thanks! But was there a specific moment in the game where things took a turn for the worst with you and Shirin.

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Shirin never annoyed me. She was just too chatty with enemy lines. I thought she was really tight with Sierra at the beginning of the merge, but then was like, "eh, maybe not."

 

She was talking to people from all across the board. Every time I turned my head she was having a hush-hush conversation with someone different. I was like, "Shirin chill out! Just chill out!" I wish I just trusted her, but you can't really do that in Survivor.

 

Yeah exactly! Let's talk about Dan. A few weeks ago I talked to Lindsey and she said that people are starting to like Dan because at the beginning he just wanted to be remembered, but Survivor eventually breaks you down to your true character. People liked Dan a few weeks in. But opinions are starting to change once again. First off, why did you decide to target Dan? And last night were we seeing the character Dan or the true Dan?

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So there's a lot of hate toward Dan. My biggest focus was the girls alliance. I was trying to do anything I could to appease the most amount of people for this alliance to work. Dan was the most hated among the girls and that's why he came up in that vote. Other people may have different opinions, but that's what I saw coming together. Shirin hated him. Sierra hated him. So he was a good common enemy.

Yeah... Dan. I didn't have anything against him until I watched the show.

 

So then looking back, why couldn't you get Sierra on your side?

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I think Sierra either stuck with the Blues because she wasn't ballsy enough to go with the girls alliance or she didn't think she had a chance to win against us because we're more likable people than Dan or Rodney.

 

We haven't talked about Rodney yet! What are your thoughts on him?

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Yeah so Rodney and I never really interacted a lot out there, but here's my thing. If you want to be good in my book, you just be who you are. Do you. That's what Rodney does, that's his character through and through.

 

Dan is not Dan through and through. Dan tells you one thing and then does the other thing. There were some other people on the show like that, but I like Rodney because he's hilarious, so extreme and does some pretty good impressions.

 

And he definitely makes some great TV too, so I'll give him that. Who else was like Dan? You said there were some other people who weren't themselves through and through?

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Yeah I don't want to get into that. Just several people, even outside of the game. There just different people. Mainly Dan though.

 

Okay, that's totally fine! What was your favorite moment out there?

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Well obviously when Jenn pulled out the idol and played it at the right time. But if I had to be super off the script, Jenn and I had this one amazing night. The reason we were so close out there is because we don't create drama. We were each other's anti-drama time. Totally detrimental to my game, but was it worth it? I don't know.

 

One night we just went out to the beach and talked about nothing Survivor related for an hour, watched the sunset and it was probably the best time I had out there.

 

That sounds awesome. When did you form that relationship with Jenn? Day 1, Day 2?

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It was pretty much Day 1. We were like "Hey we're both young girls. Do you want to from an alliance? Okay cool." Then we just had this girls bond going because we had mutual respect and mutual hating drama.

 

Surviving on the base/core level of just surviving creates a bond that you don't just acquire in regular life.

 

Now after your whole experience with Survivor, how much has your life changed after the game?

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It hasn't changed in the sense you might expect. I'm not some famous person; that hasn't affected me at all. EXCEPT, I do have a social media account, like a twitter, and that's totally not me. But I needed it because people were impersonating me.

 

As far as how Survivor impacted the course of my life, it was huge. I was going to be in a Public Defense Office Fellowship for 2 years and I was stuck in the Law School rat race mindset where you do what you should do and not what you want to do. I'm a passionate person, but I was getting burnt out on something I'm most passionate about because I wasn't doing it the Hali Ford way. Now I'm going to do the same thing, Criminal Defense, but I'm going to do it my way. I think it'll look a lot different than it would've if I didn't say no to fellowship and go on the show instead.

 

Good for you! Before I let ya go, I just had one quick question I forgot to ask! You seemed to like the tribe name "Merica," but how did your tribe come to that consensus?

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Hahaha! People have been trying to ask this all day and it's not going good. Let me just say that it was a murky line and some of us are just patriotic on a really deep level and that's how Merica was formed!

 

Photo credit: CBS