Jenna Morasca doesn’t mince words. The feisty Survivor: Amazon winner wastes no time proclaiming that she would easily win any version of the CBS reality series that was offered to her because the game has gotten soft since she participated in its sixth season.

Food? Blankets? She explains that the show is about survival, and having such comforts handed to you when you’re supposed to be earning them is “new school,” not the “old school” Survivor she remembers.

Morasca is part of CBS’s prime-time special Surviving Survivor, which looks back at 10 of the game’s most memorable players as they peel back the layers and talk about how the show impacted their lives.

Morasca’s story is fairly well known. She and Survivor: Africa winner and fellow All-Stars participant Ethan Zohn fell in love in June 2003 and are still a couple. The duo are facing hardships of late due to Zohn’s battle with Hodgkin’s disease, but that’s not stopping Morasca from lashing out at Survivor.

TVGuide.ca: Were you asked to take part in (the upcoming season) Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains?
Jenna Morasca: I was. I said no. As we all know, on All-Stars I really didn’t get a shot because I left to take care of my mom and all that stuff. I had been jonesing for another chance to do Survivor because I love it so much, and this just happened to fall right in the middle of Ethan’s treatment plan. And I was like, ‘Here we go again.’ And he was practically forcing me out the door, and I was like, ‘No, my new motto is that I’m not going on Survivor when my loved one has cancer.’ I’m just not doing it!

It’s actually good that I didn’t go because the time that they were filming, we found out that his treatment didn’t work, and we had to try a new treatment program. He was asked to take part in Heroes vs. Villains as well, but he couldn’t go.

But I do think I could have won this time around.

TVG: Let’s go back to your first arrival in the Amazon. What went through your mind?
JM: I’m still, and was, the biggest Survivor fan ever. I’ve watched every episode, and I was literally waiting for the clock to turn so that I was 21 so that I could sign up. For me it was a dream come true. I was going on my favourite TV show to play. I just have the fondest and warmest memories of that trip that no one could ever replace. I met some amazing people that I still talk to. Every time I think about it I get butterflies because I can still smell the smells and get that excitement back.

TVG: I know you dropped by the 10th anniversary party in Los Angeles for Survivor. Is there anything cool that happened there that you can tell me about?
JM: I was doing a lot of interviewing there, but it was really interesting to see a bunch of Survivors in the room together. Everyone wants to tell their story, and everyone wants to compare who had the harder season. And then the winners are off in the corner, saying ‘I don’t have to prove myself.’
Jenna and Ethan

TVG: How has the game changed since you played?
JM: Argh! First of all, they get way too much food. I’m just going to put that out there. I am old-fashioned – and I’m bitter – in that if I starved I want you to starve. I don’t care. I want you to eat dirt and bugs like I did. So anytime I see people eating I get very angry. And anytime I see people with a hammock or a blanket, that makes me angry also.

I don’t think it’s a Survivor thing, I think maybe the audience has changed. I don’t think people want to see others suffer as much anymore, understandably so with the economy and everything. The game evolved with the audience. And I think there are some people that are on the show now that didn’t watch like some of us old-school people did. I think it’s an old-school versus new-school thing.

TVG: So you’re saying Survivor is soft now.
JM: I’m saying if you put an old-school team up against a new-school team, old-school would kick ass. I’m just putting it out there. I would also, for personal reasons, like to see a Survivor all-winners version. It could happen one day. They have enough winners now that they could do it.

And we would have to leave some of the winners out because some of them are really boring. But I really do think that everything has changed now, from the way people play, to what they do at camp, to what they say in front of the camera.

TVG: Surviving Survivor catches up with you and Ethan, and updates viewers on how you are both doing. So, how are you both doing?
JM: So far so good. I’m really excited about this because Surviving Survivor really goes behind the scenes of Survivor. For Ethan and I, they interviewed us, and for the first time they are including some home video of the two of us, and footage of Ethan and I as he went to the hospital for his stem-cell treatment. Nobody has seen that. I know they will be showing footage of the transplant, very personal stuff.

He’s coming along well. We’re on schedule, on track, he’s still in a bit of a lockdown when it comes to travelling and being around crowds, but I hope to never have to deal with cancer again.

Surviving Survivor airs Thursday, Feb. 4, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Global/CBS.

Will you watch? greg@tvguide.ca

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