Angelina Keeley talks 'Survivor': I feel Alison Raybould threw the first five punches and I threw the last (Exclusive)

Angelina Keeley finished in third place on Survivor: David vs. Goliath during Wednesday night's three-hour finale of Season 37 of Survivor on CBS.


Angelina, a 28-year-old financial consultant from Sparks, NV, who currently resides in San Clemente, CA, lost to runner-up Mike White, a 47-year-old filmmaker from California, and winner, Nick Wilson, a 27-year-old public defender from Kentucky.

Nick won the million-dollar grand prize through a 7-3 jury vote over Mike. Angelina unfortunately received zero votes.  

Nick received jury votes from Elizabeth Olson, John Hennigan, Dan Rengering, Alec Merlino, Carl Boudreaux, Davie Rickenbacker, and Gabby Pascuzzi.

And Christian Hubicki, Alison Raybould, and Kara Kay cast their votes for Mike to be victorious.


Kara Kay finished the game in fourth place after she lost the fire-starting challenge to Mike. Alison Raybould claimed fifth place, and Davie Rickenbacker placed sixth.

During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Angelina talked about her Survivor experience. Click here to read the first half over our interview with her. 

Below is the second half of what Angelina had to say.

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Reality TV World: Can you explain why you were so "obsessed" -- to use Mike's term -- with voting Alison off? Last night's episode showed you talking about how she had "wronged" you before and you were "eager to get some revenge," but it's hard for viewers to recall what happened since this season was so jam-packed.


Angelina Keeley: So the thing with Mike saying that, he was trying to undercut me at Final Tribal because that's what a lot of people do! That's what good competitors do at Final Tribal.

You try to say things that will undermine the people sitting next to you so that you're in a better light. I was not obsessed with Alison.

The fact is that at every juncture when we were deciding whom to vote out, we talked through every person's name and I was always very open to every person's name.

There's even a confessional when I say, "I want Alison, Kara and Davie out, and I don't care what order it's in." And I meant that. You have to be mindful of the order depending on who's kind of getting hot in immunities and things. So, that was my mindset.

And just to kind of rejog everything that happened with Alison, at the very beginning of the game, we were really close. She was someone who I really jived with; I saw a lot of myself in her.


We were born six days apart, she went to Columbia College, she's a smart and determined girl -- and I really respect the hell out of her!

I told her that first day when we were looking for an idol together -- I said, "We're either going to be very close in this game and work together or we are going to be fierce adversaries. And I don't want it to be the latter, so let's just stay close and make sure we're on the same page."

At the merge, something shifted. I don't know what it was, but as soon as she had a chance to kind of go against me with the Elizabeth stuff -- you know, it was her saying "jury management" and then at the next Tribal, she said, "I'm not buying anything Angelina is selling."

The constant eye rolls, the mocking, telling people that my only move was rice. It's like, I heard all of those things and I saw all of those things, so it was weeks of microaggressions that really added up and were very hurtful.

As much as you don't want to be emotional in the game, at Day 37, you are depleted and you've withered down to nothing, and you get emotional. And so, yeah, I wanted to get her out. I was playing a strategic move; I was trying to keep Mike safe, and I meant that.


And I told Mike that before I did it... But it was also a little emotional, coming from a place of being hurt. And so, that's what kind of happened with Alison. I felt she threw the first five punches and then I threw the last.

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Reality TV World: Do you think in hindsight, trying so hard to impress the jury, especially with reminding them about your rice negotiation and Alison's fake idol, may have backfired on you in the eyes of the jury? Were you purposely trying to paint yourself as a "diabolical villain," as Mike had put it? (Laughs)

Angelina Keeley: (Laughs) No, I was not trying to be a villain by any means! No, my intention was not to be a villain; my intention was to play aggressively.

And what I think is strongly at play is the double standard that exists in the game and in life, where unfortunately, women are still heavily penalized a lot when we display aggressive behaviors that are out of line with what stereotypes or expectations are of us -- being kind, caring and compassionate.


So, I was aware of that, but I was hoping the level of gameplay was high enough that people would not take it personally but see it as game. I was all business; everything was game.

I tried not to take things personally. Of course a couple of times, I slipped through the cracks, but like I said earlier, we were all gladiators out there, doing our best and trying to play the game.

And so, I think what happened was there was that big gravitational hit from the Elizabeth scandal and then there was just a cloud over my head after that. Again, I think if I just coasted and had done nothing, then I just would've been a goat.

So instead, I was going to try to make big moves, play hard, be creative, and maybe that would give me a shot -- but I always knew it was a longshot.

My mindset was, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I want to have fun with it and I want to try my best," and that's how it manifested in the game.

Of course looking back, I think there could have been a lot more room for tweaks and changes for sure -- and I said that last night: You learn and you laugh at yourself and we are all works in progress. But yes, that was my perspective on it all.


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Reality TV World: As Jeff Probst said, you were a very polarizing character on this season of Survivor. So is there anything you'd like to say or a comment you'd like to make that we haven't touched upon yet?

Angelina Keeley: Something I am excited to share from a personal, life perspective is because I played Survivor -- and all of us played with so much [effort]. We learned a lot about ourselves and it transformed us in different ways.

So, as a result of Survivor and feeling just more empowered and having this mindset of taking big risks, I'm actually leaving my corporate job as a management consultant in January and I'll be going off on my own to start a nonprofit called "Ready to Run" that is going to focus on giving high school girls prepared and inspired to run for student government.

And the hope is it will encourage them to run again later on in life and increase their propensity to run later and start to close the gender gap in elected offices, because right now it's about 20 percent on average across the country.

So, again, there are a lot of correlations to what I learned on Survivor and I'm taking that into my life and taking the bull by its horns and making moves of my own personally. I am really excited about that!


To read more interviews with the Final 6 castaways of Survivor: David vs. Goliath, click here to visit our Survivor: David vs. Goliath show page.






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