Our feeling was this ice-cream scooper, this young kid, was going to winSurvivor.
When he won the last challenge, I remember saying, “Guaranteed a spot in the final four.
Nobody on the production side believed he was ever going to buy this plan to give up immunity.
From a producing standpoint, that’s an amazing final four.
So we were excited for what was to come, and thought Erik was probably going to winSurvivor.”
Jeff Probst
It didn’t turn out that way.
The installment really kicked into high-gear post-merge with a slew of instantly iconic moments.
It centered around a naive 22-year-old from Pinckney, Michigan, named Erik Reichenbach.
Why did it happen?
What was he thinking?
And how were four women able to pull off the impossible?
It’s a story of cunning, of deceit, of desperation, and of miracles.
This is the story of the greatestSurvivormoment ever.
He ultimately decided to side with Natalie and Alexis at the final six to take out Amanda.
When we got back to camp after Tribal Council, we were grilling her about it.
I was pretty pissed about that, but I was just happy that I had won immunity.
NATALIE BOLTON:I was devastated that Alexis went home.
I slept on the boat for two or three nights after.
I didn’t sleep in the cave with the girls, I slept by myself on the boat.
I just needed to process because my ride or die was gone.
No pun intended, but it was like survivor’s guilt in a sense.
I’m still there, and I’m stoked and excited to be there.
But at the same time, I would have chosen any other scenario.
So it was just conflict for me.
I wanted to be mad at them, but I couldn’t.
However, I needed to put my feelings somewhere, so I slept on the boat.
I don’t know why.
ERIK REICHENBACH:I knew that I could keep winning immunity because the challenges were more physical back then.
I thought I was really in a good place.
I was kind of riding on that too.
So I felt really, really great at the start of that episode.
I felt it was just going to keep happening, and I was going to keep going.
NATALIE BOLTON:He completely teamed up with me.
I don’t do well with wishy-washy.
So I thought we were solid.
And I had the girls on my side because I had a good relationship with them.
And he had the physical athleticism and winning of the challenges on his side.
ERIK REICHENBACH:She wanted to make a pact with me that we had to stick together as Fans.
I really wanted to honor that.
She was my friend and we had stuck together out there.
It was really crappy that Alexis left and I think Natalie was feeling vulnerable because of that as well.
ERIK REICHENBACH:Yeah, she told me to do that and that she wanted to go to Exile.
I told her I absolutelydidn’twant to go to Exile if she won.
I really like going on the rewards.
He doesn’t care about strategic elements."
Also, I just didn’t really want to go to Exile.
It sounded unpleasant and I didn’t want to go to look for idols.
I actually don’t like idols.
So she was like, “Send me there if you’re free to.”
I’m like, “Fine.
It doesn’t matter to me.
I would gladly do that.”
Meanwhile, Cirie was plotting a course of revenge through redemption.
And he cannot send Natalie to Exile.
ERIK REICHENBACH:Amanda comes over and she apologizes.
She apologized quite a bit about hiding from me the fact that she had an idol.
But I really didn’t have that mindset to think about that at all.
I just forgave her.
After she profusely settled that, she wanted to start cutting deals.
It’s such a difference between talking to Natalie and then talking to Cirie or Amanda or Parvati.
Amanda tried to say something along the lines of “Natalie is next, she’s gone.
You don’t want to side with her.
We played before, we will carry you.
You deserve to be a Favorite"those kinds of things.
She pitched that and I don’t think I gave her a solid answer there.
I don’t think I said anything or gave her a solid answer.
She then pitched sending Parvati to Exile instead of Natalie.
She was really wheeling and dealing.
When asked whom he wanted to send to Exile Island, he chose… Parvati.
NATALIE BOLTON:As soon as he picked Amanda to go on the reward, everything changed for me.
I was angry, first of all.
So now I’m in my mind shuffling and trying to figure out actually what’s shaking down now.
CIRIE FIELDS:I was thinking, “Yes!
Amanda got him right where we need to have him!”
We knew he had eyes for Amanda.
He just played into everybody’s hand by not taking Natalie.
AMANDA KIMMEL:I remember thinking, “Oh my gosh.
He totally bought it!”
Because I was testing him at that point.
I was testing him to see if he would flip and how easily swayed he would be.
He believed everything.”
At that point we knew he would kind of do whatever we want.
Before that, we were just kind of wondering.
ERIK REICHENBACH:The decision at that point was totally peer pressure.
Parvati, Cirie, and Amanda knew they could leverage that.
It was in their best interest for me to screw over Natalie too.
They didn’t want the two of us getting along, which in hindsight, makes more sense.
After Jeff asked, “Who do you want to send to Exile?”
I looked over at Amanda and she whispered, “Parvati, Parvati.”
It was literally a puppet situation of Amanda sending me the line and I did it.
It was zero strategic thought on my part.
She threw a name out and I took it.
And then he decides to take Amanda on reward with him.
So I’m pumped because I’m thinking: “Our plan is working.
Amanda’s going to be able to work her magic with Erik on this reward.
I trust her completely because she’s my number 1.
And I get to go to Exile.”
NATALIE BOLTON:And he didn’t even send me to Exile!
It’s like, “Dude, wejusttalked about this literally right before this competition!”
Erik was all over the place.
And that’s what made me very nervous.
So then at that point when he chose Amanda, I’m like “Oh, I can’t.
This is way too slippery for what’s comfortable for me.
The two scenarios that we came up with, he’s doing neither of the two.
So what is happening here?
What’s going on?
We just talked about this!”
ERIK REICHENBACH:Amanda’s sales pitch for Parvati was, “Parvati will use it for us.
Amanda trusted Cirie to some point but said that Cirie might not be able to find it.
She definitely did not want Natalie to go because she thought Natalie was desperate and would do anything.
But Natalie probably should’ve had it.
They gave you the first clueand this was back before people just went searching for idol without clues.
So I was like, “Oh man, this is going to be a lot of work.”
But I went for it.
I start swimming around and swimming trying to find an island.
And I found adifferentisland.
So I found the third clue and the third clue led me towards these two rock formations.
I was swimming around those rock formations and I remember there being a little small shark underneath me.
Literally, that shark led me to the immunity idol!
So I found it, and then I pulled it out.
It was like a little voodoo doll looking man, if I remember correctly.
It wasn’t an effing stick.
I was so pumped because I found an immunity idol.
AMANDA KIMMEL:Really?
I have a hard time believing that.
And the whole point of us sending her out there was to get it!
That is so weird.
She never told me that.
CIRIE FIELDS:What?!
Wow, I would give my left arm for an idol.
You passing up idols?
I’m glad she didn’t tell me that.
I probably would’ve beat her up.
Oh my God, are you kidding me?!
ERIK REICHENBACH:I didn’t know that.
That’s the kind of confidence that in a post-Game Changersseason would get you voted out.
You’d get hit with a Ben Bomb or something.
There was no point.
CIRIE FIELDS:That’s why Parvati won.
That’s a winner’s thinking, because I would’ve brought it.
I wouldn’t have told nobody, but I damn sure would’ve had it in my back pocket.
NATALIE BOLTON:I had almost a visceral reaction.
I was like, “Excuse me?”
I was miffed because I didn’t do a lot of reneging on my word.
He is a loose cannon and he’s extremely dangerous.”
So yeah, panic and anger.
CIRIE FIELDS:I did not know Natalie was there.
You’re not the number one, but he’s telling you you’re number one.
Let me tell you what he’s telling me."
AMANDA KIMMEL:Now Natalie didn’t trust him anymore and completely sided with us.
I didn’t really feel like they were being dishonest with me.
We were putting it on the table, like,this guy’s all over the place.
CIRIE FIELDS:You know I’m always stirring the pot.
But I’m doing it from the backseat.
I’m a backseat driver.
ERIK REICHENBACH:I had to win that challenge.
Otherwise, I was out.
I remember warming up before it.
I ran down the beach and I ran up back the beach.
Everybody else was kind of standing around and I was stretching.
I’m like, why aren’t they stretching?
I said that to them and they just kind of looked at me funny.
I remember just saying those over and over because my short-term memory could be pretty terrible sometimes.
PARVATI SHALLOW:I remember that being one of the hardest immunity challenges I have ever done.
Digging in the sand, it was so exhausting.
Digging is the hardest thing to do in immunity challenge.
It was like my heart was about to explode.
NATALIE BOLTON:There was lot of digging and I was really starting to lose my strength.
AMANDA KIMMEL:I hated that challenge.
And I remember feeling a lot of pressure because I wanted to confirm that Erik didn’t get it.
All of us were on the same page.
All of us were trying to win this.
I was like, “Just save it, Jeff.
No one needs your taunting right now.”
And so I knew I wasn’t even anywhere near to winning that challenge.
And there was nothing I could do as I watched Erik progress farther and farther.
And I’m like, “Ah, damn.
He’s got this.”
CIRIE FIELDS: I remember being not too far behind Erik.
How are we gonna get him?"
We’ve got to beat him.
Damn, we didn’t beat him.
ERIK REICHENBACH:It really was a runaway.
I’m going to be at the finals!"
After a long pause, Cirie posed a question, almost offhandedly.
Probably not, huh?
You think you could talk him into giving you the necklace?"
Like, are they fing with me?"
My first go-to was, “Wait, I love these girls.
We have a bond.
I know I’m on the bottom of the totem pole.
I get that I’m going home.
But, like, they don’t have to go about it like this.
They don’t have to punk me out!”
So I actually started to get pissy with them.
Because everybody there all agreed he should go.
But for this one thing, he would be gone.
I’m thinking ahead and thinking, “He wins this one, Natalie goes.
He wins the next one, I go.
Now what are we gonna do?”
It just turned into a bonfire from a few sparks.
Why would he do that?"
But I did think there was a tiny sliver of, “What if?
It might be possible and it’s certainly worth trying.”
Because we were a powerful force.
The four of us together, we were very powerful.
Each one of us had an incredible skill set that complemented the others.
I felt like my intelligence was being put in question.
I had to say it in kind of a nice funny way, but I was angry.
Like, who do they think I am?
But then everybody started chiming in, and it just took on life after that.
He was young and just really wanted to be liked and wanted to be part of the group.
He didn’t wanna be out the outs, ever.
So it just popped into my head when Cirie said that about the immunity necklace.
PARVATI SHALLOW:The plan is starting to form, and Amanda and Cirie are cruising forward.
They have a much closer relationship with Erik than I did.
We didn’t really get along very well, Erik and I. I was trying to talk with him, and he just not interested in having a conversation.
And then I realized, “Oh, I voted out his best friend Ozzy.”
So he felt like we were rivals.
I don’t think he liked me, and then I was just, like, whatever.
AMANDA KIMMEL:Cirie is so smart.
She had a huge part of that plan.
MATT VAN WAGENEN [producer on the beach]:I was there right when it happened.
I was actually hiding in the bushes with another producer, thinking that this seemed like a long shot.
We were expecting a pretty straightforward vote.
So we’re sitting there, we’re talking, and I thought, “Just plant the seed.
Just go into his brain a little bit with your fingers and muddle some stuff up really gently.
And then just walk away.”
ERIK REICHENBACH:My immediate reaction when she pitched me giving her my necklace was just, no.
Everything about that statement just made no sense.
It was not rational, and it was not reasonable.
It was 180 degrees from what we had talked about on the vote in terms of reasonability.
When that came up, I was so not prepared to hear that.
I was like, this is a joke!
And he was very emotional in his decision making.
ERIK REICHENBACH:Natalie’s heart was bleeding.
She knew she was next.
Other people told me she was next.
Amanda and Parvati said absolutely, she’s next.
Natalie was dying, she had to tell me this, she had to get it out.
You’re out there with nothing else better to do."
So I just let her kind of talk.
And we know how that ended.
I had to follow up with, “Natalie’s right, Erik.
No, you have to do something.”
I think it was just them trying to rattle me up and get at me.
But the essential argument was that they could not trust me and that I was an untrustworthy person.
Your word is mud now.
I don’t believe anything you say.
So that was talk with Cirie.
They were saying, “We don’t trust you anymore, we don’t like you.
You’re such a likable guy, but we don’t think you’re likable at all.
PARVATI SHALLOW:Amanda was like, “Erik you’ve made everyone upset.
Everyone’s mad at you.
And what are you going to do to redeem yourself?”
And I’m like, “Yeah, Erik!”
You’ve gone back on your word.
You’ve deceived people.”
Certainly, we laid the pressure on really thick.
And he was between us.
Amanda was to his left and I was to his right.
He was caught in the web.
Cirie and Natalie thought that was odd that I even brought that up.
CIRIE FIELDS:When he said Parvati, I’m just wanting him to give up the necklace.
He could’ve said it was Ronald McDonald.
“Sure, I’ll vote Ronald!”
I started to feel it out, but I didn’t give them a yes or no then.
It still sounded insane, but I was definitely closer.
As soon as he said that, it was, “Oh, this is real.
He’s really considering it.”
That was when we had to start taking it seriously.
CIRIE FIELDS:Erik was kind of teeter-tottering.
If you think about it, he’s setting himself up.
He’s got Natalie, and he’s got Amanda.
The next person to lose this next immunity challenge, who’s going home?
Not him, not Amanda, and not Natalie.
Then I would be next, so this was all beneficial to him.
It had to add up in his mind.
We left it at, “Let’s see what happens at Tribal.”
It became much more important that I cared about how I was perceived and how people were seeing me.
I felt quite a bit of pressure on me to do something.
My strategic mindset was not in the forefront, especially because I’d won immunity.
So I’m not thinking and I’m not even aware of it.
Really, what they did was change it from a strategic conversation to an emotional conversation.
They put me in a very bad emotional place.
All we could do is the best we could beforehand and then just wait and see what happened.
I thought maybe we’d brainwashed him enough.
CIRIE FIELDS:Honestly, I thought it was a 50-50 chance.
Things happen out there that aren’t normal.
If you turned on me in real life, you think I’m gonna talk to you tomorrow?
No, I’m probably never going to talk to you again!
So that was my other 50 percent chance, thinking: anything is possible.
NATALIE BOLTON:I had such a sense of peace and calm over me, strangely.
That’s what I remember heading to Tribal Council.
Everything just quieted in my mind and everything became very surreal and slow motion.
I had resigned myself at that point to whatever’s going to happen at Tribal is going to happen.
We did all this masterminding, so let’s just see how this beautiful little thing plays out.
PART V: THE PAYOFF
The insidious plan was in motion.
The Tribal Council stage was set.
Each of the women had assigned roles to play to ensure that he did.
I was like, “Cirie has something up her sleeve.”
CIRIE FIELDS:I wanted Amanda and Parvati to just lambast Erik.
“Look, everybody hates you!
Amanda can’t stand you.
Parvati’s telling the jury how terrible you are.
You’re never gonna win this thing, not like this.
You’ve got mud all over you.
You’ve got to clean yourself up.”
PARVATI SHALLOW:My role was to be the bully.
I took on that role because that’s already what Erik expected of me.
He didn’t like me very much.
And I’m going to do that.
I’m going to just bully him and then see how that works."
JEFF PROBST:It’s one of the most remarkable team efforts.
Everyone had a role, and everyone delivered.
It was like a bank heist.
Everybody has to be on point.
If one person is off, it’s over.
If the getaway driver forgets to put gas in the car, you’re screwed.
But everybody was right.
NATALIE BOLTON:I’ve got to say, those girls stepped up.
I was kind of shocked with the attack by Amanda and Parv.
They just went at him, and it was so good.
!But I got to say, those three girls really showed up for me in that Tribal Council.
JEFF PROBST:First, Parvati said, “Nobody can trust him.
He’s all over the map.”
Then Amanda kind of said the same thing.
They were gonna give it a shot.
But there was a moment where Erik said, “They’re not wrong.
I have been doing that.”
And that admission in that moment caught my ear in the sense that Erik was actually listening.
You didn’t know if he was gonna do it, but he was listening.
ERIK REICHENBACH:Parvati and Amanda had resting b- face towards me.
Tribal Council is almost always jovial, like an awkward jovial atmosphere.
This one was cold.
It was frozen over with ice, at least for me.
MATT VAN WAGENEN:Truthfully, it felt like they were piling on pretty hard.
For lack of a better word, they were mind-fing him.
OZZY LUSTH [juror]:I didn’t really get it.
And they did a damn good job at it.
ERIK REICHENBACH:I was just playingSurvivor, the same as them.
It came down to me wanting to feel good.
I am influenced by other people.
I’m influenced by what other people think of me and especially people that I consider friends.
They knew that, and they leveraged that.
There are other people that have done much worse things than me.
CIRIE FIELDS:I’ve done worse than that.
PARVATI SHALLOW:Erik did not do anything wrong.
Let’s be 100 percent clear about that.
I do not believe that Erik ever did anything wrong.
All of it was totally made up.
AMANDA KIMMEL:We’re awful people.
I don’t know what to say.
The stuff you have to do on the show is awful.
We basically used the sweet parts of Erik and threw it back at him.
He’s such a sweet guy and we just manipulated that part.
The stuff you’re capable of, it’s pretty bad.
PARVATI SHALLOW:I could care less if Erik was breaking his word with everyone.
It didn’t bother me.
ELIZA ORLINS:Watching from the jury, I felt sorry for him.
He seemed kind of in over his head with these very adept women.
I just sat there shaking my head, feeling bad for him.
It could not have been teed up any better.
CIRIE FIELDS:I remember saying, “Of course, it’s important for redemption!”
which, one, I needed Erik to hear.
And two, I needed Erik to hear.
Because it just validated everything that was going on earlier in the day.
Jeff just put so much value into my plan, by saying, “Redemption.”
It was perfect for me.
ERIK REICHENBACH:They were putting a wall on each side of me.
The only wiggle way out for me emotionally is to redeem myself by the path they want.
So emotionally, they boxed me in.
It’s like throwing out a line, here’s what you grab on.
Redemption was the cheese.
You redeem yourself when you get a chance to talk at the end.
That’s when you do your redeeming.
Right now, you just get to the end.
No, I’m never gonna give up my necklace."
By him not just shutting it down, it let us know that there was an opening there.
That comes from experience.
ERIK REICHENBACH:When Jeff says, “What do you want to do?”
I feel I need to do something at that point.
I feel like I need a release.
The decision was made right then.
That was the moment.
And I did it.
I gave it to Natalie.
This is the greatest moment that’s ever happened onSurvivor!"
And I stood up to start the voting and all I’m thinking is “Oh my God.
He’s going to be voted out.
He has no idea.
How does he not see this?!”
So he’s taking it off and handing it over to me and I’m putting it on.
Then I could have tipped him off within that moment of saying, “You know what?
Actually, I’m changing my mind.”
Because you know how they say not until the ink’s dry on a contract do you believe anything?
That’s kind of how it was.
So and so, you’re up."
I needed that segment to close out.
I’m sitting there.
I’m just sitting there, like, “Don’t look at me.
Don’t ask me no questions, Jeff.
I’m not even here.
Let the exchange take place.”
PARVATI SHALLOW:Oh my God.
I don’t even hear the words, but I see him taking the necklace off of his neck.
And I’m like, “No.
It’s not … No way!
Oh, my God!
Is he for real?”
I was just in complete disbelief and shock.
And then I watched him hand it over to Natalie and I’m like, “Woooow.”
I was overwhelmed with the intensity of shock and disbelief and just like sheer…What?!
AMANDA KIMMEL:I was completely shocked.
I couldn’t believe that he actually did it.
But after the shock I was like, “Oh, my gosh!
We still have to play this off.”
I had a good angelbad angel on my shoulder.
The good angel is like, “Damn, he actually gave her his immunity.
Now, you’re gonna vote him?
Shame on you!”
But then the other side was like, “Yes, we got him!”
But the jurors are over there already passing out and gasping.
PARVATI SHALLOW:They’re all in total shock.
Watching the jury’s reaction, I’m like, “Oh man.
We got a live one.
We did real good.”
OZZY LUSTH:I just was thinking:You’re a fing idiot!
ELIZA ORLINS:My mouth just dropped open at that point.
I completely cannot believe that he has just gotten himself voted out of the game.
OZZY LUSTH:My expression was sort of the flip side of Eliza’s expression.
She was flabbergasted, and I was just like, I can’t believe this is happening.
Somebody that potentially could win the game is basically surrendering the game right now.
ELIZA ORLINS:We’re all cracking up.
I’ve got my hands on my head.
We’re all like, “James, holy s!
You’re not the dumbestSurvivorever anymore!”
It was just unbelievable.
NATALIE BOLTON:Oh, Eliza is all over the place.
All over the place!
James is like, “Are you kidding me?”
They’re all just going nuts.
But Erik didn’t see any of that.
Or it didn’t register, or it didn’t resonate with him.
it was almost as if he was blind to all of it.
I did that on purpose.
James could not contain himself, Eliza is making really weird faces, Alexis is holding in a laugh.
Things are starting to be different now.
JEFF PROBST:The jury is laughing at him.
They were guffawing at Erik.
And he goes up to vote.
I think what Erik was thinking was, “But you guys don’t know the deal I made.
Butthey’rethinking, “You’re an idiot to give up immunity against those four women.
Those are four of the smartest women to ever playSurvivor.
You really think they’re trustworthy?
They just played their game on you.They’rethe ones that aren’t trustworthy!
That’s the con.”
PARVATI SHALLOW:There is a backstory to what I said.
And he’s like, “I’m the dumbestSurvivorever.
I’ll go down in history as the dumbestSurvivorever to play the game ofSurvivorever.”
So I took that title away from James and anointed Erik with it.
CIRIE FIELDS:I’ll never forget what I said while voting.
My mother always taught me that.
She told me that, and I’ll never forget it.
MATT VAN WAGENEN:I really liked Amanda’s where she was kind of speechless.
There was no red herring.
It was just, this is what’s happening and this is it.
ERIK REICHENBACH:The first vote was for me, but I expected that.
I was like, “That’s probably Amanda’s vote.”
But at that point my strategic was coming back online.
I was like, “This is either going to be bad or good.”
you oughta bring me your torch.”
ERIK REICHENBACH:I was like, s. The whole day was just the day from hell.
I didn’t go all the way.
It wasn’t this amazing fun experience the entire time.
It’s gets really hard, really fast.
It was such a euphoric feeling, just pure elation and otherworldly joy and happiness.
And I think all of us felt it, because we pulled that off.
AMANDA KIMMEL:I was in shock and I was ecstatically happy.
I couldn’t believe that he did it.
And that it worked.
I think it’s awesome when the team is greater than the sum of its parts.
So when he is getting voted out, I’m thrilled.
It’s a very benign definition: doing things to receive a certain outcome, basically.
And also as I was prepping for the show, I wrote “Final Four” across my wall.
Why I didn’t think I wanted to win the million, that’s another conversation.
But I put final four.
The whole thing I came for was to be final four and here I am."
But I was ecstatic!
I was like, this is incredible!
I was relieved to be out of that day from hell with them just emotionally destroying me.
So it was a mix of emotions.
The real understanding that I lost it all didn’t hit until much later.
Everybody thought I was going to win it.
I won the first immunity, I won the second immunity.
I thought that was kind of funny knowing the results ahead of time.
I had told my parents too what had happened and they didn’t believe me.
They did not believe that I would make it to the final five and then give up immunity.
They just thought I was pulling their leg or hoaxing them.
The night of that episode, we watched it from the hotel.
When the episode was airing, Eliza was watching Twitter as people came in with all their commentary.
A lot of people were talking about it online and James just kept giving me drinks.
A lot of that night turned into a blur afterwards.
I don’t think I ever told him that, either.
But I felt kind of conflicted.
I felt sorry for Erik.
So I didn’t think that I was being pegged as some evil person.
Okay, interesting."
PARVATI SHALLOW:In that moment, my role wasn’t to be kind at all.
So I had to do what I had to do to get that plan moved forward in the game.
But I feel like there is an opportunity for kindness after one leaves the game.
The first time Erik handing over his immunity aired on TV was certainly not the last.
At this point, it is likely the most-airedSurvivormoment ever, meaning Erik has to relive it constantly.
But in doing so, it has changed his perspective of the event and his infamous decision.
They just showed you."
And I have to be like, “No mom, they’re just showing it.”
This happens all the time.
You venture to do the right thing, and instead you fall in the mud.
MATT VAN WAGENEN:He was a super fan and he became a part of theSurvivorhistory.
In a way, he was looking for that, and he got it.
I really don’t, even now looking back on it.
I can’t really take it back or fix it or do anything about it.
It’s in the past.
And Iamridiculed, but it’s almost okay at the same time just because of how it played out.
Because what I started to really understand is how sophisticatedSurvivoris, from a game point of view.
I don’t think I appreciated at the time what those four women did.
I think we labeled it a really good move, and then everybody called Erik the dumbestSurvivorplayer ever.
And I don’t think that does either of the parties justice.
I don’t think Erik was a dumb player.
I think Erik played a great game, and he got outplayed.
And I don’t think anybody fully appreciated how well those women played that.
These four powerful, smart women pulled off the greatest heist in the history ofSurvivor.
MATT VAN WAGENEN:I feel like that was the beginning.
It was like a stingeveryone was playing their parts.
It was impressive to watch.
I don’t know if I’ve seen anything quite like that before.
ELIZA ORLINS:It’s a thing of beauty to watch.
I mean, how that didn’t win the Emmy, I don’t know.
It’s just so epic.
That’s what makes the show so much fun to watch.
And that showed this game is about nothing other than social relationships.
But if we can persuade him to do something unthinkable, we can beat him.Social.
This was when everybody woke up and realizedSurvivoris a social game.
Now we all say, “It’s the ultimate social game.
Blah, blah, blah.”
But up until then, there’d been lots of ways people had won.
Lots of different winners.
But I feel like that moment was the end of innocence.
Suddenly the gloves were off and there was no going back from season 16.
So, in the end, what was that life lesson?
I don’t care who else is telling you what.
If it ain’t Jesus Christ himself, don’t go with what other people plan.
That gut instinct, when it says, “Don’t give up your necklace.
That’s the craziest thing ever.
Who cares about redemption?”
Listen to that before you listen to other people.
He was just a young kid that was a hugeSurvivorfan and had never really been anywhere before.
All the sudden you put him on a show and he’s left with all these girls?
The guy had no chance.
Can I pull this off?
Can I do this?"
I can always draw on this situation to think, “I can do it.”
PARVATI SHALLOW:For me the life lesson is, anything is possible.
OZZY LUSTH:The life lesson is to always question people’s motives.
ELIZA ORLINS:I think that it was a life lesson to not be so trusting.
I don’t think Erik has a dark side.
What is their motive?
Why did they want me to do this?"
And if you’re free to find that answer, then you’ll have the clarity you seek.
ERIK REICHENBACH:If any life lesson came out of this, it was that failure is human.
Failure is what we do.
You’re going to fail.
And you’re going to fail hard sometimes.
The lesson is not, don’t do that again, or be weary.
I’m not going to stop trusting people.
I’m not going to stop believing that people have good intentions.
You have to be flexible.
You have to bounce back from it.
And they hold it in themselves for years.
This is what happens.
You have to bounce back from it.
You have to realize, you will make mistakes.
You will look like a buffoon.
You will look ridiculous sometimes, but it’s going to be okay.
Maybe other people learned different lessons.
Or they’d get really bitter and dark about it.
