Yahoo Lifestyle Survivor’s [Spoiler] Reveals a Fake Idol Play That Could’ve Been: ‘It May Have Worked, Who Knows?’
The following contains spoilers from Wednesday’s episode of Survivor 47.
“Chaotic” is a word often used to describe the social politics on Survivor, and you know what? We’re using it again because Wednesday’s strategy and subsequent Tribal Council was nothing but!
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After Gabe snagged immunity (and Caroline lost her vote), the merged group of 10 panicked, as multiple plans emerged and quickly exploded just minutes before Tribal. Challenge beast Kyle was finally vulnerable, but that didn’t stop Genevieve from targeting Sol or Sam from trying to counter her ploy thanks to some trusty intel from Rachel. But when all was said and done, Sue and Kyle both remained safe, leaving Sol on the outs of a unanimous vote. (Read a full recap here.)
So why didn’t he play his Shot in the Dark and why did the axe fall on him? We asked Sol all of this and more below.
TVLINE | Why did Genevieve want u out so bad? What’s your take on that?
SOL YI | Genevieve really wanted me out because she felt that — and this is what she’s telling me and I believe her — nobody was saying my name. Every single person had their name mentioned by another player over the time when we merged except for me, and I was building incredible relationships with everyone. She is the one who was smart enough to see that and catch that and not be in the trance of Sol’s ability to create bonds. That’s why she did it. She knew. She was like, “We’ve got to get this guy out,” I guess.
TVLINE | We saw Sam give you a heads-up that everyone wanted to vote you out, but you didn’t use your Shot in the Dark. Why not?
I didn’t use my Shot in the Dark because I thought there was a good chance that I had the numbers. So Caroline doesn’t have a vote and I believe I have Andy, Rachel, Sam, Teeny and myself. That’s five. That’s enough. That’s ultimately why I didn’t play it because if I do play it and I’m wrong, then I’m going home because I don’t have a vote. I thought I was good. I should say I was at a 6.7 that I’m good.
TVLINE | Who do you feel most betrayed by?
You know, my mindset the entire time was, “Dude, you’re playing a game. Everyone’s looking out for themselves. I am too and eventually, that’s going to happen. Someone’s gonna turn on you.” I know that’s a boring answer, but that’s not how my mind goes. So I really don’t have anyone that I was betrayed by… actually, let me take that back. I might get a little snarky here. I was pissed that Rachel took me out because I fought so hard to keep her. Everybody was saying Rachel for like two rounds. I’m not saying only because of me, but I’m a very good reason why Rachel was still in the game, clearly with the advantage. So yeah, that pissed me off. Sorry. I love you, Rachel!
TVLINE | The scrambling in this episode was truly something to behold. How did it feel being in the middle of that and was there anything important that viewers didn’t get to see at home?
It felt like a Survivor party. You imagine you’re playing Survivor with everyone, and then it’s like, “OK, now the party is at its peak” because we’re all talking. We’re all trying to figure out like what’s going on. That’s what it felt like.
What was really interesting was that everyone knows Sam has a fake idol right now because he never played it at Gata and it was there for three Tribal Councils, so it’s gone. However, he still has it. What they don’t show is that he tries to convince me that it’s still real. We also think Sam is the vote. He and I think he’s going home when actually I’m going home. So he’s like, “Hey, I’ll give you this idol. You can have it if you flip the votes to someone else and not me.” And the one thing that I wish I would have done… Sam eventually tells me that it’s fake after Rachel tells him, “Hey, Sol is actually the vote.” That’s when Sam comes up to me and tells me that it’s fake. What I wish I could have done is use that fake idol at Tribal Council and be like, “Hey, I’m not going home tonight. I’m voting for so-and-so. You guys vote whoever you want.” It may not have worked. It may have worked. Who knows?
TVLINE | I obviously need to ask you about Rome. What didn’t we see out there regarding your beef with him, and why were you two unable to mesh well out there?
Rome has a pretty big ego and you saw it. In one of the secret scenes when I’m telling him, “Dude, you’re looking a lot right now and everyone’s on it.” Going back, the way I said it was not good. I literally say, “Hey, don’t look,” and knowing Rome, if you have an ego and someone’s telling you what to do, that is no good. And I think from that point on, he’s like, “I hate Sol. He’s trying to tell me what to do,” when he could have said, “Oh, Sol’s actually trying to help me. Maybe I should be a little bit more discreet in looking.” So ever since then, he made it pretty chaotic for me living on the beach. It made my mind race. He made the game very, very tough on me and I see it when I’m watching it, too. I am just disgruntled a lot of the time early on in the season and then once he’s gone, I get this boost of energy back. So, yeah. He was tough to play with, for sure.
TVLINE | So will you or won’t you be teaming up with Rome on a future season of The Amazing Race?
Bro. [Laughs] Come on. We know the answer to that.
TVLINE | We saw so many people over the last couple episodes talking about getting Kyle out once he lost an immunity challenge. He lost, but he’s still there! What’s up with that?
Genevieve is the Terminator. I mean, that was an impressive… dude, she did it! She got all of those people who were with me. Really! They were with me. You hear Kyle saying, “Sol might be my most favorite guy out here,” and she gets them all. It was a clean sweep. I remember watching last night and I’m going, “Damn, none of you could have at least been like, ‘hey, we’ll throw Sol a couple votes to make him feel a little bit better.'” No. Sol, Sol, Sol, Sol, Sol. She got it and that’s why [Kyle stayed]. She’s the reason.
TVLINE | Out of the remaining players, who’s playing the best game?
Caroline blew me away. She’s so impressive. I mean, her mind and her timing. Her rationality. The way she was talking to Tiyana about, “Hey, look, this is an alliance. We talk about things. Tell me what you want to say.” It was beautiful and I never really saw that side of her. I told this to her face. I thought she was a goat. I thought she was someone that they were just dragging along and the next thing you know, I’m like, “Dude, what a boss!” She’s playing a great game right now.
TVLINE | Do you have any regrets or is there anything you would do different a second time around?
Oh, yeah, I have a lot. I wouldn’t call them regrets. I call them things that I’ve learned, so that if I ever got a chance to play again. I learned so much, but the biggest thing was giving that advantage to Rachel. It didn’t work. I thought it was something that I could build and I was like, “There’s no way this person is gonna write me out,” and it took one more Tribal Council. That’s it! [Laughs] All that work for nothing. That was the biggest regret. Wish I would have given it to somebody else, but good on her. That’s the move she needed to make.
TVLINE | Taking the entire experience into consideration, what was the hardest part of the whole thing for you?
Being away from my wife. They don’t show this but the first five days, I’m just bawling. Just losing it because everything reminded me of her and — I’m gonna say this loud because she’s upstairs — I JUST REALLY MISSED MY WIFE SO MUCH! [Smiles] So yeah, that really hurt. It is the truth. That was the hardest part.
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