Exclusive: 'Survivor: Cagayan -- Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty' castoff Garrett Adelstein talks (Part 2)

Survivor: Cagayan -- Brawn vs Brains vs Beauty's premiere concluded with the Brains tribe eliminating Garrett Adelstein and David Samson from their tribe at two separate Tribal Council sessions during last week's episode of the CBS reality series' 28th edition.


Garrett, a 27-year-old pro poker player from Santa Monica, CA, was voted out of his Brains tribe at the second Tribal Council session because Kassandra "Kass" McQuillen chose to flip on him and Spencer Bledsoe and work with the two other women in the tribe instead. Garrett was blindsided and eliminated with a buried hidden Immunity Idol waiting for him back at camp.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World, Garrett talked about his short-lived Survivor experience. Below is the concluding portion of his interview. Click here to read the first half.

Reality TV World: It would have been unprecedented for Survivor to just let three castaways vote three other castaways out of the game in the first few minutes, so did you really think you were being voted out of the game when that happened, or what did you think was going to happen to you?

Garrett Adelstein: Right, exactly. I thought there was a zero-percent chance that we were going home. There were 18 of us. That was very clear. In modern Survivor seasons, almost all of them start with 20 in fact, you know? So you better believe that they're not going to start a season with 15 players left five minutes in or whatever the case may be. So I knew I wasn't being voted off.


Reality TV World: Were you surprised that David seemed to be as open as he was about why he wanted you voted off and out of the Brains tribe?

Garrett Adelstein: I had mixed feelings about his choice. I watched every season a couple of different times in preparation, and this twist was very similar to the one in Tocantins, where you know, I wasn't like enthralled with the fact that David picked me because I'm immediately isolated from my tribe.

And certainly in the beginning, that's the last thing you want, right? On the other hand, I knew something positive would happen from that, and I certainly suspected it would be a clue to the hidden Immunity Idol, as it was in that season as well.

But specifically, am I surprised by David's actions? Yeah, certainly. I was very surprised. I'm surprised he would pick me. I thought strategically, it was a very poor decision on his part.

I think that sort of verified, first and foremost, by the moment everybody gets on the beach, every single other person -- minus Kass, who just wasn't playing Survivor at all the first several days -- went to me and said, "David's an idiot. We need you. You seem like a great guy, whatever the case."


And that's how the four of us -- the four being me, Spencer, [J'Tia Taylor] and [Latasha "Tasha" Fox] -- formed, that day, an alliance like five minutes into the game. Of course you don't see that because that would've made it clear that David was going home.

Reality TV World: Do you think you still would've gone after David if he hadn't immediately voted you out?

Garrett Adelstein: Mmm, yeah that's a good question. No, it's hard for me (laughs) to answer a question like that because David and I are good friends now, you know, and I really like him as a person. But I'll tell you at that point in the game, based on first impressions and whatever, I never trusted him. I never trusted him in a way that, like, I could trust Spencer. And let me be specific about that.

Now Spencer is going to do anything and everything to win the game, you know, and it's clear before you say one word to Spencer that he's a super fan of the game. So I believed I could trust Spencer. I can trust Spencer to act in his best interest, and I knew that as long as our interests were aligned, him and I would be good together.

David, I wasn't so sure. David just assumed that J'Tia was going to go home because she was [not liked] even though he made no effort to make any alliance with anyone in my group -- minus, like, him and Kass, who would kind of go off separately. So, you know, he was much more kind of a "Wild Card" in that respect.


I think all else being equal, Kass probably would've been the first one to go home just because she's probably physically the weakest. But it didn't shake out that way, and of course the game could've been drastically different if David and I had ended up working together.

Reality TV World: You mentioned you got along well with Spencer, but last night's episode showed him calling you a "first-class, grade-A moron in Survivor." (Laughs) He felt the girls never would've scrambled if you hadn't had that open forum. Do you agree with that in hindsight and what was your reaction to Spencer's harsh comment there?

Garrett Adelstein: Yeah, um, (laughs) this is a tough one to answer. Mm... I mean, again, in retrospect, these questions are a lot easier to answer because Spencer and I have talked through this in great detail over many, many, many hours of conversation. But you know, I do feel very strongly that it would've played out the exact same way if we didn't do that.

I mean, basically, that argument consisted of us saying, "Okay, because Kass admitted publicly that she was going to be voting for J'Tia, and then J'Tia tried to burn out our fire by dumping water over it -- not shown -- then dumps all of our rice in the fire, then Kass and J'Tia are two seconds away from getting in a fist-fight with one another," like, those things made Kass want to vote against me and stick with J'Tia?

None of that really makes any sense to me at all. I guess Kass is just the ultimate "Wild Card," so maybe there's some logic in that sense, but I think either way, I suppose that I was probably in trouble. If the question was specifically, "Do I think having the open forum was suboptimal?" I think I'm going to say, "Yes." It's certainly an unorthodox move, one that's not often done in Survivor, and we'll never know.


But of course, it's very easy to be oriented -- even with myself -- and say, "Well that was dumb." I guess I'm leaning towards thinking that, but I guess the only way to know if it would've fared better for me is if we tried to blindside J'Tia in a more traditional fashion.

And again, in that exact scenario, Tasha would've done the exact same thing she did; She just would've had a different excuse instead of whining like, "Garrett's trying to be [Rob "Boston Rob" Mariano]," or, "Garrett's not playing the game," or whatever.

Tasha just would've told Kass whatever other B-S she needed to, to try to get her to side with her, you know? And that's not a knock on Tasha whatsoever. Like, in the end, this was sort of a Garrett versus Tasha thing and Tasha won, and I give her credit. She played very nicely.

Reality TV World: What did you think of the Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty twist in general?

Garrett Adelstein: Yeah, I think it's cool. I think it's a cool concept. I've always been a fan of the three-tribe format. I think it makes for a very interesting dynamic. I think it's many reasons why Season 25 in the Philippines was a pretty solid success story in the Survivor franchise.


So in that sense, I thought it was cool. On a personal level, I was really frustrated and disappointed to be on the Brains tribe, as I had already mentioned.

Reality TV World: What did you think of the other two tribes? Was there anyone in particular that stuck out to you, and if so, why?

Garrett Adelstein: In terms of other players, I guess I'm just thinking of a couple guys that I kind of thought would do well. [LJ McKanas] is a guy that just struck me as someone who was pretty likeable and had a good head on his shoulders and had a chance to do well. And [Sarah Lacina] on the Brawn -- to give one person from each tribe -- also struck me as a formidable opponent.

Not too many players on either of the other tribes, I think, had that great of a chance to win, which is why I just would've loved to have been on either of the other two tribes. But that wasn't to be, and (laughs) I also wish I could have done a few things differently out there. But that's life and it's a TV show. It's not the end of the world. 

Above is the concluding portion of Garrett's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Click here to read the first half.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski