Survivor: Worlds Apart's merged Merica tribe eliminated Jenn Brown during Wednesday night's ninth episode of the CBS reality competition's 30th season.
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In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Jenn talked about her Survivor experience. Below is the first half. Check back with us soon for the concluding portion.
Reality TV World: Last night's episode had viewers assuming that you, Mike Holloway and Shirin Oskooi were going to vote out Carolyn Rivera together with the hope Dan Foley would join you. But it later showed that Shirin and Mike voted for you. What exactly happened there? When did that plan change -- or were you out of the loop on all that?
Jenn Brown: Absolutely not. I told them to. You know, you need a red herring for the show. Everyone knew it was Shirin or I. There was no chance in hell that Dan was going to work with us, and we knew that.
There was nothing that was going to convince him to come over because, "Flippers never win!," says Dan. So yeah, I told them they were going to split the votes in that other alliance between Shirin and I, and then vote Shirin out probably.
And I was like, "Guys, let's not let this happen. Shirin loves this game so much and really wants to be here. I'm on a sinking ship. Just do it, like, just vote for me! I'll go be with [Hali Ford] and [Joe Anglim] and be the happiest in my life," which I was. So (laughs) I told them to vote for me, which they didn't show, but that's what happened. Shirin's vote even had hearts all around it, so.
Reality TV World: Based upon what you saw at camp, do you blame Dan for trusting [Rodney Lavoie Jr.] and his crew instead of Mike? Because he told the cameras if he was wrong about Mike, he'd never forgive himself, and clearly he was wrong.
Jenn Brown: Well, you know, Dan Foley is an anomaly. I don't understand -- if you can even call it a strategic game, I don't want to give him that much merit -- whatever he was doing out there, I will never in my life understand. I mean, I get that Mike's a threat. I get that.
But Dan was on the bottom of a six-person alliance and he knew that! I mean, and we told him so many times. We were like, "If you come with us, you will be at the bottom of a four-person alliance. Fourth place is a hell of a lot better than seventh place."
And he, for the life of him, would just not see it that way. He actually said one day, "I would rather finish in seventh place than I would fourth or whatever it was than flip on my alliance, because flippers never win." And he always said, "Flippers never win."
And I'm like, "Dan, every single person that has won the game has flipped on their alliance. You are insane." So, yeah, I don't know! I don't know what he's thinking. And I still don't know what he's thinking. I never talk to Dan.
Reality TV World: And Mike was in his alliance, so it's not technically flipping. (Laughs)
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Jenn Brown: Exactly. (Laughs) I will just never, in a million years, understand what that was. That's why I was so fed up with the game. It's just like, "You're banging your head against a brick wall." These people don't listen to reason or logic or anything. It's probably one of the most un-strategic seasons I've ever seen.
Reality TV World: So I think it's safe to say when Dan made the comment going into Tribal Council that his vote was either going to be a million-dollar decision or a million-dollar mistake, you think it was a mistake.
Jenn Brown: I think I saw [Spencer Bledsoe] from two seasons ago, Season 28, last night. And he said, "If Dan, [Will Sims II] and Rodney are in the Final 3, the chairs -- like the stools they sit on -- would win." (Laughs) And I was like, "Pretty much!" That killed me.
Reality TV World: Mike arguably made two mistakes in last night's episode. No. 1, he faked out Carolyn and Dan with his letter from home at the auction, sort of losing their trust. No. 2, he revealed to the whole tribe that Rodney had turned on him and was secretly working with Carolyn, Tyler and Will. What are your thoughts on those two moves? Do you think they made sense for Mike's gameplay or were poor choices?
Jenn Brown: I don't think it was a mistake in terms of what he did at the auction. I think the only mistake he made was going up and actually turning around and being like, "Nevermind. I will [buy the letter]."
I viewed him as a weaker player because of that. I think what he did was so Survivor and so just, like, "Eh, I screwed you guys over! La dee dah!" I thought that was brilliant and I thought he should've stuck with it. Rodney's little secret alliance used that as an excuse to hate Mike.
They got everyone to band together and hate him because of that incident. But that was not -- they were just like, "Oh, we need a reason to get everyone to flip on Mike," you know? And so they used that and it was a smart move, but I think [Mike] would've gotten the Reward or twist and then maybe I would still be in the game. I don't know.
But what he did at camp, I also think that was smart because we were trying to convince Dan Foley and [Sierra Dawn Thomas] to come on over! And by blowing up and being like, "Listen!" Like if he had just told Sierra and Dan that that was happening, then no one would've believed him.
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Reality TV World: Do you think Mike's back is up against the wall now or do you think there's anything he could do to change things around?
Jenn Brown: Nope. It's too late. He's public enemy No. 1. It's just, like, what are they going to do? You know? Once everyone wanted [Joe Anglim gone and he left, the whole camp just descended into chaos. So for Mike, I don't see anything that he could've done differently and I don't see anything that he could do now.
Reality TV World: In the last couple of episodes, you wanted to be voted out of the game so badly. But when I talked to Joe last week, he said he wasn't sure if you really meant that or if that was a part of your strategy. Because acting like you didn't care to be there made you much less of a threat in everyone's eyes for a little bit. So could you clarify that for me?
Jenn Brown: Yeah, actually, that was exactly it. Once [Hali Ford] was gone, it was like, there's these people in this alliance and there's nothing we can do about it. And I wanted to stay in the game, so I had already been a challenge threat and I'm more of a challenge threat than Shirin is.
If Joe wins immunity, they're going to vote me out because I'm more of a threat than Shirin. However, if I'm just like, "Nope, don't want to be here, I don't want to play," then everyone wants to take that person to the end because they'll never win.
If they don't do anything, they can't be a threat. So that was kind of my thing. And that's what everyone said. They were like, "Well, Jenn's not even playing. Why would we vote her out? She's not going to do anything." And so that was my whole thing. Also, part of me really hated it there. (Laughs)
So I think that was a little bit of a catalyst that made it much more believable, because it was kind of true. But no, I never really like -- I mean, I told Sierra to vote me out. I told everyone, like, "Vote me out!" Because when you tell people to vote you out, they don't. As seen on this show, they never vote you out, except for last night. But that was to save Shirin, so whatever.
Reality TV World: Before Joe got voted out, you told him that if you won the Immunity Challenge, you'd 100% give him your necklace to sacrifice yourself and save him. Would you have actually followed through with that then?
Jenn Brown: Oh absolutely, I would have! I was totally going to give that to Joe because they still probably wouldn't have voted me out, you know? If I gave that to Joe, then -- I mean, I had it figured out logically in my head the other day...
I would've definitely given it to Joe because we would've voted out Mike. We talked about it. I talked about it with people, because you know, Mike's also a challenge threat. So it's like, "Well, we'll get one of them out at least!"
Check back with Reality TV World soon for the concluding portion of Jenn Brown's exclusive interview.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski