By Gordon Holmes
Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:56:02 GMT
Whether you love her or hate her, you have to admit that the pin-up model who went by the name “Sugar” was always in the thick of all the action. We had a chance to talk to this season’s “Survivor” runner up the day after the finale and get her thoughts on giving Bob the million, turning on Ace, and..oh yeah…Corinne’s little speech.
Gordon Holmes: Last night…yipes…what were you thinking during Corinne’s speech?
Jessica “Sugar” Kiper: Well, I’d seen it a couple of months ago.
Gordon: You caught the live show.
Sugar: What did I think about that? Her family should probably get life insurance policies because her karma is really bad right now.
Gordon: Have you two talked since then?
Sugar: We almost made eye contact for a second last night.
Gordon: Does it feel good to know that you lasted longer.
Sugar: Yeah, I guess, but it was more like the boos from the audience, that was more what made me smile.
Gordon: We do a weekly chat on Fridays, and the fans adore you, and my mother adores you. How does that happen that the audience loves you, but the jury doesn’t?
Sugar: Well, the people on the jury that I’m actually friends with, I kind of chopped off their heads. And it’s just like whenever they watch it on TV when they’re voted off they relive it and they’re mad for a couple of days. Except for Randy, he just kind of stayed mad the whole time. So, I’ve tried to apologize to him a couple of times, but he’s not having it.
Gordon: So you have tried to make peace with Randy?
Sugar: I’ve gone out of my way a couple of times.
Gordon: You had the choice between Matty and Bob to take to the final three, but it seemed like you had a better shot against Matty.
Sugar: I pretty much knew I was third place no matter who I went there with. And, I did want to go with Bob. And, even though I know Matty’s had money before, he’s a really sweet boy. And Susie’s awesome too, I had absolutely nothing against or for Susie. I just never got to know Susie.
Gordon: It was funny when the puzzle challenge (in the finale) ended you said, “Where’s Susie.” And I had been wondering the same thing all season.
Sugar: (Laughs) I was wondering the same thing. She just came out of nowhere.
Gordon: I was wondering, had they forgotten that you have an immunity idol?
Sugar: Hey, why didn’t anyone try to vote me out, hello? Is anybody looking out for what’s going on around them? I mean, good for me, yay.
Gordon: You seemed to always find yourself right in the middle of so many key decisions.
Sugar: I don’t know, after I killed my best friend for no reason (Ace). I realized I could do that to anyone.
Gordon: When we were out there, and Ace picked you, basically the entire press corps figured you two were a lock. Either you were going to go down together or you were going to win the whole thing. When you voted out Ace, my jaw hit the floor.
Sugar: I definitely needed an alpha male, because for the first half of the game I’m going to get kicked off if somebody isn’t there to fight for me. And, I didn’t plan on ever killing him, but I knew at one point I’d need to say goodbye if I wanted any street credit and anybody to think that I didn’t let him lead me through the entire game. But, I definitely got duped. But, me and Ace have totally made up.
Gordon: It seems like you heard “She’s just a pin-up model” a lot. What did it mean to you to prove people wrong?
Sugar: Well, check this out, cause in my speech, I started off by saying “Hi, my name is Jessica Kiper, I’ve been in the Screen Actors Guild for ten years. I’m not just a pin-up model.” And they cut that out. My whole entire plan was to be the pin-up model, and everyone’s going to think you’re stupid. They’re going to totally not see you coming. I couldn’t have written it better.
Gordon: Were you worried that a “Gilmore Girls” fan in the game could out you?
Sugar: No, I knew nobody would really recognize me, I get like one fan mail letter a month.
Gordon: Our fans loved the Randy fake idol fiasco…
Sugar: Gordon, seventy five percent of the things I did, well not crying, but any move I made was strictly for the fans, because certain things were going to happen anyway. The whole Randy cookie thing? That was just for entertainment. And, I think it worked.
Gordon: Ahh…Cookiegate! Were you concerned any of that would cost you Randy’s vote or had you lost that vote a long time before.
Sugar: I never had Randy’s vote.
Gordon: OK…word association time…Crystal?
Sugar: I love Crystal. She’s the only person who’s going to get this, but “Hamburger Helper.”
Gordon: Marcus?
Sugar: Loves himself.
Gordon: Ace?
Sugar: I love Ace.
Gordon: Gabon?
Sugar: Peaceful.
Gordon: Randy?
Sugar: Cookie.
Gordon: Bob?
Sugar: Bowtie.
Gordon: G-C?
Sugar: Sweet.
Gordon: Kelly?
Sugar: Boobs.
Gordon: You’re the second person to say that!
Sugar: Please, tell me the other one wasn’t Corinne!
Gordon: The other person was Corinne.
Sugar: (Laughs)
Gordon: You guys are best friends, I know it!
Sugar: We could’ve been, in a parallel universe.
Gordon: OK, last one…and you know this one is coming…Corinne?
Sugar: Wicked witch of the west…and the east.
Gordon: What did it mean to you to get to spread your father’s ashes in Gabon?
Sugar: Well, everybody pretty much knows that’s the whole reason I went on the show, because I needed help getting through that. I never got to say anything at my dad’s funeral because I was too big of a mess. He had a really small funeral, a month after he died, so this was kind of like the awesome, huge-(expletive deleted) funeral that everyone got to go to. That pretty much made the show for me.
Gordon: What do you take from your experience in Gabon?
Sugar: I have more faith in my ad-lib abilities and improve skills. And definitely I think I’ve grown up a lot. Now, I’m somewhere in between a woman and the girl that was wearing a nose ring in my car in the fake video they had me make.
Gordon: Fake video? (Sugar is referring to her audition tape)
Sugar: They found me, and they made us all make these tapes cause they wanted us to audition. I’ve never been homeless, I’ve never lived in my car.
Gordon: Lies!
Sugar: I know!
Gordon: What did it mean to you to be the second most popular on the show?
Sugar: For me, it meant, Bob you (expletive deleted) you stole $100,000 from me after I just gave you a million!
Subject: 'Survivor' Runner-Up Interview: Jessica 'Sugar' Kiper 
Wed Dec 17, 2008 5:01 pm
