Exclusive: 'Survivor: Kaoh Rong' castoff Anna Khait talks (Part 2)

Survivor: Kaoh Rong -- Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty featured a tribal swap and then the new Gondol tribe voted out former Beauty castaway Anna Khait during the most recent broadcast on CBS.


After the three tribes became two and the new Gondol tribe lost the Immunity Challenge, its members voted out Anna, a 26-year-old pro poker player from Brooklyn, NY, on Night 13 at the game's fifth Tribal Council session. Due to Caleb Reynolds' medical evacuation, Anna became the sixth person to leave the game but only the fifth person voted out.

Anna and fellow Beauty castaway Tai Trang were on the outs of their new tribe since there were three former Brains as well as Scot Pollard, who was a former Brawn and definitely an asset to the tribe in physical challenges. In the end, they got rid of Anna instead of Tai.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Anna talked about her Survivor experience. Below is the concluding portion. Click here to read the first half.

Reality TV World: You were friendly with Tai out there, but were you tempted at all to throw him under the bus and just yell out the fact he had a hidden Immunity Idol on your way out of the game? I mean, he basically screwed you over and I'm assuming he only told you and Scot Pollard about his idol.


Anna Khait: He did screw me over. I was tempted. I thought about it! But I only had a few seconds to make that decision. I'm getting up to get my torch and it's running through my mind. I, you know, thought about [Julia Sokolowski] coming back in the game. I knew she was going to take my spot, and I didn't really want to affect her game.

I'm out of the game; It's done. But, you know, in retrospect, watching it, it's like, "Oh man. I should've said that!" But in the moment, I understood that it was early and I understood that it was his game. And I was still rooting him on. I was also rooting on Julia, and I didn't want to ruin Julia's game. I think it's unfair to do that, especially because she was in my alliance. I just didn't want to do that to her.

If she wasn't part of that whole situation -- if she wasn't going to come in and take my place -- I would've really considered it. I mean, I would've really considered it if she wasn't a part of this whole Tai situation. But, you know, she's coming to take my place.

So I just wanted to put her in a good spot. I'm rooting for her to win -- her and [Michele Fitzgerald], so. I think if she wasn't part of it, I would've probably did it, but I don't know! I was really thinking about it. (Laughs) I think Julia saved him, because if it wasn't for her, I would've done it.

Reality TV World: We saw [Peter Baggenstos] calling you a threat because you were intelligent and attractive and you seemed like a bit of a schemer. Did you actually tell people out there you're a pro poker player?


Anna Khait: No! I did not. I kept the fact that I play poker for a living a complete secret. I did not want to tell anyone that I play a strategy game for a living. I told everyone that I teach biology and that I'm a cocktail waitress in the casino I play poker in, which wasn't exactly a lie. I mean, I told them that I worked in the poker room but I worked as a waitress.

I was kind of half telling the truth, right? (Laughs) So I never told them I play poker. I did not want to put a target on  my back and have people know that I play a strategy game for a living and am very analytical. I didn't want them to know anything. And really, the only person I told out there -- which took me some time, even though I loved her right away -- was Julia.

Julia told me that she was 18 out there, and I was the only one she told. And she was the only one that I told I play poker for a living. So, that brought us even closer together. And yeah, it's just something that I kept from everyone. I was not going to tell anyone.

Reality TV World: So just to clarify, it sounds like your dream scenario would've been to go to the Final 3 with Julia and Michele?

Anna Khait: In a hypothetical world, absolutely. I would've loved to play with them, but you know, you constantly have to adjust. Like, there's no way that I would say, "Okay, I'm going to the Final 3 with them."


I mean, I definitely had it in my mind, but you have to adjust to the game, and you also have to make sure that you set yourself up in a scenario where you're going to win the million. So, if I felt like someone was playing a little better than me, I probably would've gotten rid of them.

But my allegiance was really, you know, Julia from Day 1. So I really had her back, and then Michele came in, and I really liked her and really trusted her. So I had both of their backs, but like I said, it depends on the game and you have to adjust. But I would've fought for them as much as I could.

I would've had to make the decision later on in the game if they were a threat to me winning the million and becoming the "Sole Survivor" because that's the ultimate prize in the game, is to be the "Sole Survivor." You know, money is a bonus.

Reality TV World: Did you ever think that you had won over Aubry Bracco because we saw a scene in which you two looked like you were growing close, and she didn't seem to want to vote you off when speaking to Joseph "Joe" Del Campo about it.

Anna Khait: Yeah, I thought we had a good connection out there. I knew right away that she was a big threat. I thought she was very well liked, I thought she got along with people well, she was playing the game. I said right off the bat, "This girl is a threat! No one notices her, and she's going to go far."


I liked her. I genuinely wanted her to consider going with the girls. I told her about the possibility of a girls' alliance come the merge. We had a good relationship I thought, you know, she -- there were some situations where Peter would pull over Tai, and I knew I was going home.

I was like, "Alright, Aubry, I'm going home." And she was like, "No, you're not! Don't worry." She kept trying to make sure that I was comfortable. It's a normal part of the game. I knew I couldn't trust her fully, but I thought that she might see something in me in terms of maybe teaming up with the girls later on, you know?

I always wanted to see Survivor have another girls' alliance. It's been a while since I've seen that, so, I was kind of hoping she would see that part, and I thought we connected on that a little bit. But my gut also told me that I shouldn't have told her that. (Laughs)

Reality TV World: If you lost the Immunity Challenge after Caleb got medically evacuated, who would've been the first person voted off? And were you girls really tight with Caleb, like would you have wanted to stick with him?

Anna Khait: Okay, so, it took us a little while to realize that Caleb was loyal and that he was going to play the game. Because for a little while, he was kind of out of it I think, like, for just a little bit. He wasn't really trying to play the game too hard in the beginning, and I totally understand that part. He just takes time with people, and I appreciated that.


We saw that he's loyal and we saw that he was a great guy and that we could trust him and that he's great at challenges. We really wanted to work with him. But I didn't trust [Nick Maiorano] at all. Tai, I mean, we caught him looking for the idol. I liked Tai, I really pulled for him, but I knew that he was really sneaky and he would backstab you if he had the chance.

And so, we trusted Caleb more than any of the guys. We wanted to work with him. In terms of who would've went home once Caleb was out, the girls were gunning for Tai, but I really wanted Nick out. And I kind of convinced Julia before immunity that it was going to be Nick. So, it would've been Nick. Nick was going to go home.

Reality TV World: Was Joe's cut on his finger worse than it looked on TV? Because it didn't look bad and some viewers were surprised they edited so much of that scene into the broadcast -- or maybe they just included the footage as to show Peter working the doctor angle?

Anna Khait: It was definitely bad, yeah. I was out there and I was worried. I thought, "Ooh, he needs to clean that up and take care of it." I mean, everyone had lots of cuts and scrapes, like Tai's thighs were bad and Joe's finger was really bad. [The finger] was really bad and swollen.

Click here to read the first half of Anna Khait's exclusive Survivor interview with Reality TV World.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski