Exclusive: Kass McQuillen talks 'Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance' (Part 1)

Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance merged the two tribes and concluded its Season 31 seventh episode with the new Orkun tribe snuffing Kass McQuillen's torch Wednesday night on CBS.


Kass, who previously competed on Survivor: Cagayan, became the seventh castaway voted out of the game. Her newly-merged Orkun tribe ousted her via a 6-4-2-1 vote instead of Ciera Eastin, Tasha Fox and Andrew Savage respectively at Tribal Council on Night 19 of the game.

Kass, Ciera and Tasha were all on the chopping block because they bickered at camp and started some drama by telling lies or at least blaming each other for telling lies. Ciera's reason for voting for Savage was not known.

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

Reality TV World: It didn't seem like you were blindsided by your vote-off. Could you confirm that's the case? And what did you expect to play out heading into Tribal Council?


Kass McQuillen: Yeah, that was the biggest non-blindside in the history of the show. I knew I was going home. I mean, I had a glimmer of hope that [Kelley Wentworth] and [Spencer Bledsoe] might flip over, but without both of them onboard, my ship was sunk before I even got there.

So it was just kind of annoying to have to just sit there and listen to Tasha berate me for an hour-and-a-half knowing I was going home anyway.

Reality TV World: So it sounds like Spencer didn't try to make you think he was going to be siding with you.

Kass McQuillen: No, I mean, at this point, there was a huge alliance of the alphas there in the old Bayon. And I don't blame anyone who said, "Let's just get someone out as long as it's not me."

I don't think that's thinking very long-term because if you're just hopping onto a ship of people that has a five solid at the helm, you're never going to break into that, especially in an all-star season. So, you know, you may have saved yourself for one or two votes, but then what?


Reality TV World: Why did Ciera vote for Savage? Are you aware of whether there was actually strategy behind that or was she just trying to send a message that she'd be gunning for him?

Kass McQuillen: I think what she did was she hadn't fully burned her bridge with a lot of the Bayons and it was safest to vote for him. She didn't want to vote for me in case I was on the jury, you know, we were friends and we were in an alliance.

So, she just said, "Hey, everyone knows that I don't like Savage so I'll just throw a vote his way and hopefully be able to come back and say, 'Tasha, I didn't vote for you, and Kelly, I didn't vote for you,'" and try to pick up the pieces. So I don't blame her at all. 

Reality TV World: Yeah, I was going to ask you if you thought that was an emotional decision because she was yelling at her tribe to start playing to win. But from a viewer's perspective, it didn't seem like a smart choice to make someone really mad at you in the tribe going forward.

Kass McQuillen: Well, by the time Tribal Council rolled around, Ciera, [Abi-Maria Gomes] and I were pretty much not being talked to by anyone. And everyone had point blank told us it was going to be one of the three of us. Several people had told me it was me for sure. So, I mean, she had nothing to lose.


Everyone had told her, "Hey, it's Kass this time, but you're next and Abi's next." And when people come to you and just say, "There's nothing you can do. There's nine of us and there's three of you," of course, throw it all out there at Tribal! Try to wake up the people who cannot possibly be at the top of that nine.

So, kudos to her for just saying, "Somebody, please play with me!" Because nobody was willing to play at that point. So that was her cry for, you know, "Hey, you guys who just came in on the periphery of this alliance, you better wake up."

Reality TV World: Ciera said "sorry" to you right when you got voted out at Tribal Council, so she was clearly admitting she had betrayed you. What was going through your mind in that moment? Did you actually think she was the one who had voted for Savage?

Kass McQuillen: I knew she had voted for Savage. I mean, as soon as I saw the Savage vote and she was sitting right next to me, I just looked at her and I understood that she was sorry because we had worked together the whole game, and we had this new Ta Keo five that was supposed to be strong with [Joe Anglim] and [Keith Nale] and Wentworth.

And really, Joe turned the table on that one and decided to go over with the bromance group. And that was kind of it for us in terms of what we could do together, and we knew it. It's very miserable.


I'd much rather be blindsided than be berated by an angry person who's still mad about something from two years ago, you know, for a whole day and then go to Tribal and have to sit through it to know you're being voted out. At least respect the game and try to make it fun.

Reality TV World: So clearly Tasha's behavior at Tribal was worse than what viewers saw? We just witnessed a quick exchange between you both about who was starting the chaos.

Kass McQuillen: Yeah, and I mean, if you look at it, I played 18 days and I stayed really under the radar and calm. I was very well liked out there. I'm still very well liked by my cast members. I got a lot of support last night. And a lot went down that day.

And when someone just outright hates you, there's not much you can do, and there's no defense. I didn't want "Chaos Kass" to come out. I really don't think she did. I was trying to defend myself against many, many personal attacks that day. You know, so, I'm happy with my game.

I feel like if someone's whole goal in coming into a second chance was to get revenge from their first time, then that's their cross to bear. And heaven help her because I'm the first juror! Rule No. 1 of jury management -- never put a lawyer on the jury. Certainly don't put one on whom you've maligned all day. So, we'll see! We'll see how it pans out for her.


Reality TV World: We heard so much about your rocky history with Spencer, but your issues with Tasha seemed to come out of nowhere last night. Could you elaborate on what that was about? Viewers didn't see you express any hard feelings toward Tasha like you had Spencer, so was it just Tasha holding a grudge against you?

Kass McQuillen: I actually went into it, I mean, I was able to work it out with Spencer. Early on in Bayon, Tasha and I had spent a whole night at the fire talking about Cagayan, and in my mind, making up for things and agreeing to move forward with a clean slate. Personally, I had no -- I didn't want Tasha out. I know how Tasha gets in the game.

I know what an abrasive person she can be. I would've gladly worked with Tasha and gone to the end with her because she just -- as the game goes on and it gets more stressful -- her true colors really come out and we didn't see it in Cagayan. And we might see it here. It depends how long she lasts.

But I was really surprised that someone, I mean, it's a game at the end of the day. Survivor is a game. And the fact that someone is such a sore loser that they would come into a new game just for the sole purpose of getting out someone who beat them before, it blows my mind, and it's just really a waste of a second chance slot.

Reality TV World: Yung "Woo" Hwang told me he thinks you and Spencer kind of played up your hate for one another out there for entertainment and social media purposes. Was there really as much animosity between you and Spencer when you first got swapped on the same tribe as it appeared? And if so, could you clarify where that tension really came from?

Kass McQuillen: No, there was no tension. Everyone I played with before, I came in and said, "Look, I'm sorry for what I did, if I ruined your game or whatever. Woo, I don't have a grudge against you. You went with [Tony Vlachos]. It's fine. It's a game, people." So, I didn't really hold a grudge.


I was really having a great time out there. I was making friends; I was just really enjoying this second chance. And honestly, when I went out there, I knew I had a big target on me because I played so well the last time and because I was deceptive and I made decisions.

So I feel like I really succeeded in this second chance because I overcame a lot of that in terms of correcting my reputation. And it really, in my opinion, it was one person who just decided that they were uncomfortable and insecure with the fact that I had changed my game and people were liking me and not having a problem, so they created a problem for me.

And my bad for reacting to it and calling her out, but at that point, I was going down. So I wasn't going to go down without a fight. It wasn't really "Chaos Kass," it was just a last-ditch effort to say, "You people are really going to let this happen!? This is ridiculous."

Check back with Reality TV World soon for the concluding portion of Kass' exclusive Survivor interview.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski