Heidi Strobel
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Alaginger

Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 01:16 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Hey Ginger.........it's me, the other Ginger (LOL). Yeah, I think it looks like Heidi. I read somewhere that she had extensions put in her hair before the show, but regardless, I'm sure with salon treatment, her hair is much nicer now. Also, I read in one of her interviews that her facial skin rash is all cleared up....sun?, bug bite?, or nerves?....whichever, the skin is nice. She is wearing cosmetic enhancements that all of us ladies look a lot better with. Problem is, no matter how good she looks....we have all seen the inside, and it wasn't pretty.

Csnog

Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 01:33 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
By Juliana Goodwin
News-Leader

Speaking from New York, Heidi Strobel, Buffalo native and Drury University grad, answers questions about her experience on “Survivor: The Amazon.”

She wouldn’t do it again, she says, but learned some valuable lessons, and found her best friend along the way.

Q: What were you feeling before Thursday night’s episode aired?

A: Oh my, anticipation and, uhh, I was honestly excited to see it end. I was excited to stop seeing the skeleton with a wig.

Q: What was it like to see yourself on television?

A: It’s been bizarre because I’ve never seen any of the episodes before it aired. It always goes the way you never thought it would go.

Q: After being on so long, losing so much weight, and not winning, do you wish you would have been voted off in the first week?

A: Oh, no, definitely no. I am so glad I went as far as I did. I kept pushing until I couldn’t push anymore. I played as hard as I could possibly play. Every day more you can make it out there is a big deal.

Q: What was the hardest part about being in the Amazon?

A: It was the starvation factor. It messes with your mind. It’s so hard on your body, mental and physical state.

Q: Does it make you more emotional?

A: Definitely. You can’t see or talk to a loved one for way over 39 days because you have training (before) the show. I had a birthday (out there) and not to hear my mom’s voice was devastating. I thought I could be voted off (now) and it would be OK.

Q: Tell me about your health after the show? The spider bite? Do you know what type bit you?

A: It’s called Aranha. It’s part of the tarantula family. It’s not so poisonous to kill you, but ... it started making holes in my leg where poison would come out.

I got parasites throughout my intestines, and that caused kidney damage.

Q: How much weight did you lose?

A: It varied from time to time. My ending weight was 93 but in the middle of the game I weighed less than that. I quite possibly could have been in the low 80s.

Q: What kind of medicine did you have to take?

A: At one time I was on 12 different kinds of medicine. It was so much. A lot of hair started falling out because of the malnutrition. It’s not just falling out, it snaps in half.

Q: How is your health now?

A: My health is a lot better. I only have a couple more weeks (of the parasite medication). The knee is doing better. I am up to 8 miles again. I am doing really well compared to what I’ve been through.

Q: Did you receive medical care in the Amazon?

A: There’s only so much you can do, it’s not like there’s a great hospital out there. I kept losing weight, throwing up and blacking out.

Christmas Day I spent the whole day in the emergency room.

Q: Did the starvation affect your digestive system?

A: Definitely. You know like Ethiopians, where they have skinny bodies and pot bellies? That’s what I looked like.

Q: Did you go in expecting to win or were you there for the experience?

A: The first week I was there it was because of the experience. And after I got a handle on my environment, I thought I could so win this game.

Q: If you won what would you have spent the money on?

A: First, I have my college education that I am paying for. And second of all, I would have put myself back through school.

Q: Let me read you a quote I picked up this morning from Mediapost.com. Jeff Probst, the host, says about the castaways: “... And we use them, and we tease them and we make sure we’re in big fat close-ups ... That’s the social politics of the show.”

Did you feel used or teased?

A: Oh my gosh, definitely. That is the show. You would not have such a great show if you weren’t teased or poked or prodded. What it is, I remember (producer) Mark Burnett saying, we will make you as uncomfortable as possible and pile on the stress and then we have a TV show.

It’s really to see who can out win on the stress level. How much can you take?

Q: Did you know this going in?

Not necessarily going in, but through my training.

A: Would you have done it if you knew going in?

I don’t think I would have been as gung ho, but I still would have done it.

Q: What were your best and worst challenges?

A: The lowest moment, wow, was probably, the worst challenge was the Coke challenge where we lost the Coke.

The best was when I got to see my mom.

Q: Worst moment?

A: Was when Alex got voted off in the game. That was horrible.

Q: Best moment?

A: This one’s going to be hard to classify. It would be my relationship with Jenna, which continues through the whole game.

Q: Are you still friends?

A: Oh yeah, Jenna and I are not just good friends in the game of “Survivor,” but in real life — quite possibly my best friend ever.

Q: Why?

A: Her relationship with her mother, and I feel the same way about my family, and no one else out there was like that. No one talked about their family.

It had nothing to do with the way we look, no matter what people think.

With that link you know she values love and likewise with myself. And I really didn’t get that with anyone else out there.

Q: You took a lot of heat over the peanut butter and chocolate incident (for which she removed her clothes). Is there anything you’d like to say about it?

A: Just the fact that the people that did have something negative to say about it, I guarantee not one single one has ever seen me teach. Was this the role model decision? No. This was the starving Heidi decision.

Q: How have your students responded through all of this?

A: My students were great. They have been — this is my favorite story to tell because I am a track coach, too — all these kids started running up to me for an autograph. And one of my kids said, “Coach Strobel why won’t you sign this for us?” I said, “Because you guys are the only ones who make me feel normal.”

Q: Have you had any modeling offers or acting offers?

A: I always get certain offers even the most bizarre stuff you can think of. The education thing is really my life. If something great comes up, I’ll consider it.

Q: How much has this changed your life?

A: I think in my way of thinking. I am naive to think people would realize this is a game and TV show. They think what they see on TV is really Heidi Strobel, and it doesn’t even touch on me as a person. That has changed the most — the way of thinking people are so judgmental.

Q: Now that you see the tape and what people say behind each others’ backs, are you shocked?

A: Not really. Really, what I see on TV I did expect. I think everything you expect out of somebody you might be able to multiply it by two. I knew you were really sneaky, but I didn’t know you were that sneaky.

When they have the time to vent with the camera is when their real personalities come out.

Q: Is there anything you think has been unfair? Rumors? Perceptions?

A: Name it. (She laughs). I think it’s so funny when people come up to me and say, ‘You got a new Corvette.’ I don’t even own a car. Every rumor that can be made has been made.

Q: What was the best thing that came out of all of this?

A: The best thing was my relationship with Jenna.

Q: How fair was the editing?

A: That one’s hard. Ummm, gosh, maybe the way I am portrayed is nothing, not even remotely close to who I am as a person. The person you see on TV — if you did a 180 — you would get me. But in all fairness, the person I am acting like is nothing like me. I tried to play the game like an athlete.

Being as close to Jenna as I was was definitely detrimental to me. It was bound to happen. It needed to happen.

Q: Would you do it again?

A: No. Definitely not.

Q: Why?

A: All of the health problems are just not worth it.

Q: In the last episode you ask the men to vote Jenna off, why?

A: Well, I only asked one person to vote her off, Rob, and she was sitting right beside me. Jenna had said, “I want you to vote me off.” She was crying, throwing up, she wanted off.

I was like “just let her go. Keep me one day.” I was going to go on day 36 and she was going to go on day 37, end of story.

Q: So you didn’t think you had a chance of winning at that point?

A: Oh, no. I didn’t think I had a shot of winning at all. It was strictly based on health concerns.

Q: A lot of people have thrown tantrums when they’ve been voted off, but you said you were proud and happy? Why?

A: Because I was. I was proud and happy and I knew I played to the best of ability without pushing the limits too much. I never pushed it too much where it wasn’t fair of me to do.

I played as fair as I could and got as far as I could.

Q: Any regrets?

A: Not really. The only play I would have done differently is when I first realized how sneaky Rob was, I should have gone with my gut and I should have started talking to Matt about an alliance. But when was the right timing for that? There just wasn’t one.

Q: What hurt you the most in this experience?

A: The most hurtful, definitely, oh my gosh, I endure constant criticism. I have to hear how I played the game.

I got teacher of the year award last year. It’s just mind-boggling how so many people have an opinion of you, and know nothing about you other than the way you played the game “Survivor.” It truly breaks my heart. No is one interested in who I really am.

Q: What’s the first thing you ate when voted off?

A: I ate a full large pizza by myself. I wouldn’t let anyone touch it. I ate cheesecake and a two-liter Coca-Cola. They told me it’s the most anyone has ever eaten in “Survivor” history.

Q: What type of pizza?

A: Veggie pizza.

Q: There are rumors that the school will not renew your contract as a result of your appearance on this show.

A: My job position was taken by somebody else and this person is a tenured teacher. Even if I wanted to stay — even though I don’t — before, I said I only want to teach a year and then either get my master’s in nursing or go to medical school.

Q: Is there anything you would like to add?

A: Maybe just to all the people who have supported me, they don’t understand how much that means to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, truly.

Jbean

Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 03:18 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
dang, i was just gonna come here to post that article from the news-leader, thinking i had the scoop. although, i am not in any way, shape or form a heidi fan or supporter, it does shed a little bit of light on her behavior. buffalo, mo is a little less than an hour from here, and drury university is here, so heidi is a localer...hmmm, we're a hotbed for reality show contestants. sigh.

Snee

Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 05:33 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
is it just me, or did heidi contradict herself a few times in that article?

(and she's still sticking to the 'had to strip for the food' thing when we know she and jenna didn't have to. jump off, not strip and jump off. sneesh.)

Seamonkey

Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 08:23 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Yes.. the "I was hungry and had to strip".. yeah, right. No one else stripped for their food in that challenge.

Actually the interview above sounds almost incoherent at points.

Like only Heidi and Jenna value love??? Riiight.

Spear

Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 09:58 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Heidi's chat is up. Does the guest of honor always type his/her own reponse? I thought they usually get someone else to do the typing. There were some ugly spelling errors there.

Oh, and from the chat, here's a scary idea for all you Heidi "fans": Heidi Strobel, M.D.

Catfat

Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 10:40 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
She says she wants to be an anesthesiologist. Can you imagine going under for surgery and Heidi being the last thing you see? Holy crap, I'd wonder if I'd come out alive.

Sia

Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 11:00 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Spear, thanks for the link; I can't imagine that someone with multiple degrees would make a bunch of misspellings!! If she did type her own chat, poor spelling shouldn't hold her back in pursuing a master's degree in nursing, right? Or even in medical school, either!

Beruthiel

Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 04:58 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Well, I'd be very leery of her medication prescriptions... pharmacists have to be cryptologists! Dr. Heidi - what a scary concept :-O

Whoami

Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 09:17 am EditMoveDeleteIP
She said she finished second at that last IC? I thought she never got out of her cage?


<makes mental note to not go under the knife in the same state Heidi gets her degree>

Pamy

Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 12:47 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Here's a very scary thought...Heidi is the one that puts you out and Dr. Will(from BB) does the surgery!

Ginger

Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 01:25 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Hi Alaginger! I suppose Heidi just cleans up nice!

Thanks for posting that interview, Csong.

I loved how she said she said she was like a skeleton with a wig on! It's so true. My goodness...how tall is she? That's just madness that she weighed about 90 pounds at the end. I'm not a Heidi fan, but I'm sorry she had to go through so much physically afterwards.

Ginger

Seamonkey

Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 01:30 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
It was Reward Challenge (the car) where Heidi didn't get out of the cage.

The IC was the one with the various feathers to be gathered. I really don't remember if Heidi was second to Matthew or not.

Sia

Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 09:39 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Heidi: "I was competing as an athlete. If I'd let it be known that I had major brains in addition to my sheer physical prowess, I'd have been voted out sooner in the game." (paraphrased from her speech at the Reunion Show.)

*yuk!*

Tabbyking

Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 10:39 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
i wonder if where heidi is they give you a handicap when they do the IQ's. like maybe starting her at 120, so her 25 points take her to genius level?
jenna just did not deserve to win. she has a long way to go to maturity. she is not grown up at all for being 21. more like a young 17...i am a little surprised at people talking about how she 'learned and grew' in the last few months--or even at how she matured at the last tribal council! i want some of that 'quickie stuff'! lol

go back to sleep, honey.......

Seamonkey

Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 11:06 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Heidi still doesn't get anything; at least Jenna showed a more well-rounded personhood to me tonight. I still think Matt should have won, but I wasn't voting.

Just happy it was Jenna and not Heidi.

Gina8642

Monday, May 12, 2003 - 08:39 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Seamonkey - I gotta agree with you there. I am VERY happy it was Jenna and not Heidi.

Heidi once again proved herself to be a clueless idiot on the reunion show last night. "I played as an athlete", blah, blah, blah...

Then how 'come we NEVER saw you win ANYTHING?? How come, we never saw you use your body in any athletic way after the very first challange??? After her knee was hurt, did she still 'play as an athlete???'. A little hard to do when you can bearly WALK!!! Heidi as a doctor or a nurse just scares me. You can have all the book smarts you want, it doesn't help in real life you when you have to make real decisions.

During all the episodes, all her interviews and during the reunion she seemed very concerned with making sure everyone really knows she is better than everybody else and everybody doesn't like her because they are jelous because she is better. She is full of so much SH@%#!!! I loved Jeanne taking her down a notch or two. (It was because you did NO WORK Heidi.) Heidi just imagings that everyone is so jelous of her.

Heidi - you are not good looking!!, you may be book smart but you are NOT people smart!!!

Jeep

Monday, May 12, 2003 - 08:54 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Gina, I agree with you. Heidi is what I call "Book Smart and Life Stupid".

Jasper

Monday, May 12, 2003 - 09:18 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Heidi seemed very defensive at the reunion show(and everyone did seem rather hard on her tee hee), and I howled at her tribal council question when Jeff had to cut her off, umm looking for some "props" for a game well played from your bud? She still, in all the interviews, and last night, does not come off as being the sharpest knife in the drawer. I believe one statement she made in an interview is that she does want to appear smart, well it's working.

Had the other survivors known she was smart as well as a "hard-core" athlete they would have voted her off sooner, roflmao. She keeps saying I played as a hard core athlete and in the next breath I was so weak....blah blah blah. The only hard core athlete left out there was Matt, and Heidi, newsflash I don't think he was worried about you beating him in a physically demanding challenge. Girlfriend did you every get those knots undone?

And she is most definitely a follower, she never seemed to do anything without Jenna pulling her strings. Again Heidi, slowly now, they were going to give you food if you jumped off the pole, you did not have to drop your pants...

She does clean up well though and is pretty girl. (funny how she keeps reiterating that she only wanted to teach a year. You know the "education thing is a way of giving back" sounds like she may have lost her post.)

Warrenn

Monday, May 12, 2003 - 12:10 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I wonder how many random guys will approach Heidi with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup hoping to get a little free show.

Seamonkey

Monday, May 12, 2003 - 12:38 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I get the feeling that Heidi is expecting to gain a lot of glory from being Jenna's friend. I'm just grateful that Heidi wasn't in the final four because I would have minded very much seeing her trying to get attention.

And of course it would be nice if she'd gained any insight after watching the shows.

On the Early Show there was a segment just before the main segment with Jenna that was so sad and so wonderful and just such a contrast.

A woman who coaches women's lacross at Loyola University who is clearly an excellent and inspirational coach to begin with, but in contrast to Heidi she's swollen from steroids, she's in a wheelchair and she's going to die very soon from terminal brain cancer, but, wow, is she
BEAUTIFUL!! And she's out there coaching her team in some playoffs and she'll be there as long as she can breathe.

Monkeyboy

Monday, May 12, 2003 - 12:40 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
i wish i had a reese's peanut butter cup...

Missapril

Monday, May 12, 2003 - 12:55 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Heidi? An athlete? And now it's 'back up to' a daily 8 miles (she said 7 mpd was her max going in...)? a little reckless with ther truth,isn't she? So where was all that athletic (not to mention intellectual) prowess on the show? Seems to me if she really had the brains and brawn she's so desperate for everyone to think she has, she'd have slipped at least once and we'd gotten a peak of the 'real' Heidi... maybe she really IS that brilliant to be able to completely hide her candle under a bushel basket and never let it shine... rrriiiggghhhtttt... <sd>

Crossfire

Monday, May 12, 2003 - 01:11 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I read that she did 10 per day prior to the start of the show.

Csnog

Monday, May 12, 2003 - 03:32 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Heidi came in second right behind Matt in the cage challenge. I also think that Heidi is taking MOST of the heat from the show while Jenna is letting her.

Beruthiel

Monday, May 12, 2003 - 03:57 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
What I noticed was the host's comment/question to Jenna about how much she changed in the last days, and why was that? My sense during those last three hours was that he was not impressed with Heidi, and to me, that question was almost a sly dig at her, in that Jenna became much more bearable AFTER Heidi left. As has been said, perhaps they brought out the worst in each other, BUT, after seeing their behaviour when apart from each other, it became obvious that it was Heidi who brought out the worst in Jenna, and not the other way around. Intelligence does not equal common sense, nor sensitivity, nor empathy, nor self-awareness, alas. Heidi needs to develop those traits in her life's journey!

Snee

Monday, May 12, 2003 - 06:39 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
ick.