The final Survivor blog. Probably.

Well, it has been fun…

Man. What a crazy year it has been! For those of you not aware, Survivor Season 26:Fans vs. Favs is coming to end this Sunday. Today I fly out to LA where I join my cast for the finale and live reunion show. What an amazing yet super stressful run!

As I sit awake in my bed at 5 a.m. I know I should be sleeping but also know that is impossible because I am just so darn excited. I haven’t seen most of these people in almost a year. You go and spend an incredibly intense experience with complete strangers, grow really close to a lot of them and then just don’t see them again. What? How is that fair?!

Since this is probably the last time I play Survivor, I just wanted to reflect on some of the amazing memories this show has brought me over the past going-on-4 years.

Rewind to my first season of Survivor. Here I am, a little baby 21 year old  who heads out to Nicaragua for a “once in a lifetime adventure….”

…I do some f.ierce things, win some challenges…

….but the best part?? I got to see MY DAD on the island. Royal to the rescue.

Seeing my dad out on the island was a dream come true. I think he was even more emotional than me. It’s crazy how even though you are only away from home for 30 plus days, it feels like a LIFETIME and you just can’t stop thinking about your family and how much they mean to you.

So anyway, all said and done I had a blast playing on Season 22. Did I expect CBS to call me up and play again? Not really, but how can you say no?! So I agree to play Survivor again and embark on my “second once in a lifetime adventure,” this time venturing to the Philippines. Not to take anything away from Nicaragua or Season 22, but I had twice as much fun on this season. I think being a few years older as well as being on a season where I could actually make moves really added to the fun and suspense of the experience. Add in the fact that I was somehow the number one most targeted person on my entire season and it adds for a great viewing experience!

I made some friends on this season that I will cherish forever.

And although I didn’t get to see my loved ones on the island, my mom and my sister actually got to travel out to the Philippines and enjoy a nice little fun-filled CBS trip. When I heard that my mom AND sister were out there, but I wasn’t going to see them because I foolishly got voted out with an idol in my pocket, I started bawling. I couldn’t control my emotions because I missed them so much. However, you have to take the good with the bad. At least they got to come out to the Philippines! They are proud I made it as far as I did. Plus, I got to read my letters on the island so there’s that.

Honestly though, I had fun and all, but the Survivor experience is completely humbling. As much as it probably seems like I would enjoy watching myself on television it is quite the opposite. The whole set up of Survivor makes it a rather difficult experience once you get back in the real world–first getting adjusted to your real life and work, then dealing with social media, lovers and haters, the “fifteen minutes or whatever” and people you may have offended or hurt while playing. Sometimes I watch myself onscreen and I feel like I have a LOT of growing up to do. Sometimes I wonder if I should have done Survivor at all. But then I tell myself. NO. NO, ANDREA, NO. Remember how much fun you had. Remember how amazing and proud of yourself you were when you balanced on a floating dog house for three hours in the ocean and WON the challenge. Remember how you orchestrated a move in the game even when your entire alliance told you something different and you actually saved yourself that night. Remember that one day when they fed you all-you-can-eat peanut butter. THESE THINGS DON’T HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE. Remember the amazing friends you made who love you to this day. Remember going back to Wisconsin with Cochran for a viewing party like this:

Even though, good thing he came THAT week instead of the next! He would have been in big trouble. Oh, and you were picked up by a frickin’ fire truck in Random Lake, deal with it.

So when I sit back and look at all the memories, the home town support, and the realization that this experience was less about me but more about bringing people together to watch some good ole island silliness, then it all makes much more sense. Thank you to everyone who supported me in this endeavor, and who continue to support me in everything I do. It means more than you know.

Sitting on wells and crushing dreams,

XOXO

Dre Dre

Survivor in Random Lake :)

So here we go. Tonight, Episode 12 of Survivor Fans vs. Favs is airing. I have to rewind one week though—because watching my favorite show in NYC is just not the same as watching it in my hometown.

One week ago, Cochran came home with me to the wonderful land of Random Lake for 36 hours, where my mom had us on a strict schedule. We actually never had a full hour of downtime, but we powered through. We got to visit a ton of family and friends, tour the farm, ride horses together, visit Sharla’s high school and Sabrina’s college, visit Boehlke Bottled Gas AND Boehlke Hardware, go to dinner in Random Lake and get picked up by a firetruck which took us to the viewing party. There were definitely over 500 people at the viewing party at the firehall. It was packed and people messaged me the next day that they had to go home because there was nowhere to park. What the what?! Such great hometown support and I am so grateful.

Got a surprise pick-up at the Homefront. Riding in style.

I mean….my face is definitely wonk here, but here is seriously a third of the crowd at the viewing.

Cochran’s first time riding a horse! And he stayed on! Shwing.

Anyway, it was such a thrill to be back in my hometown and watching Survivor with the loyal Random Lake fans. If anything, this experience has reminded me over and over again that there really is no place like home. Well, let’s see what happens tonight!

With much love and floating doghouses,

Dre Dre

Losing things–It’s what I do

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be one of those people who loses everything? Well, welcome to my life. I definitely lose something important every month, if not more often than that. I think it’s because I do too much at once, I multitask like a crazy person and it just keeps backfiring.

My latest doozy happened last night. I was taking a cab home from JFK after a week of traveling (Toronto, LA, blah blah) so I’m tired, it’s around 1:30 a.m. and I just want to pass out. Yet, it’s never that easy with me. Of course I’m chatting on the phone, carrying three bags and am overall completely delusional from all this plane time and I must have dropped my keys in the cab.

So I walk up to the front door and do the ole pocket grab for my keys. Nope. Not there. Not there either. No way. OMG. You’ve got to be kidding me. Cut to me opening up all of my luggage and throwing things around looking for these darn keys. Then, I had to face defeat. Lost ‘em.

I feel like for a normal person that doesn’t misplace everything, this is probably a very unpleasant scenario. However, since losing things is what I do best, I don’t even freak out. It’s more of a sigh and roll of the eyes. So I proceed to call each of my roommates and ring the doorbell. Nothing. Okay so now I’m starting to get concerned. A few weeks ago there was a girl beat up a few avenues over, it’s late and I’m standing outside half asleep.

Fortunately, my neighbor that lives below me ended up hearing the doorbell and let me into the building. Okay, this is progress. Still no replies from my roommates. It’s now about 3 a.m. I guess I’ll just sleep on the ground outside the door? I mean, I’ve slept on worse.

Then, my neighbor, who has been chatting me up for a good hour, suggests I call a locksmith. Ooooh! Just the idea of calling a 24 hour locksmith intrigues me. So a handy man will just show up and unlock my door?? The “damsel in distress” side of me loves this idea, without thinking about how much this would actually cost me. I call the locksmith, he is on his way. Yay. It’s now 4 a.m.

Then, miraculously, my friend Adam who lives near me ( I actually forgot about him when I texted a bunch of other Astorians looking for a couch to crash on) texted me that he wants to grab coffee sometime to talk about Survivor. I am overjoyed! I can just sleep over at Adam’s tonight! Wait…the locksmith. I tell Adam about the locksmith and he warns me that the dude will probably charge me over $200 to let me in. BA-SCUZE ME?! No, that is not happening. Sorry to all locksmiths out there who are reading this, but that is NOT HAPPENING!

As if on cue, the locksmith arrives and takes a look at the door. I coyly ask how much it will cost and then put on my innocent naïve girl façade: “oh, I only have $20, I can give that to you for your trip out here. I’m so sorry.” The locksmith is pissed, rightly so, but he takes the 20 and skedaddles.

I go find Adam and we have a sleepover. The End. Moral of the story? I don’t know. If you are a person that doesn’t lose things, good job. If you are more like me, then sorry….sucks to be you. I guess we should try harder to not lose things? Meh. 

Anyway, LA was fun!

XOXO

Dre Dre

Girlz in NYC

Yesterday my cousin Martha and friend Samantha flew back to Wisconsin after staying with me since Friday. They both currently live in the Midwest, so this ridiculous city was definitely a new adventure. We did the NYC thangs—Central Park, Times Square, Union Square, Statue of Liberty, Chinatown (where we all got totally awesome and legitimate bags), numerous random restaurants and bars. Oh, don’t forget the “Wisconsin bar,” Kettle of Fish, where Samantha actually ran into someone she knew. I mean, COME ON HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN?! She’s not even from here! Anyway, here are some pictures. It was amazing to have a good friend and cousin visit me and it reminded me that I live in a pretty cool city.

That was (in order) Chinatown, Pranna (a really cool Indian restaurant), shade shot in Central Park, our Good Morning America debut (note the unicorn gloves clearly stole the show), and a classic carousal ride in C Park. It was a bunch of ridiculousness as you can see. Thank you Martha and Samantha for an amazing 5 days!

XOXO

Dre Dre

Then your Sassy Gay Friend kicks you on the ground. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

I feel like my life is filled with Sassy Gay Friend moments. If you haven’t seen this video, watch it now so we can be on the same page:

I love him. As corny as it is, he has a point: sometimes you just need to get it together! I hate to admit it, but I sometimes get caught up in the reality tv thing and I let it affect my otherwise usually positive attitude. Yes, I try to embrace the good, the bad and the embarrassing, but I’m only human. I feel like many Survivor contestants have a hard time watching themselves on national television in intense and very vulnerable situations. I find myself going back and forth with the “OMG I GOT AIRTIME LET’S PARTY” to then feeling gloomy and second guess my perception of the episode, the game, everything. “Okay so now she hates me,” or “I’m coming across too this or that.”

And then real life creeps up like a Sassy Gay Friend. Or in my case, my real life sassy gay friend Matt starts yelling at me on facebook chat like he did earlier today.

What are you doing?! What, what, WHAT are you doing? Why on earth would waste time overthinking a tv GAME show and what strangers think? Even typing this out makes the whole things seem silly….why DO I care?!

That’s why I encourage anyone in the public eye to just remember that no matter what, your friends and family and a few fans from Canada will think you’re awesome. Plus, you have real life issues to sort out. You know, like how you need an apartment for…..March. Or how you need a new job starting last week. Or how people are facing real life issues. Getting caught up in social media mayhem will only make you feel sad or anxious. It’s a lose-lose. People will criticize you for anything and everything and the only way you can rise above it is to brush everything off. Life is too short.

Speaking of life being too short, today is my sister Jerilyn’s birthday. She would have been 22 years old today. This is a beautiful poem my mother wrote about her:

I think about Jeri all the time, she truly was an inspiring girl and the best sister and friend I could ever ask for. If she were here today and saw me getting caught up in feeling sorry for myself she would definitely hit me up with a “what, what, WHAT are you doing?!”  (P.s. Anyone can be a SGF, they don’t have to be gay or even sassy…..but probably at least a friend of yours.)

We all need to just chill out a little more. Take life’s experiences for what they are and encourage kindness and a sense of humor. I’m going to do that from now on as well as blog more. I’ve been slacking.

XOXO

Dre Dre

“Shut Up and Make Lasagna”

So these past few days have been particularly stressful for me and this next week is going to be nuts. I don’t want to complain about being busy, because busy equals awesome, but I did have several break downs yesterday. On top of regular work and auditions I’m now hunting for a new apartment for March (which is going terrible), it’s Survivor press week AND to top it off it is Fashion Week so I’m traipsing around the city. Again, I LOVE that I get to do all of this, but it’s hard to keep everything straight. So I’m stressed and cranky but I keep repeating one phrase to myself.

“Shut Up and Make Lasagna.”

Believe it or not, it was my mother who coined this phrase. On Christmas break I was home with my mom in the kitchen preparing lasagna for the night. I was in a major cranks mgranks mood and I started saying something dramatic and “woe is me” which I really only do to myself and my poor mom. Like, “I think I’m going to leave NY, what am I doing, I’m a loser, etc..”

Then, out of nowhere my mom goes, “Oh shut up and make lasagna.”

Shut up and make lasagna. Huh. Pretty catchy.

She has a point: instead of worrying, fretting, being dramatic and an outright lunatic, just complete the task at hand. Now, when I’m going nutty I just tell myself to “make lasagna.” Even though I’m a terrible cook, I know what I’m trying to say. You just gotta suck it up and have fun with what you’re doing because life is short. Boy, mothers do know best.

XOXO

Dre Dre

A Really Gross Guy Disappears

A few hours ago I was walking to my apartment from Starbucks and heard a guy behind me start calling out to me.

“Hey mami. Hey mama. Mami. Hey, I have to ask you a question.”

Okay so this is typical in New York. It’s disgusting but I usually can’t go a day without getting cat called and this goes for any NYC girl. I even live in a nice area.

Normally I wouldn’t even consider turning around and humouring the guy, but I think the “Hey I have to ask you a question” got my attention. I mean, that’s a weird thing to say. And he was so persistent in his calling for me that I wondered if maybe I dropped something, which is very typical behavior for me.

So I turn around. He’s still pretty far behind me.

Just picture uhhhhhh, a really REALLY gross and scary looking guy. I’m not going into details because I don’t want to offend anyone, but I think my jaw dropped.

The guy repeated, “I have to ask you a question.”

All I could mutter was “noooooo” and it sounded like a weird whimper and slightly like a cat noise. And then I ran. Luckily I was only a half a block from my apartment and I’m really good at balancing lattes, so I made it to the door really quickly. Plus, the guy was the opposite of being in shape. I frantically found my keys, and right before stepping into my apartment I looked back.

Nothing. The man was gone.

So creepy.

XOXO

Dre Dre

P.S. I know what you’re thinking—that I shouldn’t have ran to my apartment. Well, I just wanted to get away from this guy and it was a frantic decision. Plus, since he was gone when I turned back I think he just went the other way when I started booking it. Either way, creepy men: WHY?????!!!