Exclusive: 'Survivor: Kaoh Rong' castoff Julia Sokolowski talks (Part 2)

Survivor: Kaoh Rong -- Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty's merged Dara tribe voted Julia Sokolowski out during the latest broadcast on CBS.


Julia, a 19-year-old college student from Boston, MA, was voted out of her tribe on Night 29 at the game's tenth Tribal Council session once her close ally, Michele Fitzgerald, betrayed her.

Julia, a former Beauty tribe member, became the tenth person voted out of the tribe although 12 castaways have left the game overall -- two of them due to medical evacuations.

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

Reality TV World: At the time you left the game, did you think there was anything Kyle Jason could do going forward to change things up or redeem himself. Did you assume he'd be the tribe's next target, or maybe you were thinking the majority alliance would blindside Tai Trang next?


Julia Sokolowski: Yeah, you know, I have a lot of faith in Jason. I think he's in a tough position, and I think Tai's blindside of [Scot Pollard] really screwed up Scot's game, really screwed up my game, and put Jason in this really, really tough spot.

But Jason -- although he has this villainous exterior, this villainous aggression to him -- he has this soft spot. He has this sweetness, and he can socialize and he can really pull himself together. And, you know, I think he could do a good job. Who knows!

Reality TV World: After Scot's vote-off, you seem resigned to the fact you were on the outs with Jason and there was nothing you could do about it. But Michele was in a similar spot and we saw her working her way back into the girls' alliance. Did you try to do the same and it just didn't make the editing?

Julia Sokolowski: Yeah. My relationship with [Aubry Bracco] out there was really tense. From the moment she crossed my name off in the [Peter Baggenstos] vote, we just didn't get along out there. We didn't see eye to eye. I now have an awesome relationship with Aubry. I think she's really, truly wonderful.

But at the time, it was just like, playing with her wasn't an option for me. She never would've trusted me and we've seen it in episode after episode how she just really doesn't trust me. And that means not working with Aubry means not working with [Joseph "Joe" Del Campo]. They were, you know, holding hands throughout this game. So, my only other option was to go try and work with [Cydney Gillon].


Reality TV World: It's probably easy for you to say now you would've voted for Michele if necessary because she obviously voted to oust you. But when you were in the game, would you have ever written Michele's name down?

Julia Sokolowski: You know, unless it came to a Final 4 and I didn't want to have a tiebreaker or a fire-making challenge or something like that, I definitely think I would've had to vote Michele. Other than that, I never would've written her name down. It honestly never crossed my mind. It just wasn't an option for me.

And even if at the time the best move was to get rid of her -- like, say, she hadn't won immunity and everyone was getting rid of Michele, I would've done everything I could've to save her. I truly don't think I ever would've voted her off.

Reality TV World: At Tribal Council, you insisted that Michele and Cydney were on the bottom of the alliance of five, which was a good way to try to get those girls to work with you. But did you really mean that? What did you think the real pecking order was?

Julia Sokolowski: I think the real pecking order was, truly, I did think Michele was on the bottom-bottom of that five. Aubry even refers to it in the episode. She was like, "Oh, the alliance of four plus Michele." So Michele was definitely, definitely on the bottom, and I added Cydney in there just to clarify who I was voting for that night. (Laughs)


Reality TV World: Did you see it coming at all when Tai decided not to give Scot his idol to make the "Super Idol" at the Tribal when Scot went home?

Julia Sokolowski: Ugh, I had no clue! Scot's blindside was a huge blindside to me, and I was really, really upset. I was so caught off-guard. I went back to camp and we saw a little bit of it last night, but I was really, like, steaming. I was pretty upset. I think that was a very interesting move from an audience perspective for Tai.

Reality TV World: Did Tai ever tell you what his advantage was from the Reward Challenge he won? Did you, Jason and Scot ask him about it?

Julia Sokolowski: No, we had no idea what Tai's advantage was. The extra vote, Season 30, that episode where the extra vote first came in -- I think it was [Dan Foley] who got the extra vote. That aired while we were out there filming, so we never had heard of that really. We had never seen it. We had no clue that's what it could be. Everyone thought it was probably another clue to an idol.

Reality TV World: I think there's a good chance you could come back and play Survivor again. Would you be interested in that?


Julia Sokolowski: Absolutely! If I was asked, I would 120% play Survivor again. Amazing, amazing. I loved every minute of it.

Reality TV World: What would you change about your gameplay or what mistakes would you be certain not to repeat if you played again?

Julia Sokolowski: What I think I would change is probably playing the middle. I think that a good time to play the middle is later on. I think I might have started doing that a little too early. So, I think sticking with an alliance strongly throughout the majority of the post-merge game would've been a better move for me. I would do that next time!

Reality TV World: When Scot left the game, viewers were confused as to whether he could or could not have handed his idol back to Jason. Scot wasn't sure of the rules when I talked to him, but we saw Jason saying in the episode that Survivor wouldn't have allowed Scot to return the idol after his vote-off. Could you confirm that?

Julia Sokolowski: Yeah, once he's out, he was not allowed to give Jason the idol back. So, he had to leave with it in his pocket, which was a bummer for Jason obviously but great for everyone else, because then an idol was gone and it wasn't even played. (Laughs)


Reality TV World: When Jason gave Tai his idol to hold at the Tribal when Debbie Wanner got eliminated, viewers were really surprised because there was a chance Tai could keep the idol and potentially flip on Jason. What was running through your mind when that happened? Did you think that was kind of a dumb move on Jason's part at the time?

Julia Sokolowski: Yeah. I really just didn't understand why Jason did that. I don't even think Tai was really, like -- I mean, I guess we had talked about it earlier at camp that Tai was a potential target for that night, but as the day progressed, Tai wasn't even on our mind track. So, it was very weird to me. It was very out of the blue. I was definitely nervous about the entire thing.

To read the first half of Julia's exclusive Survivor interview with Reality TV World, click here.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski