Sierra Wright (‘Survivor 47’ exit interview): ‘I’m out here with some really great liars’
On Wednesday’s eighth episode of “Survivor 47,” the assumption made at the last tribal council that the original Tuku players would be easily picked off by the former Gata and Lavo members in a new alliance did not play out as everyone imagined it would. Instead, Lavo positioned themselves in the middle of Tuku and Gata and helped turn the game on its head in yet another blindside, pulling one of the Gata players to turn on their own and help vote out Sierra Wright in a blindside she never saw coming. Read on for her “Survivor 47” exit interview from the end of the episode.
“You know, I couldn’t tell you what happened,” Sierra said soon after being voted out in near unanimous fashion. “I’m completely blindsided.” Contributing to Sierra’s shock was the fact that she thought Andy Rueda was a player she and her closest ally Sam Phalen were stringing along when in reality he was looking for vengeance at the revelation that they gave him up as the “plan B” option in the previous tribal council. Behind Sierra and Sam’s back, both Andy and the fourth Gata member Rachel LaMont had been separately courted by Lavo members to form new alliances. Though Rachel was not part of the vote against Sierra and Sam, she was quietly protected by Solomon “Sol” Yi who was hoping to build an ally out of her despite other players seeing her as the biggest threat.
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Following immunity challenge wins from Kyle Ostwald (his third) and Sue Smey, only two original Tuku members were even eligible for the vote, which opened the door for Sol and Genevieve Mushaluk to work with Tuku to turn their sights on the more formidable target of the stronger Gata tribe. With so many competing ideas spinning among the Lavo and Tuku players — Genevieve and Caroline Vidmar wanted Rachel out, but Teeny Chirichillo wanted Sam out and others saw Sierra as the “head of the snake” — it’s a wonder that Sierra never questioned whether the whispering around camp was a potential turning of the votes against her.
“I’m typically somebody who picks up on cues,” Sierra said in reflection of the day. “And there was no sign so I’m out here with some really great liars.” Sierra was under the impression that Lavo was working with her to target Gabe Ortis in a straight-forward vote, but instead Lavo worked with Gabe’s tribe to split the vote between Sierra and Sam. After the vote ended in a tie, the players returned to the ballot to throw all of their votes on their decided target: Sierra. The move severs Andy from his original ties to Gata and places him firmly on the side of Lavo and potentially Tuku. Rachel was left in the dark about the plan and is assumed to remain a big target for people like Genevieve and Caroline, but they don’t know that she found an idol which would spin the game in any number of directions – we’ll have to wait and see.
What we do know is that Sierra will have to watch from the sidelines as the first member of the jury and she’s well aware of the importance of that role. “I gave it my all and I had a blast out here,” she concluded. “But I do have a big job ahead of me being the first member of the jury and I’m gonna be a pretty freaking tough judge now.”
Sierra is now the eighth person eliminated from “Survivor 47” and the first member of the jury, following Jon Lovett, Terran “TK” Foster, Aysha Welch, Kishan Patel, Anika Dhar, Rome Cooney, and Tiyana Hallums as pre-jury boots.
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