‘Survivor: Worlds Apart’ exclusive: Joaquin Souberbielle on bond with Rodney, challenge-throwing, tribe dynamics

It was interesting to watch the journey of Joaquin Souberbielle on “Survivor: Worlds Apart,” largely in that we really saw his status in the game change almost on a weekly basis. We would think that he was in pretty grave danger of going home, and then suddenly look as though he was in a pretty good position.

Both of these happened in a way on Wednesday night’s new episode. Had he kept his distance more from Rodney, it felt possible that he could have made it to the merge. However, this closeness caused Mike and his alliance to feel somewhat paranoid, and he was targeted / taken down despite it seeming at first like the immunity challenge was thrown to get rid of Joe.

Today, we had a chance to speak with Joaquin a little about his time on the show, his friendship with Rodney, and how much he knew about the plan to throw that challenge going into the episode.

CarterMatt – So what was it like for you watching the episode back last night, knowing that you were going to be sent home?

Joaquin Souberbielle – The first episode I was cringing, I had anxiety, I was like ‘somebody get me a Xanax.’ As the episodes go by, you get better and better and you’re like ‘whatever.’ Last night obviously I went home, I knew there wasn’t going to be a lot of time for my friends and family to watch because let’s be real, they’re not watching after I get voted off.

So what ended up happening was that I ended up getting like 50 or 60 people [over], we got catered food and and all watched together. Having everybody there made it a whole lot easier knowing that I was going to go home. You know what? It went pretty well. Honestly, I can’t complain. Production is doing a great, great job.

So do you think your depiction of your relationship with Rodney last night was accurate?

Yea, that’s my boy! We’re the Smash Brothers. Unfortunately we only got one episode, because I’ll tell you right now, if we got on there three, four, five more episodes, ratings would go through the roof! Me and him together were just unreal; the laughs, the jokes. We had everybody laughing. Still today and forever, he’s my boy. He came down and we spent New Year’s together, we popped some bottles and martinis, painted the town red, caused plenty of trouble. He’s a great kid.

Let’s go back to the early part of the game, since after the first episode, it seemed like you were a dead man walking out there. Yet, it seemed over time that the target shifted more to Max and Shirin, and even if White Collar [had gone to tribal council], you would’ve been safe. Was there something you did to help yourself in that spot?

It wasn’t me. I really didn’t have to do much. Shirin and Max being themselves, with all of their crazy antics, were enough for myself and Tyler to basically take a step back and be like ‘see them? They’re crazy right?’ ‘Oh yea, definitely crazy.’ … ‘How about we work together?’ ‘All right, cool.’ That’s how that bond grew, and every single day, the crazier and crazier that Max and Shirin got, the stronger and stronger that Tyler and I got. That’s basically how it went. After day three, we were basically inseparable.

Max got very lucky that I was a f*****g challenge beast and I won all of the challenges afterwards, because if not, Carolyn was sending Max home. She wanted nothing more than to send Max home. Eventually, she got her way, and luckily for Max it happened day 10 instead of day 5.

I’ve talked about this a lot lately, but did Max and Shirin being big fans of the show cause you to view them as a threat? Or, was it more that they just wouldn’t stop talking about it?

There’s one thing of loving a show and watching all of those seasons, and then there’s watching the show and being able to say what happened at one time with an exact person, or know exactly what town every single person lives, or what outfit every single person wore for 30 seasons straight. There was a big difference, and they both were on the other side of that line. So me, Carolyn, and Tyler would kind of look at each other … Carolyn’s a superfan too, but not nearly as crazy as Max and Shirin were. I had rarely seen the show, and I just thought that this was like psychotic behavior. (Laughs.)

Let’s go to the tribe swap, since watching at home, it felt pretty darn clear that the Blue Collar tribe was a hot mess. Is that something that you sensed almost right away?

The first thing I happened after I woke up the day after [the swap happened] was Mike pulling me aside and say ‘yea, I can’t stand Rodney.’ Sierra then pulled me aside and said ‘Dan, I hate him, this piece of s**t.’ Dan then pulled me aside and said not to trust Sierra. This is all within the first four hours of waking up the first day with them! It was a disaster. They really, really did not like each other.

Could you guys hear or see at all Mike talking with Kelly during the immunity challenge?

No, we couldn’t hear or see him. I didn’t know. I kind of knew that they were going to throw the match, because Rodney had come up to me and told me ‘we’re going to throw the match,’ and I told Tyler. I tried to tell Rodney there’s no reason to throw [it], but it didn’t go that way. He reassured me not to worry, that Joe was going to go home, but obviously they switched the script up on Rodney. They blindsided him just as much as they blindsided me! I feel bad for them because this kid’s an animal and I can’t wait for the next episode. He’s going to flip out, for sure.

Did anyone come up to you and say ‘hey Joaquin, you really should throw this challenge?’ You’re white collar! You should be good at this wort of thing.

I’m so upset. Nobody wanted to sit out, and I was just like ‘okay, I’ll sit out.’ That would have been a walk in the park … I was like ‘I’ll never sit out again if I’m sitting out this,’ and so I sucked it up and sat out.

Is it weird in a way that you made this great friend on the show, but this same friendship is basically what made you a target?

It definitely did. Mike was upset that I had stolen his best friend, and he was out to get me because he couldn’t stand to see us together.

Did you really spend any time at all looking for the idol out there? Nobody’s found it on the Blue Collar beach yet.

There really wasn’t. I went and looked for like ten minutes and then I was like ‘ah, f**k it. The beach was like a mile and a half long. There was no way I was going to find this thing. Part of me felt like somebody already had it.

Were you worried about finding it and then automatically being a target?

Not really. I probably wouldn’t have told anybody other than Tyler. I just didn’t believe that they [didn’t have it], having Dan and Mike [on the tribe].

So just one last thing for you: Is there any one thing you would want to change this season, like the neutral box or some other stuff that happened along the way?

Obviously the neutral box was my biggest regret. It sent my girl So home, which was such a disaster because I love her. That was it; I should’ve just went with the honest box, because [had we done that], if we lost we probably would’ve just sent Shirin home instead.

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Thanks to Joaquin for taking the time to chat with us today! Also, you can head over here to read our review of last night’s show, or sign up to get some other TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)