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Dolly booted for not being a schemer
Saturday, September 25, 2004

Goodbye, Dolly. It was swell, Dolly. Mercer will be glad to have you back where you belong.

It was only the second week of "Survivor: Vanuatu," but Dolly Neely, a shepherdess from Mercer, got voted off the island because of her indecision. She couldn't stick to a plan to boot off another contestant, so her compatriots joined forces to oust her. She seemed relieved.

"This game is too much for me," she said as the credits rolled on Thursday night's episode. "I wasn't cut out for this. I'm just a simple farm girl. I can't plot, plan and scheme."

In a phone interview yesterday, Neely said she just enjoyed the chance to get off her farm near Lake Latonka.

"Just get me away for a few days from phone and e-mail and fax and cell," she said. "It was nice, but I went a long way for six days."

All the way to the South Pacific, in fact. But soon afterward she was back on the farm, which is comprised of all ewes and one ram named Hammer.

"He gets the job done," she said. "He's got a lucky lot in life."

Neely, 25, said she's not looking to pursue a career in entertainment, but she would not mind if "something pursues me."

"I'm happy on the farm," she said. "There's not too much strife and peril there. I'm the boss and I like being in that boss position. I don't want to have to fight and scrap my way."

That's exactly what "Survivor" required, but Neely said it's just not in her nature to hurt anyone else's feelings.

"I'm not a side chooser," she said. "I'm kind of like Switzerland that way."

Neely isn't dating anyone exclusively, but she said she does have a "secret crush" and it may be on one of the "Survivor" contestants. Will we hear about it in the "Survivor" reunion show at the end of the current cycle?

"Maybe," she said. "It's a possibility."

Neely bears more than a passing resemblance to Britney Spears, and said she'd heard the comparison a dozen times yesterday alone.

"Before she lost her mind, I took it as a compliment," Neely said. "I wouldn't mind if it starts to be 'Britney Spears looks like Dolly.' "

First published on September 25, 2004 at 12:00 am