Exclusive: Jefra Bland talks 'Survivor: Cagayan -- Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty' (Part 1)

Survivor: Cagayan -- Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty's post-merge Solarrion tribe voted out Jefra Bland during Wednesday night's broadcast of the CBS reality series' 28th edition. 
 
Jefra, a 22-year-old former Miss Kentucky Teen USA from Campbellsville, KY, was voted out of her Solarrion tribe at the season's eleventh Tribal Council session, which marked the fifth time Solarrion had attended Tribal together.


Jefra, who was in the majority alliance of five -- which also featured Tony Vlachos, Yung "Woo" Hwang, Trish Hegarty, and Kassandra "Kass" McQuillen -- got voted out of the game after Tony and his closest ally Woo flipped on them by teaming up with Spencer Bledsoe and Latasha "Tasha" Fox. Tony felt Jefra couldn't be trusted and wanted to prevent an all-female alliance from forming.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Jefra talked about her Survivor experience. Below is the first half of her interview. Check back with us soon for the concluding portion.

Reality TV World: So how close did you come to turning on Tony and joining with Spencer, Jeremiah Wood and Tasha on last week's episode? Were you planning  on honoring that new Final 4 deal you had made with them until you talked with Trish Hegarty and Kassandra "Kass" McQuillen the next day, or what was the situation there?

Jefra Bland: Yeah, I was totally 100% percent ready to jump ship and turn on Tony. I was so mad after that blindside with [LJ McKanas] that I was very willing to flip and turn on Tony. The problem came when we left the Reward, you know, our agreement was that I had to get someone to flip with me.


And I was almost certain that I could get Kass, who was very wishy-washy, or even Trish as well to flip with me. And while I was at the Reward, I guess Tony had been kind of filling their heads with stuff about how we all needed to stick together.

So when I got back, I realized that none of them at all were willing to budge to flip with me. So to flip at 4-4 and risk potentially drawing rocks made me change my mind, but had I been able to convince someone to flip with me, I was 110% percent onboard.

Reality TV World: You were shown saying you couldn't stand Tony anymore on last week's show. How much of that was because he had voted LJ off, and how much of that was because of other reasons? If there was more to it than LJ's vote-off, what were the other reasons?

Jefra Bland: Yeah, it wasn't just because he had voted LJ off. It was literally, like, the paranoia. I mean, I couldn't even -- if Spencer needed help getting firewood, I couldn't even walk down the beach -- literally with no strategy talk -- just to collect firewood without Tony going off on someone.

He was so paranoid. He was almost like making himself crazy so to speak. You'd go to the water well and he's following you and he's sneaking behind you, listening to your conversations. So that's kind of where that came into play as far as saying, you know, I couldn't stand it anymore.


Reality TV World: When you were trying to convince Kass and Trish to flip, Kass told you everyone else also couldn't stand Tony and that was why the rest of you should want to take him to the end of the game -- because he wouldn't get any votes from the jury due to the fact he was so annoying. Did you also feel the same way Kass did at the time, or not? And did Trish also feel the same way?

Jefra Bland: Yeah, definitely. I mean, he's playing a very good game; He's playing to be the villain. He's playing a very strategic game, you know, doing little things here or there like blindsiding people -- that kind of thing. But I think there would be enough bitter people on the jury that he would be someone you would want to take to the end.

Reality TV World: Some people feel that given all his moves and the hidden Immunity Idols he's found, Tony would be able to make a good case at the end that he deserved to win. But it sounds like the three of you guys were all pretty confident that wasn't the case, that there would be a lot of resentment and bitterness towards him?

Jefra Bland: Yes, I mean, playing with the people and being there was totally different than, you know, just watching from the outside looking in. And hearing the words and the comments that everyone had toward him, I think there would be a lot more bitterness.

Reality TV World: Do you think Tony realized that at all?


Jefra Bland: I don't. I don't think that he even cared that people didn't like him. He didn't even take five minutes to stop and breathe long enough to realize how people really felt about him.

Reality TV World: During the conversation when Kass and Trish were trying to convince you not to turn on Tony in last week's episode, Trish told you the problem was that you girls would have a much better shot of beating Tony and Woo in a jury vote than beating Spencer, Jeremiah or Tasha. Did you and Kass also feel the same way or was that just more Trish's line of thinking.

Jefra Bland: I think Kass and I felt the same way. I think Kass felt that way and I was feeling that way just because [Tasha] was unstoppable in those Immunity Challenges at that point as well as Spencer. Even beating them far enough along to get to the finals with them would be pretty difficult.

Reality TV World: So did that mean you three were confident you would be able to beat Tony and Woo if you ended up in a jury vote against them, or did you think you might still lose but you basically had a better chance than if you went up against Spencer, Jeremiah or Tasha?

Jefra Bland: No, we were pretty confident that we could beat Tony and Woo, and I was very confident I could beat Kass. I would've also wanted to go with Kass because her big move, flipping from her tribe to ours -- our alliance at the merge -- made for some very bitter jury members, meaning [Sarah Lacina], [Morgan McLeod], Jeremiah. I mean, there was no way Kass was getting their votes.


Reality TV World: You've already explained why you feel you could've beaten Tony at the end. But why so certain you could've probably beaten Woo as well?

Jefra Bland: I really don't feel that Woo has played a strategical game at all. He is in Tony's back pocket and he's always doing whatever Tony -- whatever big move Tony is willing to make. And I think that that's a great case, you know, to plead and something to point out at Tribal.

Woo has earned the nickname in our tribe to be "Weasel Woo." He was kind of like the little weasel who's running around, doing whatever Tony would say and instigating things to get whatever Tony's plan wanted. And Woo didn't have a lot of respect as well.

Reality TV World: When you guys went to Tribal last week, Spencer and Tasha flat out told you guys they would vote for Tony to win the game over any of you girls if he made it to the end for the jury. But that didn't change your opinions about taking Tony to the end?

Jefra Bland: No, it really didn't. I mean, that's two votes, you know? That's two people's opinion, and at that point, I was pretty much stuck. I could not flip without the numbers at that point in the game.


Reality TV World: So obviously it didn't change Kass or Trish's opinion then either, I guess? That comment couldn't swing them?

Jefra Bland: No.

Reality TV World: So what did you think was going to happen the rest of the game if Spencer had been voted off on last night's show? Like were you thinking Tasha was next and then you would have a Final 3 alliance with Kass and Trish and therefore you'd take out Tony and Woo? How did you see the rest of the season playing out?

Jefra Bland: Yeah, well now that Tony has shown everyone his idols, we would not have been able to target him next. So we definitely would've had to take out Tasha and then wait until it got down to the point where idols can no longer be played before we targeted Tony and Woo.

Above is the first half of Jefra's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Check back with us soon for the concluding portion.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski