Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water eliminated Val Collins during Wednesday night's second episode of the CBS reality competition's 29th season.
Val Collins, a 35-year-old police officer from Foxboro, MA, was voted out of her Coyopa tribe on Day 6 at the season's second Tribal Council session. Val tried to save herself by bluffing that she had found two hidden Immunity Idols, but the tribe voted for her anyway seemingly because they believed she was the weakest player in their tribe.
ADVERTISEMENT
Val's husband, Jeremy Collins, still remains in the game after spending a few days on Exile Island. He is currently competing with the opposing Hunahpu tribe.
In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Val talked about her Survivor experience and what led to her vote-off. Below is the concluding portion. Click here to read the first half.
Reality TV World: Were you surprised to hear John Rocker tell you that he had cut a deal with Jeremy Collins while they were over at Exile Island together?
Val Collins: I anticipated that -- I knew that Jeremy was upset about the whole initial challenge, and I knew that he was going to try to do what he could to try to rectify that. That's just the type of guy that he is.
ADVERTISEMENT
So, I wasn't surprised that he said that he worked with Jeremy, but I wasn't 100 percent either that John didn't get the clue first and just, you know, give Jeremy some talk. I wasn't sure he actually shared the clue with Jeremy or vice versa. I wasn't really sure who got it.
Reality TV World: You called Baylor Wilson out for playing both sides at Tribal. Were you already expecting to be the one going home at that point or did you think she was going home? And she said she felt you "had it out" for her the second the game began. Was that actually the case, and if not, what do you think gave her that impression?
Val Collins: I mean, Baylor's a 20-year-old girl. I wasn't really "out for her." That's not -- I wasn't trying to, like, bully her. But I had to cause some havoc and I knew that, from other talk, Baylor was also somebody that the guys were skeptical of, more so than [Jaclyn Schultz].
So, if there was somebody on the fence, I wanted to try to throw Baylor under the bus to take the heat off of me, you know? Again, I wasn't sure who was 100 percent tight with who. And, you know, I wasn't sure if Baylor was playing the young guys or the young guys had her in their back pocket.
So, not being there for a couple days -- and us kind of being a mess with losing -- the only way I was going to start to figure out who was really running the show in that majority alliance was to kind of cause some havoc and start calling some stuff out, you know, and make it a little more questionable about who she was.
ADVERTISEMENT
She was just an easier target than trying to break up the guys so quickly. I thought, "If I could get her out of that group, then it left room for Jaclyn and I to move into that position," you know what I'm saying? "And then stir up something later."
Reality TV World: Why did you feel the need to come up with a lie that would also save Jaclyn with the whole double hidden Immunity Idol thing? Was that because you considered her a real ally or because you felt she was the only possible ally you could have?
Val Collins: No, I mean, I felt like -- I considered Jaclyn a real ally. She felt like she was -- I mean, we were five-four going in and it was starting to just be obvious the guys wanted to go after the girls. And it was being said, you know, that they were very confident with that and they didn't really have to make a decision. They weren't really trying to talk to any of the girls initially.
So, again, I was trying to get the heat off Jaclyn and I and put more of it on Baylor. They thought that, you know, Jaclyn and I were going to be safe and we hopefully could've gotten them to go more towards Baylor and look at her more skeptical than us and buy us some time.
Reality TV World: Do you think the fact two women had to be pulled from the game at the last minute and the season started with only eight women and 10 men put the women at a significant disadvantage right away? Do you think things might've gone differently for you had there been five women on your tribe at the beginning?
ADVERTISEMENT
Val Collins: Yeah, it was wack! We were heated, you know? It put us at a huge disadvantage. The guys already had this immediate "bromance" going on, and so then, coming back, I had been exiled and we're outnumbered.
And then, people that knew the game knew that you get a clue. So, it's like, bam, bam, bam. I had a lot to go against and then try to reimmerse -- try to come back in and try to basically get back in with some of the people and figure out what was going on and who was running the show and where we were at emotionally and mentally as a tribe. It was a lot!
And I thought that I could do it, but once we kept losing challenges, it was hard to rally people towards any strategy. Everybody was just looking for the easy way out and to survive and buy themselves some more time. So, starting out, I think that was a huge factor in starting the girls out, definitely, when we're losing.
Reality TV World: Maybe I missed it, but last night's episode didn't really seem to do a good job of explaining why Julie McGee decided to send Jeremy off to exile. Was an explanation provided? Because viewers have been speculating maybe she felt Jeremy deserved to go since he had been the one to send someone else to exile already.
Val Collins: No, I think that Julie actually did do it based on the fact that she thought -- and she had said this -- that Jeremy and John would get along. And they did. So, I think that that was a good decision. I actually said to Jeremy that I didn't understand his decision in sending [Keith Nale] with me, you know? Because Keith was this older, southern guy.
ADVERTISEMENT
It makes more sense if you're looking to bond an alliance, possibly at the merge, to get people who have something in common. So, I think Julie made -- as much as I didn't want to see Jeremy go to exile -- I think it was a good decision if you were actually trying to align with somebody later.
Reality TV World: So it sounds like you disagree with Jeremy's thinking that Keith was a good guy to send away with you because he could help you survive on that isolated island during that time. Do you think he should've had a different gameplan?
Val Collins: I think that if I was picking somebody to go, I would've done exactly what Julie did. I would've picked somebody that you have more in common with. I would've picked somebody that you actually could socially get to know a little bit better and possibly help you later once you come to the merge.
I think Jeremy -- I mean, I knew how to do fire. I wasn't afraid of the dark or to be out there alone. So, I don't think that -- I see why he thought so, and to some degree, he thought [Keith] was a wilderness-type person, but I wouldn't have picked him for myself to go out there. He's a nice guy but socially, we were on different levels.
Reality TV World: How did Jeremy and yourself get cast on Survivor? How did you end up on the show? Had you previously applied individually, and if so, did producers then contact you jointly or separately?
Val Collins: So Jeremy was the one who initially applied, and he actually applied many times for the show before getting picked. And it just so happened while he was going through the interview process, they let him know that they were thinking of doing a "loved ones" season. He then reluctantly suggested that I be his partner.
And that was reluctancy for the kids and I think just for our gameplay. We're pretty competitive against each other, obviously, and with both of us being civil service police and fire, we talk a lot of trash to each other. So, he was unsure of how this would play out (laughs) once we were on an island together.
Reality TV World: What was your reaction when he asked you to appear on Survivor with him? Were you immediately onboard or hesitant as well?
Val Collins: No, I was immediately onboard. I was looking forward to the challenges, I was looking forward to being able to see socially what I was going to be able to do, I was looking forward to kind of being able to use some of my police training and see what it would be like in a social element -- without being in uniform.
Above is the concluding portion of Val's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Click here to read the first half.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski