Caleb Reynolds Reveals Why All The Sandra Hate Before Survivor Game Changers

It seems like Caleb Reynolds was trained by a certain individual before flying out to Fiji for Survivor Game Changers, but he won’t name who it is.

Spoiler warning for Survivor Game Changers.

The day after a player’s boot is so distant from the day after their boot is shown on television. In that time, Caleb Reynolds has had time to reflect upon his Survivor Game Changers experience after getting voted out in Episode 3, “Survivor Jackpot,” offering up his perspective now that he’s free to talk more about the game.

The biggest revelation about Survivor Game Changers comes from Caleb’s interactions with Sandra and why he believed she wasn’t a true game changer before the game even started. Speaking to Parade, in addition to an entire diatribe about how he fought hard to stay at tribal council (including standing up and noting that Hali and Sierra had tattoos together from Worlds Apart that indicate a potential bond), he also explained why he was so down on Sandra before the game started.

Caleb Reynolds mentions watching one of her seasons before he played in Survivor Game Changers and that there’s a lot to her game that’s subtle. She doesn’t provide for her tribe at camp or in challenges as well, but he does mention that one person perhaps gave him all the information he needed to hear.

"But in all honesty, there was a person from before the game — I don’t want to say any names, but I’m sure people can probably figure it out — I’m not going to say names on it. They basically painted Sandra out to be the devil: “She has to go. She’s this. She’s that. She’s going to come after you. Blah, blah, blah.” Almost a twice a week deal where I would have a counseling session on why I should get Sandra out. It seemed like this person maybe had a personal vendetta against Sandra. I talked to this person so much before the game, that this is who I wanted to go home. It was almost like they wanted her gone, so she wouldn’t get to play the game — and it wasn’t me."

It’s clear that this person was a player from Survivor Samoa who had a disappointing finish to their game and was given a chance to come back and play more seasons than they should have. That’s right, Caleb Reynolds likely had help from Russell Swan!

Or, Russell Hantz. Probably him.

More from Season 34 Game Changers

• Survivor Game Changers wins GLAAD Awards’ Outstanding Reality Program
• 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

Either way, Caleb Reynolds has had a complete 180 impression since Survivor Game Changers, noting that “Sandra is nice. She’s bright. She’s fun. She’s a good player,” and going so far as to say “she has my respect.” However, he also revealed that Sandra was making a fake idol at Mana and Caleb told on her to the teacher (the tribe). Perhaps she’s more conniving this season than we first thought!

Over at Entertainment Weekly, the snippets available indicated that Caleb Reynolds was more upset about how strongly Brad Culpepper played in getting him out. He remarks that Brad saw him as a threat as the other alpha male at Mana, but that he doesn’t take anything personally.

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The only thing he does seem to be taking personally is the edit, saying multiple times in interviews and on Twitter that they didn’t show his effort to stay in the game. It sucks to go out on the same day in multiple Survivor seasons, but walking out sure as hell beats getting flown out.