Interview With Jolanda Jones of Survivor: Palau by Grant
Jolanda was one of the first two people to win Immunity on Survivor: Palau, yet as a result of game twists, she was also the first person voted out of the game. She's lived an amazing and inspiring life, and is passionate about what she believes in. Read on to learn more about Jolanda!
Hi Jolanda! Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. It seemed that the reason Ulong voted you out was because of your
strong personality and leadership techniques. What's your take on that?
Do you feel you should've toned it down a little or was that how you
wanted to come across?
I probably should have toned it down; however, I don't think it would have mattered because our team was full of young adults who didn't want leadership of any sort and didn't believe in teamwork, with the exception of Ibrehem and Bobby Jon. No one wanted to take a leadership position except for me. At Tribal Council, in a portion that wasn't shown, they admitted as such. Jeff Probst asked if Ulong could be successful without leadership: I answered absolutely not (BJ and Ibe agreed); James said yes (everyone else agreed with him).
Additionally my age was a big factor. The oldest girl next to me was 24 or 25. I was 3 days from turning 39.
Whose decision was it in the first Immunity Challenge to take
everything but the fire box?
We did not decide to take everything but the firebox. We decided prior to the challenge that we would take everything unless we got far behind, then we'd make sure that we at a minimum took fire. I don't remember specifically who voted for what but we had a team discussion before the challenge. I do remember Jeff saying we should take it all. There was consensus that we would take everything ... Mostly our team discussed how strong we were compared to Koror because they were old. I tried to tell them to not underestimate wisdom and age but I couldn't. Not only that, I don't think people in their 30's and 40's are old.
An example of how strong we thought we were is Jeff telling me that I couldn't carry one of the two water boxes because I wasn't strong enough because I was a girl. Although I didn't agree, I bit my tongue and let him try and be the Superman he thinks he is. If you watched the show, you saw Jeff go into the jungle with two water boxes. When we came out of the jungle, I had one and he had one. I had to help him because he screamed out for help. Although you didn't see it, I didn't make any single decision. Every decision made was based on consensus. The thing I will say about me is that if we make a decision as a team, I'll follow through on that decision. We made a team decision, I followed through on it. Further, I was not the only one saying to follow our plan, which was to take everything. Others were saying it, they just edited them out.
You should also know that we didn't lose the challenge because of the fire box, we were only about 20 - 30 seconds behind. We lost because of the outrigger. Koror beat us by about 20 minutes. We were pathetic. Our team plan was to listen to Jeff when we got on the outrigger because nobody, except him, knew how to use one. As it turns out, he didn't know how to either.
Being one of the best athletes the show has ever seen, do you feel
Ulong would've had more success had they decided to keep you around? Were there any particular challenges in which you feel you would've thrived?
Absolutely. Yes, anything that requires strength, agility, endurance, coordination and/or speed, I would have excelled at. I'm also very good at puzzles and memory stuff.
To this day, I play co-ed football with men (firefighters, former NFL and NCAA players, guys who work out everyday. Although women usually guard women, I guard men and am guarded by men.) I don't judge myself by if I beat a woman, I regularly/ordinarily beat women. I judge myself by if I beat men. Throughout my athletic career, my coaches always had me train with men whenever I could. The caliber of women who beat me regularly are: Jackie Joyner-Kersee [World Record Holder/Olympic Gold Medalist]; Jane Frederic [Former American Record Holder/Olympic Medalist].
I would have loved to have sumo wrestled against Tom or Ian or Gregg.
I would have loved to have been the person telling Ulong how to move the puzzle pieces around to complete the puzzle.
Standing on the buoy, I would have never given up.
Everything, just everything. REMEMBER: I'm the only Ulong tribe member who won immunity.
What's your best memory of the time you were on the island?
There are a couple:
a) Finding the first food (I found sea cucumbers, escargot and a crab). They didn't show it and nobody ate it because we didn't have fire until that point.
b) Learning to move like a show girl and learning a Las Vegas showgirl act from Janu. Performing with Janu. They didn't show that either.
Was there anybody in particular that you really bonded with? It
seemed like you were tight with Stephenie until she led the group on
ousting you. Did that surprise you?
Yeah, I bonded with Wanda (that's why I cried when she didn't get picked); Bobby Jon, Ibrehem and Ashlee. I was never close to Stephenie. I was disappointed by Ashlee not Stephenie. I expected Stephenie to vote for me. She likes to be the strongest girl and I was competition to her. She told Bobby Jon and Ibrehem that. So, no I wasn't surprised. I knew I was being voted out before we left for Tribal Council.
In my real life, secure people like me and insecure people, especially women, are always intimidated with me.
How do you feel you would've done with the conditions for thirty-nine days? Could you have survived?
I would've been fine. I've gone without in my real life. In the scheme of things, being stranded on an island for 39 days with coconuts which provided nutrients we needed, was not hard. As soon as we had fire, everything would've been OK. I also think my mentality that no obstacle is insurmountable rubbed some people the wrong way on the island. Many of the young women complained about not having make-up and a mirror. For me, that was like, "you're kidding, right?"
Absolutely I would have survived.
It seemed like one of the factors that you could've brought Ulong
that they said they didn't want (but really, really needed) was
leadership. Why do you think they felt that they could function as a
team without a leader? Did they just not want to take orders from somebody?
See answer to question number 1. At Tribal, the young ones explained that they were all mature, smart adults who could make their own decisions so Ulong didn't need a leader.
I absolutely "took orders" if you want to call it that. I never followed one individual but I did follow decisions we reached consensus on. For example, I thought and suggested that we should keep the pot and the better machete since after the split we had the pot and both machetes. The team thought we should do rock-paper-scissors for the pot. I did it even though I didn't agree with it. I thought it was a crap shoot. We lost. They got the pot that we had in Ulong possession. They got mad at me because I lost rock-paper-scissors. Go figure. When Rupert took the shoes, he was a hero. When I suggest we keep the pot and the best machete, I'm a %$#(*&^. Go figure that too.
You seemed to forge a very special bond with Wanda. Was there anybody else that you felt was eliminated too early in the competition?
No.
Your bio at CBS.com is one of the most interesting we've read so far. Obviously you had the mental and physical strength to compete. Did you have a specific strategy in mind before going out there, or were you planning to roll with the punches?
My plan was to work hard because my grandmother taught me to respect hard work. I did that. Believe it or not, I toned down my personality. I never just said, "Do this" I always said, "Hey guys, what do you think about this and why." They always edited out the what do you think part.
I also wanted to see if honesty and hard work could win. It can't. Survivor emphasizes all the traits my grandmother taught me not to do. I wanted to see if I could do it differently and be successful.
If I had it to do all over gain, I would have watched previous Survivors and studied the strategies more; maybe just kept my mouth shut although my strength is obvious by my build and that scares a lot of people.
What does the future hold for you?
Raising my A - B Honor Roll son who is a star athlete and making the world a better place by helping people who can't help themselves. My strength is what I use to fight Goliaths every single solitary day. Although it scares the crap out of some people, it totally has allowed me to survive and thrive terrible circumstances. And it has allowed me to give back to the disenfranchised. I'll do that until the day I die.
When I die, I don't want people to say I was a lawyer or I made a lot of money or I was a great athlete.
I want my tombstone to read: SHE WORKED HARD AT EVERYTHING SHE DID AND SHE HELPED PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY.
That's one thing they didn't show on the Show because of editing, I helped people. When Ashlee was in tears, I held her and told her I'd be there for her and I would help her to the best of my ability. I helped Bobby Jon by giving him advice about conserving energy. Ask both of them. There are more instances, they just didn't show it. Just like I have a sense of humor and am as flamboyant as Coby. They didn't show the show girl act, as mentioned previously. You saw so little of me. Too bad you didn't see all of me.
Where can we learn more about you and what you're all about?
You can visit my website, www.jolandajones.com and www.ujanaconleyfoundation.org . My niece U'jana died of SIDS at 11 months and 13 days and the foundation was born. We had our 2nd Annual Golf Tournament this past weekend, June 4, 2005. We did better this year than we did last year. We are a baby 501c(3)foundation. The more press we get, the sooner we'll be able to raise money to wipe out SIDS. I don't want any parents to go through what my sister and her husband went through. Nor do I want families to be affected like ours was. Wiping out SIDS is a passion of mine.
Thanks very much for your time Jolanda, and best of luck to you in your future endeavors!
Thanks for wanting to know a bit more about the real me.
Don't forget to visit www.jolandajones.com, and www.ujanaconleyfoundation.org for more about Jolanda, and to learn about SIDS and how you can help fight it.
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