With the finale of CBS' Survivor: Fiji (Thursdays at 8 pm/ET) airing this Sunday and one of this season's most strategic players out of the running, it truly is anyone's game. We can't say that Alex Angarita didn't give it his all. He desperately tried to stick around by explaining to people that Yau-Man was a huge threat. Yet, alas, had already wasted the hidden immunity idol trying to save himself a few tribal councils back. TVGuide.com asked the book-smart guy and savvy player — who we think would have a real shot at being one of the Donald's Apprentices — what went wrong.

TVGuide.com: Got to say, I admire the "go down swinging" strategy. Alex Angarita: You've got to. You can't just give up at the very end. That's just not the way life works.

TVGuide.com: Did you think you had a shot? Alex: Were I a betting man, would I have placed a bet on me? No. That's dumb. But to convince others, I think you have to believe in yourself. So to a certain degree, as delusional as it might be, I did believe that my strategy might work. But from a bird's-eye view, I knew I didn't stand a chance.

TVGuide.com: Cassandra seemed at least interested in what you had to say. Alex: At least I riled things up a little bit. Yau-Man wasn't as safe as he thought. I did something.

TVGuide.com: I think outing Yau-Man's idol, as you and Mookie did, will really change things. Alex: I do, too. In a game as intense as Survivor, with such little time in between pivotal events, any small thing has a ripple effect. That is magnified by the way the game is played.

TVGuide.com: You kept saying the others didn't know what they were in for. Are you a big Survivor fan? Alex: I am now! [Laughs] Part of what I felt was an issue throughout and something I didn't take into account was that I always assumed in my strategy that I was dealing with rational [people] who could see more than one or two steps ahead. I think I was wrong in thinking that. A lot of people who played that game think only about staying there week to week. I kept trying to explain to them all throughout the show. I'd say, "Listen, this will happen three steps from now if you do this now." Had I to do that over again, I would probably focus on explaining to people the immediate impact of their decision rather than the long-term impact. That might be a better way of persuading others.

TVGuide.com: The other alliance did manage to pull off that scheme to get your pal Edgardo out.Alex: Yeah. That was Yau-Man and Earl, who do think several steps ahead. But for Dreamz and Stacy, going back on the alliance they had with Edgardo, Mookie and I bought them [a couple of weeks]. Now if they make it to the end... none of us are ever going to vote for them. They are going to be on the outside of an already tight alliance. If you start flip-flopping you are going to piss off too many people to win this thing. I don't think they thought of it that way. Sure, they got further than I did, but on a long-term basis, I don't see that working out for them.

TVGuide.com: Then they both lamely tried to apologize to you and Mookie. Alex: Right? Oh, no big deal. You screwed me over. What, I accidentally lied to you and stabbed you in the back? My bad.

TVGuide.com: Do you think you picked the right guys to be in your Four Horsemen alliance? Alex: I did get along with those people, at least on a personal level. I was [worried] about going into the merge with low numbers, so I chose people who I thought might be able to pull in someone else from the other side. I felt like at least each of us had a chance. I would have kept Lisi instead of Dreamz had she not proven herself to be so unreliable in terms of her commitment to the game. I didn’t want to be in a situation where there were seven of us left and Lisi was like, "Guys, I just want to go home."

TVGuide.com: Mookie did want to go home at the end, though. Alex: He did. But that was when we had no chance whatsoever. He was just throwing in the towel.

TVGuide.com: Do you have any regrets about voting Mookie out? Alex: No, I don't. It was my only move. Once I had made an agreement with my alliance, I never betrayed that alliance. When it was down to me or Mookie... if he had thought it all the way through, he would have put my name down. I've talked to Mookie since then, and he's in complete agreement about that. What can you do? My back was literally up against the wall.

TVGuide.com: Why call it "Four Horsemen"? Alex: I think it might have been something I remember from watching wrestling back in the day. I just thought it was catchy.

TVGuide.com: Why'd you want to do this show instead of something like The Apprentice, where you can use your legal skills? Alex: For exactly that reason, because this was going to test me on a level that I couldn't replicate in the real world. It was not about the million dollars for me. It was about testing myself and putting myself in a crazy environment and learning as much about myself as possible. I think this was the single best way to do it.

TVGuide.com: What did you learn about yourself?Alex: A lot of things, but above all else to trust my instincts. And I learned that given any situation, my ability to presevere is definitely real. I don't stop, I don't give up. I go after what I want and this experience, as extreme as it was, solidified that in me and made me a stronger person overall.

TVGuide.com: If you had it all to do over again, would you use the idol when you did? Alex: Well, hindsight is 20/20. If I knew that I was getting screwed over, no. It was a 50/50 chance. Ed and I talked about it just before tribal and we knew it was going to be one of us. When I was sitting there I saw them writing the names and it was taking them a long time to write "Alex." One of the lessons I learned was to always go with my gut, because my gut told me to give the idol to Ed. It was screaming at me, "Give it to Ed! Give it to Ed!" And I just couldn't do it, because if I was wrong, I was done. I think I made the rational choice, but if I had listened to my gut, Ed would have stayed in the game and we would have taken out Cassandra and it would have been different altogether.

TVGuide.com: What is next on your agenda? Alex: I've started an academic consulting company to get high-school students into law, medical and business school. I was pre-med as an undergrad, went to law school and went through the business-school process, waiting to hear back from Wharton and Stanford. I know how to get people into school. I've put together a team of top consultants and this is what I'm doing.

TVGuide.com: Are we going to see you giving people heck on the finale? Alex: Oh, you have no idea. No idea! I'm like, "Oh, man, I hope I wasn't too harsh." I let it out.

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In less capable hands, Ugly Betty's sister Hilda could have been a bad caricature: the pretty, talkative girl from Queens with too much makeup and a son conceived on her prom night. But thanks to the show's writers and actress Ana Ortiz, she's also a warmhearted woman the audience can root for as she tries to make something of her life. Ortiz's own life is changing pretty drastically this summer, too: She's marrying musician Noah Lebenzon in Puerto Rico on June 9. (See the TV Guide News Report for a related story.) In between wrapping the show and planning her big day, Ortiz dished to TVGuide.com about Betty's dramatic season finale and what her first year as a Suarez has been like.

TVGuide.com: Thanks for calling. I hear you're a little bit busy these days!Ana Ortiz: It's crazy. I've never been good at time management, so it's definitely a whole new set of learning skills I've got to get used to, with Betty and wedding planning. I've never had to do publicity before. It's wonderful and I love it, but it's definitely time-consuming.

TVGuide.com: First off, what can you tell us about the finale?Ortiz: It's actually very intense. For a comedic show, there was definitely a lot of drama. It was a really difficult [shoot], and not just because it was my last night of taping [for the season], though that actually fed into the emotion I had to play. I can tell you that some tragedies befall the Suarez family. In all likelihood, there is probably going to be a death. Everything's a cliff-hanger for us, too — definitely with [Wilhelmina] and Claire Meade, there's some really juicy stuff that goes on. And tragedy! We were at the table read and the whole cast was crying! We were like, "Wait, where's all that laughter?" Justin is doing West Side Story at his school, and that sort of ties into the whole show.

TVGuide.com: That all sounds very much like a real telenovela. Did you ever watch the original Colombian Betty la Fea?Ortiz: All the women in my family watch the novelas. When you're a kid and your parents like something, you're like, "This is boring. I hate it!" So it was always on in my house, but I never really watched them. Now we watch them, especially Betty la Fea, and they're so cool!

TVGuide.com: Your family is from Puerto Rico. Is it strange to be playing a Mexican?Ortiz: Because it takes place in New York, I haven't altered anything about how I approach her. I sort of really made her me and my family, times 10. I didn't focus on whether she's mexicana or colombiana. To be perfectly honest, we were never really told [their nationality], it sort of developed through the show. Tony Plana (Ignacio) is Cuban, America Ferrera (Betty) is Honduran, and little Mark Indelicato (Justin) and I are both Puerto Rican, so we were just sort of playing it how we felt.

TVGuide.com: When you were cast on the show, were you ever scared of that old saying that actors should avoid playing opposite children?Ortiz: It never really crossed my mind. We became so attached to one another, pretty much from "jump." Mark's amazing. His mom's around all the time, and she's really become like a sister to me. The other day we were talking and he was about 30 feet away from us, and he goes, "Mom!" and we both turned around and said, "What?"

TVGuide.com: Were you surprised by the controversy over the fact that his character is apparently gay?Ortiz: I wasn't surprised, because I've lived in America, and I know how people react to such nonsense. The only thing that troubled me was how it would affect Mark and his life. He and his family have handled it with such grace, intelligence and heart. And I love the character, and he loves the character, which is the most important thing. He's not intimidated by it, and he's still just this goofy kid who's hanging around backstage. All kids should be this well adjusted. His family is like the Italian version of the Suarez family, super-close to one another, in everybody's business. This kid is going to stay in check.

TVGuide.com: What's going on with Hilda and Santos?Ortiz: We're planning a wedding. [Kevin Alejandro] is so wonderful. Working with him just made everything so easy. There was a part of me that really did fall in love with him, watching him with little Mark. It doesn't hurt that he's a total fox.

TVGuide.com: Is everything wrapped up for your own wedding?Ortiz: Pretty much. I have to find a wedding ring.

TVGuide.com: Are you doing anything differently for your wedding, now that you're a successful TV star?Ortiz: I guess the only thing that's different is that I actually can afford to have a wedding. We rented this really beautiful colonial estate in Puerto Rico, as opposed to staying at a hotel. We're having the wedding party stay there. It's a private beach, right near the wedding.

TVGuide.com: Who from the cast is going?Ortiz: America, Ashley Jensen (Christina), little Mark and his family. Becki Newton (Amanda) is going to see if she can make it. Michael Urie (Marc) is doing Hamlet, so he won't be able to come.

TVGuide.com: So you guys are all friends away from the set?Ortiz: It's really amazing. I can't believe our luck. You hear so many horror stories of people being so unhappy. It sounds so corny, but every once in a while one of us will host a little get-together at their house. Tony is sort of everybody's dad, not just to the Suarez family. Coming from New York, it's hard to meet a lot of people out here — it's such a big city, and it's so spread out. So it's wonderful to have this family on set. I've worked on a lot of different shows, but it's like you're in and you're out. This is very concentrated, and we all have a really wonderful chemistry with one another.

In the hilarious third-season premiere of NBC's The Office (Thursdays at 8:30 pm/ET), Oscar Martinez was unceremoniously outed by Michael, and subsequently awarded paid leave by Dunder-Mifflin to curb any litigious thoughts. In reality, the accountant's portrayer, Oscar Nuñez, took a leave from the show to exec-produce and star in the Comedy Central series Halfway Home. But now that he has returned to his cubicle, TVGuide.com decided to check in on the Cuban-born funnyman.

TVGuide.com: When did the Office writers officially tell you Oscar would be gay?Oscar Nuñez: It was toward the end of the first season. At first, it started as a rumor. The actors started saying, "Oscar might be gay" when we'd read the scripts, and I was like, "Really?" Then, lo and behold, there was a script where Oscar was gay. [Executive producer] Greg Daniels came up to me and said, "Hey, Oscar, would you mind if your character was gay?" I'm like, "Greg, there's a script already written. I've seen it. Thanks for asking me now." But I didn't mind.

TVGuide.com: Was it difficult to keep a straight face while shooting the Michael-Oscar kiss in this season's opener?Nuñez: You know, that's not one of my weaknesses. I'm pretty good at keeping a straight face. Steve [Carell] has made me break a handful of times during the season, but that wasn't one of them.

TVGuide.com: That's impressive. It's such a long, uncomfortable moment.Nuñez: And we did it a couple of times! Every take was uncomfortable, and everyone watching kept breaking up.

TVGuide.com: Is it fun to play a character who often exposes Michael's general ignorance?Nuñez: I think every character exposes his general ignorance. You just sit there and watch him and your jaw drops.

TVGuide.com: This season's big story line was the addition of the Stamford office staff. Do you have any idea what sort of future shake-ups are planned?Nuñez: There's definitely more interoffice politics coming down the pike.

TVGuide.com: Can we expect to see more Oscar?Nuñez: I would hope so, yeah. I think as the show progresses they'll have to flesh out more characters just because there will be more episodes.

TVGuide.com: But you haven't seen any upcoming scripts to know for sure?Nuñez: No. We see scripts like a week before we shoot them.

TVGuide.com: Does that make it tough to prepare?Nuñez: No. We're just "working in an office." Though a lot of us come from an improv background, there are scripts and it's definitely mostly written. Steve gets to improvise a bit, and Rainn Wilson also improvises. We [the "accountants"] do, too, but it rarely sees the light of day.

TVGuide.com: Halfway Home's Eulogio is also gay, but in a very different way than Oscar. Would they have any chemistry together?Nuñez: No way. Oscar is a Log Cabin Republican, and Eulogio doesn't even vote. Oscar would probably report Eulogio to the authorities. They would not mix well together.

TVGuide.com: What was it like producing and starring in your own show?Nuñez: It's very exciting. [Executive producers] Kevin [Ruf], Damon [Jones] and I were in the Groundlings together. Kevin is an attorney and he's visited halfway homes, so he threw out this idea of setting a show in a halfway house. Fortunately, Comedy Central liked that idea. It's been a long road. After years of pitching stuff to them, they finally liked a show. It's been great to work with friends on a project like this.

TVGuide.com: What's the major difference between working on a cable show as opposed to working on a network show?Nuñez: The catering. The catering and pampering is great for The Office, because it's not only a network show, but it's gotten a couple of awards as well. We're very well taken care of. Halfway Home's budget is a lot less. The nuts and bolts don't change — you're still making a TV show — but the fringe benefits of The Office are definitely better. It's not lobster and steak every day, but it's something like that.

TVGuide.com: So what does your wife think about the fact that you're becoming known for playing "the gay guy"?Nuñez: Actually, we're in the middle of a divorce right now.

TVGuide.com: Oh... well, I hope your characters didn't have anything to do with that.Nuñez: No, they didn't. I haven't really gotten [the news] out there, but I guess I might as well now.

TVGuide.com: Gotcha. Well, now it's out there.