Survivor Game Changers Episode 1 Vote-offs Talk About Their Strategies
In a series of exit interviews, both players who were eliminated from Survivor Game Changers in Episode 1 reflect back on what went wrong.
This piece will dive into exit interviews for the first two hours of Survivor Game Changers.
With so many people who changed the game of Survivor playing in one season, it’s only logical that you’re going to get some heartbreaking disappointments. Such is life for fans of Ciera Eastin and Tony Vlachos, who have been speaking to outlets earlier today to discuss their Survivor Game Changers Episode 1 exits.
Both winners spoke to Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly as part of his SiriusXM radio show, with snippet posted on the EW website. Ciera reiterates that she didn’t want to come out strong, but she fell into old habits when expecting a Survivor Second Chances experience where everyone was talking big games on Day 1.
Parenthesis for context is mine.
"The first few days (of Survivor Game Changers) nobody was really talking strategy at all. I probably was the only one, and I do think that probably was a downfall for me. I think coming fresh off a season like that I was still in go mode and I think some of those people were working their way up to go mode."
A key note to take away from her Survivor Game Changers exit interview is that she seems to believe throwing Caleb Reynolds’ name out there was what did her in. It’s impossible for us to know exactly what was going through everyone’s mind compared to the timeline of the days, not the minutes edited together, but it’s good to see that she saw the weakness of her early game. If she plays again, I’m hoping it’s with long enough of a break so the impression she makes matches with the experience gained.
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On the other hand, Tony Vlachos seems to still be in island mode, even when speaking about Survivor Game Changers months later. He insists the tribe’s wish to get closer to the ocean for the view threw off his spy bunker plans, but that he wasn’t paranoid to distrust Sandra because she did say his name when talking to Troyzan.
"At that point I figured, let me bum rush them real quick and catch them off-guard and see what they’re going to tell me. Because if they weren’t talking bad about me, they would just tell me the truth. One tells me they’re looking at the tide, the other, she’s talking about the crate being too close to the fire. I’m like, ‘Aw, this is baloney,’ so at this point I’m like, ‘Okay, Sandra’s turned on me,’ and that was it. That alliance went bye-bye at that very second."
More from Season 34 Game Changers
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- Survivor Awards 2017: Best episode of the year
- Jeff Probst defends Survivor Game Changers’ outlandish idol count
- Big Brother 19’s handling of transphobia makes me proud of Survivor
- Survivor Game Changers: 5 Players we most want to play again
I love Tony, and his unhealthy paranoia got him in a winning position in his first season, but it’s clear that he’s not used to playing a game with experienced, seasoned, excellent players. He can’t convince players who have gone deep before to just bend to his alliance on a whim, just like he can’t be calling out others aggressively in front of other people and expect not to get blowback.
Ultimately, though, game respected game, as Tony does back Sandra after he got her out. Even in recent seasons where jury members may have been bitter over the gameplay, once it airs, those island bonds usually strengthen and harden. If Tony had gone out bitter about it, I’m sure it would diminish the lasting impressions we have of him going forward.