Exclusive: 'Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water' castoff Reed Kelly talks (Part 2)

Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water's merged Huyopa tribe eliminated Reed Kelly and Alec Christy during Wednesday night's two-episode special of the CBS reality competition's 29th season.


Reed -- a 31-year-old Broadway performer, model and aerialist from New York, NY -- was voted out of his Huyopa tribe on Night 29 at the season's tenth Tribal Council session.

Reed had been an obvious outsider of the main alliance and became an even bigger target after trying to get Jon Misch out. His loved one, Josh Canfield, a 32-year-old actor and writer from New York, NY, got voted out of the tribe on Night 21 and had become the season's first jury member.

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

Reality TV World: Did you have any idea Natalie Anderson wanted Jon out of the game so badly as well?


Reed Kelly: Oh, that's the frustrating part about all this, is that Natalie and I were like super tight on Day 1, and then [Jeremy Collins] told her that I was coming after her and wanted to take her out. And then all of a sudden, she -- that tainted the well for the rest of the game, which was really unfortunate because we really clicked.

And now, we still get along, like we still talk and we still get along to this day. But we never were really able to talk a ton of strategy, because after Jeremy said that, she didn't trust me at all through the rest of the game.

So, had I known that she was more willing to take out Jon, I absolutely would've been having, personally, more conversations with her. But she was really guarded with her gameplay about those type of moves, so it was really hard to know. We laugh about it now.

Reality TV World: Who do you think is really calling the shots between Jon and Jaclyn Schultz out there? Jon seems to think it's him, but there have been a few instances in which it's looked like Jaclyn is the brains of the operation.

Reed Kelly: Isn't that like most heterosexual relationships -- the men think they're in charge but the women are? You know, (laughs) are running the show? I feel like Jon definitely wants to be credited for stuff, and I think that was very evident.


Jon came up to me after I had this whole conversation with [Missy Payne] and [Baylor Wilson] and Jaclyn -- and I was like, "You need to fill Jon in on what's happening" -- and later that day, Jon came up to me and said about the Jeremy blindside, "So, Reed, are you down with my plan?" And I was like, "What plan, Jon?!"

And he was like, "You know, the Jeremy thing." And I was like, "Oh, yeah! Totally. I'm totally down with that." And it was just one of those moments where I was like, "You weren't even there for the planning of all of this." And I felt like that was kind of Jon's M.O. through things.

When he was giving Jaclyn [a hard time] last night in the episode, saying, "Dude, I want to get credit for playing my idol. Don't give anyone else credit for it. This was my idea," I think that was him a lot of the time -- after the fact -- trying to spin things to make it look like he was playing a better game than he was. But I think he was ruled a lot out there by his emotions with Jaclyn. Jaclyn had a lot of final say out there.

Reality TV World: Natalie was shown saying she believed Jon was obsessed with coming across as the mastermind of everything. It sounds like you kind of got the same vibe as well?

Reed Kelly: Oh absolutely. And we would sit there and kind of laugh about it because he really -- and I love Jon. I think he's an adorable human being. But yeah, during the game, he really was like, "Oh, I'm orchestrating this and I'm orchestrating that, blah, blah, blah," and you kind of just let them talk like that because you're like, "Alright fine. As long as the votes go the way we want them to go, who cares," you know?


But it's interesting watching how it comes across in the edit because I think they really wanted to save the blindsides -- the Jeremy blindside -- so they couldn't show my pitch for that. So inadvertently, I think Jon ended up getting a little bit more credit than that -- than probably what was due.

Reality TV World: Last night, Jaclyn was shown complaining about how Jon had "sacrificed himself" by going to Exile Island for their alliance and then Missy didn't return the favor by taking her on that horseback riding Reward. You were shown agreeing with Jaclyn. Did you really feel that way? Because it seemed like Jaclyn was being a little disingenuous since Jon only went to Exile trying to find another idol.

Reed Kelly: Right, well, yes and no. I both agree with you and will give you another side to that argument too. I mean, at that point, I'm doing anything I can to curry favor and that's blatantly obvious. And I'll say that, like, "Yeah, let's make this work. What do you need for your game to be better? I'll work with you."

But what happened there was, Jon said, "I will go out and find this idol for the alliance, and that way, we will have it within the alliance. Whoever needs it can use it." And so, that was the condition he went out onto Exile for.

And while he made that decision, I think he was looking for a little reciprocity, like, "Yo, I'm going to Exile for the alliance. If we all find this idol, we'll all be better for it. Take care of my woman while I'm gone!" And he didn't get that. So, that's kind of where that was based out of, so I get the upsets by all that. But at the same time, dude, it's Survivor. There is no tit for tat.


Reality TV World: Do you think that was genuine then -- that Jon really would have been willing to give his idol to someone else if he or she asked for it?

Reed Kelly: Oh my gosh, absolutely! At that point, I mean, it's so weird because Jon was mesmerized by Missy, like, mesmerized! I don't know, and the moment we got onto Hunahpu, Missy said, "You guys, I don't want to be the mother of the tribe! Let's just play this game."

Cut to 30 minutes later and she's like, "You guys, as the mother of the tribe, I just want to, like, hang up everybody's clothes," which was really just her excuse to look for hidden Immunity Idol clues.

But she did. She played this thing where she would call Jon and be like, "Jon Jon, are you hungry? Jon Jon, are you hungry baby?! Come on, let's get you food!" Her and [Drew Christy] and Jon, they were like -- she would say, "Those are my boys. Let momma take care of you."

So, yeah, I think had Missy -- Missy played a really good game in that respect, that she, you know, Jon is kind of a momma's boy. We teased him about it, but he played right into that. So, I think had it really come down to it, yeah, I do think if Missy had asked for the idol and said, "We're doing this for the alliance," he would've gone with it.


Reality TV World: Natalie and Baylor's plan to take Jon out got ruined once he won Individual Immunity. You were voted out already at this point, but instead of weakening him by taking out Jaclyn, they went for Alec Christy instead. Why do you think that was? Why do you think no one ever seemed to consider voting off Jaclyn as a way to indirectly target Jon?

Reed Kelly: It's so frustrating because I'm so with you on that. You need to break up that couple, and you know, sometimes you're stuck with what's the most palatable choice, and I feel like Alec was the most palatable choice for the most amount of people. And so, that's what they did.

From a strategic standpoint, yes, I do agree. It would've been better to take out Jaclyn, and you know, kind of chop Jon off at the knees. But, you know, I think when you're out there, you just start going with what's going to cause the least amount of drama, what's going to get the least amount of blood on my hands, so to speak. And I think Alec was that choice.

Reality TV World: What was your opinion of Alec and Jaclyn's relationship? Did you think Jaclyn was flirting with him like the women thought and did you think it was inappropriate? Also, do you believe Alec was really interested in her or just trying to flip alliances?

Reed Kelly: You know, Alec is so fun-loving and easygoing. And that's just a bit of his personality. And yes, I think Alec was definitely flirting with Baylor on purpose; I don't think Alec was flirting with Jaclyn in that way really, you know what I mean? I think that's just kind of Alec's personality and he's so sweet.

But perception is reality, so if the people around him think he's flirting with her, that's game-damaging for him. And if Jaclyn thinks he's flirting, then that's really all that matters. So, do I think it was an intentional thing where Alec was like, "I'm going to go out and flirt with Jon's woman?" No, I don't. So, I guess it cuts both ways.


Reality TV World: Were you surprised Missy reacted as strongly as she did when you called Baylor a brat?

Reed Kelly: Oh, absolutely not. That was one of those moments where I knew, as the words came out of my mouth, it was like, "This is terrible. A.) This isn't who I am, my mother raised me better. And B.) The she-wolf is going to come after me.

Because now, not only am I attacking Baylor, but I'm attacking her child and her parenting style. Because if Baylor's a brat, that's me saying, "Look, Missy, you raised a brat." So, I knew that that was just a bad scenario all around. So am I shocked? No, not at all.

Because there was a lot of that going on through the whole game between Missy and [Keith Nale]. Keith would come after Baylor and she would attack him all the time. So, yeah, her claws were out more often than not, I'll say, on the island. So, that was not shocking at all.

Reality TV World: In a lot of Survivor seasons, being the swing vote between two alliances is dangerous, and sometimes the alliances choose to team up and vote off the swing votes. But we haven't seen that happen to Jon or Jaclyn yet even though the couple seems to be in that situation constantly.

Reed Kelly: I think it's because you're not necessarily playing with a season of Survivor [castaways] that are that game savvy. And that's nothing against our season, but I think with loved ones, you bring on people that are less familiar with the game. So I think people were less familiar with doing something like that, so it made them uncomfortable.


Reality TV World: Were you surprised how many idols were found this season? Do you think it might be time to start making the clues a little tougher to decipher?

Reed Kelly: I mean, okay don't get me wrong, like it always looks like people find the idols within three seconds, but it really -- you search and search and search when you're out there. We all searched for the idols, and the place is so vast. There are so many places it can be. So, I really think it does take a lot longer to find these idols than what it looks like.

But the amount of idols does become crazy making, because pretty soon you're like, "Okay, this person has an idol. We think that person has an idol. And did that person find an idol? That person uses their idol, does that then get replayed?" It becomes crazy making at that point.

So, it was kind of a season of the idol. It was a lot because there's only so many variables when you're starving to death and you're not getting enough sleep, that you can factor in after a while. Like, sometimes, you're just like, "Alright. This person may or may not have an idol. As long as we can try not to spook them, we'll try to take them out." But it gets hard with that many idols in play.

Reality TV World: Do you think going through Keith's bag might've backfired on you a little? Because it seemed like some of the castaways made comments about not trusting you as much after that.

Reed Kelly: No, not at all. I mean, yeah, I knew it was going to be a move where people would be like -- because I've watched seasons where I can't believe they went through that person's bag, but when you're out there, if you're not playing utilizing every option to further you in the game and it's not against the rules, then it's kind of dumb.


And for me, I would've been going home. That was the only question in my mind. I was the next one out. So, absolutely I do not regret it for a second, and I still stand by that choice. I think it was the right choice. Because, I mean, what? I made it 10 more days.

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






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski