Goodbye, General

New York limo driver Robert "The General" DeCanio was the 11th castaway voted off Survivor: Marquesas. He talked with Bryant Gumbel and Jane Clayson about his adventure on The Early Show.

Clayson first wanted to know: "Did you try any last-minute bidding to stay?"

"There was some conversation with Kathy," he said. "But it never developed as much as it should have. I didn't pursue it. I guess pride got in the way. think I'm still waiting for Superman to start circling the Earth the other way and reverse time back and start over again."

As far as "playing" the game, DeCanio said, "It is an odd thing, because not too many people actually ever talked about the game to me. Basically only John and Rob were the ones who ever talked about the game. I had a unique relationship with, I would say, Sean and Rob and the simple fact that they played the game against everybody. But whether it came to me, it was just like a bonding experience. We just hung out and talked. And got along. And the game never came into play with us."

Clayson wanted to know what it was like winning an immunity challenge.

"That was the greatest feeling you know," he replied. "King of the world. Nothing could touch you, you know? Not even kryptonite."

After Tammy was voted off last week, she told Clayson that DeCanio had offered her immunity. Why didn't he give it to her, asked Clayson.

"I offered at tribal. The whole thing was that I threw conditions on it. I actually looked at Kathy and Neleh and asked the five of them - I said the three of you don't vote for me - I'm giving Tammy my immunity. Everybody clammed up. That told me where I stood there. I knew it was inevitable. It would be me if I didn't keep winning."

"One of the great moments last night was when all the family members came out. It was an emotional moment," noted Clayson.

"I've watched Survivor on and off for the last three seasons and I really think that that was the most incredible episode ever," DeCanio said. Seeing his sister "blew my mind. I was in the mind set, tunnel vision, game, game, game, win, win, win, and see that, and it throws me right off the tracks."

But still, he was happy his sister didn't win and have to stay on the island. "I'm glad she got to come there. I'm glad she got to see me and experience the game a little bit and share with that. But I did not want her sleeping on the ground, eating the stuff we were eating, foraging, you know. I wanted her to see where I was, but not to have to rough it like that. I think Pat winning was great, you know. He was the one to handle it better."

And he admitted, even Kathy's son knew he was a goner.

"He catches on. He's a sharp kid. He wasn't there long and he knew it was - if I didn't win immunity, I was going."

DeCanio spoke about some of his teammates

"Sean, I love Sean. He's -- like I said, we didn't talk about the game. Me and Sean talked about life. We talked about New York. It was funny that him and Rob used to come to me after dinner, after we ate our meal and we would curl up and he would say, 'Rob, tell us about food.' And I would describe the process of making it and they were like, you know you could see the drool coming down the sides of their mouths."

And he thought very highly of Paschal. "He's the coolest dude around. He's the coolest guy. I love him. He's very inspiring, very dynamic guy and you gravitate towards him. You love to be around him."

As for Neleh?

"She's a very sweet girl. She is playing the game. You know something, don't blame her. That's what we're out there to do. We're there to win a million dollars, out there to win the game."

Gumbel asked, "Are you as amazed as we constantly are at the different impressions the general public has of people versus the way you grow to know them on the island?"

DeCanio replied, "You know, you're seeing a segment in time, you know. What we see is 24/7. You're seeing just a little portion of our day and it is, that is, the part of our day where we're at a fevered pitch, where emotions are running high, blood is running, adrenaline is going. So you know what? What I see is just genuine emotion, genuine feeling. And you meet such great people, people on the show are just so dynamic and diverse and everybody is so interesting, you're like -- half the time I was there with my chin on the floor, just in awe of most of the people I was with."

Clayson wanted to know what his strategy was going into the game

"Being a native New Yorker, straightforward, this is it. Here I am, you like it, you don't like it -- I don't care. If I don't like you, I'm going to tell you, vice versa. You expect that sometimes, you want somebody to say, 'Go to hell.' Just tell you to get lost, you know, but that was me. I'm truthful, I'm honest and I'm straightforward. What you see is what you get. That's the way I played the game and that's the way I live life.

And finally, DeCanio talked about how being on Survivor changed his life.

"I moved. I left the first day of the show. I left New York. I moved out west. I've been trying to change my life for a couple of years now and, you know, just kept on going forward. So change it up, see what happens. See what I'm interested in. And take it from there."

Being on the show has "taken me to a different place," DeCanio said. "I've learned so much about life, about other people, about myself that, you know, I just really want to live and love life and do whatever makes me happy."