Exclusive: 'Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance' castoff Abi-Maria Gomes talks (Part 1)

Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance's Orkun tribe snuffed Abi-Maria Gomes' torch during Season 31's Wednesday night episode on CBS.


Abi, who previously competed on Survivor: Philippines, became the thirteenth castaway voted out of the game and the season's seventh jury member.

Abi was ousted via a 4-2-1 vote against Tasha Fox and Keith Nale respectively at Tribal Council on Night 35 of the game. Tasha wanted her gone because Abi was unpredictable and could screw up her game at any point.

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

Reality TV World: Tasha orchestrated your blindside because she was afraid you'd mess up her game by getting mad at her or flipping for any reason. How much of a shock did that come to you? How close did you think you were with Tasha?


Abi-Maria Gomes: I thought I was pretty close to her! I saved her and [Andrew Savage] at Angkor, so it was pretty shocking. I bet she had to do her move, so I applaud her for it. But let's see if she will be able to win at the end, because you know what? She put me in the jury. That's huge!

Reality TV World: Did you know Kimmi Kappenberg was working with the guys or did you assume she was with you and Kelley Wentworth?

Abi-Maria Gomes: It was pretty obvious she was working with the guys.

Reality TV World: You voted for Keith. Whom exactly did you think was voting with you at Tribal Council?

Abi-Maria Gomes: I honestly thought I was in the same position as [Spencer Bledsoe], that I was sitting pretty in the middle, that I could either go with Keith and Wentworth or with [Jeremy Collins] and Tasha. So, I was very shocked that I was voted [out]. I was extremely blindsided, so yeah!


Reality TV World: So if you felt like you were a swing vote, what ultimately made you decide to vote Keith?

Abi-Maria Gomes: I was trying to send out a message to empower the women that were still left. And by voting for Keith, we would have had the majority as far as women goes.

Reality TV World: I was going to ask you about that. The all-female alliance seemed like such a great idea, especially since you all succeeded in getting rid of Joe Anglim. It was the perfect setup.

Abi-Maria Gomes: Right?!

Reality TV World: Yeah, so why did that fall apart so quickly? We barely saw a mention of it in last night's episode except for the guys being paranoid about the girls banding together.


Abi-Maria Gomes: I know! I have no clue. I feel that they were just not ready to make a move even though we were [headed to] the finish line.

Reality TV World: Tasha's desire to go to the end with Spencer and Jeremy is surprising. Considering she had the chance to team up with any of the girls, do you think sticking with the guys was really her smartest gameplay or no?

Abi-Maria Gomes: We'll see at the finale if she's going to be winning or not, I mean, if she's even going to make it to the final. We'll see! Truth will be told next week!

Reality TV World: It's just hard to understand why she thinks Spencer and Jeremy would be a better option to work with. They're both pretty big threats.

Abi-Maria Gomes: They did play the game together before -- herself and Spencer -- and that's one of the reasons why I got rid of [Yung "Woo" Hwang] when I had the chance to. I didn't want to keep the Cagayan [together], so we'll see.


Reality TV World: What do you think of Spencer's move to continue working with Tasha and Jeremy instead of joining forces with Keith and Wentworth, whom he called his "Dream Goats?" Do you think he made a mistake?

Abi-Maria Gomes: (Laughs) I believe Tasha is the goat. Let's put it that way.

Reality TV World: Part of the tribe's reasoning for getting rid of you, besides the fact you were unpredictable, was because they viewed you as a goat and Tasha argued in a Second Chance season, it would be a disservice to fans and all the great players to have someone like you sitting at the end. What was your reaction when you saw that? Were you offended?

Abi-Maria Gomes: You know, it doesn't sound like I'm very popular in the whole Survivor community, does it?

Reality TV World: Exactly. Did you think you were competing against true friends out there?


Abi-Maria Gomes: No. I think I was pretty remarkable in this Second Chance season that will forever have me in the whole Survivor legacy.

Reality TV World: You had awareness out there people viewed you as a goat, but you said you liked playing the villain and watching people scramble. Was that intentional, sort of like a "Chaos Kass," or did you actually fight hard throughout the game for people to view you differently and take you seriously?

Abi-Maria Gomes: There's so much you can do, but when you have that stigma and when you feel like people just watched your season of Survivor and will be using that against you -- even using the same words towards you -- it's just really hard to get away from that.

And everything happens so quickly on Survivor. A good way of explaining how I feel is just there's so much adrenaline, like an extreme sport, like you're about to jump out of an airplane at all times. Everything just happens so quickly. You're out there in the arena and playing and, you know, just trying to do the best you can.

Reality TV World: Did you think about who would've been in your ideal Final 3? Who were your best options and why?

Abi-Maria Gomes: I thought that taking Kimmi and Tasha to the end would give me my best shot [at winning]. They were both just going with a man. They were being such goats. They weren't willing to make a big move.


Reality TV World: Tasha was closest to Jeremy obviously, but who was Kimmi's guy?

Abi-Maria Gomes: Kimmi was really close with Stephen Fishbach and Jeremy as well. She was really close to her Bayon people. And I didn't have the opportunity, through all the swaps, to build a relationship with them. All the players had that chance, but I was stuck at Angkor, so I didn't have the opportunity to do that. So it was really hard for me to infiltrate into that click, you know?

Check back with Reality TV World soon for the concluding portion of Abi-Maria Gomes' exclusive Survivor interview.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski