Courtney Yates (Villain)

[MaxxFisher]

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Courtney Yates

Age: 28
Previous season: China
Tribe: Villains
Hometown: Boston, Mass.
Current Residence: New York, N.Y.
Personal Claim To Fame: “Punctuality.”
Inspiration in Life: “The laughter of children.”
Previous Finishes: China: Runner-up
Favorite Past Moment: “Seeing my Dad bust out from behind the bushes at the family reward.”
Previous Survivor She Respects Most: Yau-Man Chan (Fiji, Micronesia)
Previous Survivor She Respects Least: “All the strong people, because they are so smug.”
Why Did She Come Back?: “Couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”


So, Courtney, who is season 20's most overrated Survivor? ''Is it bad form to say maybe I might be a little overrated? No illusions about my abilities, you know. Maybe they were just like short a blond. They weren't sure Sugar was gonna show and they needed another platinum. This is a disaster, so if I make it past the first thing, aces for me.''

Probst's Take: ''I'm so happy Courtney is coming back for more. She proved herself a worthy and incredibly lippy player last time and if she's smart she'll play the same game again: Stay out of the way, make a few snide comments, give your vote to the majority, and skip your way to the final.''

Credit: CBS.com

[Erika]

Courtney = Just a jerk

[CFK]

Courtney = goddess :love

It's a bit weird she's the villain since the only people she complained about were Jean-Robert and Denise Amanda is the one who backstabbed America's favourite James and she is a hero :lol

wTN8AHJc5-g

[kungfuhippie]

But Jean-Robert is my hero, so that makes her a villain :lol

[CFK]

But Jean-Robert is my hero, so that makes her a villain :lol

He is mine too, but I don't think Probst liked him :(

[Mandi]

I liked Courtney. She was my favorite from china

[Riddle]

For some odd reason I really like her already. I didn't really like her in China, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE her already. I'm rooting for her to win!

[AIW]

I love Courtney but if she doesn't make an alliance early she will be first one out.

[Dennis]

I know somebody who will want to make an alliance with her on day one. :D

[toque]

:lol Dennis. Blonde enough, indeed... not to mention dumb-ass enough.

[Jahim]

I really liked Courtney on her season, and I love her explanation for her arrival (overrated/back up to Sugar :lol ). I love snark.

[Hal]

Inspiration in Life: “The laughter of children.”

:rofl

[Erika]

wTN8AHJc5-g

[DiamondAura]

I like Courtney, but not on the show. She was boring, did nothing, and floated to the end, all she had going for her was her ability to know how to talk to the jury in the END lmao

[Acfan]

Same. I didn't like Courtney while in the game, LOVED her at the Reunion show though, she was hilarious. She's bratty, but she's funny and has a good sense of self. Is it just me or is she even thinner than before?

[alexandra]

Same. I didn't like Courtney while in the game, LOVED her at the Reunion show though, she was hilarious. She's bratty, but she's funny and has a good sense of self. Is it just me or is she even thinner than before?

She was hilarious at the Reunion show. I am not rooting for her to win, but I love her confessionals, she is so sarcastic.:lol

and yeah AC, she is definitely thinner than before.

[toque]

Ok, this has nothing to do with Courtney's personality... but it's always confused me a little:

There's dirty blonde, and then there's blonde blonde, and then platinum blonde. And then there is Courtney's color... why would someone dye their hair "old lady white?"
When it's clean and shiny, it's not too bad, but I really wonder how it'll look after a couple of days on the island. :S

[Riddle]

AdZ0JsFj5nY

[Erika]

Courtney Yates talks about 'Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains'

By Reality TV World staff, 04/16/2010

As Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains' smallest castaway, Courtney Yates was an unlikely choice to survive the all-star competition's initial tribe-versus-tribe phase in which physical strength is usually highly valued.

However an early alliance with Rob "Boston Rob" Mariano allowed her to survive her Villains tribe's initial bootings until Russell Hantz took control of the tribe and voted off Rob and later came after her.

On Friday, the former Survivor: China castaway talked to Reality TV World about her Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains experience -- including whether she was surprised that Russell's alliance considered her bigger threat than Survivor: Pearl Islands winner Sandra Diaz-Twine, what she thought of James "JT" Thomas' decision to give Russell a hidden Immunity Idol, and what she had planned to do if she had survived until the game's tribal merge.

Reality TV World: Sandra and yourself seemed kind of resigned to the fact that one of you was going home. Had you guys had any plan for what you were going to do next if you were able to convince Russell to vote Coach off like he did, or were was the entire plan to basically pray that the merge was coming next after that?

Courtney Yates: Well, we sort of knew it was going to be downhill, as Rob went we went like, "Oh crap!" And then I think that we didn't realize that [Jerri Manthey] was so under Russell's spell.

I mean at least I thought, "Well, there's at least three of us that they can pick from." We tried to sell it as "keep me and Sandra and then [it will be] you three and us two and then we're happy as long as we're together, so we'll be with you guys" instead of Jerri and then one of us being angry and "going rogue."

But it didn't work out that way because Jerri was like already entranced by Russell and his magic ways. (laughs)

You know, that's the thing about the show -- there's only so much scrambling you can do when you have like four people looking at you blinking... so I did what I could, and [Parvati Shallow] was my best shot. She and I got along fine, we never had a problem.

We both sort of wanted each other around for sort of an "Option B" alliance, I guess. I tried to sell it to her -- "Okay girl, this is good for you to have me because I'm on your side. I'm not with Russell and [Danielle DiLorenzo], but I'll be on your side. So bring me in and then I'm your pocket vote, whatever you want to do let's do it. We can get [Amanda Kimmel], like we'll just take it over."

But at that point, it was still too early for her to break away from Russell, I guess, so it didn't work out.

I thought it was really shortsighted of the three of them to keep Sandra over me though! (laughs) I was, to be honest, really surprised! I thought they were keeping me!

Reality TV World: I was too.

Courtney Yates: Danielle, Russell, and Parvati, I thought they were for sure going to keep me instead of Sandra because Sandra, you know, she won her first season. She's a winner! (laughs)

She's a great player and I think that they were really underestimating her, and I was almost like laughing about it when it was happening. I was like, "You can't be serious, right?"

You want everyone's sidekick gone instead of this girl who is a dominant player in her own right? You're retarded.

Reality TV World: So it sounds like you guys did try and get Jerri back at one point. What were you trying to do, convince her to force a 3-3 tie?

Courtney Yates: No, we were trying to convince the other three to get rid of Jerri and keep both of us together. Like, "she's not attached to you guys, and we'll be, we're together and you know that we're a solid two-person vote -- we'll be together and we'll vote with you guys."

But Russell already had Jerri pulled in and tight to him. And his writing down my name instead of Coach's [at the prior Tribal Council] was sort of to iron-lock Jerri into his thinking.

Because he was like, "Oh, I know, those evil girls voted off Coach, your boyfriend! But I went against it, I was against all of those mean girls!"

And so she was like (Courtney assumes mocking voice) "Yay! They're mean! Russell, you're my hero! I love you Russell!"

So there was no way he was letting her [turn] down to me and Sandra. And, you know, we both voted against Russell and Parvati -- like we sort of didn't have a leg to stand on. It was like, "Okay, well..." (laughs)

Reality TV World: So when I talked to Coach last week, he had said that the producers had told him that the [post re-vote] tiebreaker for this season was drawing for the purple rock. Was everybody else aware of that and is that why nobody has seemed to be willing to do ties?

Courtney Yates: I think it was a re-vote and then a re-vote and then a purple rock. This is the problem when you get into an all-star season in Season 20. Because it turns into freaking "Survivor calculus," and it's so convoluted and complicated. People at home can't follow it [and] people in the game can barely follow what's happening.

I mean we were scrambling so much on the Villains team that they had to like run around and keep, you know, like figure out what the hell we were doing, we were so far ahead. I mean nobody was wanting to do ties at that point because what's in it for you?

I mean if you're solidly in -- if you're Jerri, what's in it for you to force a tie?

Reality TV World: Well, they were the people who sent Coach home. So "revenge" at least, for sending Coach home.

Courtney Yates: But she didn't know that he sent Coach home. And she wouldn't have believed us anyway. I mean she was fully -- everyone is underestimating Russell Hantz, man! He's not to be trifled with, he had that girl LOCKED DOWN!

There was nothing you could have said to her. She already didn't like us and Russell was her protector and her hero. (Courtney assumes mocking voice again) She just wanted somebody to protect her and make her feel safe.

Reality TV World: So if the merge had happened, what was your plan then -- to just flip as fast as you could basically?

Courtney Yates: Well, Sandra and I were optimistic that we could maybe get something together with Amanda or [Candice Woodcock] and pull Parvati in. I mean that's what I kind of wanted to do. It was (unintelligible) you can do about it, but that was sort of our long-term thing, like "Okay, we need to get rid of these dudes, we need to get rid of these strong people and be with the people that you can trust."

And obviously I would have loved to have seen what Amanda was up to and what position she was in on her team to see if we could help each other.

Reality TV World: So did you guys have a pre-game alliance on that, to get back together?

Courtney Yates: No, Amanda and I are on great terms but, I mean, my life doesn't revolve around making Survivor plans for fictitious games in the future.

But in the circumstance, if we were actually playing Survivor, I would go ahead and assume we would play together. you know, that's what everyone was (unintelligible) anyways. (laughs)

I mean I'm not saying it was for sure, but you know, who knows? I wouldn't have teamed up with any of the boys from the Heroes team but I definitely would have been open to talking with the girls.

Reality TV World: What was your reaction when you got to the Reward Challenge and heard the Heroes boasting about how obvious it was that there was a women's alliance over at the Villains?

Courtney Yates: Oh, it was just funny. I mean in a certain way I thought it was really cute, because I knew that as soon as they heard that Russell was like, "Excellent!" (laughs) And Parvati thought it was really funny too.

I mean you have to chuckle. There was a little bit of Villain pride and I went, "Ah, they're so stupid." (laughs)

Reality TV World: Did you know that they had given the hidden Immunity Idol to Russell while you were in the game or did you only find that out afterwards?

Courtney Yates: I found out afterwards! I was like, "Oh no, that's not going to go over well because it's like Russell is the magic hidden Immunity Idol knower." They just jump into his path no matter what he does!

So I was like, "Oh, that's not only humiliating because it (unintelligible) it was like, oh, does it have to be Russell? Russell?" (laughs)

Poor JT. But in his defense, he's doing what he can, you know?

Reality TV World: Were you kicking yourself that you didn't have your own chance to ridicule his letter?

Courtney Yates: No, I would never ridicule him. He doesn't have really the option to be the sort of player that sneaks through the cracks. He's right out front and center. He's a strong guy. He's very good in challenges. He's fast, he's charming, he's a winner.

He knows that he is a total target so he has to make big moves to try and keep himself in a power position, and if he's on the losing end of something it's not going to be easy for him. So he was just trying to keep a step ahead... and so from his perspective, I can see that he thought this was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Like, "I'm going to get this poor lonely dude over to our side and I'm going to help him by letting him be a hero!"

And that was my favorite part about the whole thing, actually. These Heroes men assuming that everyone on the Villains team wanted to be a hero. No one wants to be on your stupid team, Heroes! You guys are dumb! (laughs)

Reality TV World: Did you know that Parvati had gotten the note about the other hidden Immunity Idol while you were on the reward trip and then found it?

Courtney Yates: I mean I knew someone got it. I mean that's what they were doing with these rewards -- somebody was getting a clue for something. So I didn't know that she had it, I didn't know that she found it or whatever, but everyone kept getting up and leaving and coming back. Like "Oh, I have to go pee!" "Oh, I have to go too!" "I have to go again!" "Oh gee, look at this, I have to pee!"

And you're like, "Okay, whatever, someone found it."

Reality TV World: Do you guys really waste time eating salad during that reward?

Courtney Yates: Yeah, they wouldn't give [the steak and shrimp] to us! They made it like if it was an Outback restaurant -- which I love Outback Steakhouse, by the way. I used to live above one, I know the entire menu backwards and forwards.

They wanted to do it [that way]. They were like "Here are your cocktails, and here's your salad course." And we were like, "Give us the meat, we're all hungry!" (laughs)

So we were mad, we wanted all the meat at once, but for product [placement] or whatever we had to do it that way.

Reality TV World: You were obviously the season's second jury member. What criteria did you consider important for your vote?

Courtney Yates: I would like to say that I'm going to use attractiveness and humor to be my judges. I'm going to pick the most attractive and the most humorous.
Source: RTVW.com

[AIW]

She's great.

[kungfuhippie]

I actually really like her too, in a lot of ways. She has a different attitude than lots of Survivors. I liked how she went out smiling and how she was winking at Coach a few minutes before she was voted out. She's funny.

[Acfan]

I love her too. She's great. I don't know about actually playing, but I was sold on her in the China Reunion. :love

[CFK]

I can't believe they gave her the lowest confessional average of any contestant ever :(

[Erika]

Interview with Courtney Yates

Courtney Yates does not suffer fools gladly.

Fans of "Survivor: China," where she finished as runner-up, know that. Fans of "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains," where she was eliminated on Thursday (April 15) night, know that.

And this interviewer knows that, having been the fool at several points during my conversation with Courtney on the morning following her "Survivor" eviction. With Courtney, what you see was always what you got. She made no apologies for being snarky, judgmental and sometimes physically weak, because those things did nothing to keep her from outplaying, outwitting and outlasting 20+ castaways over her two seasons.

And when I asked questions that Courtney thought didn't make any sense, she didn't shy away from letting me know.

The result is a prickly, candid and funny interview in which I sometimes apparently sounded like a fool.

Click through...

HitFix: In your exit last night, you seemed uncharacteristically relaxed and kind to your fellow contestants. Why so upbeat?

Courtney Yates: I don't know. I think I am a kind person. It's not my fault I'm funny, you know? I'm sort of linked to being sarcastic and snarky to everyone. It's not just to any one person. I'm not a mean person. I'm just funny.


HitFix: But it's still a circumstance where even the kindest person is sometimes allowed to be bitter, but you were totally OK with your departure?

CY: You know what? It's a game show. People get a little too wrapped up and they define themselves by how they placed on "Survivor" and think that it's going to change their life in some way if they get sixth place instead of 12th. It really isn't a big deal. If you win, you get a lot of money and if you lose you're not going to get that much money. So I took took it in stride and I'm happy for how far I got. I went in with no expectations. If I was voted off first, at least I was voted off as an All-Star. So that's pretty good for someone like me. I never had an expectation and I don't take myself that seriously in the context of this game.


HitFix: When did sarcasm become a villainous trait anyway? Were you surprised by the team you ended up on?

CY: You know, I'm not. I've seen the show and been part of it before and if you are a woman who dares to speak more than [she goes into a high-pitched voice] "Yeah! I know! Let's work as a team!" then you're automatically a heinous bitch who is the undoing of everyone and whatever. So it's fine. I didn't want to be on the Heroes women's team. Come on.


HitFix: What kind of women were on the Heroes team?

CY: It doesn't matter, because they didn't stay on it very long, did they? They were just locked out. And then it was like, "You're not strong enough, Stephenie," even though she can bench-press me. "Get out of here, you weak woman." She's gonna break your legs. You'd better watch out for that girl. Those dudes are just ridiculous. But no, I was proud to be on the Villains team. The Villains, they're killin' it, man, although all of our people were funny and dynamic and memorable for not being necessarily a challenge-dominant blah blah blah. It's like everyone has to do well despite something.


HitFix: If you say that one of the things that makes a woman a Villain is being outspoken, how did the Villains tribe end up so completely dominated by Russell and Boston Rob?

CY: Right from the beginning, we ended up not losing a lot, so we had all of these shifting alliances. It was like a lava lamp, you know? Things bubble and it keeps changing shapes. It started off with Rob and Russell and Sandra, Parvati and Danielle. But Rob and Russell have two wildly different ideas of how to play "Survivor" and what's important in that game, so they started bumping heads and then there was nowhere to let pressure out. While that was happening, Danielle wanted to be with Rob, but Rob couldn't stand her, so she sort of slunk off into a corner. Then Russell had time only for Parvati and he wouldn't even talk to anyone else, so they ending up factioning off. Then Tyson and I ended up palling around. Then Tyson came over with Rob and us and he brought Coach and Jerri and so it turned into 6 vs. 3 instead of 3 vs. 3 vs. 3 and then targeted Tyson and he left and then the whole thing splintered. I think that having an opinion and being a strong woman necessarily leads to "Kumbaya, girl power, let's all sing Indigo Girls and sit around and vote off the men-folk." It's just that in the context of the show, some girls will sit around and not say anything. And the people who do are maligned. Parvati didn't do anything that Amanda and Cirie didn't do, but she's a Villain and they're not, because they smile sweetly and say what you want to hear and Parvati's like, "Nooo..." and she smiles sweetly and does what she wants. So she's a Villain.


HitFix: Of course you don't need to go all Kumbaya and vote out the men from the beginning, but there you were with the other side thinking you were picking off the men. Did anybody stop and go, "Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea... Maybe we should get Russell."

CY: Well, Russell wasn't really my alliance. My alliance was in a pile of ashes. My alliance was Rob, Tyson and Sandra. Russell had nothing to do with my alliance and I can't tell another alliance how they're supposed to work things out. They're not going to listen to me. I'm not with them. I don't know what you're saying. Am I supposed to be in charge of the other two girls?


HitFix: I was just wondering if, within your earshot, Parvati or Danielle at all entertained the possibility of getting rid of this puppetmaster before a merge.

CY: But what you're ignoring is that they're sitting pretty in a dominant alliance. Why would they ever break something that's working for them? Russell is doing all of the dirty work and they're just sort of along for the ride. Why would they be like, "You know? We've got something that works really well. You know what we should do? We should stop it. Let's team up with these losers who don't like us." We were trying to vote them out. They were trying to vote us out. We're in different factions and we're not gonna be like, "You what we all have vaginas! Let's stick together. Bye, Russell. Thanks for saving me with that Idol and that ridiculously amazing play. Peace out. I'm gonna go with these girls."


HitFix: Well, when you put it that way... At least that would have been interesting TV...

CY: I don't know. I can't carry the entire show.


HitFix: In China, you were very outspoken about all of your Tribemates and most of them weren't even very interesting. Was it hard to stay quiet surrounded by big, broad personalities like Russell and Coach and Boston Rob?

CY: It's a different experience. The first time you go out, you don't know what to make of people. Then when you go back, you already know what to make of them. We all know what Boston Rob is like. We all know what Jerri's like. Everybody knows what I'm like. So it becomes irrelevant. You're just playing the game and it's a different. I tried to just skulk around in the shadows as much as I could, but it's not easy, because they're like, "Ah. That's just Courtney. She's doing her thing where she doesn't get involved."


HitFix: Did you contemplate taking any sort of different approach this time around?

CY: I think when you are me, the best thing that I can do is make a strong alliance and then flank myself on all sides with strong players and that's what I did. I don't think changing anything would have been different. I don't think that I made a wrong move. I feel like we got FUBARed with the whole Tyson thing and then obviously there were the Idols that kept popping up. I lost fair and square. I think that I put myself in a good position and I was in the center of a really strong six-person alliance against three and then all of a sudden it all went to hell. You know? I don't think that by siding with the minority, I could have been like, "Let me get out my crystal ball and see that three misfits are going to somehow wrap all of us around their finger. I should jump on the losing train!" No. You want to be on the winning train. I thought I was. I mean, Rob is an amazing player. I wanted to be aligned with him. Sandra was a solid alliance for me to have. Tyson and I got along great. Then Jerri and Coach were just like extra numbers. I think I had myself in really good position and then things went awry. I did what I could. I spoke to Parvati and tried to sway her to keep me over Sandra, just because of our connection and what we could have done together and the fact that she knew that I was loyal to her and not the other two people in her alliance. I think I did what I could.


HitFix: So would you do this game again?

CY: Ummm... I don't think so.


HitFix: Physical reasons, emotional reasons or just because twice is enough?

CY: For boring reasons. I don't think anyone is interested in seeing me anymore and I'm going to bow out gracefully.

Source: HitFix.com