An Interview with Sydney Dorsey from ‘The Anonymous’

THE ANONYMOUS -- "Can You Handle It?" Episode 102 -- Pictured: Sydney Dorsey -- (Photo by: Rico Torres/USA Network)

The new reality competition series, The Anonymous, on USA Network, kicked off with a bang last night. By introducing us to a new type of game and a bevy of new competitors to get to know. But sadly, as is the case with these types of competitions, someone has to be sent home and the first person off of the board was Sydney, and to properly bid her farewell, we sat down with Sydney to discuss her experiences on the show.
 
John Betancourt: I have to start with the tough question here, because you were the first one off of the board and, I'm very curious about what made the about what that exit process and the selection so emotional for you.
 
Sydney Dorsey: I don't know if it was me. You know, this was a dream come true for me. I'm from a very small town, I’m a small-town girl, and so this becoming a reality for somebody like me was huge. And I think I was just very, very sad that I was about to go home and didn't get to see the rest of my castmates. But at the same time, growing up, I dealt with rejection a lot. I was outcasted a lot because of my personality. So, to kind of be in that reality TV environment where big personalities were celebrated and really focused on was amazing. So, there was so many different things going through my head, like, did they not like me? This, this, and this. But in the end, it was a game, and you got to do what you got to do.
 
John Betancourt: What was very intriguing in all these episodes was the unique dynamic you had to navigate in keeping silent about what happened in the chat, while still playing nice and planning your next moves. How hard was that to navigate?
 
Sydney Dorsey: Oh my gosh, it was the hardest thing that I've ever done. We were given these iPads to kind of take notes on and who we thought was who. I was so mind boggled and confused, like you don't get the tone in these chats. You don't know who is who, and you have everybody trying to be somebody else. And it was just so crazy. And the majority of the time I was drawing the emojis on my iPad, and then just hopefully somebody, I would figure out somebody, I could write their name beside it. And it was really, really hard. And especially like you go back to -- it was hard to defend yourself, but also keep your identity, and then to go back and be face to face with everybody and conversate without also, again, defending yourself, giving up your identity. It was so incredibly hard. It's like, what do you conversate about now, like, we want to talk about the game and we want to form alliances, but it's hard because you could not… even to your allies. You couldn't give up anything.
 
John Betancourt: But you did have a strategy, what motivated you to come up with the strategy that you had in place.
 
Sydney Dorsey: So, interviewing for the show, I was single, um, had no idea that the love my life was going to come along. And, you know, funny enough, that's how the universe works. Um, but interviewing for the show, I had this strategy in place from the beginning, and it was just something that I wanted to go on, to be that relatable person or to flirt if I needed to. And I guess I'm using flirt, very loosely, because my definition is a little bit different from others. I mean just being out in public, maybe at a bar or something like that, just trying to have a conversation with a guy, just the way that I conversate, they probably would think that I'm flirting with them. I'm like, “No, I'm just a nice, pretty person. I'm like, don’t get the wrong idea.” (Laughs) But I, I don't think I necessarily was trying to flirt. But rather, conversate, and, you know the no offense but the idea of a guy, they're like, “Oh, this girl likes me.” So, you know, I was just, I was playing the game. I'm just hoping something worked out.
 
John Betancourt: Now, obviously, hindsight is always 2020, and you probably have had a little time to reflect upon the game and your strategy. What would you have done differently if given the chance?
 
Sydney Dorsey: So going into the game, you know, it's funny, because I told myself, I was like, I'm gonna go in. I'm gonna sit back and be very quiet. As soon as I got into that house, my mouth would not shut up, but that's just who I am. I'm very loud, and I love to conversate with people. I love to get to know people, especially from people all over the world, like, I want to know about people's lives. And so I think if I had the chance to go back and do it again, I would maybe sit back and be a little bit more observant, kind of listen to conversations, not do things that would put me at risk, such as, you know, taking a higher number in the game, and then, you know, not getting the cash prize, but somebody had to do it. So, you know, it was me. But, you know, there's a lot of things, what ifs that come up and arose in my head? But, you know, maybe one day I'll get the opportunity to play another game.
 
John Betancourt: But what other challenges outside of the main stuff did you run into in playing this game?
 
Sydney Dorsey: So, when we first got there, hadn't gone into our first chat yet. It was so happy and uplifting, and everybody was just trying to get to know everybody. We went into our first anonymous chat, and we chose our handles, and then we started communicating. And it was downhill from there. As we got out of those pods, the mood shift of everybody, nobody wanted to talk to anybody, but me? I was just put up at risk by six people, and I'm like, “Alright, somebody's about to speak up because I'm mad.” And so, it was just finding that that line of being able to conversate and keep yourself in the game without revealing your identity, without stirring up too much drama to get yourself put at risk. It was just so much going on that you had to keep up.
 
John Betancourt: What are you going to miss the most about being on this series?
 
Sydney Dorsey: Oh, my goodness, just the friendships that I made, um, which, luckily, we've stayed in contact, and we've gotten to know each and every person, and we've got to conversate a little bit more outside of the game. And it's so funny because, like, we'll see, like, when the promo clips first came out, we would send them in the chat, and we would laugh at each other, like, “Oh my gosh, I can't believe you said this,” but we knew in the end, like, we had to separate the “reality TV us” from “everyday life us,” and that we were playing a game for a huge sum of money, and so we had to do things that were a little bit, you know, not faithful of everyday personalities. But, you know, I'm just happy that I get to keep in contact with everybody and get to see everybody and maybe one day connect again, and hopefully there's a reunion. Who knows? I don't know but would love for that to happen. That would be fun.
 
John Betancourt: Wow, you don’t hear that often about reality television shows, everyone staying in touch like that. Speaking of personal moments in that vein, what did you take away from this experience on a personal level?
 
Sydney Dorsey: Goodness, I, you know, I had never experienced anything like this. You had former people on the show, like you had Xavier, who was on Big Brother, and Nina who was on Survivor. And then you had, like, a lot of other people who did a lot of public relations things, like Robbie was a poker player, was on TV a little bit, and just a lot of these personalities who experienced a little bit of something like this, but I'm a small-town girl from, you know, Georgia. I grew up going to dirt track races and competing in pageants and weird things like that. Never did I think I would see myself on a on a TV show. Um, so, I mean, it was just an incredible experience to be there and to take away everything I learned, and it was such a huge gift to me and a blessing to me, because I have struggled with anxiety so much, starting in middle school, and so when I was getting my physical for the show, my doctor, almost, believe it or not, didn't sign me off. She was like, “I don't know if you're going to be able to make it because of your anxiety,” but I was like, just have faith in me. And I got to travel across the world to film a reality show, little to no contact my family, and overcame one of the biggest, you know, obstacles in my life, and faced my anxiety. And so that alone was a big gift to me.
 
John Betancourt: Well, that is just incredible, and it does lead right into my last question, what does it mean to you then to have overcome all of that and still gone on and done this and now be in front of just a massive audience, regardless of the outcome.  
 
Sydney Dorsey: I have always just wanted to be somebody that people could look up to. And you know, growing up, I was… typically it's hard for people to believe when I say this, just, I guess, because of the way I look, but I was outcasted a lot because I had a huge, big personality and people where I'm from, just, I guess, didn't want to put up with that, or be around when I was annoying or just aggravating, and I didn't care. And I think, you know, going on this show and watching myself and my dreams come to life. If I could look back and tell little Sydney like to always be herself because she's about to premiere on a reality show… I just want little girls and little boys across the world to know like to always believe in their dreams. Never change who they are, because you will never know where you end up. And I'm about to end up on a reality show premiering.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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