Exclusive: 'Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water' eliminee Josh Canfield talks (Part 1)

Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water's merged Huyopa tribe eliminated Josh Canfield during Wednesday night's eighth episode of the CBS reality competition's 29th season.
 
Josh, a 32-year-old actor and writer from New York, NY, was voted out of his tribe on Night 21 at the season's seventh Tribal Council session. Josh's loved one, his boyfriend Reed Kelly -- a 31-year-old Broadway performer, model and aerialist from New York, NY -- is still in the game.


In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Josh talked about his Survivor experience. Below is the first portion of his interview. Check back with us soon for more.

Reality TV World: Did you go into Tribal believing you were going to be the one voted off or were you surprised? What had you gone into Tribal expecting was going to happen?

Josh Canfield: Yeah, no. I already knew I was going out. I was like 95% sure it was me. I knew that [Jon Misch] and [Jaclyn Schultz] had flipped. They were still telling us they were voting with them, but both Reed and I knew that they were now lying. You can just see when someone is not being (laughs) truthful.

And yeah, so, I knew that I needed to win that Immunity Challenge as well. And when I lost the challenge, I was like, "There's a huge chance I'm going home. Let's see what happens." And then by the time we got to Tribal, I was like, "I know it's me."


Reality TV World: So you feel Jon and Jaclyn had already made their decision to flip before Jeremy Collins won immunity?

Josh Canfield: I think Jaclyn had already decided that she was flipping regardless of what Jon was doing and that she was going to try to convince Jon.

But Jon hadn't flipped yet because he had been on Exile [Island] for two days at that point when he entered back in for that Immunity Challenge. So, I still think at that point, Jon was going with my alliance. But I think the damage had already been done by the other guys to Jaclyn.

Reality TV World: Do you really think there's a chance Jaclyn and Jon would've voted separately?

Josh Canfield: No, I meant like, at that moment, at the Immunity Challenge, I think they hadn't talked yet and Jaclyn had already decided at that point that she was going to side with the other alliance because she wanted to be with the girls. And Jon had just gotten back from Exile, so he was still on the whole other alliance train, so they hadn't had a chance to connect and talk at that point.


Reality TV World: Last night's episode made it look like Alec Christy, Wes Nale and Keith Nale's behavior while Jon was on Exile prompted Jaclyn to decide to go with the other alliance and convince Jon to join her. Do you believe that was accurate or was that just the editing? What are your thoughts?

Josh Canfield: I actually think that's exactly what happened there. They were with us -- the episode before, if [Julie McGee] hadn't quit -- I believe Jeremy would've gone home that night. I think I said it in that episode, that I think there's an 80% chance Jeremy would've gone and 20% me. Jon and Jaclyn, we were with them.

When Jon left for Exile, yeah, I think the guys -- Alec, Wes and Keith -- got too comfortable and they started, you know, acting like themselves instead of acting like they're on a show where they need to keep friends.

Reality TV World: We didn't really see a lot of yourself or Reed when that was happening...

Josh Canfield: (Laughs) That's because we didn't do anything! (Laughs)


Reality TV World: Well, I guess, were you even around or were you aware of that at the time? And if so, did you have any thoughts about that potentially being a bad thing, like, "Maybe I need to step in and try to make an effort to keep Jaclyn comfortable?" Any regrets there?

Josh Canfield: Yeah, that's -- no, I don't personally have any regrets because I was trying to make Jaclyn comfortable the whole time. I knew that she was pivotal to this alliance. Because earlier on in the season in Coyopa, she was not in our alliance. And so, I knew that meant I needed to make a double effort with her to secure her, because I wasn't working with her before this.

And so, my goal -- especially when they won the Reward Challenge and they went to the taco bar -- I was with Jaclyn so much during that time, just really hanging out with her, being like, "I'm so happy that me and Reed are with you and Jon, that we're so tight!" I was even doing like, "We should do a foursome with us four," just as a way to solidify her vote.

So, when she called the guys out in Tribal and was like, "They're all horrible to me and no one talks to me," I actually called her out -- they didn't show this part -- but after she said that, I was like, "Jaclyn, you're going to sit here and tell everyone that I wasn't talking to you and that I haven't been nice to you?!" And she was like, "Well, everyone except Josh!" And I was like, (laughs) "Okay."

Reality TV World: I meant more in terms of when it was actually happening back at camp. When it was going on, did you have the realization it could be a problem or did it not even dawn on you that she might've been perceiving it the way she did?


Josh Canfield: I didn't know because I didn't see everything that was happening. I mean, I know how Alec is, you know, so I'm not surprised by what happened, but everyone's not around the entire time, so things happen when you're not there. So I didn't know the extent or the magnitude of it.

I knew that Jaclyn was not feeling the greatest and I thought it was just because she felt weird being the only girl in that alliance, that she felt she was at a disadvantage -- which actually was the advantage of being the only girl in that alliance because that meant that you weren't going to be a threat, in that sense, because she really wasn't doing much at the time.

Reality TV World: So do you think Jaclyn overreacted and kind of blew things out of proportion, or do you feel her reaction was justified? It sounds like that might be a difficult question for you to answer considering you didn't witness a lot of the guys' behavior with her.

Josh Canfield: Yeah, I think there's a little of both actually happening. I think that, yes, Jaclyn blew some stuff out of proportion with [Missy Payne] and I think Missy fed on Jaclyn's blowing it out of proportion -- which was a smart move, because she was trying to get her on their side.

But then also, the thing is, it's Survivor! Sometimes you don't like your alliance members or whatever, you know what I mean? But you have to work with people to get whatever you think is going to get you the furthest in the game. But I think, definitely, the fault has to fall on Alec, Wes and Keith as well.


I think they definitely did things and I think they would definitely own up to that, that they were not treating her with the best respect or even the other girls at camp. And so, I think it was both blown out of proportion and I think there was adequate reasons for something to have happened.

Please check back with Reality TV World soon for more from Josh's exclusive interview.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski