He may have seemed like a bully and a brute on Survivor: Micronesia — Fans vs. Favorites (Thursdays at 8 pm/ET, CBS), but Joel Anderson comes off more as sweet and sensitive after the fact. The Phoenix firefighter opened up about the newly reconfigured tribes, his problem with Chet, his real motivation for playing so hard and whose game play he found "stupendous."

TVGuide.com: Did you have any idea you were going to be leaving?Joel Anderson: I was slightly blindsided; I had a feeling, but I was fairly secure that we were going to be voting Chet off. About halfway through tribal council, the lightbulb went off. Tracy said a few things about me being a bully and my lack of communication, and the fact that no one else would go, "You're off-base with that" made me realize there were conversations going on around camp that I wasn't part of.

TVGuide.com: What did you think of the tribe's decision?Joel: Actually, watching the show last night, it made a whole lot of sense to me. Looking at me, Erik and Ozzy sitting there saying we were going to keep the tribe strong and vote off the physically weaker people.... Cirie, Tracy and Chet — Cirie especially — worked very hard to sway other people's votes. I applaud her for what she did.

TVGuide.com: So you can appreciate Cirie's strategy?Joel: As far as the game goes, it was stupendous. It was very smart, very quick. She was thinking on her feet — she basically got wind that there were going to be eliminations of weak people, and she knows where she is in that category.

TVGuide.com: She also managed to get rid of Yau-Man from the original favorites tribe.Joel: She's playing hard. She and I have some things in common; she's there because she's got family at home who could really use that money, and that's why I was there. When that's your motivating factor, you're going to pull out all the stops.

TVGuide.com: What did you think about the rearranging of the two tribes?Joel: I hated it; I wasn't ready for it at that moment. We had just as a tribe gotten rid of two people who we felt were causing dissension. There's a lot of speculation as to why the first two votes went the way they did on Airai, but we wanted unity within our tribe, and that morning prior to the shuffle was the first time we all really felt unified. We were going to all sleep in one shelter — we were finally on the same page. It was my intention to take these three people [Chet, Kathy and Tracy], who had basically been told they were useless, and encourage them.

TVGuide.com: Why did Chet irritate you so much?Joel: I like Chet as a person. I think he's a decent guy. But I wouldn't pick him on my football team. He went on and on about what a good diver he is, and then we had a water challenge [in the second episode] and he couldn't get more than two feet down — and if that's the case, then get out of the water, don't sit there like you're in a hot tub. That's why I got so irritated. And I explained it to him.

TVGuide.com: You were really dragging him around in that last reward challenge.Joel: It felt like he was running in the other direction. I was just trying to get him to stay on his feet. In the moment immediately after the challenge, no, I didn't feel bad that he bumped his head. I was more concerned that we'd just lost. It was pretty brutal, but it is what it is — a very physical game.

TVGuide.com: In retrospect, do you think it was a mistake to come gunning for Mary and Mikey B.?Joel: There was probably an aspect of it that was my idea, but I didn't have to twist anybody's arm to get them to vote that way. I think I had a target on me the moment I stepped on the island. It's pretty hard for someone like me to fly below the radar. I'm vocal and a very active person. If you're sitting on your butt and not doing anything when everybody else is, I'm going to say something. But if you do a hell of a job, I'm going to pat you on the back.

TVGuide.com: Now that the fans and favorites are combined, do you think the fans stand a chance against the favorites?Joel: I think the favorites definitely had an advantage right out of the gate. If there was any group I did not want to play against, it was people who have played already. These people have done it before, strategized before, lived in those conditions before.

TVGuide.com: Anything you regret from your time in Micronesia?Joel: The only regret I have is being so competitive that I really didn't enjoy some aspects of the environment around me because I was focused on winning, period. Just the beauty of it. Saying, "Hey, I'm going to put down some of the strategy for a minute and go for a hike or look at this island." But that just wasn't on my mind because I was competing.

Check out clips of Survivor: Micronesia — Fans vs. Favorites in our Online Video Guide.

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The tastiest reality show is back, and this season the Top Chef contestants are whipping out their knives in a new city: Chicago. To get our mouths watering for the show's premiere, celebrity judge Ted Allen told us about the best and worst dishes he's sampled, what new challenges we can look forward to, and some of this season's memorable characters — including the Windy City itself.

TVGuide.com: Why Chicago?Ted Allen: You're looking for cities that have enough personality to be a character in the show. Every city has its own culinary traditions. In this season's first episode, they have a challenge with one of Chicago's best-known foods. If you think about Miami [where last season was filmed], you think of hot babes in bikinis and white buildings and beautiful sand... and Cuban sandwiches. It gives the show a look. Chicago is a big, brawny, beautiful, gorgeous city. And it also has a lot of great food.

TVGuide.com: Chicago's a very sophisticated culinary town, too.Allen: Oh yeah, from the old-timers like Charlie Trotter and Jean Joho to the new kids like Grant Achatz and Shawn McClain, it's a great food town. Lots of Chicago luminaries pop up on the show. This is why Gail and I alternate at the judges' table; they want to reserve a seat to bring in these great culinary luminaries, whether they're Chicago people or people you know from the national stage like Rocco [DiSpirito], Daniel Boulud, Eric Ripert. And of course the ever-bilious Tony Bourdain, who's been one of my favorite guest judges.

TVGuide.com: Any other ways the city plays a role in the challenges?Allen: Besides the very first challenge, there's one that involves a venerable sports team, there are locations you're going to recognize and a lot of new stuff that most of America might not recognize.

TVGuide.com: How do the new contestants stack up?Allen: Every year, the tension is how Bravo can find people who are entertaining, a little crazy and interesting to look at, and who can also cook great food. As judges, we really want the food. [Laughs] And they just keep getting better at it. There's a lot of chemistry and sparks.

TVGuide.com: Any standouts?Allen: I particularly enjoy watching Andrew as a personality; he says some very memorable things. He has a lot of passion for cooking, and when things aren't going his way, it looks like his brain is going to explode. Andrew wears his feelings on his sleeve, and that makes him electrifying to watch.

TVGuide.com: It seems like you get to sample some pretty amazing dishes on the show. Which was your favorite?Allen: People made fun of Howie [from Season 3] for always cooking pork, but I still remember that pork loin he served at the Elks Club in Miami. Howie's opening his own restaurant, by the way, Bulldog Barbecue, in a couple of months. It's going to be a big success and I'm super-excited for him. And on last season's finale, Dale did that beautiful scallop in a sauce made with grapes and purslane. I mean, purslane — when's the last time you've heard of anyone cooking with purslane? It's, like, a forgotten herb.

TVGuide.com: Have there been any dishes that were really just inedibly bad?Allen: I hate to keep ragging on him, because my man C.J. is a hell of a chef, but he did what was supposed to be an interpretation of tuna casserole [also from Season 3], and it was vividly bright green. That was C.J. taking a chance. But these guys don't get big budgets and they don't get enough time; if you could give them enough time to plan out a menu, the way they would in real life, more of them would cook successful dishes. We're saying to them, "OK, you have 15 minutes to figure out what to do." Think about how you'd react to that, if someone said, "You have an egg, a can of beer, a pot of mustard and a pretzel. You have five seconds. Go!" I don't know if fans are truly aware of how hard it is: All these contestants give up their cell phones, their iPods, they can't watch TV, they can't read books, they can't call their mommies. All they have is the people they're trying to defeat — and maybe some nice bottles of wine every once in a while. You're stuck in this pressure cooker with these people who you may or may not like. For six weeks! And on top of that, you have these evil, sadistic producers coming up with the hardest possible challenges they can think of.

TVGuide.com: When you put it that way, it sounds nearly impossible.Allen: If I were in this cast, I would be the first one kicked off. I'm a good cook, but I'm a good home cook. I'm a very deliberative, slow-moving, plodding cook. I wouldn't last five minutes in the Top Chef kitchen.

Get a sneak peek of Top Chef's new season in our Online Video Guide.

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Evil is the new black. Lewis Black, that is. The angriest man in show business is now presiding over the court of pop culture on his new show, Lewis Black's Root of All Evil (Wednesdays at 10:30 pm/ET, Comedy Central). We caught up with the raging funnyman to discuss his new venture.

TVGuide.com: Explain the concept of Root of All Evil. Lewis Black: The idea was that we pick two things from culture or life and we have a head-to-head. Two comedians are charged with coming up with why, let's say, Oprah's more evil, or the Catholic Church is more evil. I ask questions and goad the comics and over the course of a half hour we try to discover who or what is more evil.

TVGuide.com: What inspired the show?Black: Scott Carter from Bill Maher's show, and David Sacks, who had written a number of good shows, had the idea. They basically felt it was time that popular culture be put on trial and I was the one who should judge it.

TVGuide.com: The opener pits Oprah against Catholicism. But shouldn't you have excused yourself because of your appearance on Oprah? Black: Hey, I don't have to. I'm in charge. I'm beyond prejudice. [Laughs] She was nice. What I found weird was that they kept telling me that the show was going to be me and a bunch of young comics. I was going to be the comic coming on who would become the next big comic. And that was not true. I'm being seen telling America I was a young comic. I was already an old comic!

TVGuide.com: What are the criteria for choosing those on trial?Black: How irritating are they, how much are they in our face, how much time have we wasted paying attention to them. Usually, that's where we start. If the show stays on the air it'll be easier and easier to figure out what should be against what.

TVGuide.com: You're like the Judge Wapner of pop culture!Black: More Judge Roy Bean! Wapner is in his own world. I come out of the West with a six-gun and start shooting at will.

TVGuide.com: Will you continue to do The Daily Show's "Back in Black" now that the writers' strike is resolved? Black: Yes. It's mostly the writers crafting material for me, because I'm just not available. And we've been together so long they pretty much know my quirks, and at times they know them better than I do. When they don't hit it, I throw in things. I certainly know how to be me.

TVGuide.com: Do you consider yourself a comic with a persona or a comic actor playing a role?Black: I consider myself a comic with a persona.

TVGuide.com: Given your confrontational style, this platform is ideal for you.Black: That was part of the reason Scott and David came to me, I think. It's right up my alley! [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: Is there anyone you do not consider evil?Black: Mother Theresa and Mary-Louise Parker!

TVGuide.com: Who are some of the "evil" people you're really looking forward to skewering?Black: We got to go after Dick Cheney, which was a lot of fun. That was great. If we were on now we'd probably go after [Mike] Huckabee and Ron Paul without breaking a sweat. I think [Pakistan president Pervez] Musharraf. We went after [Korean dictator] Kim Jong-il, which was very good.

TVGuide.com: Would you put deceased people on trial?Black: We talked about it. Our special "dead" shows!

TVGuide.com: Since we're in an election year, are you going to put the presidential candidates on trial? Black: We did eight shows. If they call up an order I would certainly imagine we put 'em opposite each other. The great thing about this show is that the comics are really good at going right after whomever we present to them. I think that's what makes the show. We let them take something they can tear into. I think the nice thing about this show is that it's a great way for a comic to do comedy without doing their act. It's another way in which you can watch the comic mind at work.

TVGuide.com: Of all those tried on the show, who is the most evil?Black: We were talking about whoever wins the first week we'd put up on the website the second week and we'd have a vote. And they'd go on to compete against whoever wins next and they would vote. I think eventually, depending on how this works out, we may have an "evil-off."

TVGuide.com: What is the definition of evil?Black: It's somebody or something that irritates you so much you can't have a complete thought.

TVGuide.com: What TV do you enjoy? Black: I like Weeds a lot, and I like Californication. I like The L Word for probably not the right reasons! [Laughs] I like it the way people watch Desperate Housewives. Girls kissing is good, but really how much crazier can this get? I like The Office and Colbert a lot. I watch my show, The Daily Show, Keith Olbermann. Meet the Press and Face the Nation are like a cup of coffee to me. I'm so irate after watching one of those, I can stay awake for a month.

TVGuide.com: Are you planning on doing more stand-up specials? Black: If all goes well, I will do a show on Broadway starting in September through the election. And we'd have one on Comedy Central.

See more clips of Lewis Black in action in our Online Video Guide.

For more features, news and inside scoop, check out the latest issue of TV Guide, with our exclusive story on Lost's Naveen Andrews and Elizabeth Mitchell. Plus: Who are the Oceanic Six? That and other burning questions answered! Try four risk-free issues of TV Guide now!