Exclusive: 'Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X' castoff Ciandre "CeCe" Taylor talks (Part 2)

Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X's new Vanua tribe voted Ciandre "CeCe" Taylor out following a swap during Episode 5 on CBS.


CeCe, a 39-year-old insurance adjuster from Granada Hills, CA, became the fifth castaway voted out of Survivor's 33rd season on Night 15 at Tribal Council.

The new Vanua tribe, featuring a mix of Gen Xers and millennials, had to vote one of their own members off after they lost the game's fifth Immunity Challenge to the opposing Takali and Ikabula tribes. CeCe was blindsided by her fellow Gen Xers because they convinced her that Michelle Schubert, a millennial, was going home.

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

Reality TV World: We saw Michelle trying to convince you that she should stay because she's strong in challenges and things like that. Did you ever waver in your decision to vote her out?


Ciandre "CeCe" Taylor: Yeah, I didn't, but that's one of my flaws -- being loyal. It's a good thing and it's a positive thing, but it's also a negative because it can bite me in the back, which it did yesterday. I was just like, "I want to be loyal and I want to make sure I'm keeping my end of the bargain this time."

Now, next time, I also did have it in my head -- which they didn't show -- I said, "You never know what could happen in the next challenge." Maybe I would've been willing to just vote out, you know, [David Wright] or someone next time.

But at that moment, I just didn't want to be the first Gen Xer to flip. I didn't want to flip at that moment. I didn't want them to be like, "Oh wow, she flipped that quick?!" And I already had a target on my back, so I didn't want to make a bigger target on my back by all of a sudden flipping. Now it's like, "Okay, we are really coming for you!"

So, I was more concerned with feeling like it wasn't the right timing at that moment to go ahead and vote out Dave. But maybe later on, if it came down to it and the proposal came again, I probably would've been like -- if it were him or me -- I would've been like, "Okay, let's definitely go with Dave."

Reality TV World: You were totally confident Chris Hammons and David were voting with you before your blindside, but you mentioned it was also apparent Chris was becoming best friends with Zeke Smith. So were you not worried about Chris and Zeke's relationship going into Tribal Council?


Ciandre "CeCe" Taylor: Well, Zeke was aware that we were voting out Michelle because that was part of the plan as well. We told Zeke and we talked to Zeke about voting Michelle, so they didn't show that!

They didn't show the scene where, actually, it was Zeke and Chris and Dave in the ocean and I approached them. Chris yelled out, "Oh yeah! Zeke is going to vote Michelle out." So, that part wasn't shown on television.

But Zeke was actually onboard -- well, I thought he was onboard with voting out Michelle. Because when I had the conversation, all four of us had agreed to vote out Michelle. So that's why going into Tribal, I felt that it was the four of us voting out Michelle -- not just me, Chris and Dave.

Reality TV World: Were you anticipated a swap when it actually happened, and if so, what were you envisioning would've been best case scenario for you? Was there anyone in particular you were hoping would end up on your tribe?

Ciandre "CeCe" Taylor: Absolutely. Yeah, we talked about it. There was a lot of talk at camp that a possible swap was going to happen, but we thought it would maybe be [two tribes]. We didn't think it was going to be three whatsoever.


But my best pick would've been to be on the team with both [Ken McNickle] and Dave at that time. Unfortunately, they bit me, but I definitely would've preferred to be with Ken. I absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, did not want to be on a tribe with Chris because he was gunning for me from the beginning for no reason.

But I definitely didn't want to be on a tribe with him. It was like, "Anybody but Chris!" Anybody else I would have taken my chances with. I would rather have taken my chances with being on the tribe with four millennials, but definitely not Chris.

Reality TV World: Votes were being cast for you at pretty much every Tribal when you were on the original Gen X tribe. So right after the swap, did you think you were in a better or worse position?

Ciandre "CeCe" Taylor: I thought I was in the neutral position. I thought, "Okay well, there's Chris!" But I'm like, "Well, there's three of us. There are three Gen Xers, so maybe I'll be okay because we have the numbers," and again, we just kept talking about numbers, numbers, numbers. "Let's keep the Gen X numbers strong."

So with that in my mind, I'm thinking, "Okay, Chris has been gunning for me but we got the numbers, so maybe we'll settle with keeping the numbers strong and voting out a millennial instead of just turning on a Gen Xer."


So that's what was in my head, but obviously from watching the episode, Chris had NO intention of worrying about keeping the Gen X numbers whatsoever. It was just all a big lie.

Reality TV World: What was your reaction when David played his first hidden Immunity Idol to save Jessica Lewis? Since you voted with David to take out Lucy Huang, did he ever let you in on that plan?

Ciandre "CeCe" Taylor: No, he didn't let me in on that plan whatsoever. I just thought it was dumb. If we're voting for Lucy, I didn't understand how it made sense for him to use his idol. I get it. Either way, either one of them could've gone home.

So even if Jessica went home, I don't think it would've hurt him. So, I don't understand why he used the idol, because since Lucy was the target and majority was voting for Jessica, it just didn't make sense for him to play his idol. I think it was a waste because he wasn't the target.

Reality TV World: Do you have any regrets? Because it seemed like you became a target immediately when you teamed up with Rachel Ako, who was the first person voted out of the game.


Ciandre "CeCe" Taylor: The only regrets I have -- well, I have regrets that I didn't play a little more aggressively. What they didn't show is that I did make the proposal to go ahead and do an all-girl alliance. They didn't show that, so I feel like I was playing a game.

There was just a lot of stuff you didn't see on the television. But definitely the fact, you know, I only had 30 days to learn how to swim. That was my first time in the ocean in my entire life. I just wish I had more time to prepare, but going forward, I definitely will play the game totally different.

I would definitely play by the day and not by a few days ahead. I would definitely be playing just for me and my gameplay, and maybe have trust in one person versus being dependant on two people to help me out with the voting. So I would definitely play a lot more aggressively and take more risks next time if I'm ever asked to come back again.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on Survivor? How did you end up on the show?

Ciandre "CeCe" Taylor: I've been applying for 10 years, (laughs) so that was like my 15th time. I'm a Super Fan, so I've been applying for a long, long time. But usually it's a six-month process.

You send in a tape, you have your first interview, your second interview, you have pre-finals and then finals. I actually got called during the week of finals. I literally had 30 days when the rest of the cast had, like, six months to prepare.


If I had six months to prepare, I would have obviously been an avid swimmer. I would've focused on learning how to swim and been really, really good at it. But with 30 days, you have 30 days to basically get your life together to go away for seven weeks on an island. (Laughs)

That wasn't enough time to do that, but I wouldn't take this experience away. I love, love, love the game. It was the best experience and the worst experience of my life because of the cyclone, but I would definitely, absolutely play again in a heartbeat. I am a true fan!

To read the first half of Reality TV World's exclusive Survivor interview with CeCe, click here. If you missed the latest episode, click here to read our detailed recap.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski