“It’s not even a twist it’s a lie.”
Sydney Segal seemed to be in a pretty safe spot heading into the merge onSurvivor 41.
She was in the dominant alliance in the dominant tribe that hadn’t lost a single immunity challenge.
Sydney Segal on ‘Survivor 41’.Robert Voets/CBS
Or so they thought.
After Erika Casupanan smashed the hourglass, thereby flipping the results of the challenge, Sydney became vulnerable.
Then she became even more vulnerable when she came up just short in the individual immunity challenge.
Sydney Segal on ‘Survivor 41’.Robert Voets/CBS
But her desperation move came up short and she was voted out.
Ah, but how does Sydney feel now?
As always, she does not hold back.
You win the challenge and should be safe, but instead you’re stuck here talking to me.
With all that in mind, what are your thoughts on the hourglass twist?
SYDNEY SEGAL:I mean, it’s not even a twist it’s a lie.
We’re told one thing and then something else happens.
And I think it achieved exactly what it intended to achieve.
That challenge was meant for strong players to win.
And then that hourglass twist was intended to get a strong player out of the game.
But congratulations, CBS, for achieving exactly what you wanted to achieve.
And that was to get a very strong player out and keep a lamb in.
So I was exactly where I wanted to be socially, just in between two alliances.
So I was privy to basically 99 percent of the information.
And I hate to say that ‘cause I really, really wanted to work with her.
Walk us through that live Tribal after everything blew up.
I know there’s tons we didn’t see, so what went down as everyone was running around?
So as I was running around, I was sitting there like, “I hate my life.
I’m so f—ing tired.”
I want to go to sleep."
And people are so dumb.
They just think Naseer is going to play as idol, which obviously he’s not.
I’m gonna play my Shot in the Dark because I don’t trust anybody.
Why would I at this point?
So really, I just wanted to sleep and roll that f—ing dice.
So when you were huddling with Xander, Evvie, and Tiffany, what were those conversations like?
What were they telling you to do?
They were saying to vote Deshawn.
And it’s funny because I remember just not trusting Deshawn and Danny at that point.
And talking to Danny, he’s like, “You voted yourself out.
We were with you.”
And you saw Liana say, “You will know at Tribal that you’re safe.”
I already knew what was happening, but it was good to hear it from her.
So part of me was like, “I want to vote for Deshawn.”
But I didn’t, and the best move would have been for me to vote for Evvie.
But with that clique I was like, “Well, I’m my own fan.
I’m my best friend.
That’s what I don’t understand because I thought you were part of that clique.
You seemed tight with Deshawn and Danny, so why were they so keen to get you out?
Was it just that fear of Naseer playing his idol or were they closer to Naseer at this point?
Obviously he’s not going to play his idol.
So we were really close.
It was painful because he was extremely difficult to live with.
But the women were getting eliminated, and on my tribe I was close to Danny and Deshawn.
Me and Heather, no comment.
And then Erika actually did kind of have my back when Deshawn was being a little snaky about that.
I was in the men’s alliance.
That was my ideal.
I was like, “Yes, I’m down to get a chick out!”
Why do you say “no comment” on Heather?
Because we are not friends.
Why are you not friends?
Because she was very holier-than-thou, I would say.
She’s just such a know-it-all.
you’re able to’t say anything without her [making] the conversation about herself.
I would say, like, “Oh, pretty rock.”
And he says if you stab a guy with a toothpick you’re going to go blind.”
So I’m just like, “I wanna go f—ing kill myself.”
But I’ll take 50 percent… no, absolutely not,20 percentof the blame for that failed relationship.
I’ve wanted kids ever since I got my f—ing period.
So I’m like, “This is great.”
But I think a lot of the times it was disparaging.
Don’t come at my parents.
Maybe because I’m way more f—ing mature then you ever f—ing were.
You’re like a 52-year-old child.
I’m like, “Okay, congrats.
But I want kids younger.”
My dad always says it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
Were you aware Deshawn and Danny tried to throw that one challenge?
I just couldn’t do it.
You were pretty upset with people after being voted out.
Where are you know with it and with them?
It’s actually kind of an up-and-down experience.
When I think of the season 41 cast, I’m like, “I hate you all.
Like, literally get out of my life forever.”
But then when I pick them out individually, it’s like, “That’s family.”
It was surprisingly an up-and-down experience considering I’m not one to dwell.
You know, people say, “Oh, it’s the game.
You’re hungry, you’re tired,” but you will never escape your essence.
And it’s like, “Oh, you’re so f—ing tired?
The sun’s down for 12 hours.
So if you’re not sleeping for 12 hours, figure it out.”
What was your general game strategy?
We never really got to see much of it because you all kept winning.
Yeah, my game strategy was to be liked byalmosteverybody.
Because when you’re liked by everybody, you become an automatic target.
And that was evidenced on the beach.
They’re great orators.
They’re just really gregarious people.
And, I mean, IthoughtI was.
[Laughs]Whatever, I like myselfwaybetter.
But that was my plan.
I would rather be that person the alliance was begging.
And that’s where I was.
And I’m like, “Yes!”
That was further validation I was exactly where I wanted to be.
So my gameplay was fantastic.
But the game decided that it wanted to get interesting people out.
So the monster in the game is really just the monster of killing f—ing good personalities.
Were you different to the players than you were to the camera?
Did you have two different faces, or was it the same Sydney?
I was the same.
This is you in real life."
So maybe that’s fortunate or unfortunate, but yeah, this is me.
There was no escaping it.
I wasn’t saying “F— you!”
to people to their faces.
One thing people didn’t see was I was actually really nice.
And I think I was almost, like,toonice.
There was that side of me.
And I think it’s maybe the Italian maternal side, where it’s just like, I feel.
So, like, f— my life.
How was that on the island?
I couldn’t believe that it wasn’t really a thing.
There was one night where someone’s like, “Yeah, someone farted.”
But I’m shocked it wasn’t a thing.
I actually got a phenomenal edit, which is shocking, ‘cause I had phenomenal things to say.
So it really did capture everything I thought it would capture.
I kind of wish they showed that because it was sick.
Me, Danny, and Deshawn, we laughed and laughed and laughed.
We were just dying, dying, laughing.
Deshawn was like, “Sydney, Tiff, shut up!”
So I said, “Let’s just have one steal a vote.
Let’s not have two floating.”
He seems like a pretty stand-up guy," which was true.
So me and Tiffany both stuck with the plan because we wanted to work with each other.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
