Exclusive: 'Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water' runner-up Jaclyn Schultz talks (Part 2)

Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water castaway Jaclyn Schultz finished the 29th season as the runner-up, losing the $1 million grand prize to Natalie Anderson, during the live portion of the finale broadcast on CBS.


Natalie beat Jaclyn, a 25-year-old media buyer from Las Vegas, NV, as well as the third-place finisher Missy Payne, a 47-year-old owner of a competitive cheerleading gym from Dallas, TX, in the season's final jury voting results.

Jaclyn received two votes from the jury, Missy got herself one vote and Natalie was shown getting four votes. Natalie likely received the last jury vote that was not revealed by Survivor host Jeff Probst. Jon Misch obviously voted for his girlfriend Jaclyn, and Reed Kelly also voted for her.

Below is the concluding portion of Jaclyn's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Click here to read the first half.

Reality TV World: Natalie made a pretty gutsy comment at the Final 4 vote right before everyone was going to write her or Keith's name down. She was shown flat out admitting that she thought she deserved to win the game and had a great chance of doing so. What was your reaction to that and did that cause you to hesitate or second guess your original plan?


Jaclyn Schultz: I don't even remember her making this comment. I think at that moment, we were just like, "Okay, Natalie, whatever. Keith would win so we're voting off Keith."

Reality TV World: During Natalie's final jury speech, she made the point to say she pulled her weight around camp. And you were shown being criticized for sleeping all the time and you took a lot of flack for the beauty queen stereotype. Do you think that was an indirect shot at you?

Jaclyn Schultz: No, I mean, I don't think so. I pulled my weight around camp. I didn't hear anyone at camp saying anything about that. It was just when Jon and I were sleeping that one time. That was like the only time I heard anything, and we were. So, yeah, I don't think that was a direct shot.

The beauty queen stereotype is so funny because I did one pageant! Literally. I played sports my entire life. I'm six feet tall and people are like, "Oh my God, beauty queen!" And I'm like, "Shut up!" (Laughs)

Reality TV World: There was a bit of trash-talking out there in terms of the other castaways making catty comments about you and Jon behind your backs. They called you Barbie and Ken and what not. What was your reaction to that watching the season back?


Jaclyn Schultz: Oh my God, it's actually funny. I signed all of Keith's stuff "Miss America." (Laughs) I mean, we joke about it. It's whatever. That's literally how we were cast though. We were, like, the All-American couple. So, I don't know, whatever. It's who we are, so.

Reality TV World: When I talked to Jon last week, he told me you guys had agreed to a Final 5 plan in which you'd be voted off in fifth place, Baylor Wilson would've been voted off in fourth, and then Missy, Natalie and himself would've gone to the end as the Final 3. Jon suggested he had intended to honor that plan. Were you onboard with that as well?

Jaclyn Schultz: Yeah. Totally. I was going to go out at five, Baylor was going to go out at four. I mean, the whole game, Jon and I were working together and we were like, "Okay. You have the stronger case. You need to go to the Final 3. I will fall on my sword and go. That's fine."

Reality TV World: Why did you think one of you had to fall though? Baylor and Missy seemed to want to go to the end with each other for a while at least.

Jaclyn Schultz: No, they weren't verbalizing that to us. I didn't know that. And I just didn't think that anybody -- nobody wanted a couple in the Final 3. Nobody did. So we all agreed, "Okay, this isn't happening." I mean, it was bullsh-t, [but] I thought at the time that they were being totally honest: "This is how it's going to fall out. Everybody's happy with Natalie, Jon and Missy in the Final 3."


Reality TV World: Do you think Jon would've fared any better voting-wise than you if he had managed to make it to the Final 3 instead of you?

Jaclyn Schultz: I think so. I think people would've respected Jon for being in the middle and the decision-maker the whole game. But I mean, I was too, but it wasn't shown. Because I wasn't the loud, outgoing person, you know, that everybody kind of connected with maybe.

Reality TV World: Does Jon just have a different personality than you?

Jaclyn Schultz: Yeah. I mean, we're alike, but he's a lot more outspoken and social, I think, in new settings than I am. I'm a little more reserved at first, and he can just, like, jump right in there and go crazy.

Reality TV World: You didn't seem to be very happy with Jon and Missy's relationship during the game, and some viewers even speculated you were jealous or something at times. Could you talk about that a little?


Jaclyn Schultz: Jealousy? That's so weird. It was more that when we were arguing, I hated that he was talking to Missy when I think he should've came to me and resolved the rest -- we should've talked out the fight, you know, that we were having, which was a stupid fight.

But it was kind of like, "Stop being a momma's boy and come talk to your girlfriend about what is going on right now." And that was just really frustrating, because Jon goes to his mom a lot for advice in real life and I found Jon doing that a lot out there on the island.

I was like, "Jon, you can do it on your own. Why are you -- what are you doing?" It was just frustrating. It was more frustration with Jon than Missy. Jealousy? No. Why? What? Jon's going to go elope with Missy or something? (Laughs)

Reality TV World: That wasn't what I was suggesting. It was the fact he seemed to confide in her more than you out there and appeared to have a bit of a closer relationship with her in the game.

Jaclyn Schultz: Oh! No, no.


Reality TV World: Obviously the finale ended up being an all-female Final 3. Not only had you started the game at the disadvantage of having only eight women to 10 guys, but the women were targeted pretty early on. Did you ever envision the game would end the way it did given how it started?

Jaclyn Schultz: No, I wouldn't have predicted that at all.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on Survivor? How did you end up on the show? Were you approached first or Jon?

Jaclyn Schultz: Yeah. I got a Facebook message from a casting director about The Amazing Race and I had another pageant -- a girl who competed in Miss USA as well -- that we were going to go on The Amazing Race.

And then that fell through. And then Jon came into the picture for The Amazing Race but the cast was booked, so they said, "What about Survivor?" And we're like, "Yeah, let's do it!" So it was kind of random.

Reality TV World: Congratulations on the engagement. What can you tell me about the wedding plans? Have you started thinking about it at all?


Jaclyn Schultz: Yeah, we're thinking September 2015 in Michigan, but we really haven't gotten that far yet. [We're] just trying to calm everything down so we can plan and not be stressed about it, you know?

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






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski