Reality Roll Call

Heres a recent interview that Billy did with one of his fan sites. Check it out if you’re a Billy fan. Heck if you’re not check it out anyway because its good interview.

Billy’s responses:

Hey Brenda….

Thank YOU for the interview. I’m flattered.

OF: Where were you born?

BILLY: In a part of New York City called Washington Heights. It’s a very large Dominican community. The hospital I was born in burned down two weeks after I was born. I swear I didn’t do it! ha ha ha.

OF: Where did you grow up?

BILLY: Partly in Washington Heights and partly in Miami, Florida. I’m back living in Washington Heights and if you ask people that know me they’ll say I never did grow up. ha ha ha.

OF: Do you have family~ siblings?

BILLY: I have an older sister, Laurin, My mom Marina who is a famous Astrologer and Reiki master in the Hispanic community and my dad Virgilio Sr. I have crap loads of cousins. ha ha ha.

OF:Who was your hero growing up~ who had the biggest influence on your life as a youth?

BILLY: My Karate Sensei (teacher) Grandmaster Moises Colon. He kept me on the right path. I could have went wrong on many occassions But Sensei trained my mind as much as my body. When I wrote on my Survivor bio that Kurt Angle was my hero it was a joke like a lot of my favorites, I tried to be funny. Moises Colon is my real hero.

OF:What did you want to be when you were a child?

BILLY: I was always a big dreamer. Sometimes it was a Pro-Wrestler, sometimes it was a rockstar, sometimes it was a TV/Movie star. It pretty much explains why I’ve made the career choices I’ve made.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Survivor related questions:
OF: What made you decide to do Survivor? Were you a fan of the show?

BILLY: I was and still am a big fan of Survivor. But being on TV was a goal since childhood. I could care less if I won or loss, I just wanted to be memorable.

OF: When were you made aware of the twist concerning the tribes being divided by ethnic groups?

BILLY: The night before the game started. They pulled each one of us aside one by one and broke the news to us. It was so dramatic. Geez, you’d think they were telling us who really shot JFK.

OF: What were your thoughts regarding this twist? Did you think it would help or hurt your game?

BILLY: When the news was broken to me I told Jeff Probst and Mark Burnett that it’s a great twist for Survivor but it sucks for me cause now I had no chance of winning. That I was not going to survivor this twist. I thought I need to make it to the Jury to be memorable and that this was the one way we could be divided that I couldn’t use my charisma to get by which was my whole game. Putting that much pressure on us meant no one wanted to joke around and laugh and take it light. Now the pressure meant that portraying a surtain image of our race was a priority. I knew that would play a major role in my demise and it did.

OF: What were your first thoughts when you saw your tribal flag that first time and when you first set foot on the island?

BILLY: I wanted to celebrate but no one else did. It was GET TO WORK! ha ha ha. Thanks to conversations on the raft ride to the island I already knew that I was out numbered. Four from California, and just me from the other coast. Four were continental Latinos and just me as a Caribbean Hispanic. I was already trying to think of a way to wiggle out of that situation. I think I just made things worse for myself in the long run.

OF: What is your most cherished memory from filming Survivor that happened on the island? What is your most oddest? How about funniest?

BILLY: All of the above was after we jumped off the ship and got on our raft, we got ran over by the ship. Cecilia was getting sawed in half and sucked under by the front of the ship as it crashed up and down on our raft churning us like butter. JP tried to convince Cecelia that she’s alright but she screamed back that she’s not. I mean come on, Cecelia was geting Sucked under and JP was like “everything is fine.” Hello! Celecila is getting killed, that’s not fine. This went on for a while, then I screamed “We’re All Gonna Die!” That didn’t help things but it was funny. I managed to grab hold of Cecilia and pull her up on to the raft as Cristina pushed us off the ship. We all lived but what a start to an adventure. I’m still really ticked off that they edited that out. That was one of my funniest moments.

OF: What did your family and friends think of you doing Survivor?

BILLY: “The Dreamchaser has caught another dream!”

OF: Of all your tribe mates which one(s) did you feel the closest to while on the island?

BILLY: That’s easy, Cristina was my only friend while on the Island. Since then, Cecelia has become a very good friend that I’m very fond of, but at the time she was in with Ozzy and JP. She was in the majority so I don’t blame her at all. I think a great scene that DID make the edit was after the thrown challenge Cecelia says “He looks like a Zombie. I feel bad for him. Don’t you JP?” and JP says “NO, I don’t.” That sums up how it was with Cecelia and JP. Cecelia was in the majoirty but understood we’re all human beings and genually felt bad about the way things went down. JP was just mean to me out there. He was a lot nicer once we were both eliminated. But during the game, yikes. He got off easy with the edit but I guess that’s ok since I’ve seen that he’s really not such a bad guy outside the game. I think that meanest was just a defense mechanism because he and I couldn’t get along in the game.

OF: During filming what was camp life like for you?
How about the extremes ~ the hunger, the boredom, the game itself, the challenges, being in front of cameras, did you think it would be the way it was or was it a total shock to you?

BILLY: I thought we’d starve more. But the hardest part for me was the dehydration. What I didn’t know was that everyone’s metabolism is different so everyone physically adapts at a different pace. Some one who has been in the outdoors a lot like Ozzy has more than just a skill advantage. His body doesn’t have to go through any major changes internally like the rest of us. That first challenge was a highlight for me. I really don’t care how it was edited, I wipe my butt with that edit. ha ha ha. I know what really happened and that, along with Cecelia and Cristina I was a big factor in our success in that first challenge. I had that whole challenge figured out before we saw it. I thought I proved myself with figuring out the whole challenge from the clue and coming up with the strategy that won us immunity. If I had more support who knows what would have accomplished. But it’s a game with only one winner. I think that got in the way of us repesenting our race like we would have wanted to.

OF: Of all the Survivors who have ever played the game who would you say, in your opinion, is the best Survivor in these categories:

BILLY:

A. Strategy Player - Rob C./Richard Hatch
B. Challenges - Colby Donaldson/Terry Deitz
C. Overall best Survivor - Boston Rob/Stephannie Lograsso

OF: Other than CI what other season(s) is your favorite?

BILLY: Borneo, Pearl Islands, Austrailian Outback, Allstars, Africa

OF: Who is your favorite villain? How about favorite Survivor?

BILLY:

Villain - Richard Hatch/Jonathan Penner
Favorite - Rupert/Big Tom/Lex

OF: I am a huge Mark Burnett fan (he is a hero of mine LOL), what is he like in person?

BILLY: Very personable. I can talk to him like I would anyone else. I can tell he really enjoyed doing Survivor: Cook Islands. He really liked that cast and the location and loved the ship that started the game.

OF:What is it like to be at Tribal Council?

BILLY: Hot as hell! There is a lot of fire at TC and it makes it super hot! Plus TC is about 3 hours long. Brutal! But it was also the most bitter sweet moment of my life. It was the final part of a dream realized.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now to our fave subject OZZY!!!!

OF: When you first met Ozzy what was your first impression of him?

BILLY: Pompus little monkey boy but damn can he climb cocoanut trees! ha ha ha.

OF: As you were there on the island with Ozzy did that impression change?

BILLY: Yeah, once you live with someone 24 hours a day, everyday in a row with nothing else but one another to keep you company, even when they stand against you, you grow attached to your tribe. Me, Ozzy and JP had an alliance for the first three days and I really wanted to make it work but JP and I couldn’t coexist. Otherwise, Ozzy and I would have been on the same side. That’s something else I’m upset that got edited out. It makes Ozzy and Me look bad to our race when It was poor chemistry between me and JP and a fear that it would lead to me targeting them later in the game that was behind what happend in our tribe not lazyness or selling out the Latino race like how it was protrayed.

OF: What are your thoughts concerning how he turned out to be such a challenge demon LOL did it surprise you how athletic he was? How about his overall skills in camp was that a surprise to you as well?

BILLY: Ozzy has an unprecedented amount of outdoor skills for Survivor. Being in the out doors all his life also gave him a physical advantage as well. His body did not suffer the adverse effects that plagued the rest of us and everyone else that ever played Survivor. That’s the secret to his success in challenges.

OF: What is your funniest memory of Ozzy while on the island? How about off the island and back home?

BILLY: I have no Funny Memories of Ozzy on Survivor….He and JP were WAY too serious for my taste. I tried to tell jokes and lighten things up and the two of them acted like I was disturbing a funeral. My funny Survivor memories were all with Cristina and Cecelia. Off the island, I’ve done one event with Ozzy, that was Traverse City Castaways in Michigan. Ozzy came up to me after about 30 seconds on a slot machine and said he shouldn’t have bet his lucky quarter. Now he regrets losing his lucky quarter. I guess that quarter wasn’t so lucky.

OF: What are your overall thoughts about Ozzy? Plus if you could choose an adjective to describe Ozzy what would it be?

BILLY: Geez, I guess good luck with the acting career. That’s a hard industry to find work in. Is Monkeyboyish an adjective? ha ha ha.

OF: If you could think of a person or character, real or fiction to describe Ozzy, who would that person or character be?

BILLY: oh lord….I think JP said it best when he called Ozzy Mogly from the Jungle Book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Post Survivor~

OF: So what was the finale like for you? How did it feel to see CI end? What are your thoughts overall on CI as a series? Would you do it again if asked?

BILLY: Hell yeah I’d do it again. The Finale was fun because we got to reunite in a party atmosphere. CI had a lot of characters and I felt that it went to waist a bit because in the editing there was too much focus on fishing and cocoanuts and the people on the show is what Survivor has always been about. As for seeing it end…it’s never really over. A few weeks back I did a round of interviews for South African press because CI had just begun to air there. Plus I think most people will always think of me as Billy from Survivor. I’ve been asked a few times by the South African press how can I perceive my Survivor experience as a dream come true considering how it turned out? Well, when I was a kid, my parents were too poor to buy me a pure breed dog so I had to settle for the last mutt of the litter that no one wanted. We got that dog for free. It was an ugly dog. It looked like it lost a fight with a grizzly bear it was so ugly. Everyone that saw it would laugh and crack jokes about how ugly it was. But it was my dog. I loved it and I was proud of it because it was mine. Same thing with my Survivor experience. No mater how many laugh and crack jokes about how bad of a car wreck my game was, it is my dream and I love it and am proud of I because it is mine. I will always be decadent about regrets regarding my time on Survivor. So much so, that I’ll wear that damn t-shirt to my grave.

OF: How often do you see any of your fellow tribemates? How about Ozzy~ how often do you see him?

BILLY: Like JP, Ozzy does his own thing. I’ve seen Ozzy only once since the CI finale at that Traverse City Castaways event I mentioned. I see Christina & Cecelia all of the time. I also see Cao Boi, and Flica all the time too. I see Stephanie and Nate from time to time and I saw a lot of CI people at Cocoa Beach florida for that big event. That was my first time really talking to Becky. I haven’t Sekou though. I miss him the most. But I’ve visited Cao Boi in Virginia and we went hiking up Peter’s Mountain together and we hung out at the Moose Lodge together. I even joined the Moose. I can’t imagin my life without Cao Boi, Flica, Cristina and Cecelia in it. They are a big reason why it doesn’t matter how the game turned out for me.

OF: What are your passions in life now?

BILLY: My Music is always a passion for me. My band Forsakken has finished our album…hopfully we’ll announce a realease date soon. Checkout www.forsakken.com for info. Karate is also something that’s part of my life. I’ve backed off the Pro-Wrestling a bit because of time but I’ll be making time for it again soon. Charities are big to me. And of Course my Family and Friends which include my Survivor Family.

OF: Which charity(ties) are you most involved in?

BILLY: Reality 4 Diabetes, Traverse City Castaways, & Johnson City Good Samaritan Survivor Challenge. I’m hosting an event on December 8th, 2007 at the Sports Center in Long Island New York called Reality Castaways Dodgeball. It benifits Reality 4 Diabetes. Checkout www.myspace.com/realitycastawaysdodgeball or www.thesportscenterinc.com
Before Survivor, I still did charities but I was always frustrated with how limited my efforts were. Now I’m proud of how much good I can do with my Survivor fame. It feels good to know that I’ve made a difference in a lot of lives.

OF: What is Billy Garcia up to of late? What are your plans concerning what the future holds for you?

BILLY: I’ve always been a dreamchaser. That won’t change. I’ll continue to chase dreams and I’ll catch my share.

Thanks Billy! I love ya alot dude and think you are the sweetest and one of the most caring Survivors I have run across here on MySpace. You are the best for consenting to do this interview. ROCK ON!!!!!!

BILLY: It’s my pleasure. Thank you for having me.

For more information on Reality Castaway Dodge Ball check out its official myspace page or our article.