Survivor: Worlds Apart's merged Merica tribe eliminated Tyler Fredrickson from the game during the eleventh episode of the CBS reality competition's 30th season.
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Tyler was hoping his alliance would target Dan Foley to flush out his Survivor auction advantage, but instead, both Carolyn Rivera and Sierra Dawn Thomas surprisingly joined forces with outsider Mike Holloway to get him out. Tyler and Carolyn, both former White Collar players, were the closest of allies all season long.
In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World the day after his ouster, Tyler talked about his experience on the show. Below is the concluding portion of his interview. Click here and here to read the other two parts.
Reality TV World: Was Carolyn the only person you told about Dan's two-vote advantage?
Tyler Fredrickson: Yeah. I alluded about something to [Will Sims II] and [Rodney Lavoie Jr.]. I was like, "Look, it could be a double vote. It could be a 'get out of jail free' card," you know, I kind of built it up, but it was still masked in the, "We don't know."
Reality TV World: If you were in Mike's shoes at this point in the game, what would you try to do? Do you think you would try to work on Carolyn more, or maybe you think his only shot to stay in the game is by winning the next Individual Immunity Challenge or finding another hidden idol?
Tyler Fredrickson: He's got to find another idol or win again. Here's the good thing about getting rid of me, is that there is not a whole lot of competition. Will is not going to do anything. Rodney is challenge Kryptonite.
Sierra hasn't showed any kind of skill, and Carolyn, is you know, she's out there and she's competing -- but they've gotten rid of, who I think, is one of the bigger threats in the game physically. So, still, I would put my money on Mike vs. Carolyn.
But you've got to think eventually, he's going to go out. So, Mike still not only has to win, but he needs to start scrambling and continue to make people realize that the alliance has crumbled and that it's now an individual game. So, yeah, I'd be trying to go put cracks in everybody.
I'd be saying, "Dan's coming for you" again! [I'd say] whoever is coming for you -- "Rodney's coming for you. Everybody's coming for you." I would try that until you get a couple people coming by. Mike's in a good position, like, he could be swing. There's three on one side and three on the other, or whatever it is.
I feel like Mike can kind of move back and forth to figure out where he wants to go. The four is now no longer the majority, and that's what I'm frustrated with, because we could've gotten to a Top 4, and now it's left everybody scrambling because they lost me.
Reality TV World: Going back a while, a major turning point in the season was when you and Carolyn were swing votes and you had to decide whether to side with the Blues or go with the No Collars. You said in your final words you have no regrets, but that doesn't mean you believe you made the smartest decisions at every point in the game. What do you think about that?
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Tyler Fredrickson: Nah, no. No, I don't. I didn't want to go with the No Collars just because [Joe Anglim] and [Jenn Brown] and [Hali Ford] were super, super tight. I knew eventually, that would probably surface and be more powerful than what I thought at the time of the Blue Collars.
The Blue Collars seemed very fractured. Plus, I was really close with Mike and Dan before the auction. We spend a lot of time together. There was a lot of strategy talk, and admist that seven, I also knew I had a core four. I had Rodney, Will, myself and Carolyn.
So I was in a really good place within the alliance and having the majority within the bigger alliance. And honestly, I didn't really want to mix it back up with [Shirin Oskooi] again.
And going back over to the No Collars meant getting involved with Shirin, and Shirin was one of those people who just kind of just grated on everybody, and she was a drain. And she liked to mix it up just for the sake of playing Survivor, and for me, I wanted nothing to do with that. That was the exact opposite of my strategy.
Reality TV World: Jenn told me recently she believes this was the most unstrategic Survivor season ever. Do you agree or disagree with that?
Tyler Fredrickson: Was it the most unstrategic? I don't know about that. I felt there was a ton of strategy. Sometimes strategy, especially subtle strategy, is not as exciting as people yelling at each other and calling each other names.
So I understand that bullying is... out there and I'm glad that Survivor is tactfully dealing with some of these really heavy issues and bringing them to the forefront, but it's also kind of sucked a lot of the fun and the opportunity to discuss strategy from the show.
So do I think it's the most strategic season ever? I don't know. I haven't been on the beach for all these other seasons, but I do know there was a ton of strategy -- from the very first White Collar triple blindside.
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Reality TV World: How were you cast on Survivor? Was this your first time applying?
Tyler Fredrickson: This was the second time I applied for the show. I pretty much got cast on Season 26 and then they pulled me at the very last second because they got somebody else in. And my name was just kept on file. They called me back for 29, asked if I had any loved ones who might want to go on the show, and I didn't really.
My wife didn't want to go on it. She just thought it was too much. So, they called me back for 30 and said, "CBS wants you to apply," so I applied and got on. And it's history.
To read what Tyler had to say in the other two parts of his exclusive interview with Reality TV World, click here and here.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski