BOP Interview: The Survivor Spoilers Guy
By BOP Staff
February 16, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
David Mumpower: First of all, let's work background to determine how you came to be where you are. How old are you and how long have you been watching Survivor?
Jim Early (missyae): Now you didn't tell me you were gonna go personal on me. I have intentionally kept things about my personal life a secret as much as I could until my name got out due to the lawsuit. So for me, that's enough personal info for now besides the fact I live in Arkansas, which also came out. I have watched every season all the way back to season one when Richard Hatch won. I got interested in spoiling during Pearl Islands.
David Mumpower: Fair enough. Did you aspire to be a contestant and if so, did you ever send a submission to the show?
Jim Early (missyae): Never have applied, never really cared to be on the show. Just enjoy watching and the past few seasons spoiling.
Jim Van Nest: I also find the spoiling thing fascinating because I hate to know what's going to happen. I actually got spoiled on the Hatch win about three weeks into the first season's run. It was quite the bummer.
Kim Hollis: You say you got interested in spoiling during the Pearl Islands. What was it about that season that made this something you started thinking about?
Jim Early (missyae): I knew a contestant from [the Pearl Islands] season who shall rename nameless. That person and I started checking out Survivor message boards and came upon Survivor Sucks. I saw how a previous poster there would make his boot pick each week and was curious how he did it. I respect the people that do not wanna know. I have only posted my spoilers in the appropriate spoiler board locations. Now, true enough, others take them and post them in places where they should not be posted but I can't do anything about that. And yes, I wish I had it as easy as Snewser and his sidekick Griffe had it with just a little green check mark. Those were the easy days.
Jim Van Nest: So I would guess your spoilers would probably have started with a lot of the old, "saw 5 Americans, 1 short blonde girl, 1 tall black guy..." etc? And I was actually spoiled by my mother-in-law on that first season. "Fat gay guy wins" got out pretty quick that first season.
Jim Early: The old days were done with lots of Google searches on players. You can find out things in their local papers. Family members talk, employees talk, pictures showing weight loss get published. So the old days were fun because you investigated more. Now I just pick up the phone and say, "hello".
Jim Van Nest: I do enjoy the seasonal spoil the cast game. With Facebook it seems to be a lot easier these, days too - checking friends of Survivors and all that good stuff.
Jim Early (missyae): Yes, lots of people can figure out who might be on a cast just by getting one name and then checking the friends list and the activity of the people.
David Mumpower: All right, I want to explore that more in a moment but let's backtrack first to cover a couple of areas for our readers. First of all, when you posted spoilers those first few times, what were you personally getting out of it? This is something that fascinates me about internet behavior. The concept of the spoiler was largely non-existent prior to the 2000s.
Jim Early (missyae): Well, I knew how I felt as a fan about reading spoilers and watching the show to see how they played out. So i felt like when I started getting the information there was a definite audience for the spoilers. I was one of the fans so I knew how much fun it was to know. I understand half the people want to see me wrong and half the people want to see me get it right, yet again, but the bottom line is, they all watch the show to see. In Mark Burnett's own words, I created a "BUZZ" for the show.
Kim Hollis: Have you been right more often or do you get some wrong?
Jim Early (missyae): I have never missed a boot pick.
Jim Van Nest: I was gonna say that I've been spoiled on a few seasons...accidentally every time. And they're always right.
Kim Hollis: Would you enjoy the show more or less if your information was wrong?
Jim Early (missyae): Kim, I enjoy being right. That's one of the things I think that the ones who appreciated the spoilers liked the most - that I hate to be wrong, I will go back and check with a source again if there is a question on my info just to be sure
David Mumpower: So, you were filling a niche market that was unprecedented, one that you felt added to the show's mystique? Do you feel the same situation would have occurred if you were spoiled a scripted show instead or is there something about reality television that lends itself better to spoilers?
Jim Early (missyae): I think it's more because it's a reality show. There are spoilers for soaps, movies, sitcoms, and wrestling, but it seems the reality shows create the most buzz.
David Mumpower:
As someone who doesn't read the Survivor Sucks forums frequently, can you tell me how popular your boot threads are? I presume that if CBS is singling you out, your reputation must precede itself.
Jim Early (missyae): The hottest two threads at Survivor Sucks have always been my current season spoiler thread and the following season spoiler thread. I left there after last season and it's pretty much a ghost town now
Jim Van Nest: I lurk on Sucks at some point everyday and the missyae threads are huge.
Kim Hollis: You say that spoiling initially started as a treasure hunt of sorts, where you would find information online that supported your boot picks. At what point did it transition to being a thing where you could just pick up the phone and get your answers?
Jim Early (missyae): Kim, that started for the most part when I met Russell Hantz. I knew lots of players before him and some would hint about things but for the most part that was it.
David Mumpower: Why did you leave Survivor Sucks and when you say leave, do you mean you don't post there any more or you don't read the site at all? Did your leaving have anything to do with the lawsuit? Did you feel unwelcome after that?
Jim Early (missyae): I left Sucks after season 21 had finished. I did not leave over the lawsuit at all. I kept posting information there even though I was being sued. I don’t even lurk and read there anymore.
David Mumpower: While we're on that, why does a guy named Jim post as Missy AE? I wondered about that the first time I read about this story on TheDailyBeast.
Jim Early (missyae): That's one of the biggest questions that gets asked all the time and the answer is, it’s personal.
Kim Hollis: When did you become aware that CBS was tracking your posts? Did you know about this before the lawsuit or was it the lawsuit that alerted you that they were paying attention?
Jim Early (missyae): CBS tracks my every move every spot I go to online. They have people hired to do so. They had copies of my postings dated back to 2008.
Jim Van Nest: So, they actually have folks who internet stalk you? This is in an attempt to stop your spoils, I guess?
Jim Early (missyae): I suspected someone was tracking my posts and trying to get me to give away stuff during the Nicaragua season. I set them up with some bad information and the very next morning, I heard that exact bogus information was repeated to some players by phone call from that CBS employee. So I knew I had nailed them. I went on Survivor Sucks and exposed the last name of the employee and within weeks they had left their position at CBS.
Jim Van Nest: I can see how a constant spoiler of that accuracy would annoy the network. To go back a bit again...before Russell came into the picture, was it pretty difficult to find your spoilers?
Jim Early (missyae): Before Russell it was harder, most the work was just good investigative work and a few little tips from players, Jim, but after Russell, the floodgates opened.
Kim Hollis: Did it ever occur to you that you could be sued for what you were doing? Were you surprised when the lawsuit came down?
Jim Early (missyae): Kim, I never thought they would actually sue me. I knew I was not doing anything wrong, I had no contract with them and I didn't even know what was in the players' contracts. I had heard rumors but didn't actually know.
Jim Van Nest: And just to be clear, because I think there is a misconception by some not as on top of this story as others..you're not now and never have been affiliated with the show or the network, right?
Jim Early (missyae): I have never had any affiliation at all with CBS, SEG, DJB inc, Jeff Probst, nothing at all.
David Mumpower: So, prior to your association with Russell, you were investigating the eliminations then making predictions based upon your research and you never got any of those wrong?
Jim Early (missyae): Before Russell I wasn't an active member of Survivor Sucks. I had been a member before and left and was running a WebTV group at MSN for reality TV. It's all WebTV users, mostly an older crowd of people who either do not have computers or don't know how to use them. So most of my spoiling before Russell was done there. I think I missed one boot during that time.
David Mumpower: I'm impressed by this in that Pearl Islands was 2003. CBS threw down the gauntlet over seasons 19 and 20, if I have that correctly. Those occurred in 2009. So, if your track record was that good for that long, you didn't really need a ringer anyway. Seriously, that’s pretty awesome.
Kim Hollis: How did you come into contact with Russell?
Jim Early (missyae): Kim, I was lurking around on the internet and saw Russell. Saw Russell’s personal info posted on a blog. I warned Russell about his info being posted and told him who I was and what I did online. I told him if he ever wanted to talk about anything, the show, what he was going through, anything, he could call me. He called me back that very night and talked for three hours.
Kim Hollis: What were your impressions of Russell in that initial three hour conversation?
Jim Early (missyae): I thought, and still do, that he has a very good head for playing Survivor. He was very smart in his thought process on how to get to the end. He was very cocky, didn't wanna speak highly of anyone else but himself and it was all about Russell.
David Mumpower: This is a source of long standing debate between Jim, Kim and I myself. Kim and I...are not fans. We think that Russell is living proof that it's better to be lucky than good. Jim thinks he's one of the better players in the history of the game.
Jim Early (missyae): I think he's one of the better players but he can never win. He can get pretty far but he will never win. It's like Courtney [Yates] said, you could have a potted plant and Russell sitting there and the jury would give the money to the plant.
David Mumpower: God, we love Courtney. Human beings shouldn't be that funny.
Jim Van Nest: On that we agree. Love Courtney!
Jim Early (missyae): I love Courtney, too.
Jim Van Nest: He IS missing the end game, that's for sure. I do still think he deserved to win Samoa. Heroes Vs Villains, not so much. Also, Russell must LOVE David and Kim. He's not even Russell on BOP anymore...he's ELR (Evil Loser Russell), which they used to differentiate him from Russell Swan.
David Mumpower: Does Russell see it that way in your experience? Has he accepted how much more popular Sandra was? I heard that he had the incident with the fan the night he lost the first time. Knowing absolutely nothing about the details, I automatically presumed some fan taunted him about losing and he went off.
Jim Early (missyae):
He has his fans, too. You either hate him or love him, not much middle ground with him. And no, he won't accept how popular Sandra is, never will. He has told me before he hates her.
Jim Van Nest: Actually, judging from the responses to his Facebook posts, he has some crazy loyal fans.
David Mumpower: The most apt line in the history of Survivor was Sandra saying, "This is what I do. I hustle Survivor." She hugs people, takes their wallets and they hug her back all the while.
Jim Early (missyae): Sandra is great!! Shes been a very good friend to Survivor Whispers and the fans love her
Kim: When did Russell start to feed you boot information and spoilers?
Jim Early (missyae): I think he wanted the extra publicity that I could give him online. He saw how popular my spoilers were and I was slanting my postings in a very pro-Russell manner to please him. Maybe he felt it would help him win fan favorite?
Kim Hollis: How long did it take you to build his trust?
Jim Early (missyae): He started out giving me little clues, teasers, seeing what I could figure out myself and I was pretty good at it. It eventually got to the point he just told me everything he could remember. He had a hard time remembering a merged tribe name of all things. He remembered all the boot picks with no problems, all the challenge winners with no problems.
David Mumpower: The way you are describing him reinforces the opinion I've had that he has the worst Napoleon Complex in the history of reality television. Is there anything you would say to change my mind?
Jim Early (missyae): Pretty good analysis, David.
David Mumpower: Did he describe to you the process he had for unearthing hidden immunity idols sans clues? Independent of what I think of him, I'll always be impressed by that.
Jim Van Nest: He was great at that. So much so that people think he was given clues by producers or cameramen...
David Mumpower: Do you believe that was the case or that he had a preternatural gift for deducing the location of the idols?
Jim Early (missyae): He just said he worked harder at finding them. He said most players just sat around and he worked all day on trying to find the idols. I can tell you that now since all this has come out, he is telling friends that he does not feel CBS will sue him because he will tell production secrets including how people helped him find the idols. I think that's just a threat by him and I don't believe it's true.
Kim Hollis: So then what you are saying is that by the time you built this relationship with Russell, you really didn't need to search and dig for spoiler clues anymore? He was providing you with the answers?
Jim Early (missyae): Kim, after we built our trust, he would just tell me what happened. He got bored with Samoa and wanted me to spoil Heroes vs Villains so I had both seasons going at the same time. When he gave me that info he just told me to "get a pen and paper and I am gonna give you the whole bootlist."
Jim Van Nest: And when did that come about? Was it after the Russell spoilers started coming in? Cause spoiling boot order is one thing, but knowing challenge winners and the like, that's the kind of stuff that has to be coming from the inside?
Jim Early (missyae): Jim, I was getting info from Russell week to week on challenges. We didn't work way ahead on those. I think Russell might threaten to expose secrets but I just don't think he has any. I think he would have told me and he make it very clear to me, and I have emails to prove this, "NOBODY HELPED ME WHY CANT THEY GIVE ME MY CREDIT!"
Jim Van Nest: Now THAT sounds like Russell. I can't imagine him admitting that someone helped him find those idols.
Kim Hollis: What were your feelings when you found out about the lawsuit? Were you surprised? Worried?
Jim Early (missyae): Kim, I was initially sorta happy about the lawsuit. I thought, wow, this might be fun. Then when Mark's attorney started calling my home everyday I started getting sick of it. Plus, he was emailing me two to three times a day, too.
David Mumpower: Did you get the feeling that they wanted to sue or was it more that they wanted to pressure you into stopping the spoiler posts?
Jim Early (missyae): I thought the entire time they just wanted info because the attorney told me up front the first time we talked, they thought I was probably a nice guy and they did not want me.
Jim Van Nest: So were they only interested in how you got the Samoa and Heroes vs Villains spoilers? What about all those other seasons that you worked so hard on?
Jim Early (missyae): I don't even think they realized about the other seasons because they were in that WebTV group and computer users cannot even get to that group behind the firewall.
Kim Hollis: How did Russell describe the Tyson vote where he essentially voted himself out?
Jim Early (missyae): Kim, he said Tyson was stupid.
David Mumpower: Who hasn't said that of Tyson?
Jim Early (missyae):I don't recall him talking much about Tyson at all really. He didn't like Coach, Rob, or Sandra. He liked Parvati and Danielle.
Kim Hollis: He seemed to have a pretty serious crush on Parvati. Was he as into her as it looked like he was?
Jim Early (missyae): He couldn't believe she wouldn't talk to him [after the finale]. Parv is very good, she already knew about Russell anyway through a friend who was in casting at the time for Survivor.
Kim Hollis: How did Russell's wife feel about that crush?
Jim Van Nest: And wasn't missyae thought to BE Russell's wife for a while?
Jim Early (missyae): I have spoken to Melanie [Hantz] before and I think she's a fantastic lady. She loves or loved Russell. I never talked to her about Parv, though. Yes, Jim, I was called Melanie Hantz by the people at Survivor Sucks for nearly two full seasons. Ummmmm, wrong.
David Mumpower: Russell's wife came across a lot better on television than he did. That surprised me in that I had assumed he had found a woman the same way he found allies during season 19, trying to manipulate any "dumb girl" he could.
Jim Early (missyae): Make sure you understand, I would have never given Russell's name up had he not implicated an innocent player to take the fall for his actions.
David Mumpower: Did Parvati get everything she wanted out of Russell in your estimation? And if so, did Russell have a true understanding of how badly she played him for a patsy?
Jim Early (missyae): I think Russell knows he got played but he just can't admit it. I mean come on, at the Top 10 thing for Letterman, another player told me Parv would not even look at Russell.
David Mumpower: That cracks me up huge. His existence did cost her $900,000.
Jim Van Nest: So tell us about the implications against the other player. That was Shannon Elkins from Nicaragua, yes?
Jim Early (missyae): Yes, Jim. It was Shannon Elkins who was implicated.
Kim Hollis: How would Russell have information about NaOnka and Purple Kelly? Is he getting info from people involved in the show?
Jim Early (missyae): I am not sure exactly what all Russell broke down and told Jeff Probst as to how Shannon would have done it. I can only speculate maybe he said Shannon got them from him and then leaked them to me. But they knew Russell was involved because during the filming of Redemption Island, he was talking about the two quitters from season 21 so they knew something was up with him. I was told Russell was crying to Jeff Probst and implicated Shannon Elkins. Russell later confirmed this to Shannon's face at the finale of Nicaragua. Is this why Jeff was so hard on Shannon?? Hmm, I dunno. I do know before this happened, Russell was "Jeff's boy."
Jim Van Nest: Well, Shannon didn't exactly endear himself to anyone out there.
Jim Early (missyae): [Russell] obviously would have gotten that info from someone on season 21 or me.
Kim Hollis: Okay, so you exposed Russell as a leak for his seasons only, then. Is that correct?
Jim Early (missyae): My thing was, I was not gonna let someone innocent take the fall for Russell. I was told when the players got back from 22 that they had been told if anyone talked they would make an example out of someone. They even told the players, do not talk to Missyae. They followed that up with giving them my real name and my Facebook page and told them again, do not talk to him. Mark Burnett made it clear, someone was gonna be "an example."
Jim Van Nest:W as it Russell that spoiled the whole "Rob vs Russell" concept? If I'm correct, you spoiled that as well, yes?
Jim Early (missyae): Jim, there's a very interesting story to the concept of Russell vs Rob. Russell and I came up with that idea in hopes to get him back on the show again. Initially we had said [it should be] Hatch vs Hantz, and I had said to bring back 40 players and let them do a pick 'em and whoever did not get chosen had to go home right then. I told him to pitch it to CBS. Now, did he? I don't know, but what they came up with was pretty close to what he and I came up with.
David Mumpower: Do you mean backstage? I don't recall Shannon getting any air time during the live episode except when he was given the right to apologize but wouldn't. To a larger point, we may be getting a bit too insider here. If I am reading correctly, you are saying that during the yet to be aired season, Russell had knowledge of events that hadn't transpired. Are you saying the connecting of these dots is when the producers of the show began to suss out that he was the spoiler leak?
Jim Early (missyae): I never stated exactly what info I was given or what season. I told them Russell Hantz was their main leak. They asked me about season 21 and I refused to discuss it.
David Mumpower: How did they react to that? I mean, they were building an entire season around Russell's personality. That's a worst case scenario revelation. How much panic was there over this revelation?
Jim Early (missyae): They really did not push much after they got his name and one email as proof from him to me. I think Mark wanted him. I think he wanted him bad
Jim Van Nest: So you actually have documented proof that Russell is the leak? Not just phone calls?
Jim Early (missyae): I have tons and tons of emails from Russell to me. Also the moderator at Survivor Sucks knew the entire time who my source was and even helped to clean up Russell's mess from Survivor Sucks when he decided to go post there and pretend to be his wife. CBS called him and told him to remove it. Well, he couldn't. He phoned me at midnight wanting me to get it deleted and I contacted the moderator at Survivor Sucks, told him what happened and he took care of it.
Kim Hollis:
What's your relationship with Russell since he's been exposed as the leak? Any contact?
Jim Early (missyae): I have spoken to Russell at Survivor Whispers since then. He came into Whispers by accident and was posting. He saw what was going on and typed "DELETE THIS NOWWWWWWW."
Jim Van Nest: Is the lawsuit against you still hanging out there?
Jim Early (missyae): The lawsuit has been dismissed against me.
David Mumpower: Also, since the new season is staring, what does Russell think of Rob from what he told you in these conversations? I would imagine not shaking his hand left a mark.
Jim Early (missyae): Russell does not like Rob at all.
Jim Van Nest: I'd bet that feeling is mutual.
Jim Early (missyae):You would be right, Jim
David Mumpower: His jealousy during the early days of Heroes vs. Villains was hard to miss. I found their forced interactions in Entertainment Weekly to be a painful read.
Jim Early (missyae): Very staged.
Kim Hollis: How does what has happened impact what you plan to do in the coming season?
Jim Early (missyae): I had actually planned to just chill and work on Survivor Whispers on Facebook where I bring players in to chat with fans and not spoil 22. I got really tired of the constant questions that went with how I spoiled. I didn't just give a green check mark and boot, I even spoiled things that did not make the edit. Will I spoil this season? I dunno. It's gonna be a great season, though.
David Mumpower: Spoil us this. Does Jim Van Nest ever get invited to be a participant on Survivor?
Jim Van Nest: I've applied a couple times. One season I recapped at the end of every recap, I put a link to Jeff Probst's inbox telling all readers to flood his inbox with requests to put me on the show...I mean, what the hell???
Jim Early (missyae): Nobody else will be cast. It's done. 23 is basically cast and 24 is All-Stars, IF there is a 25, look for another All-Stars and the end of the road, likely. Sorry, Jim, you didnt make it
David Mumpower: Their loss, Jimmy V!