Exclusive: 'Survivor: Worlds Apart' castoff Kelly Remington talks (Part 1)

Survivor: Worlds Apart's newly-merged Merica tribe eliminated Kelly Remington during Wednesday night's sixth episode of the CBS reality competition's 30th season.  


Kelly, a 44-year-old state trooper from Grand Island, NY, was the seventh person voted out of the game. Her new Merica tribe got her out on Night 19 at the season's seventh Tribal Council session.

Kelly was eliminated only because Jenn Brown had decided to play her hidden Immunity Idol, which was a brilliant move considering seven people had cast their votes against her. Four castaways voted for Kelly, so since the votes for Jenn didn't count, Kelly was given the boot. Only one person voted for Hali Ford.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Kelly talked about her Survivor experience. Below is the first half. Check back with us soon for the concluding portion.

Reality TV World: Did your alliance consider the possibility Jenn or someone had an idol going into Tribal? And if so, why didn't you go after Hali instead? Considering Joe Anglim had won immunity, Jenn would seem to be the next big threat, which would make her the person to give an idol to.


Kelly Remington: Absolutely not, no. We had no idea Jenn had an idol. We had no idea or we would've split the votes between Hali and Jenn. But at that point, no, we had no idea that there was an idol in play. She told us that the idol was voted off earlier with [Nina Poersch]. We believed that, so I didn't think she had an idol.

Reality TV World: Rather than split the votes, you didn't consider having your whole alliance cast votes for Hali?

Kelly Remington: No, we did not. We did not, unfortunately. We should've split it, but we didn't think it was even possible.

Reality TV World: You thought the Blue Collars were five strong going forward, but Rodney Lavoie Jr. is obviously looking for his first opportunity to betray the group. Did Rodney really act like he was tight with you guys?

Kelly Remington: Yeah, Rodney seemed pretty tight with us. I knew Rodney was playing the game though. I knew he was making himself available to other people to align with too, because he didn't like [Mike Holloway] now. Mike just got rid of his best friend, so he was starting to get aggravated with some of the things that were going on with the Blue Collars.


So I knew Rodney was definitely aligning with other people, but I still thought I had Rodney as an alliance as well and he was going to take me in his other alliance. So, I knew he wasn't going to go "Blue strong" the whole way.

Reality TV World: Were you actually considering going through with Rodney's plan to get rid of Dan Foley, Mike and Sierra Dawn Thomas first?

Kelly Remington: No.

Reality TV World: But you didn't let Mike in on Rodney's plan, right?

Kelly Remington: No, I didn't let Mike know at that point. It was still early in the game and I was still keeping -- I wasn't telling anyone whose alliances I was in. I was keeping that to myself.


"Yes, Rodney, okay I'm with you," and, "Yes, Mike, I'm 110% with Mike. I know that for a fact. But in case something happens" -- like what if it was Mike who went home last night? Now I have an alliance with Rodney at least. So I had a couple alliances going on out there, but I would definitely say Mike was my No. 1.

Reality TV World: Mike asked Will Sims II to vote for Hali just to determine whether he could be trusted in the future. Were you aware of that move and do you think that was a poor decision on his part? Because based on the previews for the next episode, it seems like Will lost trust in Mike as a result of being fooled.

Kelly Remington: Yes, that was a bad decision. I did know about it. We talked about it, like, "Let's just have Will do this and we'll see if he's with us or not," because we still weren't sure. Yeah, that was bad gameplay for us and it cost me, obviously, going home last night.

But in hindsight, we didn't know the idol was out there and we didn't know if Will was still with us 100%, so we were just testing his loyalty. But it was a poor decision -- the worst decision out there for me obviously.

Reality TV World: Going into Tribal, how much did you personally trust Will? Did you think he was a huge Wild Card?


Kelly Remington: No, I trusted Will. I wasn't 100% Will was with us, because Will wasn't, like, a big player out there. He doesn't talk a lot and he sits back too. I wasn't sure because he was with the No Collars from the beginning.

We tended to think people were going to stay true to what tribe they were originally with, but I felt like Will was probably coming with the Blue Collars. But I still didn't see him making any big moves to really indicate he was going to stick with us. So I did trust him. I was still, though, questioning myself.

Reality TV World: At one point, Carolyn Rivera seemed set on working with the No Collars for a while until Tyler Fredrickson tried to get her to side with you guys, the Blues. But even Tyler seemed to waver back and forth on what decision to make right before Tribal. So before Tribal, how convinced were you that you had the both of them?

Kelly Remington: I was very convinced that Carolyn was with us, the Blue Collars, because I was with Carolyn obviously for a few days prior to the merge. I aligned immediately with her when the three tribes went to two. So Carolyn and I, you don't see it, but we really had -- I did talk to Carolyn and we did work well together.

I did think she was definitely with the Blue Collars all the way. Tyler was a little more iffy, yeah. I wasn't sure about Tyler. I was only going by what Carolyn was saying, but I still didn't know Tyler.


Post-merge, I still wasn't getting a feel for him. He was very intriguing and he was always thinking too. At the same time, you can't let your guard down. So I didn't know where Tyler's head was at, at that point.

Reality TV World: Since you were so close to Carolyn, did it surprise you that she had an idol in her pocket and also only chose to share that information with Tyler?

Kelly Remington: Yes, yes! (Laughs) I was shocked to see that. But you know what? If I had an idol, I wouldn't tell. If I had found the idol, I wouldn't have said anything to anyone. You don't tell a lot of people and you keep that in your back pocket and it takes you far.

The more people you start telling, people hear it and then people try to blindside you. She played it -- she did the right thing. She played an amazing "keep your mouth shut out there." When you find something like that, that's what you do. You're quiet.

So was I shocked? I mean, yes, I was definitely shocked to see she found that right away and didn't say anything. When I was watching, I was like, "Wow, look at this! She had one too and I didn't even know it." But no, I wasn't surprised because she's such a tough player.

Reality TV World: If you had found an idol, do you think you would've at least shared it with Mike?


Kelly Remington: Oh boy. If I would've found that, I don't think I would've shared it with Mike right at that point. I don't think I would have -- not until later in the game when things are starting to get down, like a Final 5 or 6. I might've told Mike, "Hey, listen, I have this." But if I found it, no. I would've done the same thing that Carolyn and Jenn did. I would've kept it to myself.

Reality TV World: Shirin Oskooi insisted she wasn't a swing vote at Tribal like the other White Collars were believed to be. Were you convinced of that prior to Tribal, that she was tight with the No Collars and not budging?

Kelly Remington: Yes, she was staying with the No Collars. She wasn't a swing vote. I think she was just playing the game. I don't think she realized that she might've been the next to go home too if we didn't merge possibly too. So I don't think she realized she was in with us yet. She was on the outs as well, so I don't think she thought she was where she thought she should be.

Check back with Reality TV World soon for the concluding portion of Kelly's exclusive interview.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski