Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance's merged Orkun tribe snuffed Ciera Eastin's torch during Season 31's special double episode last week on CBS.
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Ciera, who previously competed on Survivor: Blood vs. Water, became the tenth castaway voted out of the game and the season's fourth jury member on Night 26. Stephen Fishbach, who had appeared on Survivor: Tocantins, got eliminated afterwards at the end of the back-to-back episodes.
Ciera was first ousted with only three votes cast against her at Tribal Council because Jeremy Collins opted to play his hidden Immunity Idol to save the tribe's main target Fishbach. During the next vote three days later, Fishbach was blindsided.
In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Monday, Ciera talked about her Survivor experience. Below is the concluding portion. Click here to read the first half.
Reality TV World: I knew Fishbach was a threat because of the advantage he had that few people knew or understood, but were you surprised the tribe didn't get rid of Joe Anglim when they had the chance or do you think that was a big mistake?
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Ciera Eastin: I think it was a huge mistake. Huge. The second Joe lost, he should've gone home. I mean, he is incredible in the challenges, so I'm not trying to bad-mouth him. Socially, he played very good as far as playing the middle-man. He's not the most strategic player out there and he doesn't think that far in the future, I don't think, but he definitely -- after all of his challenge wins -- should've been the one to go.
Reality TV World: Were you surprised people weren't viewing Keith Nale as a bigger threat out there? I mean, he seems likable and has come pretty close to defeating Joe in mostly every Individual Immunity Challenge.
Ciera Eastin: I think Keith is extremely underrated. He is very, very good at all of the challenges. Just because he doesn't play the social game that most people play because he seems maybe not so aware or self-aware, he's still very smart and he does have a strategy. And that strategy, even if it is, "I just want to vote anybody but me and I just want to be in the numbers," or whatever, it still works for him.
Reality TV World: What was your relationship with Kimmi Kappenberg like out there? We didn't see much of you guys interacting, and she always seemed to be going after the girls in the game.
Ciera Eastin: Kimmi, that was -- actually, watching these episodes -- that actually surprised me. We were friends. We were very friendly out there. We both have kids, so I think a lot of our relationship was just like comforting each other from missing family.
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She's extremely hardworking and good around camp, but there was never any tension that I knew of between me and Kimmi. Watching it was like the first time I had seen that she was gunning for us. I always kind of felt like she was one of the people who would -- if I needed to work with -- would work with us.
Reality TV World: You and Abi-Maria Gomes seemed tight, but everyone always referred to her as a "wild card," someone pretty unreliable and untrustworthy. Did you share any of those same concerns? Did you sort of just cater to her feelings to keep her as a number for you or did you have a genuine friendship?
Ciera Eastin: Abi and I definitely have a genuine friendship. I think Abi's an extremely complicated person and she is the opposite actually, kind of, of what you said. She is actually extremely trustworthy and very loyal IF you cater to her.
So, it's like one of those things where you just have to be careful about what you say and what you do, and as long as you're on Abi's good side, she's probably the most loyal player out there. BUT if you cross Abi or even if you don't cross Abi but you might do something that she thinks is crossing her, she will get rid of you so quick or just make your life hell.
Reality TV World: How did your experience on this season differ from your first time around and which season did you enjoy playing more?
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Ciera Eastin: Oh gosh. They were both great experiences. My second time on Second Chance was WAY more difficult than my first time in a lot of aspects. I would say I liked my first season more maybe just because it was, you know, my first time around and I was with my mom and I made like a ton of really, really close friends. This time, I mean, everybody's really great, but I don't know. My first time was better.
Reality TV World: Whom did you envision being in your ideal Final 3 when you were still in the game?
Ciera Eastin: I mean, ideally for me, my Final 3 would be somebody like Abi or Keith sitting with me. It would be perfect. But I would even take along, you know, [Kass McQuillen] I would've taken along, and Stephen I probably would've sat with at the end. There were a lot of choices out there for me I felt like. And then there were some people who I was like, "No, I cannot be next to them."
Click here to read the first half of Ciera Eastin's exclusive Survivor interview with Reality TV World.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski