“I literally ran like a slow-motion movie and jumped into Matt’s arms.”
You go onSurvivorto win.
Sometimes, though, winning can make you lose.Frannie Marinlearned that the hard way during her run onSurvivor 44.
Frannie Marin on ‘Survivor 44’.Robert Voets/CBS
Does Frannie regret going for the gold in those competitions?
Was she surprised to be next on the hit list?
And what was her reunion like with Matt at Ponderosa?
Frannie Marin and Jeff Probst on ‘Survivor 44’.Robert Voets/CBS
We asked the 23-year-old research coordinator all that and more the morning after her televised ouster.
She also shared an unseen story that you have to see/read to believe.
Watch the entire interview above or read it below.
Frannie Marin on ‘Survivor 44’.CBS
We were like, why is everybody so anxious?
Why are we so confused?
Why can’t it just be Danny?
Frannie Marin on ‘Survivor 44’.Robert Voets/CBS
And then Heidi was going around and making the energy more anxious.
That conversation was probably 10 minutes before we left for Tribal Council.
So, I was like,Yeah, last plan is the best plan.
Frannie Marin on ‘Survivor 44’.Robert Voets/CBS
Let’s go back to that immunity competition where you were separated into two groups.
You won immunity by being the last one standing in your group.
I mean, Dalton, we were up there 45 minutes.
I was thinking abouteverything.
[Laughs] Of course it crossed my mind.
You have all these people saying, “We can’t keep him around because everybody loves him.”
But I was not actually that concerned for him.
Yam Yam is kind of on the outs.
He’s just had his name thrown out.
He’s feeling like he’s on the bottom.
Matt has been doing a really good job of integrating himself socially.
So I looked at the layout and I was like,I think that Matt could be okay.
There comes a point where I’m like,you gotta hold yourself up.
And I thought he could make it through the vote.
So it crossed my mind to drop out.
It would not have been subtle.
But you know, that’s a whole other can of worms that I opened.
God, I cried forhours.
At Tribal, I became aware.
I was like, Oh crap, this is going downhill.
This is going to happen.
I literally put my head in my hands and I came up and I cried for like four hours.
So, yeah, that was very difficult for me.
At the time, I don’t even get to talk to him!
I don’t get to hear him say, “Frannie, it’s okay.
I don’t blame you.”
So I blamed myself for days.
And it’s something that now, looking back, I just feel proud of myself.
But everybody would’ve said, “Oh no, you fell and yousaidthat you dropped out.”
The only way to prove that I knew I could do it was to do it.
And I’m proud of that.
What was the reunion like with Matt at Ponderosa?
Tell me about that because we don’t get the Ponderosa videos anymore.
Sometimes people are devastated.
But I ran up the boardwalk and I was like, “I’m giving everybody hugs!
We’re here to have a good time!”
And then we talked until like 4 a.m. and it was so amazing.
I mean, literally two dorky magnets.
We cannot separate from each other.
It’s such a beautiful thing.
I was like,Hang on, I’ve got a good week at Ponderosa with Matt.
This is an excellent honeymoon for us!
I don’t have to be like, “Oh no, I’m embarrassed.
I don’t have my makeup on” around him.
We’ve been to that low point, and everything is just uphill from there.
But I don’t know, Dalton.
You make it work.
Love finds a way.
I’ll tell you, the romance acceleratedrapidlyonce we were both a little cleaner.
How is that working?
Oh, we’re doing long distance, but Matt is such a great guy.
He’s so kind.
He’s so patient and he’s the best person to do long distance with.
I feel like we just communicate so well and we’re making it work.
It’s just between us.
No one else will know.
It’s just between us.
Your third individual challenge win was on the tacos reward contest.
You think about when you go in to playSurvivor: What things might make me a threat?
What threat management do I have to do?
I never once thought that I would have to deal with challenges being my threat management point of concern.
They can’t get it off.
I told myself: Don’t win the first immunity.
And then I did that.
It’s so much better to be taken.
I didn’t feel like I needed that as much as other people did.
So I would’ve been fine to get picked or not get picked.
But in these challenges, something turned on in me where I just loved it.
I just loved competing.
I could not help myself.
Especially that challenge was so much fun.
I was cackling the entire time.
She’s a beast.
She’s a challenge dominator"?
It’s so crazy.
I completely surprised myself.
And I’m like,Okay, well that’s a big compliment I can’t be mad about.
That whole sequence is silly upon silly upon silly.
The fact that the idol was fake just makes it all better.
She told us that the first vote was a unanimous vote against Maddy.
She did not tell us about the Shot in the Dark plays.
She did not tell us about the bird cage situation.
And she had a poker face for all of it.
Come the merge, all of that information comes to light.
She’s like, “Oh yeah, sorry, I didn’t tell you.”
I’m thinking to myself,Oh my gosh, Jaime’s thinking more than I thought she was.
And she can really lie very well.
I see you right through you.
We all stood around and laughed about it, and then that made us look so silly.
In the early days on Soka, Claire and I really wanted to aqua-dump.
Like, this is a rite of passage.
So we asked [a producer], “Can we go poop together in the ocean?
We promise we will not talk about the game, we’ll not talk strategy.”
So literally we ran naked into the ocean and we’re pooping.
I’m, like, batting my poop with my shoe.
And then a drone comes and is watching us from the air.
I was like, “Not here!
It was so funny.
I mean, we wept from laughter.
It was a good aqua-dump initiation.
It was a baptism of sorts.
I’m so bummed that wasn’t the EW deleted scene for that week.
I was like,I don’t think I could be concerned about this one making it.
Who was part of your endgame after Matt went out?
That’s a great question.
I was very destabilized after Matt went home.
And then the next day we have the next challenge, and we vote out the next person.
I think in a longer game, I would’ve had more time to build relationships back.
I really, really wanted to work with Kane.
I was not interested in this Ratu-Soka thing.
I was like,This is boring.
I think you know what’s going on and I respect you and let’s work together.
So, something with Carolyn.
I don’t know.
It got away from me.
Would you play again if they invited you back?
I would relive every single moment.
I would do it all again.
I would do it tomorrow.
I would leave this Zoom call and do it right now if I was asked.
Alright, go get on the plane!
I’ve got my bags packed.
