Survivor castaway Cody Assenmacher has revealed what he believes cost him the $1 million grand prize -- and his answer is probably not what Survivor viewers would guess.

ADVERTISEMENT

Cody, a 35-year-old elevator salesman from Iowa who currently resides in Hawaii, was voted out of Survivor 43 on Night 23 of the game in a split 4-1-1 vote instead of Owen Knight and Karla Cruz Godoy.

RELATED LINK: 'SURVIVOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO'S STILL TOGETHER?! WHICH SHOWMANCES SPLIT UP? (PHOTOS) 

Cody's best friend and closest ally in the game, Jesse Lopez, had Cody's hidden Immunity Idol in his possession and chose to play it for Owen before the votes were read, which was a scare tactic that resulted in Karla flushing her idol and Cody -- a big threat to win the game in Jesse's eyes -- ultimately going home.

While many fans would probably assume Cody letting Jesse hold onto his idol was the downfall of his game, Cody apparently sees things differently.

"Those goddamn Danishes and coffee cost me a million bucks. Those were million-dollar Danishes," Cody told Entertainment Weekly.

Cody was referring to the Reward Challenge on Day 22 of the game that his team won. The castaways had been split into two teams of three players.

Cody and his teammates Karla and Owen successfully navigated a course and table maze, with two people blindfolded, and won iced coffee, iced tea, donuts, croissants and muffins.

While the trio enjoyed their Reward at a nearby sanctuary, the rest of the tribe -- Jesse, Cassidy Clark, and Mike "Gabler" Gabler -- discussed their next target back at Gaia's camp.

Gabler planted seeds to get rid of Cody, and Cassidy and Jesse seemed onboard. Cassidy then shared with Gabler and Jesse how Karla had an idol and they could work together to flush it.

Jesse also knew Cody had an idol, which made him more dangerous, and Jesse told the cameras that he needed to win the $1 million for his family and was afraid to go to the end with Cody and lose to him. 

RELATED LINK: 'BIG BROTHER' SHOWMANCES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHICH COUPLES HAVE SPLIT UP?? (PHOTOS)

Jesse said he and Cody had made similar moves but Cody was louder about making them.

Jesse also worried that Cody convincing Karla to play her idol at the wrong time would be another impressive feat to add to Cody's Survivor resume.

Looking back, Cody said there was no point in "smashing coffee and Danishes like they were going out of style."

"That day, they didn't show this, but I was gathering firewood everywhere. You couldn't imagine. I was buzzing. And that night, I couldn't sleep. I was up all night," Cody recalled to EW.

"I literally was up all night just freaking miserable, just wide awake. And the next day I was like, 'The crash is coming. You did it, you knucklehead. You f-cking did it.' What did you need to eat all that and drink all that coffee for?"

Had Cody held onto his idol and not trusted Jesse so much, he thinks he would've had a good shot to win Survivor 43.

"I think if I just [played] that idol as a conservative Survivor player would, or maybe as an astute Survivor player would, and all three of us play idols -- Jesse comes out and shows that he has one.

Now he becomes a threat," Cody said, referring to how Jesse also had Jeanine Zheng's idol from earlier in the game.

RELATED LINK: 'THE AMAZING RACE' COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER? WHO HAS SPLIT? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? (PHOTOS)

Cody therefore predicted Jesse would get voted out at the next Final 5 Tribal Council.

"He's gone at five. I think I got a really good shot at winning that million dollars. I think my profession and my charisma would have had the jury voting for me," Cody said, adding that he would've liked to sit in the Final 3 with a combination of Jesse, Gabler or Owen.

Cody shared that instead of going back to work after playing Survivor, he traveled for about four to five months.

When asked whether he'd ever play Survivor again, Cody replied, "I got some redemption, bro."


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON GOOGLE NEWS