“I was in a daze getting off that boat.
Morriah and Justine gave me the warmest welcome, but I was just in the daze.”
“This has been a dream come true.”
Nneka Ejere on ‘Survivor’ 43.Robert Voets/CBS
Leave it to the affable 43-year-old pharmacist to exit the game smiling.
How does the Nigerian-Texan feel about her early ouster?
What was it like when she got to Ponderosa after being voted off?
Nneka Ejere on ‘Survivor’ 43.Robert Voets/CBS
And what happened out there on the island that we didnotsee?
We asked Nneka all that and more.
So were you pretty sure that Noelle was going home?
Jesse Lopez, Nneka Ejere, and Jeff Probst on ‘Survivor’ 43.Robert Voets/CBS
NNEKA EJERE:Honestly, at the time I did not think I was going home.
So when I said a 9.5, that 0.5% was me going home.
Yes, there were actually a few.
Nneka Ejere on ‘Survivor’ 43.Robert Voets/CBS
First of all, I knew that Cody and Jesse were not happy.
Cody was having a rough time.
He said he hated losing.
Nobody likes to lose.
I do not like to lose.
But also when we were packing up, you want to pick up everything to go to Tribal.
Noelle didn’t take everything, and I’m like, “Huh, that’s unusual.”
So those little things, but I just chose to not dwell on it.
There was no point.
We were living for Tribal, there’s no need to like start losing my crap at that point.
I was in two different places at the time.
One was, I really did not want to vote out Noelle.
I was impressed as heck.
Did you see her dive off the platform with one leg?
How do you see that and want to [vote her out]?
So there was that struggle.
Everybody was like, “Oh, Nekka and Cody.”
I came onSurvivorand I was like, I do not want to tell a lie.
If I give my word and I don’t keep to it, is that lying?
Things just paralyzed me.
I’m like, if I have made a commitment, I will stick to it.
Are you too nice for this game?
And typically, this is me.
I know the other side exists.
[Laughs]
That side has to come out if you’re gonna win this game.
[Laughs]But do not be deceived, that side exists.
I don’t know.
I’m not sure.
The other two, the tribe was like, “kindly, can you go do it?”
Because nobody felt comfortable in puzzles.
I do them, you know?
But for that one, yes, maybe because I’ve been the consistent person at the puzzles.
We won the first one and we just missed out on these two.
Personally, I’m big on accountability.
Don’t do this!
I remember holding a big piece and they were like, “Put it there!
And I was right.
That piece didnotgo there and that threw me off.
But I still owned it and maybe I should not have.
I’m big on accountability.
If I had said, “Well, not me,” then that would’ve been another lie.
[Laughs]
You looked like you were struggling on that Snake challenge.
I’ve done that challenge before and I struggled on it.
I know how hard it is.
What was that like for you?
I learned to swim to come onSurvivor.
I lost 20 pounds.
I learned to swim getting ready to come on the show.
The day before we left home was the first time I jumped off a platform into the water!
I got to the cage, I was done.
But that plan fell apart.
Personally, I know I sucked at that challenge.
It was hard to watch.
[Laughs]But it was just feeling completely just worn and depleted.
And then our snake kept getting stuck at the beginning of that last slide.
And that slowed us down a lot.
And it was right there.
It was an honor to hear him say that.
Last night’s episode was emotional for me, in a good way.
You know, I’m gonna try and get through it too, right here.
I was very thankful for that episode.
I thought it was a great episode for me.
And then to hear that.
Jesse and I had some really good moments on the island, just hearing his stories.
Jesse story’s is amazing.
Let’s talk about what happened after you got your torch snuffed.
What was it like when you got to Ponderosa and were greeted by Justine and Morriah?
It was good to see my last interview because I have zero recollection of that.
[Laughs]I was in a daze after the torch was snuffed.
It was good to see that I was smiling.
I’m like, “I hope I was.”
I think my heart was smiling, so it showed up my face.
But I had zero recollection of what I said there.
And then kind of getting back, I was in a daze getting off that boat.
Morriah and Justine gave me the warmest welcome, but I was just in the daze.
I couldn’t eat.
They brought me food and I’m staring at it like, this is hot food?
That was all we had.
That’s when it hit me.
The whole night, I was in a daze and it kinda went on from there.
So much happens out there and there’s only so much they can fit into the episode.
So what is something that went down that you wish had made it on TV?
I love the episodes that have been shown so far, but not much was shown of camp life.
The thunderstorm that happened, that wasn’t caught.
In a way, I’m glad it wasn’t.
In some ways, I wish it was.
And I wish that more of camp life was shown.
If you could go back and change anything about your game, what would it be?
If I could go back and change my game, I have asked myself this question so many times.
You keep talking about this other side.
That side is very, very outcome-driven.
It was such a huge honor to be on a show like this.
It would be a very different person that you would see and a completely different strategy.
I would not have held back or been afraid.
So coming back and not hesitating at all, I know it would be a very different game.
