‘Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance’ exclusive: Andrew Savage on surprise vote, who spilled the beans to Kelley

In real life, we probably have very little in common with Andrew Savage. He is an alpha-type leader, a commanding presence, and even a physical force. In many ways, we were more excited to speak to him following “Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance” because of this. It’s a chance to pick the brain of someone who perceives the game in a different way than the majority of players we speak to now, and he is also someone who really left in dramatic fashion after Kelley Wentworth played a hidden immunity idol. There was a lot of material to mine!

We knew going into this, however, that there were going to be many things that we would not get a chance to ask Andrew just because of only having so much time; hopefully, you find this interview fascinating to read regardless as he sheds light on some moves, including how Kelley knew to play the idol on herself.

CarterMatt – I want to start by going back to some of the interviews you did before the game and even during the campaign, where you said you felt almost haunted by what happened in ‘Pearl Islands’ with the Outcast twist. Now, you’ve come back and you were hit with another twist in the immunity idol. Has this experience made that haunting even worse?

Andrew Savage – I was haunted for 12 years from ‘Pearl Islands’ and the Outcast twist. I let myself down, and I was not okay with how it ended, how my adventure of a lifetime ended. I had those demons. So I went to Cambodia, and after all the tribe swaps and all the flips, I will tell you that I have defeated the demons. I have no regrets. I gave everything I possibly had into the second chance. I poured my heart and soul into the game. I didn’t go as far as I necessarily wanted to, but I absolutely have no regrets. The [great] thing about that is that I didn’t let myself down.

I played 12 years ago, and honestly, I did not think that anybody remembered me. Then, the fans voted me back on, and it was astounding and humbling to me and I felt this connection, this commitment. I had to absolutely deliver. I had to do two things: I have to deliver for my own well-being because of my own desire to kill these demons, but I also had to deliver for the fans. I poured my heart and soul into the game. So I went out a little earlier than I wanted in a blindside, but I am completely at peace. It’s a beautiful kind of tranquility, and I know it may sound silly because it’s a TV show, but it’s not. It’s the adventure of a lifetime. I have this wonderful peace now. I couldn’t be happier, I couldn’t be more fortunate, and I just feel indebted to ‘Survivor’ and the producers and Probst and the fans. I’m in a good place. We should’ve split the votes last night and we didn’t, but I’m completely okay with it.

Since you just mentioned the vote-splitting, let’s go into that. Why didn’t you try to do that last night? Was it discussed?

[We] had split the votes last time between Kass and Ciera, but it takes a couple of hours to do that and it is exhausting to figure out who is going to vote for who. Plus, it’s risky. If someone screws it up you have a bad result and somebody [else] goes home.

We got together, Joe and I, and said that Fishbach has to go because I know his resume and his desire to make a big move. I can feel it. [I said] ‘let’s get him out.’ Jeremy [then] was like ‘let’s think about that.’ He made a good case, and said that Wentworth is working with Ciera and Abi, and Wentworth is the only one with a chance to win immunities. Therefore, [he said] ‘let’s get her out now and we’ll deal with Fishbach at next tribal, because Ciera and Abi, we can get them out at any time because they are not going to win any immunities.’ It made sense, and then we went around the group and we asked who was likelier to have an idol.

You have to keep in mind at that time that there were two idols [in play], Jeremy and Wentworth. They didn’t tell a soul. Joe and Tasha and Fishbach, they spent hours looking for idols. They scoured the island for clues. After every reward challenge we looked through all of the stuff we got. There was nothing. Everyone thought that there was a 99% chance that Wentworth didn’t have the idol. We also thought that she wasn’t going to expect she was going home. She wasn’t going to expect it because Ciera got half the votes last time.

Unfortunately, somebody tipped off Wentworth, and let her know she was going home. It wasn’t malicious, it wasn’t gameplay. It was a dumb mistake, and that’s why she played her idol. Otherwise, she would have been blindsided.

So do you know who it was that tipped her off?

Ciera tweeted it, it’s out there. It was Joe, unfortunately. (Note: Twitter evidence below in response to the great David Bloomberg.) Again, it wasn’t gameplay, it wasn’t malicious. He just made a mistake. Joe and I are close friends, and I know he feels horribly about it. I was just like ‘dude, don’t give it a second thought. It was a mistake. It’s horrible that I got bit in the butt by it, but mistakes happen.’

So at tribal when you saw Wentworth use her idol and you were just waiting for the votes to reveal who was going home, I imagine you had a huge pit in your stomach. Did you know in that moment it would be you?

When she played the idol there is this wonderful gif in the universe now that is absolutely hysterical. It’s of Jeremy when she pulled out the idol, and then of me. It’s a deer-in-the-headlights look … What was going through my mind was when she played the idol, I flashed that deer-in-the-headlights look at Jeremy and thought ‘dude, I’m so sorry, you’re going home.’ I thought I was the old guy; why would they possibly go after me? Jeremy’s this incredible physical specimen, he’s much younger than me. Jeremy was flashing that same look at me and was thinking the same thing. (Laughs.)

Probst does what he does, which is brilliant in that it drives some drama. ‘Wentworth, doesn’t count.’ ‘Wentworth, doesn’t count.’ Then, it FLASHED through my mind of Ciera voting for me at this past tribal council, and I had that ‘oh, s–t’ moment that it could very well be me. I was thinking ‘maybe Wentworth didn’t vote for me’ … but my heart stopped when the vote came in for Savage.

What happened over time with Abi-Maria? One of the moves that you and Tasha did that was so great at Angkor was getting her on your side, but then after the merge she’s suddenly not with you anymore, and we haven’t really seen much explanation why.

I’m not sure what happened. Abi and I were great on Angkor. We were very loyal, very trusting. Then we get to the second tribe swap, and then Abi, she has this thing about Woo because he wrote her name down twice. What I didn’t know until Kass’ exit interview was that Kass was gunning for me, and Abi was like ‘no, I’m not writing Savage’s name down,’ which I loved because we had a great relationship.

What surprised me after the merge was that I never talked to Abi. Abi never came up to me and Tasha and said ‘remember that promise that you made on Angkor that if I go with you guys, I can be part of the original Bayon?’ She never did that. I think that she just got comfortable with Kass, Ciera, and Wentworth, and didn’t have any interest in becoming Bayon strong, which really surprised me.

What was it about Stephen that you guys, even though you voted together at times, could never get on the same page?

Here’s what happened with Stephen. It happened really early in the game. It was all the way back on Day 1 at the Bayon beach, and he walked up to me like a little kid, star-struck. It was really funny. He was like ‘Savage, I can’t believe I’m on the same tribe as you, I’m a huge fan of yours from Pearl Islands, it was great, you held all of that weight on the sandbag challenge. It is an honor to get to play with you.’

He’s not a good actor. It was not genuine at all. I said ‘thanks,’ but all I could think of was that Fishbach is a great strategist, and he was setting me up for a fall. Then, he said ‘Savage, I’m going to go get some firewood,’ and he was gone for like 45 minutes and came back with two little twigs. I thought ‘wow, that’s interesting.’ So I went down the same back and came back ten minutes later with a huge amount of firewood. I just knew he was looking for an idol, which is totally fine, but it told me that at this point, Day 1, he didn’t care about the tribe. I’m old-school ‘Survivor.’ You build a shelter, find your food source, find your water, make the tribe strong. All he cared about was finding an idol which tells me he’s out for himself, which again is totally fine, but you can’t [make that clear to others], and Fishbach is also known for being this brilliant strategist and wanting to make big moves, and [for being regretful about not making one on JT]. I didn’t trust the guy. I was waiting for him to make a big move, and in my paranoid mind it was either going to be me, Joe, or Jeremy that was the target of his big move. That was the basis for my distrust.

Just a couple of quick things before we wrap up. First, is there any desire for you play again now that you’ve sort of freed yourself of those demons?

First of all, I don’t think they would ask because I had my second chance, but if they asked again it’d have to be the right situation for my wife and kids. I love ‘Survivor,’ it’s the way I’m wired. If they asked again it’d be an honor, but it’d have to be the right situation. I’d probably do it again, but I don’t think they’re going to ask.

Finally, one thing that I’m curious about with you is that in real life, I’m sure being a leader and being loyal and having strength are things that have made you very successful. However, at the same time are these things what hurt you in the game through two seasons? Do you think they make you into a threat?

I think there are a bunch of things that make me successful in life that hurt me in ‘Survivor.’ I’m loyal to a fault. I with [with me wife], we’ve raised our teen daughters [to] ‘be honest with yourself, be honest with your family, and don’t tell lies. Speak from the heart.’ I’m Scottish; I wear my emotions on my sleeve and I’m loyal to a fault. That’s not good for ‘Survivor.’ I’m really not built for ‘Survivor.’ Physically, I can go out for the challenges, I can build a shelter, do all of that great stuff. When it comes to being disloyal and lying, I can do it. Peih-Gee was not a friend of mine. I was happy to blindside her; she was mean to me and Tasha, so I actually enjoyed that. I have no ill will against Peih-Gee, other than that she kept telling us we were in the bottom and going home, and I was like ‘okay, turns out you’re going.’

The stuff that makes me successful in life, I’ve got a team of 16 at Yahoo!, it’s the loyalty stuff. Really establishing team relationships and caring about people and their careers and their families. That stuff doesn’t play out well on ‘Survivor.’ (Laughs.) It’s a tough game.

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