Unlucky Anjali Rao was the first to have her torch snuffed in the premiere episode of Australian Survivor.
And the firsts didn’t stop there, the former Real Housewives of Melbourne star also finding herself as the unwitting target of a very villainous blindside.
Speaking exclusively with TV Week the morning after her on screen departure, Anjali admitted that she still has dreams (or should we say nightmares) about her Survivor experience, calling the challenges ”sadistic.”
Even more so, Anjali describes her ”abject terror” at not knowing what to expect when arriving to compete in a new challenge.
”You don’t know what’s in front of you, you have no idea what some person has planned for you, that terror is actually worse than the physical side of things.”
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Anjali’s two allies were pulled out of the game for medical evaluation, leaving Anjali exposed.
(IMAGE: Ten)When asked whether she believed she would have been given the boot if Jacqui and George (her closest allies) weren’t medically evacuated (Jacqui was forced to leave the game whilst George returns in episode two), Anjali was quick to give us a big resounding no.
”If they didn’t have the sheer audacity to get injured, I would still be in the game. I would have gone a long way because I had two very powerful players as my security blanket.
”It was just so easy for everyone else when both of them ended up in hospital. I was seen as being too close to them, so it was just the easiest thing to get their big supporter [Anjali] out.
”They voted me off because it was easy, and because they knew I would get all the airtime like I did on housewives. George might be the messiah of Macedonia or whatever, but I am the empress of the edit,” Anjali laughs.
Anjali said fellow journalist Michael hung around her like a bad smell.
(IMAGE: Ten)So, does Anjali have any regrets about how she voted? Or how she pushed for the votes to be read out after it was revealed Jacqui would not be returning to the game?
”I do wish I voted differently, I actually really liked Steve [who Anjali voted for], I wish I voted for Michael, and I know a lot of my tribemates wanted to do the same.”
”He was just very unlikeable and came across as really weird and clingy, he was kind of obsessing over me, following me around trying to team up telling me that ‘journos stick together.”’
Lastly, does Anjali have any hard feelings for her team of villains?
”Even though my tribe did what they did, and they are a bunch of treacherous little ferrets, I still want them to know that I love them, they are amazing players and they are still brilliant people.”
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