The third-place finisher also says he almost gave away his immunity and went to the fire-making challenge instead.
What would have happened had Romeo taken Jonathan instead, letting Mike take out Maryanne during the fire competition?
We asked the third-place finisher exactly that shortly after the finale aired.
Romeo Escobar on ‘Survivor 42’.Robert Voets/CBS
And we had plenty of other questions as well.
Did anyone buy Romeo’s fake idol story?
Does he think that move helped or hurt him with the jury?
Romeo Escobar on ‘Survivor 42’.Robert Voets/CBS
Read on for more from the 37-year-old pageant coach.
ROMEO ESCOBAR:I knew I was losing.
I was mostly playing for second place.
Romeo Escobar on ‘Survivor 42’.CBS
So it felt good.
So the perception that people had about me was not necessarily reality, but it is what it is.
Did any of the votes surprise you?
No votes surprised me.
So I was just surprised by the results, but I’m thrilled for Maryanne.
I was basically playing for second place.
I knew, unfortunately, it was too late.
But again, I have no regrets and I always played the cards that I was dealt.
I had to play the game that I had to play, the second part of the game.
And that was at the bottom.
So I did the best I could.
Let’s talk about the game.
Perception is reality out there.
And that’s what caused me to be at the bottom.
But they didn’t show how close I was with Tori out there.
And Drea was like, “Wait, my number one is BFFs with my nemesis?
I can’t work with that.”
So she dropped me.
I was out of the eight.
But the funny thing is that she told me about the eight.
Me and Rocksroy will never vote for you.
You’re going to be fine.
“Of course,I’m going to be paranoid.
What am I supposed to do?
So I was paranoid.
So that’s what I did.
Unfortunately, the second part of the game, I had to play from the bottom.
Give me your feeling when you realized you had won that last immunity challenge.
Not because I was the biggest threat.
Lindsay was perceived as the biggest threat at that point.
And I knew that.
So my immediate instinct [was] to make it one more day.
And I knew my fake immunity idol would at least get me to four.
And number two was to prove to people that nobody carried me.
I sat myself in one of those final three seats.
It wasn’t immediately.
Because episode 4 was when I made fire.
I knew how to make fire and quick.
I practiced before going out there so my fire skills were good.
So I knew that I could put myself through fire and maybe beat somebody.
But then I got scared and I’m like, “You know what?
I’m not going to win anyways.
Even if I take myself and win fire, it’s a done deal.
And then I debated whether to take Maryanne, and it became an emotional decision.
Maryanne was always the most supportive to me out there.
I couldn’t cut her, and I felt better just bringing her.
Who would you have taken on at fire?
Because he never made fire around us.
We didn’t know his fire-making skills, so I probably would’ve taken on Mike.
Let’s say you had taken Mike’s advice and let him beat Maryanne in fire.
How do you think you do against Mike and Jonathan in a final three?
I probably would’ve got in second place with Jonathan sitting with me.
You will get zero votes and I will probably get second place.
And I’ll take that, so that was my thinking.
Because I kept telling people, “Why is Mike still in the game?
He’s voting out all his allies and you’re still trusting him!
He voted out Hai’s number one and you still want to work with this man?
Oh, you’re his number one?
Well, he’s going to cut you!”
I just couldn’t understand.
And no one was listening to me.
And then the other thing was, “Do you realize that Jonathan and Mike are like this?
I’m like, is anybody not seeing what’s going on here?
So I thought that I had a better shot with Jonathan sitting there.
Do you think you fooled anyone with the fake idol?
No, you guys didn’t.
And this is the proof in the pudding.
Well, Lindsay will tell you.
[ReadLindsay’s responseto that in her exit interview.]
And then Mike even made me show it to him.
He wanted to vote me off so bad because he had this father-daughter relationship with Lindsay.
And he went, “Well, let me see it.
I just want to see it.
I want to compare it to mine.
Hey, let me see it.
I want to see it.”
And I’m like, “Sure, Mike, I’ll show it to you later.”
I didn’t have it.
I had already seen what they looked like because I had seen Drea’s.
So I was like, “I’m just going to make one,” and I made one.
So I showed it.
I’m like, “Here it is Mike.”
And he’s like “Yep, that’s it, that looks exactly like mine.
So he’ll tell you, “We knew.”
No, you didn’t.
I was going to go.
You really think so?
So I was definitely going to go then.
Again, perception is reality out there so they didn’t understand why I was doing it.
“How dare you put me at the bottom?
I’ll steal your rice!”
You talked a lot about family members of yours not knowing about your sexuality.
What has the reaction been to you being a gay man coming out on national television?
I want to clarify.
I live my life out and my immediate family knows about me.
It’s just my extended family, the ones that live abroad that didn’t know about me.
But the response was amazing.
We love you regardless.”
It was just amazing.
And I’ll go even a step further.
But watching you, it just made me think twice and I’m going to love my child regardless.
I never want them to feel like we won’t accept them.”
The most touching message was from someone living abroad in Iran.
And I had no idea that they watchedSurvivorin Iran.
Watching you made me feel seen and made me relate.
And those messages really just made me feel like I wonSurvivoranyways.
I meant what I said out there.
I felt like I won the million dollars even though I didn’t.
