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The Anonymous' Sydney Has Regrets About Being Too Nice
What does the first contestant exiting The Anonymous think did her in? (Hint: It was Christopher.)
Spoilers for the first two episodes of USA's The Anonymous!
In any reality strategy competition show, no one wants to be the first one selected to go home. But someone always has to be the first. The same goes for The Anonymous, USA Network's brand-new series that puts 12 players under one roof to play both a social face-to-face game and then an entirely digital game where the players can stir up trouble all in service of winning a $100,000 prize.
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At the beginning of Episode 2, it's rather dramatically revealed who was voted out by the rest of the players: Georgia hair stylist Sydney Dorsey. In Anonymous Mode, Sydney revealed her emoji was the Wizard... but she still wasn't able to conjure up a longer stay.
USA Insider got on a Zoom with Sydney to ask about her takeaways from the game and what aspects vexed her the most.
How did Sydney's real-life experience translate to The Anonymous?
Sydney revealed that when she was younger, she was a Southern beauty pageant contestant, which gave her direct experience in a hornet's nest of in-fighting and ruthless competition. Now, she's a hair stylist, which makes her a confidante and secret keeper. So, looking back, why didn't she excel in The Anonymous with that kind of insight?
Sydney said that ultimately she tried to be too nice and that's what did her in.
"Growing up in pageantry, in order to be a title holder, you have to be a relatable leader. So going in, I just wanted everyone to look at me as an ally, someone who was relatable, someone who they can open up to and trust," she explained. "I felt that if I felt comfortable sharing with them my secrets, they would open up to me. And I really did have a lot of those conversations with a lot of different cast mates."
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In particular, she had Christopher Shulstad tied around her finger. But she didn't extend that savviness into Anonymous Mode where she could have used her emoji alter ego to get more ruthless with her fellow competitors.
"The chat was honestly the hardest part for me because this was our opportunity to throw people under the bus and get people voted out. But was very hard for me to be that vicious person," she said. "I just wanted to be that relatable, nice person that everyone looked up to. So I kind of just went along with the chat in the first half and didn't get a second chat."
When it came to the Anonymous Vote, Sydney became the target of the seven at risk for elimination. And she knew it was coming.
"Lilly [Jenkins] and I were two of the people that were put at risk the most," she said as they got the most votes. "So Lilly was running around begging people to keep her in this game. I'm a little Southern girl. I'm not fit to beg nobody. I really think my mom's attitude came out at that point, and I was like, 'If y'all don't want me here, do not keep me here.' I think that might have hurt me a little bit, obviously."
While she loved the experience, short as it was, Sydney said when she thinks about her gameplay now, she would have made changes.
"I definitely think I would have sat back and been more just present in conversations, rather than speaking up," she said. "And then maybe I would have begged a little bit for people to keep me had I been put up for risk again. But there's always those 'what ifs' in every situation like that."
New episodes of The Anonymous premiere on Monday nights at 11 p.m. ET/PT on USA Network.
