Survivor: David vs. Goliath finale: Final Six exit interviews

The Final Six castaways of Survivor: David vs. Goliath shared interesting details in their post-game interviews that didn’t make the edit.

With this season’s great bunch of characters, there’s bound to be many details that the edit can’t fully encapsulate. During their post-game interviews with RHAP and Entertainment Weekly, the Final Six gave us more insight on the last few days of Survivor: David vs. Goliath. Here are some details we found to be significant to the results of this season.

Nick knew coming into the finale that he won. He was unsure during Final Tribal and a couple of weeks later, but then he thought about the votes and realized he had at least six. He was a little surprised that Dan voted for him, and even more stunned that Christian voted for Mike.

Alliance naming wasn’t a pre-game plan. One of Nick’s first alliances was with Elizabeth, which he decided to name the “Thoroughbreds” since they were both from Kentucky. At the time, this was simply something Nick did because he wanted to play the game and have fun doing it.

During that same episode, Carl and Pat told Elizabeth that they weren’t fond of Nick’s effort around camp. Elizabeth then approached Nick and told her about his name being thrown out, saying that she doesn’t want to see a fellow Thoroughbred go down. The fact that she used their alliance name convinced Nick that this strategy was a way of making one on one relationships much closer.

Davie explains his dramatic exit. When Davie got blindsided at the Final Six Tribal Council, he gave a riveting exit speech saying that the person who made this move has his vote, and it’s up to the rest to make a bigger move. Davie made this statement for two reasons.

First, he wanted to read the room and see if he could tell who orchestrated his blindside, and he did realize that it was Mike. Davie also made these comments because he wanted to motivate his best friend Nick to elevate his play. Nick was fooled by the Goliaths and Davie wanted to put that drive back in his game.

When Davie told Nick not to bring him on the Final Six Reward Challenge, it was 100% to find an idol! He knew that without the necklace, he needed an idol to stay alive. After they got back to camp, Davie spent a majority of the time idol hunting. Little did he know that production positioned the reward feast at the well, which allowed Angelina to get help to find the idol.

It was Kara who backed out of blindsiding Mike at the Final Five. Nick and Alison were down for voting out Mike, they just needed one more and it seemed like Kara was on board. However, she changed her mind as she thought that Alison’s articulate manner of speech and her connections with the jury made her more dangerous. That proved to be a fatal mistake as Mike went on to beat Kara in fire.

Mike wished he came out stronger at Final Tribal. Mike felt like he played a great social game that wasn’t really noticed until the Final Seven. If he could change one element of his game it would have been to come out a little stronger at Final Tribal and “ask” for the votes instead of just explaining what this adventure meant to him personally.

Angelina would have written Mike’s name down for a tiebreak vote! She was closer to Mike during the 39 days so she was able to see more of his game. If Nick and Mike both had five votes, Angelina would have awarded Mike with the title of Sole Survivor.

Nick’s game went under the radar of the Goliaths. While they were still out on the island, Kara, Alison and Angelina all felt that Mike played the best game, which explains why Kara and Alison voted for Mike to become the Sole Survivor. They were able to witness firsthand the strength of Mike’s ability to subtly orchestrate votes with his social game. However, watching it back, they all agreed that they weren’t aware of the great game Nick was playing. That might be why Christian, Davie and Alison were always the targets instead of Nick.

Emotions are still running high when Alison discussed Mike’s aggressive comments. Alison still felt hurt by Mike’s comments at the Final Five Tribal Council but understood that it was Day 37 and everyone was emotionally spent. She reasoned that Mike played so well that he never had to worry about saving his own skin. She also appreciated his social game and the Final Two deals he made with everyone. So even though she felt hurt, she still voted for Mike because from her point of view, he still played the better game.

Alison is frustrated with the edit. It was clear that Alison was the “Purple Kelly” of this season, receiving fewer confessionals than many other castaways. She wished they showed more of the relationships she developed, especially the tight bond she built with Alec. She also made a plea to get rid of a threat like Christian and she feels that the Carl vote out was a move that she had a strong influence on.

Which castaways want to return? Mike’s response seemed like a hard no. Davie said he would return, but not right away. After spending time with parents like Elizabeth and Carl, he wants some time to build his own family before returning to Survivor. Nick was a surprising yes to return! He said that he doesn’t care about legacy, if he does bad then that’s ok, it doesn’t change the fact that he won. Angelina’s answer to returning was 100% in character: “I think my response right now to Jeff is: make me an offer that I can’t refuse.”