You may have noticed that there was the conclusion to another reality-series this week besides "The Biggest Loser."

Todd Herzog beat out Courtney and Amanda to win 1 million smackers on "Survivor: China."

Here's what he has to say about his victory:

MSN: Todd, congratulations on winning "Survivor" this time around.

Todd: Thank you very much.

MSN: What do you think was the biggest secret to your success?

Todd: I think it's probably my passion for the game. This is my love. It's my dream. I wanted this from when I was 15 years old and the show began. The fact I actually got on the show was a huge accomplishment to me in the very first place, let alone winning. ... A huge passion is what got me this far.

MSN: It seemed like in many respects you were playing the game much more than any other participant. It didn't seem like any of them were thinking two or three moves ahead like you were. Is that a fair assessment of what the other players were doing?

Todd: I was questioning on the show, "Why aren't these guys making crazy moves? Why are they going day-by-day?" I think a lot of them didn't understand as much as I did the game. Some of them were definitely playing, but some of them were saying, "I'll just see how far I can get" instead of "I'm going to go for this million."

MSN: You said you've been a fan of the show since it first started. Who were your role models in previous seasons of the show?

Todd: It's funny. I really respect and look up to Jenna Morasca because she was a young swimsuit model. Nobody took her seriously. People were like, "Ha, you're going to go far in this game? Yeah, right." That's kind of similar to my story. I stepped out there and people were like, "Look at you. You're a 5-7 flight attendant. What do you expect to do out here?" I stuck to my game plan just like she did.

MSN: Why didn't people take you more as the threat you clearly were?

Todd: Your guess is as good as mine. I kept saying on the show, "Why are they not voting me out?" I wasn't going to tell them to, but I didn't understand why they didn't bunch together and go against me. I don't know.

MSN: What was your game plan, and how, if at all, did that change during your time on "Survivor"?

Todd: My game plan was to go in, find the correct people to align myself with: a) someone I could trust, b) someone bigger and stronger than me and c) someone smaller than me. And that's exactly what I did. I figure if we make a deal to go as far as we possibly could in the game, we could make this work. We used everybody to our own advantage, and I just used them to my advantage more.

MSN: So when it came down to it, Todd, you were saying in the episodes that aired this week that you were afraid the girls would team up ... Why didn't they?

Todd: Courtney has told me that she respected my gameplay so much and knew it was my dream that she tried to sway people away from trying to get rid of me because she said if anybody deserved it, it was me. So that to me is a huge compliment, the fact she would say that in the first place.

MSN: What would your vote have been if you had been actually put on as the last person of the jury?

Todd: If it was between Denise, Amanda and Courtney?

MSN: Yes.

Todd: Courtney. I think she overcame an extreme obstacle. She was absolutely 100 percent out of her element. She surprised everybody by making it to the final three. She played a fantastic game and I am so excited she's sitting right next to me in second place.

MSN: When it came to the jury, how confident were you that you were going to win at that point?

Todd: I was not confident at all. After the final tribal council, I thought for sure that Courtney did win and I figured I was either tied with Courtney or in second place. It was a frustrating couple of months, not knowing.

MSN: What votes did you end up getting?

Todd: I got Peih-Gee's, Jaime's, Frosti's and Jean-Robert's. James and Denise voted for Courtney.

MSN: What do you think it was that swayed those four votes in your favor?

Todd: I think it was my passion for the game. I think they were able to see, yeah he did lie and he did backstab, but he also is being very honest right now in saying, "Yes, I did lie. I did backstab, but I came to play a game."

MSN: What are you going to do with your million dollars?

Todd: I'm going to buy a car. I'm going to pay off any debts I have. I'm going to go on a little bit of a shopping spree, travel a little bit and invest wisely.

MSN: I think one of your fellow Survivors talked about your having a career ahead of you in L.A. What was that, because I thought you were a flight attendant.

Todd: I was a flight attendant. I quit the job to be on the show. In the last episode, Denise said something to Amanda about me having a career in L.A. and I don't know anything about that. I live in Utah. I don't know.

MSN: Maybe she sees you as a future rock star or something.

Todd: Maybe. It's a huge compliment, I guess, if she sees me doing something like that in the future. I guess I wouldn't turn something down if it came up.

MSN: So Todd, what would you give to other people who want to try out for "Survivor"?

Todd: You know, it took me three tries to get on the show. It took Leslie 11 times to get on the show. If you really want to do it and you really, really, really have the passion to go for this game, don't give up. Because if you really believe something will happen, you can do it.

MSN: Who would you say was your biggest threat out of the other 15 Survivors?

Todd: My biggest threat... Probably Peih-Gee, because she came from Jhan Whu as one of the first ones we wanted gone, and turned into the last Jhan-Whu remaining, final five. It kind of got scary, you know?

MSN: What was the biggest surprise about actually being on "Survivor" that you couldn't anticipate from just watching it?

Todd: I didn't realize how hard it was. I knew the game was going to be difficult. I knew it was going to test me in different ways, but I didn't know exactly to what extent it was going to challenge me. It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life.

MSN: Now correct me if I'm wrong. You didn't win any individual reward or immunity challenges, right?

Todd: Zero.

MSN: Were you worried that would be held against you at all?

Todd: I considered it. But I was also going to tell people, "I didn't win a single immunity challenge, a single reward challenge, yet I'm still sitting in the final three."

MSN: Anything else, Todd, you'd like to add?

Todd: Other than this was the most amazing experience of my life, keep going for what you believe in. It was awesome. There couldn't be a happier person in the world right now.

- posted by Raoul