Survivor: David vs. Goliath star Jessica Peet never expected to be voted out by her tribe mates at the season’s first tribal council. Until the final moments of the Thursday, October 4, episode, it appeared that mostly everyone was on board to send home Lyrsa Torres, whom some of the castaways believed to be the weakest.
However, host Jeff Probst ended up snuffing the 19-year-old Florida waitress’ torch instead.
“It seems that the common consensus with everybody is that it all happened within five to 10 minutes before we left for tribal,” Peet tells Us Weekly. “I had no idea. I went into tribal, and why would I have any idea? Why would I have any clue? I didn’t see any of those conversations happening. Whenever I said it was a blindside, it genuinely was a blindside. I genuinely had no idea that it was coming.”
The second castaway of the season (Pat Cusack left on the Wednesday, September 26, premiere due to a medical evacuation) felt especially blindsided by one tribe mate in particular: Nick Wilson.
“Nick and I had good conversations on multiple occasions,” she recalls. “That was the person that I looked back at whenever they read the votes and I knew someone voted for me, I looked back at him. Davie was like, ‘Wasn’t me, baby girl. I knew it wasn’t Davie, and then I looked at Nick and whenever I looked at Nick, he gave me this soft smile and kind of shook his head ‘yes,’ like, ‘Yeah, I’m sorry I voted for you.’ And I just felt so mad, for lack of a better word. I just felt so angry.”
Read more of Us Weekly’s interview with Peet below.
Us: How was it watching the episode back?
JP: It was hard because I knew what was going to happen. Obviously, I didn’t know all of the details that were going to go into it. But ultimately, watching yourself get voted off of a television show is not necessarily what you want to see. And so, a lot of nerves going into it, a lot of emotions watching it, but just trying to really reflect and try to be positive on the situation.
Us: What was the most surprising thing you saw?
JP: I think one of the most surprising things was just the conversation that I had with Gabby and Bi while we were on the beach area, just seeing that Gabby wasn’t satisfied with what I was giving her. It’s obviously frustrating because had I known that, I definitely would’ve tried to give her more, but ultimately watching that back, there’s a feeling of overwhelming frustration knowing that just one conversation kind of snowballed into me getting voted out.
Us: Was it just because you had a lot of friends and people liked you?
JP: It seems as if the main reason is the fact that I had a good relationship with Bi and a good relationship with Carl. [The show] didn’t really highlight this a lot, but Bi and Gabby have a very good relationship. So when Lyrsa and Elizabeth kind of split off and got along very well, it was the threesome of myself, Bi and Gabby, and we all three got along very well. And then on the opposite side, I had Carl who had a good relationship with Davie. So looking at the game from my perspective, I think I was sitting in a really good position because I was very close with Bi, we had Gabby, I was very close with Carl, he had Davie, and then I also had a good relationship with Nick that wasn’t shown very much either. Whenever the votes were read, I was so shocked by his vote going against me.
Us: When you went into tribal, did you get any weird vibes from people?
JP: I had a feeling before the votes started to be read by Jeff. I anticipated seeing my name twice that night, especially once we got to tribal and started hearing the conversations. … I was pretty sure [Lyrsa and Elizabeth] were talking about me, but I really wasn’t stressing that much. But then I would start speaking and then Gabby would say, “I agree with Jeff, but …” or “Jeff is right but …” It started to contradict what I was saying, and I was like, why is she doing that? We’re in an alliance together. Why would she continue to go against what I’m saying? So that was a little bit weird for me. And then I think that whenever the nerves really started to set in, where I was kind of like, “Oh, crap, I might see my name” was whenever they were tallying the votes and we’re all just kind of left to sit there and I’m looking around for some type of confirmation from my alliance members that they voted with me. And the only player that looked at me was Carl, and that was it. Nobody else looked at me. That’s when the nerves started to really set in, and then obviously I saw my name more than I anticipated and I was completely caught off guard.
Us: Was anyone aware that Nick and Christian were hanging out more?
JP: I feel like nobody really looked at it like a serious alliance. We just felt like they were friends. But to me, there’s a difference between an alliance and a friendship. So, like, Lyrsa and Elizabeth, looking at them, that was a clear-cut alliance. Looking at Nick and Christian and their interactions, it didn’t really look the same way to me, and maybe I didn’t realize it ‘cause I didn’t see them around as often as it looks on TV. So yeah, I really didn’t see it. I didn’t see that being a threat. I didn’t see Christian having that much influence over Nick.
Us: You’re 19, you said you were 22. Why did you want to lie? Do you think it helped or hurt you?
JP: I don’t think it hurt me in any way, but I don’t necessarily think that it helped me in any way. I went in thinking I was going to say I was older because I feel like whenever someone hears something that has a ‘teen’ in it, you automatically are just like, “What the heck?” I did not want to go in and have people underestimate me because I know this game. I’ve been watching this show literally my whole life. Survivor’s been on for 19 years, and I am 19 years old and I’ll be 20. … To my understanding, I feel like everyone pretty much went along with it. I did tell Carl and Pat that I was 19. I told them that in a private conversation that we had — it was just the two of us — because I felt like me giving them information like that would strengthen my bond and relationship with them. I think it worked very well. They automatically were like, “Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe that!”
Us: How was it seeing Pat back at Ponderosa?
JP: I remember whenever I got on the boat to go to Ponderosa, one of the very first questions that came out of my mouth was, “Is Pat OK?” And they told me “yes” and that he was actually at Ponderosa. I got off the boat and I saw him and he had this little fire going. I went over to him and I gave him a hug. He was like, “Well, I wasn’t expecting to see you, kiddo, but I’m proud of you.” It was emotional because just like everybody else, I’m an emotional person. You couldn’t tell from the first episode. So it was nice, and he’s doing great now. It was nice to share the experience of our trip with him and just getting to know him more. He’s a great guy, and I really do hope that he can play again — as well as myself!
Us: Is there anything you could’ve done at tribal council to change the vote or change people’s minds, or do you think everything was set in stone at that point?
JP: I don’t think that there’s anything that I could have done. I think that everybody kind of had it set beforehand that that was going to happen. I really don’t think people are going to change their minds often at tribal council, especially if you’re not 100 percent [sure] about the numbers because the second you’re not sure about the numbers, you never know how the votes could turn. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s anything that I could have done. At the end of the day, it’s a game and I’m still happy that I got to play it and I’m not gonna be selfish and say that I’m upset about it. There are thousands and thousands of people that apply to be on the show and I’m one of the select few that have been able to have this amazing opportunity to take the dream. Even though it was short-lived, I’m just really thankful for it.
Survivor: David vs. Goliath airs on CBS Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Sharon Tharp
