TVLINE | The vote seemed to be between yourself and Chrissy, and Devens and Aubry… until Devens pulled off that big fake idol show. How much did that fake idol play a part in your elimination? Or do you think you and Chrissy were out regardless?
No, I think it was touch and go, right? I really do. I think that it was the tipping point. I think that maybe it was going to be Devens and Aubry. Nobody really liked Aubry. I did like her, but I don’t think anybody liked her, and she had burned everybody by not playing her idol. They knew the idol was flushed and they knew Devens was dangerous. So, I think that the fake idol definitely had something to do with it. It was the tipping point for Chrissy and I to go.
TVLINE | Cirie is included in this strong seven alliance you were a part of. From a viewer’s perspective, she’s dangerous! She’d absolutely cut bait whenever she needs to. Was that at all discussed out there?
It was a little bit. There was a level of deception. Dee went up to Cirie and said, “You know, Coach said your name.” I said Emily’s name. I didn’t say Cirie’s name, but she said, “Coach, said your name.” Dee later admitted to Cirie when the game was done that she actually had lied about that. But it is what it is. Once that seed is planted in somebody’s head, they’re going to run with it.
The same thing happened with Sandra [in “Heroes vs. Villains”]. I don’t really like players like Sandra or Cirie. I think that they are overrated strategic players. But then something like that happens and then you think, “I guess maybe they might not be overrated. It was a subtle move. Her coming back from exile… I went up to her and we sat on the hammock and I just said, “Look, I’m with you.” And she said, “I’m with you till the end, Coach.” And, I really thought she was. I told her this. It’s too bad they didn’t show this. I said, “You’re like the cavalry running in to save the day because you’re back.” I was looking at the votes and I was thinking, “OK, well, if these people want to vote against me, we still have the numbers,” and Cirie’s coming back, that puts it in our favor, right? Because it was going to be essentially tied, but Cirie’s back and she’s in our favor.
TVLINE | Now, you pretty much owned the Dee vote, which seemed to rub some people wrong. Was that worth increasing the size of your target?
Obviously in hindsight, no, but nobody wanted to split the votes. I was absolutely gobsmacked. I was super cool. I was like, “Dee. Let’s lock it down,” and that was it. But we’ve got to have somebody else to vote for. And because I saw Rizo and all these other players trying to stroke the middle, and I was trying to work with the middle players as well. At one point in the merge, the Blood Moon really changed everything, because really there was nobody that I didn’t want to work with. I was in the middle of everything. Emily came up to me, everybody was trying to work with me. I think that it got my anger because I thought, “It’s Season 50! You guys are all returning players. We’ve got to split the votes!” I specifically asked people, “Do you really want to go 12 votes on Dee?” Yes. “Are you sure about that?” Yes. So what would have happened if I hadn’t fought for it and Dee played her Shot in the Dark, and I would have gone home?
To me, it was worth the risk at the time. Looking back on it, once people started resisting, I should have just said, “OK, that’s not a hill I want to die on.” At the time, I figured that I had the numbers so strongly in my favor, that it wasn’t going to happen. I mean, I amassed a huge army and I’m watching the show in the recent weeks, [it’s] just sad to see it all unfold because Charlie and I were rock solid. Kamilla and I were rock solid. Kyle and I are both Buffalo Bills fans, and Mike White and I were awesome. Mike White and I message back and forth all the time. I had this huge amount of people, even Angelina and I wanted to play together. And it was like I had this huge army, and they’re not being cut because people know they’re in my army. They’re just being cut almost on a whim. It’s kind of sad to see. What I had built slowly disseminated.
