Interview With Ami Cusack

AE: You feel more like you're a delicate flower now?
AC: [laughs] Totally, it's funny. I still feel like there's definitely that strong woman in me that will always be there, but I've always been such a tough — like, bring it on, I can handle anything you've got, give it to me, I can handle it. Now I'm more like, you know, I don't need to have that in my life. I don't need to have, like, force — or I don't have to be the strongest, toughest, most, you know, enduring the pain. I can still be a strong, powerful woman and not have to have that … hard shell about me.

AE: Right. OK. Well, I remember on Vanuatu, once you were talking to Twila and you said something like, "You could be more feminine, you should have some girls braid your hair." [laughs] Sounds like you're kind of taking that advice to heart.
AC: Definitely. And the funny thing is, is after I gave Twila that advice, I braided her hair every single day and put flowers in her hair, and she was really thankful. And to this day, Twila and I are very, very good friends, so yeah, I've taken that advice to heart as well, just in the fact that I don't have to be so tough.

I was brought up that way. My dad's a major in the Marine Corps, a top gun fighter pilot, and always growing up, it's like, "Don't cry, don't show your weakness." And now I'm like, now it's OK to say, "nope, that's too much; no, I can't handle that; no, this is where my limits are right now," and I'm really growing into that. It's a different space for me to be in, for sure.

Cusack and the other women of Survivor: Vanuatu

AE: Jeff Probst has been doing some interviews about this season, and he's been saying that your goal is surely going to be to start another women's alliance. Is there any truth to that?
AC: I'm all about women sticking together and taking care of each other. So many times it's so easy for women to be backstabbing or go with the guys 'cause it seems like the stronger way to go … so I'm always about supporting the ladies. I mean, it depends on how it goes, but I definitely am all about taking care of the women in my life, so we'll have to see!

AE: Speaking of the women in your life, your girlfriend at the time, back when you were on Vanuatu, Crissy, she came to visit but they didn't show you kissing her. Survivor's executive producer Mark Burnett actually told Entertainment Weekly that he didn't think it was right to show lesbian kisses at 8 o'clock on TV. How did that make you feel?
AC: That's his opinion. If it was my show [laughs], we'd definitely be showing women kissing on 8 o'clock TV. Like, what a beautiful thing! We'd probably have a lot of viewers. But it's his show, so yeah, I respect that. I was just happy to see her; I didn't care whether they showed my kiss or not. Just her being there meant to the world to me. It really uplifted me, and the fact that we won that challenge just went to prove that we really had a lot of power between the two of us.

AE: But now you're single, is that right?
AC: Yeah, I'm single. Crissy and I are still super, super close, but I am single right now.