Survivor's [Spoiler] Reveals He Left His Shot In The Dark Back At Camp
The following contains spoilers from Wednesday's episode of Survivor.
There's only so long one can play from the bottom on Survivor until luck eventually runs out.
In Wednesday's episode, a sudden tribal split upended everyone's merge plans, as Jeff announced there would be two individual Tribal Councils and two players heading to Ponderosa. Although Sifu tried to finally extinguish Bruce's torch, original Belo members Kendra and Kellie stood by Uncle B., opting instead to vote out Reba's meat shield in a 5-1 vote. (Read a full recap here.)
Below, Sifu talks to TVLine about why he didn't play his Shot in the Dark, his unseen relationship with Mama Julie and how it felt to miss out on joining the jury by one single vote.
TVLINE | You fell just one vote shy of making the season's jury. Tell me a little bit about how that feels.
NICHOLAS 'SIFU' ALSUP | I had mentioned that making jury is my dream, one of my dreams, but before that it was making the merge. So there is a little flourishing happiness that helped me deal with the jury issue. But I definitely was thrown by the twist. Everybody's face was like, "What's going on?" I really think that not making the jury was hard, but I understand it. I played the game and I'm just reflecting and reviewing all of it as a fan now.
TVLINE | Did you consider playing your Shot in the Dark? Why or why not?
That's a common question and I will give you a little sneak peek. So actually, just like Drew, I didn't bring my bag [to the challenge], so my Shot in the Dark and my fake idol were in there.
TVLINE | Ugh! That's rough.
It is!
TVLINE | About that fake idol, why did you feel the need to create one? Were you not worried about making yourself a target?
I had been searching and it was very evident. I felt like someone had the idol, so I probably needed to have an insurance plan. I made that fake idol because I wanted to at least give a little suspicion. I know it sounds odd. So, things like what happened to J, where they're like, "Well, Sifu might play an idol, so now we have to switch to J," or something like that. That was enough suspicion of me throughout the game, and even on my last day, they were like, "Well, he might have an idol." So I didn't mind having those effects from the [fake] idol.
TVLINE | In the early days at Reba, it seemed like you were playing from the bottom. Were you aware of that and how did you feel you fit in socially?
Socially, I felt good. I am me. You're gonna get my craziness, you're gonna get all that stuff. And I can read the room too. I know that some people may not jibe with that, but a lot of it was kumbaya. We had a great time. I meditated with a lot of people, taught them Tai Chi a little bit and just got to enjoy that. But there was easy way to paint that. "Hey, he's sneaking around. He's doing this." It's an easy way to do it. It happens to a lot of people that go for wood a little too long or say, "I'm gonna go over here," and an hour [passes]. So, you've got to really manage time. You've got to manage relationships. I think at Reba, it was easy to paint me as one of the low guys there.
TVLINE | Julie and Dee never really seemed to trust you and your name seemed to be in their mouths from the beginning. Why do you think that is?
That's interesting because Julie and I had a connection. We would chat on the beach almost every night, and she fended for me. She was understanding that I'm a physical asset, so they should keep me. We would talk about that a lot. Like, at least keep me to the merge. "Let's work together and figure this out." But I think they just couldn't come to grips because it didn't work with their four. They wanted to lock that tight four in and it's a smart move. I give it to them. If you have a tight four, you go to the merge, you can make things happen. You're stacked. So you've got a lot of options. You don't need myself or J.
TVLINE | What was the most challenging aspect of your Survivor experience?
One of the most challenging things was honestly starving, but it wasn't even the fact that I was hungry. It was more just trying to manage emotionally and physically. It was probably like Day 10 when everybody hit a wall. I hit a wall because I was the biggest guy out there. I didn't complain about being hungry or anything like that. It wouldn't have made me quit or anything, but it was definitely a big struggle. Then I get the fish. I get the merge feast, which was crazy! I was eating like Goku, which was so nice.
TVLINE | Was there anything about your game that you wish we saw on TV but didn't?
I was good at helping morale. It did seem like it was a little crazy or quirky, but we definitely had a lot of laughs. We had a lot of good fun and so I would have loved to see some more of those, like the deleted scenes of me starting the fire. That was a fun time. Getting a chance to bond with your tribe on the first or second day, things like that. I really love this game. I wouldn't trade it for the world. So, I just hope that what people see, they know that that is me.