“It hurts and I’m not too proud to say that.
How does Maddy feel about being the first person voted off this season?
Would she have workedwithBrandon instead ofagainsthim had he not told everyone about his birdcage key?
Maddy Pomilla of ‘Survivor 44’.Robert Voets/CBS
And what happened out there that wedidn’tsee?
We asked the 28-year-old charity projects manager all that and more.
you could either watch the entire interview above or read it below.
The Rotu tribe of ‘Survivor 44’.Robert Voets/CBS
Also confirm to check out our Q&A with themedically evacuated Bruce Perreault.
And then I get there, and I just had this feeling like,Well, I’m here.
I’m not going to not play the way that I wanna play.
The ‘Survivor 44’ cast.Robert Voets/CBS
I have a differentSurvivorphilosophy than anyone I’ve ever met.
But holy crap, the waste of potential.
I’m not too proud to say that.
Is it better or worse for your mental psyche that it was just by one single vote?
I’m not dumb.
My name was never brought up.
I was working with Kane to deflect my name anytime it did come up.
So I knew I was good, but I also wanted to play the game a certain way.
The way I playSurvivor, it’s the difference of rock climbing versus free solo rock climbing.
That’s how I wanted to play the whole game.
I was going to get up the wall with no ropes, and the exposure is gnarly.
If you get up, then you get up, and if you don’t, then you die.
And that’s exactly what happened.
I’m kind of at peace with it in a weird way.
Yeah, I like that you picked the rock-climbing motif considering what happened to Matthew in this episode.
He needed the rope!
And I know that.
So Brandon asked me later, he’s like, “Did you see me find the idol?”
I was like, “The second time?
Like when you hid it under leaves?”
When inSurvivorhas an idol ever been found under leaves?
But I was like, “Yeah, of course, Brandon.”
I’m just candid.
There’s no way around it.
Brandon and I were going head-to-head the whole time.
Oh my God, we were like two alphas.
He’s an alpha, I’m an alpha, and we were just at it all the time.
I gotta keep him close.
I actually [originally] wanted to go for Matthew.
Matthew’s a wild card.
And this comes back to how I got out.
Matthew’s a wild card.
I’m a wild card.
I saw that dude.
I was like, he is messy.
I don’t know how to play with him.
Brandon is an old-school player.
I knew how he was thinking even though our personalities clashed.
I knew what he was thinking.
I knew how he was gonna play.
Ididn’tknow how he was gonna play.
Because the way I am again, for better or for worse there’s not a lot of nuance.
[Laughs]Like, if you’re not with me, you’re against me.
I was gonna get one of them out at the first Tribal first chance I had.
So then tell me about the Shot in the Darks.
Does that help explain why Matthew played his?
Is that what was going on with him?
And then what the hell was going on with Jaime?
Okay, so this is the breakdown.
There was a presumed male alliance, and a presumed female alliance.
And then there was a secret alliance between Kane and I where we watched out for each other.
Kane’s different, I’m different.
We’re gonna work from the outside inwards and we’ll take care of each other.
So, Jaime was sort of the outlier.
Love Jaime, but that’s just how it was.
And again, I thought this guy was a wild card.
I need to know what’s going on with him.
So I was clocking him all the time.
When it comes to the vote, it was a clear vote for Jaime.
I don’t know why it looked like it was for Lauren.
I just couldn’t do it.
Even though Kane was my alliance, I was like, “I don’t want this.”
I wasn’t scared of Brandon, I wantedother peopleto be scared of Brandon.
So I figured, okay, let me attempt to get Kane to vote with the girls.
I had to flip Lauren because she was working with Brandon on the side.
And then I would be the only person that had a connection with every single person there.
If you have a crazy plan and itdoeswork, then you’re a genius.
And I knew going in I was walking a tightrope and it just happened the way it did.
So Kane was your closest ally?
Yeah, it was Kane.
I first started with Lauren, because I knew Lauren was working with Brandon.
If she won’t bite, then I’m not doing this.
So I go to Lauren and you see that I take a stab at freak her out.
I’m like, “He is messing with you.
He’s lying to you.”
But it’s like,No,I’mmessing with you.
I’m lying to you.She was paranoid and she told two people about her advantage.
She told me and she told Brandon.
So I was like, “Okay, Jaime, they are lying to you.
We have to be tight right now or this is not gonna work.”
And then I was like, “Let me get Kane.”
I knew he was gonna do whatever I wanted to do.
I respect Kane so much.
Well, guess what happens?
He’s gotta go first.”
And now I’m walking up to him with this plan.
He was the one person I didn’t want to tell.
I only needed Jaime, I only needed Lauren, and I only needed Kane.
But Kane was gone doing an interview.
So this all happened.
It was a clear vote for Jaime and then I flipped all of these people in 45 minutes.
So it’s even crazier.
What seemed so insane to everyone watching was even more insane in person because there was a live Tribal.
Matthew got up and whispered in Brandon’s ear something and I threw my hands up.
I was like, “See Jeff, the male and female alliances.”
Like all this BS, cause I’m working with Kane and Kane’s sitting right next to Brandon.
So I’m like,If he heard what Matthew said, it won’t be an issue.
Kane will tell me if we need to do something.
I couldn’t hear.
I was sitting far away.
And they didn’t show that.
That’s crazy that they didn’t show that.
And then we went and voted.
So I knew again it was just Brandon and I facing off.
I was calling his bluff.
I knew he’s an old-school player.
I’m gonna play my idol."
Like, he’s not too precious about it.
But I was thinking,This dude’s certain that Jaime’s going home.
This guy is an old-school player.
He’s not gonna play his idol at the first Tribal.
It’s never happened inSurvivorhistory.
It won’t happen tonight.Whatever Matthew has said to Brandon is probably about Jaime and not about me.
So I’m probably fine.
Now I’m also a huge nerd aboutSurvivorand I’ve racked my brain about this a million times.
What Ishouldhave done is split the vote.
One for Matthew, one for Brandon.
Well, that’s the thing aboutSurvivor.
I would’ve blown that place to smithereens.
I mean, I was like “Down with Ratu!
I want out of this tribe!”
