The following contains spoilers from Wednesday’s episode of Survivor 43.
SurvivorThe Baka tribe of may have entered the pre-merger with a numerical advantage, but that didn’t mean the battle between Elie and Gabler was over. Not by far.
With just six players vulnerable to the vote, Gabler saw an opportunity to sink Elijah’s game by sharing reports that she had searched his bag days prior. After refusing to blame it on her island ally and best friend Jeanine, Elie sought to mend the fences with her original Baka members, but neither Sami nor Gabler had any interest in keeping her. The clinical psychologist from Utah was eliminated from the game with seven votes placed on her name. (Read a full recap here.)
Below, Elie talks to TVLine about Baka’s “messy” dynamic, his only regret on the island and, of course, how the aftermath of bag-gate destroyed his game.
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TVLINE | In addition to what we saw, what could have contributed to your fall last night?
ELIE SCOTT | I think something that didn’t show in terms of my personal experience was how much confidence I had. Maybe there was a perception of overconfidence when what was really going on for me was that I just trusted my wedding rings very deeply. I don’t think my relationship with Sami and Owen has been shown that much. I think you saw a lot of what contributed to my downfall, and I feel very responsible for how it ended. But maybe the one thing that wasn’t shown that helped would have been just the willingness I had to trust, and in a sense, blindly trust what wasn’t a good gameplay.
TVLINE | Your own teammate Sami was saying, “Elie has to go tonight!”
I put my foot in my mouth a lot and I’m very open. I had a hard time keeping things to myself, which is important in Survivor. It’s a game of being able to keep secrets and store information long enough, and use it strategically. I had a serious problem with getting information, then I was like, “I have to tell my friends!” [Laughs] It was a chronic issue for me and I think it was really highlighted on the show. It would be like, “OK, Elie gets more info, Elie tells Sami, Sami tells Gabler, Gabler is upset but strategically sticks to it until he can actually use it. I can’t blame him for that.
TVLINE | In the episode, you said, “I feel like I was made for Survivorand that you were “much better” than you ever imagined socially. Have you ever questioned whether you felt comfortable?
Oh, absolutely! As a fan, you know never to say you’re confident. At the time I said these things there were different circumstances, I guess that’s what I can say about that. I will also say that I underestimate myself a lot, generally, and so a lot of that was a reflection of, “Wow, I really thought I was going to have a hard time with this component, and it didn’t turn out that bad than I thought.” I was trying – and I think that conflicted with the game I should have been playing, which is playing under the radar – but my… I guess the personal growth I wanted for myself was to become more confident and becoming a person that I felt proud of. And so, you would hear very genuine confessionals of me going, “Wow, I did it and I didn’t think I could. I’m proud of myself,” because I I was actively trying, just for myself, to work out how some of my thought patterns can be negative.
TVLINE | Was there something between you and Gabler that we didn’t see on TV that led to the destruction of that relationship, and why couldn’t that dynamic be fixed?
He said it well in one of his confessionals that we both have very strong personalities. We were maybe the two most alpha people in our tribe and at first we were really aligned. Then there was a change after Morriah voted. He wasn’t feeling well and it impacted his ability to contribute to the camp, which I think was maybe frustrating for the tribe as we try to complete our shelter. Conversations about bringing him out aligned with this idea of tribal strength. If it’s a struggle and all four of us are contributing to camp, but he’s going through a tough time right now, then he might have to be the next one to go. But then there was the question of his idol.
I think once he found out I went behind his back, that’s probably where the tension grew and I didn’t quite understand why. Because I didn’t know until the fusion episode that he was aware of it and so that kind of stuff being explained to me was like, “Oh, that’s why we fought so much.” He was mad at me and that’s understandable. But I had no idea, so it’s kind of like having a relationship with someone who knows you hurt them, but you don’t know they know.
TVLINE | He seemed a bit authoritative though, especially in regards to you not sharing information with him. This is Survivor! Information must be kept confidential!
Ok, which I didn’t do well, but in this case, I guess I did. I think the root of his frustration was the search for the bag, which ended up falling on me, even though it was a group effort. Even deeper than that was the awful conversation we had where I was like, “So your idol is dead now, isn’t it?” when he found out that I was going through his bag. I think that was really the nail in the coffin for us. The other stuff was just a bit stacked. I think he knows better than to think I should have told him about Jeanine’s idol. I think he was probably upset about this thing he had been holding back for almost 10 days at that point. And it was like that. “…and you did this wrong and you did that wrong!”
TVLINE | Owen and Sami completely fucked you too talking to Gabler about the bag search. So when you were going to Tribal, how much did you trust the OG Baka or did you know you were going home that night?
I had so much confidence! I mean, a ridiculous amount of confidence! You see me say, “Why would I trust Gabler again?” and 10 minutes later, I’m like, “Gabler, I trust you!” We’re in it all the way!” It’s so sickening to watch it, and honestly I think the edit was kind to me in that it was airborne. I’m very quick to fix a relationship and moving forward, so at that point I was like, “Perfect!” Before the other tribes came to our beach, we kept saying, “Keep the five alive! I really believed in our ability to at least get past the merger, and we could have cut our throats in that moment.
TVLINE | Did you expect Jeanine to deliver her idol?
We had a conversation about what it would take for her to play it and I really think if I had told her I felt [vulnerable] while at Tribal Council she would have played it. I waved her off as a secret little signal that I thought we were fine. And a lot of that was input from Gabler and Sami’s discussion at Tribal Council. A lot of times people feel like Tribal is just a little show and everybody’s not saying anything, but I got a lot of information from Gabler and Sami, and I think they got it very well done by reinforcing that if you play an idol or perk when you don’t need it, it could send the wrong signal to the people you’re trying to gain trust with. So I’m like, “Okay, we just confirmed that we’re going to try to stick together. We will mend these relationships. Gabler had said something to Tribal about wanting to go back and fix the relationship. And so I’m like, “OK, they’re talking about Baka” and I didn’t want Jeanine to play her idol and then end up in a worse state than I was already in.
TVLINE | If you could go back and change anything in your game, what would it be?
I would have changed my relationship with Gabler. I would have followed my instinct, which originally was just to ask Gabler about his idol and say, “Hey, was your idol still working? I don’t remember what the instructions said. We had a good relationship at that time. I think Owen and I, at that time, were his best allies. I think I could have asked him and it would have been over. He probably wouldn’t even have done television. But there were a lot of group lectures about what to do and how to do it, and I think that’s where it went wrong. So the only thing I would change would be to trust my instincts.
TVLINE | In conclusion, was there anything else not shown in the TV edit that you think should have been cut?
Honestly, I think the most important thing is how much fun we had. We really had a lot of fun on Baka. We were a lot of personalities, but we didn’t argue as much as it seems. Before and after the challenges, we picked ourselves up and motivated each other. Every night as the sun went down, we supported each other and talked about our real lives and being authentic. It makes sense that it wasn’t the focus of the show because it wasn’t strategic, but we were definitely there for each other, talking about family and feeding each other every night. We threw a Baka prom for Gabler’s daughter. We genuinely care about each other, which probably made the betrayals more painful for Gabler, knowing how bonded we were.
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