Survivor’s [Spoiler] Explains Pivotal Pre-Tribal Conversation That Ultimately Swayed the Vote
The following contains spoilers from Wednesday’s episode of Survivor 47.
Operation Italy had a ripple effect throughout the game, but it also painted a healthy target on one of its main conspirators.
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After Genevieve secured immunity for herself for the Final 6 Tribal Council, Rachel’s life in the game was more or less over. At least that was the perception of those still left in the game. Little did they know, the former Gata member had an idol up her sleeve and despite being public enemy No. 1, she wouldn’t be going anywhere that night. So Andy, looking to earn her respect (and yes, also to kickstart his jury management), asked Rachel to keep an open mind when considering his game, which got her thinking: Maybe Andy isn’t getting enough credit here! It was enough to make Rachel reconsider, and after she played her idol, she and Sue opted to flick Andy off of the chess board. (Read a full recap here.)
Below, Andy talks to TVLine about his biggest game moves, pulling it together after a rough start and what he’d do differently a second time around.
TVLINE | Let’s start with Operation Italy. Why did you feel the need to flip, as opposed to sticking with that alliance of five that you had seemed comfortable with. Did you think they would cut you at the Final 5?
ANDY RUEDA | My strategy all the way back from waking up the morning of Day 4, I knew I was in a hole right from the start and I felt like my threat level was in the dirt. My perceptions of players, [also] in the dirt. I really needed to lean into that and take advantage of that as much as possible. That strategy of downplaying myself and leaning into all of my very obvious flubs in the challenges, taking advantage of all that rode me into a really great position in the middle of the merge where I feel like I had my hand in so many different pots and way many more options than people knew about.
The downside of that is you can’t just rest on your laurels and ride that to final Tribal Council and say, “Oh, it was on purpose.” It just wasn’t going to be enough. The impetus to Operation Italy was when the underdog five alliance first formed, I had a strong game instinct that it wasn’t going to be the right endgame configuration for me. I didn’t feel like I had an agency in that group. I didn’t feel like I had much win-equity in the group. I don’t think I had much short-term safety in that group. So it was either ride this out or do something about it. And the Final 7 really was the last time I could exert any of this leverage that I believed I had that no one was seeing. I was like, “I am in a very unique position to make something else happen and I either have to go with this underdog five or I have to take a shot.”
TVLINE | Was this a premeditated plan or was Operation Italy cooked up solely while you were at the Sanctuary?
I was feeling a little bit stymied and frustrated during the Kyle vote, and I was giving the underdog five this test run. I didn’t like the influence I did or did not have in that alliance. So I woke up the next morning with this idea in my head where I was like, “What I should be doing is swinging over to Sam and Genevieve, but that is going to be mission impossible.” How are we gonna make all of that happen during a scramble? It just seemed so difficult. So when the reward happened and it was me, Sam and Genevieve, it almost felt like a better opportunity than I ever could have asked for. And then it all clicked and I’m like, “OK, I had this the idea in my head, but now we can actually make it happen because we have a whole night at the Sanctuary to get Genevieve and Sam to buy into this and to come up with a plan elaborate and detailed enough to fool these strong players who are in my underdog five alliance.”
TVLINE | In Wednesday’s episode, you asked Rachel to have an open mind when thinking about your game. Was there anything else from that conversation that we didn’t see on TV and was that your fatal flaw?
That’s a great question. I think the one thing that set up that conversation was that I had lied to Rachel a lot. I had blindsided her a lot. Personally, I didn’t feel like I had any problem doing it one more time just to be safe. But when she first pitched me this idea that we should vote for Sam, she looked at me and she said, “By the way, Andy, if you lie to me one more time and you vote me out, Sue and I will never vote for you on the jury.” And that, in itself, is this risky play, but it totally worked on me because I’m like, “I can’t afford that.” So with that, I was like, “OK, then that door closed.”
So now we’re telling her the truth, that we’re all voting for her. From that point, I felt like her perception, even in the aftermath of Operation Italy, she didn’t see the full mechanics of that. She didn’t look at that as a strong move. She looked at that as another impulsive flip-flop, right? So I needed her to go to the jury with some kind of different view of me because she was going to be, from my perspective, a highly influential late-game juror and if she just confirms everyone’s suspicions about me, then I’m not going to be visible at final Tribal Council. So it was a bet I took. I’m like, “OK, I don’t think she has an idol.” We talked about it, but the way that she was crying on the beach after she lost the challenge, I’m just like, “I think she doesn’t have it.” Given that assumption, this is my best play if we’re voting her out. I need to make up some ground.
TVLINE | Who would’ve been your ideal Final 3? Would you have wanted to sit next to Genevieve?
I was really happy to work with Sam and Genevieve on Operation Italy at the Final 7 for so many reasons, but a lowkey by-product of that was that I was kind of showing them my game and that is good. I was changing their perceptions of me, especially Genevieve who had things to say about my game before that. But for that to be a good thing, she needed to go to the jury eventually. So I don’t think myself or anyone wanted to sit next to Genevieve at the end of the game. If I played my cards right in this endgame and all of my bets paid off, which they didn’t, but if they did, I felt like I could’ve sat next to Teeny, I could’ve sat next to Sue and I could’ve given myself a shot against Sam, for sure. Sitting next to Rachel and Genevieve would’ve been much tougher.
TVLINE | You had a bumpy start to the game over on Gata beach. Tell me a bit about those first few days and how you were feeling out there.
I came into the game feeling really good, pretty carefree, and from my perspective, which would be proven wrong, I was like, “I’m not gonna put too much pressure on myself. I have such a great life back home and this is just a dream and I’m just gonna be free and play my heart out and just see what happens.” And on Day 1, I feel I did have a pretty good start. I was building these relationships with Sam, Rachel and Jon. It was on Day 2 where things just changed. I don’t even know what the specific moment was, but there was just this anxiety and sort of panic that bubbled up, and it felt like every second of the day, it was getting worse. Things were coming up from such a long time ago. Demons, I thought I’d… like, this is how I felt in high school and stuff like that. I do have anxiety in real life, but I also have in the real world so many coping mechanisms. I can just take someone aside who I love and trust and just talk it through and then I’m fine again. I can bounce back really quickly. That was my instinct when pulling Rachel aside. But because of the game, the game is so complicated, it was botched and it made it three times worse.
So it did feel like a big downward spiral, culminating in this challenge, which was the most difficult physical thing I’ve ever done in my life. And I was in such a negative headspace during the challenge with the adrenaline pumping and the panic and the boat capsizing. I’m like, “Oh my God, this is my waking nightmare.” It took so much physical effort just to get to the beach. I did succumb to physical heat exhaustion as well. So all that was a perfect storm to take someone who is feeling good on Day 1 to the moment you saw on Day 3 with all that panic and delirium involved. I will say that by the time I got back to the beach coming back from the challenge, I did kind of snap back into it. I am proud of [how] I got back on my two feet and regulated my emotions, but also being true to my emotions throughout the rest of the game.
TVLINE | There have been rumors that someone from your season might get a callback for 50. What would you do differently if you were out there a second time?
Oh, that’s a great question. If I had the chance to play again, it’s so interesting because in an all-star season, your reputation precedes you no matter what. So I could not play the same game because I do feel like a strong feature of my game was playing a role where people were underestimating me at every step. You just can’t replicate that. It would be very difficult to do it twice and people would see that. This guy comes up with elaborate moves and he has not been very loyal in this game, etc. I would try to just utilize the strengths that I have as a Survivor player. Lean into those. But I would have to play a different game and I would find at least a no. 1 or some real allies that I’m not just ready to just flip on as soon as I see a good opportunity.
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