Colby Donaldson Reveals Risky 'Survivor 50' Plan That Didn’t Happen: 'The Whole Game Changes' (Exclusive)
Few players in Survivor history are as synonymous with the show's early era as Colby Donaldson. More than two decades after finishing runner-up in the Australian Outback, the Texas native returned for Survivor 50 with a deep appreciation for the game–something that was evident all the way up until his torch was snuffed.
Colby was voted unanimously during a historic triple elimination dubbed the "Blood Moon" twist. Already at a disadvantage without a vote or Shot in the Dark to play, he became an easy target at Tribal Council, especially given he also had a foot injury that was more serious than what was shown on TV.
Below, Colby opens up about a plan that never happened to throw a challenge and get his vote back, what really happened with his injury, and how he reflects back on his decades-long Survivor journey.
Scroll down to read the full interview with Colby.
Men's Journal: Hi Colby, nice to see you again. When I posted our preseason interview, people were really excited to see you back and ready to play. How are you feeling now? Is there a sense of closure?
Colby Donaldson: I remember that interview. I remember that because you got me emotional when we were talking. It was impactful. And I was ready. I remember everything about that interview, talking to you that day, and I think you would agree I was in the right mindset. I was ready to go and I made the most of this experience in every aspect; everything I could control, I maximized. I feel like I did, and as a result, no regrets. You hate to leave the game at any point, unless it’s at the end. You hate to not make the jury. That stinks, but there’s only so much you can control, and there’s always a degree of luck involved in Survivor. We all knew that when we signed up, so that’s just part of the game. You catch some breaks and then you lose some breaks. I’d caught a couple. I lost more than I caught. And the results are what they are, but it’s very rare to get an opportunity to go out at Tribal Council the way I did. It’s very rare that you’re not blindsided, or things aren’t so tense or frenetic that you just don’t get the opportunity, or [Jeff] Probst doesn’t give you the platform. And so I feel very fortunate, very blessed, that the situation worked out the way it did, where I knew I was going home, everyone there knew I was going home. And so the point at which Probst realized I was going home, he gave not just me, but also Cirie [Fields] and Coach [Wade]—and it was neat having them there, two really old school players who’ve been on this journey almost as long as I have, and it’s impacted their life. Got a late night text from Cirie last night, and she said I was feeling exactly the same way you were about everything you said, and that’s the truth. Coach felt the same. And I know they would love if they get voted out at some point to have that same opportunity, because we’re so grateful, all of us that have been around. It just takes a long time to be able to put it into perspective and truly get the vastness of the gift we’ve been given. I’ve had that time, and so I’m not going to squander it and exit in a foolish manner. That was it.
Men's Journal: It was emotional, especially with the injury. How bad was that injury?
Colby Donaldson: You said I went out because of my injury. I think the injury was twofold. It was ligament damage, but then worse than that was an infection that got introduced to my foot somehow. We don’t know how, some kind of puncture wound. The staph infection was far worse than the ligament damage that probably would have taken me out. So you’re not wrong. However, I got targeted and taken out because I didn’t have a vote and I didn’t have a Shot in the Dark, and strategically, I know Cirie well enough to know that is her smartest move. It’s the smartest move. Why not? You’ve got a sure thing and taking me out versus Coach. And worse than that, because I was playing with Coach, if they take Coach out tonight, and then I get medevac tomorrow because of my infection, now Stephenie [LaGrossa Kendrick] and Genevieve [Mushaluk] and the other players—I didn’t realize at the time Genevieve was getting voted out, but we were playing with her, Joe [Hunter] and Jonathan [Young]—it hurts them even worse because they have fewer. So I had to weigh all that stuff. But there just weren’t a lot of moves left in the toolbox at the point I was at. And again, that’s just the way this game goes.
Men's Journal: Did you think about pitching that they should keep you since you might get medically evacuated anyway?
Colby Donaldson: It might have been different if Dee [Valladares] hadn’t won immunity. Dee might have been somebody we could, you know, Coach and Cirie, maybe. But again, it was so tough to scramble and bargain when you don’t have a chip on the poker table, meaning, I don’t have a vote. They’re like, "Dude, you don't even have a voice in this. You have nothing to offer." So what I offered to Dee on the beach was literally all I could tell her, which was, let me get the tribe together, the people I’m working with, pull them together, and with you standing there, I’ll tell them flat out that you saved me. That was really the only chip I had, because I didn’t have a vote. And Emily [Flippen], we knew she was locked in with Christian [Hubicki] and [Rick] Devens and some other players. Emily was a no-go, and I had no relationship with Emily. She was going to see right through it if I all of a sudden tried to appeal to her. She’s smart enough; she wasn’t going to buy it for a second. I didn’t feel like I had that many moves to make. I really didn’t, and it wasn’t me waving the white flag because of the injury. Because even if I make it one more day, I get on the jury, and then I can at least impact the vote, and I can influence the other players in the jury. So I wanted to make the jury; I wasn’t waving the white flag with regard to the injury. I just didn’t have any moves on the chess board.
Men's Journal: Q [Burdette] mentioned you guys planned on throwing a challenge to get out Aubry [Bracco] and get your vote back. Is that true?
Colby Donaldson: That’s accurate. We planned it out. Q had the idea, and I first thought, "I can’t believe I’m hearing this." He didn’t have a vote, I didn’t have a vote. Genevieve was in our group. We were tight, and so I brought Genevieve in. He told Genevieve the plan, and I needed her brilliant mind to run the numbers. I needed her to weigh the risk and reward and let me know, is this a good idea? And Genevieve said, "Look, there’s a world in which this works." We’ve got the numbers, and man, do we regret not doing it. The whole game changes if we throw a challenge early. We take out either Aubry or Angelina [Keeley]. Angelina, thank you. And we also knew that Aubry had an idol, even though we didn’t find it in her bag. So our goal was to flush—go to Tribal, not only vote someone out, but also flush the idol. If we could have done that, it would have changed the complete dynamic of the game. My tribe at Kalo beach had many conversations about throwing a challenge so I could get my vote back. This was with Joe, Coach, Chrissy [Hofbeck] , Genevieve and myself. And then the only other two on the beach are Tiffany [Ervin] and Aubry. Once again, we’re either going to go after Aubry or go after Tiffany. But there was a vote there in the last immunity. If we had thrown the immunity, we could have split the votes, even with me not having a vote. We knew Tiffany and Aubry were going to vote for Genevieve. We could have split two votes on Tiffany, two votes on Aubry, flush the idol, and then vote out one of those ladies. Tiffany ends up having an incredible challenge—she was a killer in that. But again, woulda, coulda, shoulda. In Joe’s defense, I will say this: You saw Joe in that challenge struggling on the swimming portion. That wasn’t Joe struggling. That was Joe pulling back because we were still in discussions about throwing the challenge. Chrissy and I sat out because we really didn’t want to win. And so Joe pulled back, let the other teams get ahead. And it wasn’t till the very end where Joe’s pride took over, and he’s like, "Man, I’m not going to catch shit from my buddies back in the firehouse. I got to win this thing." And so he threw that bean bag up there, but we might have been able to pull something off on that one.
Men's Journal: Did you have a solid group at the merge? Cirie called you were the head of the snake.
Colby Donaldson: I had a very solid group throughout the entire game. I don’t know that I was the head of the snake, but I had a lot of players I was playing with in good shape that a lot of people wouldn’t suspect, which I’m proud of, like Genevieve is a new era player, Rizo [Velovic], you know, Kyle [Fraser] was as well, Q. And so I wasn’t just honed in on playing with the old school. That’s kind of ridiculous. If you’re that close-minded to go into a game like this, you’re not going to do very well. And so I enjoyed playing the game with different people, and had a lot of friends, but clearly not enough, because I didn’t have any other than Coach when we landed. Well, I’m friends with Cirie, but she’s a player. I’ve got to respect the gameplay. And she made the exact move. If I was in Cirie’s shoes, I would have done the same thing.
Men's Journal: Are you open to doing more TV in the future or are you hanging up your hat?
Colby Donaldson: You never say never about TV. Survivor, I can’t imagine going back again. I can’t imagine them ever inviting me back again. Four is enough because the torch needs to be passed to the younger generation of players. It doesn't just have to be new era, but there are a whole lot of players younger than me that deserve a shot at going back and playing again. As far as TV goes, it just would have to be—I did that for a long time, and also enjoyed that chapter of my life, which was separate from Survivor. But I closed the chapter on TV a while back, and it would have to be an incredibly unique and special opportunity, because I love what I do here in Austin. I love my family, and I don’t want to disrupt that. Going back to Survivor was a big ask, being gone for five weeks, both from work and also from my loved ones. That was a lot of grace shown to me to allow me to go do this one more time. So I don’t want to push it too far. I don’t want to ask for too much, because at some point the answer is going to be no.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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