Playing Survivor must be one of the most exhilarating experiences a person can have, as it is a specially designed game that pushes people beyond their limits and tests their resilience when facing adversity. However, everyone going in knows only one person will win, and one of them will face the fact of being the first boot of the season.
For Survivor 49, contestant Nicole Mazullo entered the game hoping to win the coveted $1 million prize, as well as the bragging rights of being the sole Survivor. Unfortunately, Nicole became her season's first eliminated player when her tribe was unable to snatch immunity against the other teams.
Even before her being voted out, Nicole couldn't catch a break while playing Survivor. She was part of the Kele tribe (wearing blue) alongside Alex Moore, Annie Davies, Jake Latimer, Jeremiah Ing, and Sophi Balerdi, and to their misfortune, they lost all three challenges during the first three days of the game. Additionally, Nicole wasn't part of the main alliance of four and became an outcast, as did Annie.
With no immunity, immunity idol, or advantage to save herself once her tribe was headed to Tribal Council, most assumed Nicole would play her last chance to flip the game on its head: the Shot in the Dark. The SITD is an advantage introduced in the Survivor New Era, which allows players to exchange their right to vote for a one-in-six chance of receiving safety at the upcoming vote, thereby nullifying any vote cast against them.
Even though Nicole knew the vote was between her and Annie, she decided to trust Alex, who had told her during Tribal Council that she was safe. Ultimately, this decision sealed Nicole's fate in the game, as she was voted out and became the first casualty of the season.
In Nicole's exit press interviews, when asked why she didn't use her SITD, Nicole responded to TV Line, "Heading into tribal council, I was 50-50 on using it." Nicole goes on to explain that even though she knew it was between her and Annie in who would go home, Nicole's misplaced trust in Alex was the culminating point that prevented her from going for it.
Nicole adds, "[After] he said yes...that kind of shifted my mindset from being 50-50 on using the Shot in the Dark to like 30-70. And I ultimately decided to not use it because I felt it was logical, an Annie vote-out. It made sense to me, but yeah, I decided not to. I thought I'd save it."
To Nicole's credit, she explains in other interviews how close she and Alex were, which is why she decided to trust him over her gut feeling. In an exclusive interview with Sharon Tharp, Nicole expands upon the subject and adds that she bears no ill will towards Alex or anyone else.
Lastly, when asked if she had any additional regrets over her Survivor gameplay, Nicole mentioned she could've prioritised working on her relationship with Annie.
In her interview for RHAP, when speaking with Rob Cesternino, Nicole revealed that Annie was the person she talked game with the least, and that the other players further drove a wedge between them by telling them they were taking a shot at the other when that wasn't the truth, which in turn, made this a missed opportunity for both.