‘Survivor: San Juan del Sur’ interview: Kelley Wentworth on clueless players, rice problems, working with Dale

Before “Survivor: San Juan del Sur” began, we really liked both Kelley Wentworth and her father Dale as contenders. We have had her coming in second place before the season! Both were knowledgeable about the game, and seemed sharp enough strategically to understand how they would navigate through some tough times pre-merge when neither was an obvious physical force.

Unfortunately for Kelley, her potentially-good spot in the game was spoiled by something that has doomed other players in the past: The dreaded tribe swap. She ended up going from an alliance to being on the bottom with her dad, and she was surprisingly even voted off over him, when it looked like he would be the target going into to Tribal Council.

Last week, we got a chance to chat with Kelley about her time on the show, having to play with a bunch of people clueless about “Survivor,” and some of the early dynamics at Hunahpu with the dreaded rice.

CarterMatt – So I guess we have to start with this: What happened?

Kelley – I’ll break it down for you really quickly. Before the tribe swap even took place, I had been gunning to get Jon out with Jeremy and Natalie, even before Drew. We didn’t have the numbers to do it, because Missy would absolutely not vote him out and she also told him that I was coming for him.

So here we go with the tribe swap, and look who I am on a new tribe with! … That was pretty much it. [He] was not in my alliance, and it didn’t work out.

So let’s talk about the rice at Hunahpu. Who was the real responsible party for this: Drew, Missy, or someone else?

It was all Missy, my friend! Pretty much her only job at camp was to make the rice, and we were eating twice a day. So, we told her, me, Reed, and [some of the others] ‘we need to ration our rice. We’re eating too much! You should not have extra rice when you’re done eating, and no one wants to eat it because you’re full.’ I mean, have you guys seen ‘Survivor’? The answer is ‘no.’

It was Missy! It was her, and as you saw last night, she’s doing the same thing with Coyopa.

You bring this up, and it’s a good question. How frustrating was it for you to be out there with so many people who seemed to have no clue about the game?

It was absolutely frustrating. I could handle it if I was on a season with Cochrans or Russells or Boston Robs, whoever, some of the big names, and I got voted out. I’d think ‘wow, they really played better than me.’ But being on a season where people literally didn’t even know what One World was, I [had to be] like ‘that’s a season of Survivor.’ It was so upsetting. It sucks! I wanted to be out there with people who knew the game like me, and would want to work with me. Not people who were just floating along and doing what another person told them to do.

Let’s run through some other things. Was Keith ever really in danger? The guy seemed to do absolutely nothing, and yet was someone still safe.

No, see the thing with Keith is that he’s such an easy vote, and such an easy person to drag with you. He doesn’t strategize! I tried to go up to that man so many times and was like ‘hey Keith! What do you think?,’ and this is how stupid he was. Forgive me for saying it, he’s not a stupid person, but in the game he just didn’t get it.

I went up to him at one point when I was at Hunahpu and was like ‘hey Keith, what you think? How was Exile? Do you want to work together?’, and he was like (she does Keith impression here) ‘well you know, I’m actually working with Jeremy, Jon, Drew, and Missy.’ So I was like ‘you just told me your alliance.’ Are you kidding me? It was like talking like a bump on a log, trying to do strategy with that man.

So had the swap not happened, do you think that you, Jeremy, and the other women would have just picked off everyone else?

Yeah, absolutely. I again really wanted to get Jon out because he’s such a physical threat and Jaclyn is a tough woman, so I thought ‘they could be really difficult to go against.’ Missy wouldn’t vote for Jon, but I think we could’ve gotten someone out like Keith, and then me, Jeremy, Natalie, and Julie would’ve had the numbers to do whatever the hell we wanted.

But that did’t happen, and instead the tribal swap happened. I knew it was coming being a fan, I was like ‘today could be the day.’ I didn’t anticipate it being three couples [on Coyopa]; that was just awful.

You said on the show last night that you really wished you weren’t on the same tribe with your dad. What was it that made that so difficult?

It wasn’t just being with my dad; I think it was just being with a loved one, period. You watch ‘Survivor,’ and honestly it’s a single-person game. There’s only one winner, and honestly it’s just too hard to worry about yourself and where you are in your tribe and who you’re aligned with, and then ‘oh, I have to worry about my dad, too.’

I could’ve voted him out, but I still wouldn’t have had the numbers and I knew that they were coming after me. It was just that the ‘Blood vs. Water’ thing is just so difficult, and I’d prefer to play again by myself because that’s how ‘Survivor’ is meant to be played.

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