Survivor: Kaoh Rong castaway Neal Gottlieb insists he gave an advantage to Aubry Bracco before his medical evacuation although she accused him of leaving her high and dry.
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Neal, a former Brains castaway, was medically evacuated from the game right after the merge during Wednesday night's Survivor episode because of an infected wound on his knee. The numbers were split four against four with a couple of swing votes in the middle who were prepared to turn their backs on Neal, his closest ally Aubry, and the rest of the Brains.
Although Neal's alliance was being targeted, he had a game-changing hidden Immunity Idol in his pocket ready to play. On his way out of the game, Aubry expected Neal to hand it over since she was probably in trouble, but he decided not to. Aubry therefore called Neal "a son of a b-tch" in a confessional and felt totally neglected.
During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Neal explained why he purposely took his idol with him and why he doesn't necessarily feel bad about it.
"There are no accidents in Survivor," Neal said with a laugh. "I had more time than people probably realize out there [before my evacuation] because I was, like, 99% certain on Day 18 that I was getting medically evacuated because of my knee."
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On Night 18, Neal sat down and talked with Aubry on the beach.
"I told her about the idol. And later on in the conversation, she made it clear that if she had to, she would slit my throat. So, in my delicate state of mind, during that, it wasn't really funny. Yes, we're playing a game and we would have to slit each other's throats, but it just wasn't what I wanted to hear," Neal explained.
"And she was going to be the one that was going home, so by me getting pulled, she got extra life in the game. And so, between that and her comment, I was just not feeling generous."
But Neal disclosed how he still helped Aubry out, even though viewers have not been made aware of this yet.
"I did -- and they didn't show it -- give her my very dapper blazer and there were some things in the pocket. And it wasn't clear necessarily whether or not I gave her the idol. Sometimes the threat of an idol can be even more powerful than an idol, because an idol could last, you know, [one vote] and that's it," Neal told Reality TV World.
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"But what people don't know can be mysterious, and in fact, scary. So, I didn't completely forsake her."
The Dara tribe assumed Neal had an idol in his pocket and he was well aware of that fact while playing the game.
"[Nick Maiorano] saw that I had an idol. He stopped me, actually, on my walk back from the water -- which they showed part of [on TV] -- and he asked me about my 'prominent bulge.' And I opened up the pocket and showed him that it was just a bunch of string and fabric," Neal said.
"The idol was never in that pocket, although everybody was convinced that it was an idol. It was funny. So, I was pretty sure that they were going to go for Aubry because they knew that I had the idol and they knew we were being targeted. So I let them think that I was going to play it."
To read more from Neal's exclusive Survivor interview with Reality TV World, click here.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski