‘Survivor: Cagayan’ exit interview: Sarah Lacina on Tony, Kass, and surprise vote

We’ve probably never been so confident about a player not going home in a “Survivor” episode, only to see them voted out 45 minutes later, as we were with Sarah Lacina last night. Maybe we should have saw some of the signs coming, such as her being the swing vote and feeling very powerful in the game, but we really didn’t until “Chaos Kass” herself started to talk about flipping. Even then, it seemed like typical producer misdirect to make a predictable conclusion more exciting than it really was.

It was sad to see Sarah go, even if it was in a fashion as dramatic as it was last night in between the switcheroo on Kass’ part and the immunity idols being played without them even being needed. But this did leave us with plenty to talk about with her in a call with reporters this afternoon!

CarterMatt – So going into this tribal council, the target that you guys were planning to vote out was Tony, right?

Sarah Lacina – Obviously you saw us talking in the water about voting Tony or LJ or Jefra, and we had all come to a conclusion as a six-some that we were going to vote out Tony. That was the vote going in, and I was just completely wrong about him not having an idol. Thankfully he pulled that out prior to the vote, and we were able to switch. Thankfully we had backup plans where we could say ‘the other one,’ because if we didn’t have that, we would have to say things out loud or just guess what other people were going to write down. We would’ve really been in a mess at that point.

When you started to see some of the votes coming in your direction, did you still feel like you were going to be safe? You had to think that if anyone was the swing vote on your side, it was going to be you.

It showed me being really confident that I’m safe and have all the power. There were also moments out there where I told the camera that this is a terrible position to be in, and today I’m on top, but tomorrow I won’t be. Because I was the one person that was going to make five people mad no matter what, and logically if it’s not logical for me to flip, how could it be logical for anyone else too, when they don’t have any prior allegiance or alliance to the other tribe?

When you were leaving tribal council, were you able to start to figure out why Kass would make a move, given that she had no allies at all on the other side? Was it just as confusing for you?

Right away there was shock, and I was trying to think about what just happened. When you got that part figured out, it was ‘but why.’ Right away I was thinking ‘there’s a valid reason why [this must’ve happened]. Let me figure this out.’ But the more I thought about it, it just made me angry. It was dumb. There was no rhyme or reason behind it. It was just an emotional decision, and it had nothing to do with strategy. I wasn’t going to let my emotions get in the way of a million dollars because I didn’t get along with Kass, but apparently she was willing to do that.

The one last thing that I’ll ask you about here real quick is Tony. What did you think about the way that he was lying to you and playing pre-game?

I didn’t see that at all. I was definitely blinded. I put my trust in him and I thought he put his trust in me. That’s definitely not how it shook out. Ultimately were we going to write his name down? Yes, but that’s after he sold me down the river for the ‘top five’ [comment] he had. He didn’t do a good job including me in that if he wanted to keep me close.

Are you going to miss Sarah on “Survivor,” and are you just as surprised as we were to have her doing the exit interview circuit today? Share your thoughts with a comment.

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