by Staci Krause

IGN.com - 11.06.06

November 6, 2006 - Although Ozzy seemed like he would be the one going home on the Raro tribe in this week's Survivor: Cook Islands, Flica became the next one to have her fire snuffed when her tribe decided Ozzy had a lot of value as a provider. The very friendly girl left because she could never quite form any lasting bonds, possibly because of her very open nature.

We talked to Jessica aka Flica about her experiences in the deceitful game and who she hopes wins the whole thing.

IGN TV: How did you come to be on the show?

Jessica: I was recruited. I was playing Roller Derby and I was in my last part of the season and randomly I got a call from somebody that had seen my picture on the website. They were just like 'hey are you interested in maybe being on a reality show' and it just ended up working to where the next week I was flown out for finals and then a month later I was filming. It happened so fast.

IGN TV: Had you seen the show before?

Jessica: I really wasn't familiar with the show. I mean, I knew of the show but I didn't watch it. I wasn't watching it. I don't have a history of watching it.

IGN TV: When they gave you a couple episodes to watch, what did you think of it?

Jessica: I thought the challenges looked fun. It looked so exciting. I was like 'oh! It would be so much fun to participate in those challenges!' but it's all that stuff that they don't show that happens in between the challenges that's the difficult part.

IGN TV: When you got there, was it what you expected?

Jessica: I don't think I realized that so many people were acting on the show. I didn't know Sundra was an actress or Jonathan. I guess there was like four people in my tribe. Or how Ozzy was on a reality show before. It was on the Playboy channel. He's like a stud and I want to say it's called 'Threesome' or something like that. I just had no idea that he was like that. He was like my cuddle buddy partner, when we all slept in a line. I was between him and Cao Boi, so it was really difficult for me. I just don't see him like that. He's like a brother or something.

IGN TV: What was your initial reaction when you found out about the division along racial lines?

Jessica: I think it was shocking and I wasn't comfortable with it. I've never been divided by race. And then I felt like they put me in there to become the oddball out of the group of the five. It was a little odd.

IGN TV: Were you surprised about the public reaction when the twist was announced?

Jessica: I didn't watch the show before so I wouldn't be surprised that people would get pissed off and be like 'oh my god, I can't believe they are going there for publicity after thirteen seasons, they should just end the show.' That seems like a lot of the response that I've heard was people thinking it's been on too many seasons and this was just a way for them to get some publicity. I understood that it was a great way of getting publicity and I totally understood why they did the merge early.

IGN TV: Do you think that if the teams hadn't been divided racially, it would have been better for you?

Jessica: I think that there's strength in numbers, as they say in the show. When you are only dealing with five people to have an original alliance with, it makes it a little bit harder. Everyone was already in little clusters of original alliances and you kind of felt like, in a way, obligated to stay in that alliance. That's really how Yul and Jonathan persuaded Cao Boi and I to change our votes. We wanted to vote Becky off.

IGN TV: Were you worried about being stereotyped?

Jessica: No, I don't worry that much actually. I don't think there's enough time to worry about stuff. I thought it would be a fun adventure. It would be fun to experience something like this. There's always going to be good with bad or bad with good, however you want to look at it, but the glass will always be half full.

IGN TV: Did you take the game seriously?

Jessica: I took challenges seriously. My pride in my tribe, I took seriously. I definitely wanted somebody in my tribe to win. You grow attached to people and it's hard to say 'I like this person more than this person.' When you really just don't know anybody, because everyone has their different personalities happening and for me, it was hard for me to be anyone but myself and to be honest with people and talk things out and want to talk about things.

IGN TV: Did you know the game has such an element of deceit?

Jessica: I hadn't seen the show and I hadn't studied the show. I don't like deceit personally and I think it sucks that people are so good at it. I think they might have put me on there because it was refreshing. There's been a lot of people who have been really supportive because they really hoped I'd go far because I was a positive person. It's so refreshing to have somebody honest and friendly on there. It's good entertainment. The entertainment factor is definitely why I got put on the show.

IGN TV: How do you think the show represented you and your personality?

Jessica: I wasn't represented negatively. I think with Candice and Sundra's last statement comments, it had to do with that day. I wasn't paranoid at all. I think I was just provoking them to tell me what was on their mind or what they were thinking about. It helps to talk about stuff. They didn't want to talk. That was the signing of the contract for me, that I was going home. That's a sign if somebody can't vent and talk with you and be honest, there's something that they're hiding. I sat down and was like 'you guys would tell me if you are voting me off. I would have a whole lot more respect for you guys if you could just let me know so I could say at least farewell the right way.' That's when I was like 'for what it's worth, I appreciate you guys.' I don't have any negative feelings towards anybody.

IGN TV: Were they grasping at straws for reasons to get rid of you, saying you were paranoid?

Jessica: Yeah. And the whole thing with Cao Boi too. I told Candice I was voting her off. I told Candice what the plan was. We kind of like tried to patch things up. We haven't really given each other a fair chance and we need to work things out because we are both really strong people for our tribe. And we went through that process where we're forgiving and we realize we are both assets. She totally vented to me about how even though she was in an alliance with Jonathan, she didn't trust him. That sucks.

IGN TV: Ozzy was going to be the person eliminated. Why do you think they switched their vote strategy?

Jessica: They never did anything. They were so freakin' lazy. They would never leave camp. Yul, he had hemorrhoids and was bleeding out his butt. It was getting pretty nasty. His stomach was hurting constantly and he was just not doing so well. He couldn't go out and provide food. Jonathan was no good at providing food. And all the girls, they just sat there. So I could see them wanting to hold on to him as long as possible. He could bring twelve fish home in an hour.

IGN TV: What was the hardest thing for you?

Jessica: I guess just feeling like I was by myself. And missing my family and stuff.

IGN TV: What did you enjoy the most?

Jessica: The traveling and getting to meet all these fun people.

IGN TV: Did you like the physical challenge where you were pulling the girls off the post?

Jessica: I was so glad that I patched things up with Cristina and she was cool about it afterwards, because we definitely got a little vicious there. We were both kind of like struggling to stay in our tribes too, so it made it probably a lot more difficult for both of us to let it go.

IGN TV: Who do you hope wins the whole thing?

Jessica: I still hope Ozzy wins it because he's just really good at what he's doing. He's a really good provider and I think he's playing the game pretty good and it's too bad people are nervous about him just being too strong.

IGN TV: What are you up to now?

Jessica: Flicaflame.com. Go check it out. I'm trying to get people's ideas to set up mock challenges and set up some fun experiences and adventures and people can check in on even stuff like this. People can get an inside glimpse of what this whole experience is like.