Sekou Bunch knows he's black.

So it didn't upset the Survivor: Cook Islands cast-off when the popular reality show decided to shine a light on that fact by splitting the tribes up by race.

"I was like, bring it on, let's go, this is cool because I came alone," says the 45-year-old jazz musician and actor from L.A.

"In real life, we are all born in our own tribe of ethnicity, for the most part, and we are taught how to live and survive in the world. I saw that to be pretty commonplace.

"What was different about (Survivor) was that you don't have the social and economical stigmas attached -- you are stripped of all of that."

Regardless of how the teams were divided, Bunch's elimination had nothing to do with race. He was simply booted off the show for being too outspoken and aggressive.

And while he knew it would be a better strategy to hang back, Bunch says he had no choice but to step up.

"What do you do when you go out there and ... people are afraid? I knew they didn't know what to do ... so being myself I just chose to be proactive and start getting into action.

"I guess they figured I was trying to take over and be in charge, but I was really only trying to help."

Bunch says he was upset about being voted off because he wanted to win the $1 million US prize and have the experience of a lifetime.

But, he admits, when he got a call from CBS asking him to try out for Survivor (apparently the network had to find contestants once they decided on the race theme), he initially only viewed it as another acting gig.

"I just got through shooting the movie Dreamgirls and ... I got this call. When they told me I had a one in 20 chance of making a million dollars, I thought, for seven weeks, it's not a bad deal," he says, adding he didn't really know what Survivor was.

"If American Idol wanted me to go on, I'd say, 'Wow, this is big," but I didn't realize (Survivor) was this big until the controversy came out. I was really stoked."

Bunch now hopes his 15 minutes of fame will boost his career. "I hope I get a larger audience to listen to my music -- I think that may have happened already -- and it will open me up to possible more film deals."

Survivor: Cook Islands airs on CBS and Global at 9 p.m. tonight.