‘Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance’ exclusive: Ciera Eastin on changing game, immunity idols, wanting to return

Due to Thanksgiving holiday “Survivor” exit press was delayed until Monday, but we were happy to dive into a lengthy chat about the game this morning with none other than Ciera Eastin! She was extremely memorable from her time on “Blood vs. Water,” and in this interview we got to learn more about how she tried to change her perception in the early going, what it was like working with Kass, and then also if she’d be interested in getting back into this again.

Before diving in, a reminder that you can read our full exit interview from earlier today with Stephen Fishbach over at the link here.

CarterMatt – After your first season, Jeff Probst famously went on and on about ‘that’s how you played this game.’ Do you think that some of his hype around you as a player hurt you going into this?

Ciera Eastin -Yea, that was funny. I definitely thought that a lot of things put a target on me going into the game, just my gameplay, Jeff saying that, and some of the hype that was going on after that season. But it had been a couple of seasons since then, so I was kind of hoping that there were bigger [threats] than myself like Kass or Joe. I was hoping there would be other people besides me.

Obviously everyone’s heard the story about you voting out your mom, but do you think that too much of a big deal is made out of that? You were going with the numbers so it’s not like you had committed the most shocking betrayal in the history of the show.

(Laughs) Yeah, and you know that was a lot of my strategy going into the game, trying to explain it to people. And I didn’t really need to explain it to a lot of people because they’re all second-time players, and they all know how the game is played and how the votes are voted. Everybody was voting that way, and I was just convincing them that I was not a threat and some of the things that I did do like going to rocks, I was like ‘hey guys, I don’t want to play the game that way. This is my second chance, and I want to play a little differently.’ I just wanted to go in and convince people that a couple of things about me had changed.

So what was going on with you in the early going on the show? Thanks to all of the craziness going on elsewhere we didn’t really see much of what you were doing.

We were constantly winning, so I never really got to see where people’s loyalties truly lied. I just had to go based on conversations that I had. Obviously I was very close with Kass, we had been since the beginning. The talk of the town (note: We’re really hoping that this is a secret Brice reference) was ‘Bayon strong.’ Even though we were separated into other tribes, everyone was like ‘Bayon strong,’ and at merge time we would get rid of all of the other Ta Keo players. We’ll let the Bayon hash it out. That was the talk.

Then when I hit the second Ta Keo tribe, which was the tribe that had Terry Deitz, me, Joe, Keith, Wentworth, and Kass, we made a solid five [with everyone but Terry]. That included Wentworth, who was a previous Ta Keo. That was the first time that I thought ‘these are the people I went to work with.’

Did your relationship with Savage start out tough, or did it start when he was randomly throwing your name out to be written down?

Part of the reason why it was such a shock to me is because we were close, and we had a bond at Bayon. We wanted to work together, and he was really the main guy saying ‘Bayon strong.’ He was the main guy. Then come time when I got reunited with him, he was like ‘Bayon strong, but we’re going to tell Spencer [to vote] you,’ then I was like ‘well that doesn’t seem strong.’ You have Woo and Abi and Wiggles, so why not tell them that? It really showed his loyalty; it was not to me, it was to the old Ta Keo members.

On top of that, there was a good chance that Spencer had a hidden immunity idol and I didn’t want to be the one going home. I didn’t mean for it to intentionally cut ties with me and Savage, but it did. I thought he would be upset about it but he was way more upset about it than I thought he would be.

Going into the merge, he freaked and we went and told everybody that I’m shady and that I’m going to turn on them and that I’m against Bayon. That’s why you saw me be like ‘whoa, that’s not true. Savage said this and this and this.’ I just had to defend myself, and I felt like it was an appropriate time to do that. It was just something that happened. We were close in the beginning.

So do you think Savage was the main reason why you, Abi-Maria, and Wentworth were sort of on an island after the merge? I know after that move Kass, in a previous exit interview, claimed he acted like a ‘turd.’

I think that is very appropriate for him. I wouldn’t give Savage as much credit as to say that he’s the reason people turned on us; I would say it was more Kass and Tasha’s fight, and I was just linked to Kass. Savage was definitely not happy, that’s for sure.

How was it playing with Kass? She’s somewhat similar to you at least in that she was very entertaining her first season, and came in here with this big reputation of someone who schemes and makes moves.

I think Kass was really trying to take advantage of her second chance. I never saw Chaos Kass until I saw the Tasha and Kass fight. That wasn’t really brought on by Kass … It was more of a misunderstanding and Tasha was the one who sat everybody down. Tasha really milked that. I’m not saying it was a bad thing; clearly, it worked for Tasha’s game. But, it wasn’t Kass being Chaos Kass. I think she really took advantage of her second chance. She’s just really smart, strategic, and kind; I don’t have anything bad to say about her at all. She’s great.

It’s funny because I said to Stephen earlier that I never imagined that I would be going into exit interviews talking about the weather, but here we are. How rough was that for you in the final days out there?

It’s so hard to explain to people. It’s miserable. You’re constantly shivering, and that makes your whole body tired from shaking. Not only that, but as far as the game goes, you can’t have conversations. It rained for days. We’re all within six feet of each other. We’re all there, huddled-in. It really impacts how the game is played. We didn’t have fire, and therefore there’s no food. Emotionally, physically, mentally it’s just bad. Stephen got really sick and we all felt really horrible for him because it was one of the worst times to get sick. Those few days really impacted everybody’s game.

Yeah, and I don’t know if Jeff makes that shelter offer otherwise! Did you hesitate at all to pick the shelter over immunity? I mean, you’re known more for your strategic and social game than immunity anyway.

We kind of all looked around at each other. We can’t speak, so we didn’t know [for sure] who was going to do what. From my [point of view] everybody looks at each other being like ‘hey, let’s get the shelter.’ It put a target on Joe and Keith because they were the only two that didn’t. A couple of people were upset about it and being like ‘you’re supposed to be a team player, but clearly you’re not.’ I know I’m not a challenge person, and so I knew that making friends and strategy were more important.

Honestly, I felt like Wentworth was a bigger target than I was, and I thought that she would go before I went, unless she had an idol or something.

Speaking of idols, did no one think that Jeremy had one, or that if he did, he wouldn’t play it for Fishbach?

I still thought Spencer had one, and we weren’t quite sure. I didn’t think Jeremy had one. There wasn’t much talk about him having one. I thought Stephen or Spencer had it, and that’s because I saw them looking a whole lot more than I saw Jeremy looking.

So as we start to wrap this up, how has your mom reacted this time to getting to sit back and watch your season?

It’s super-fun for her, more fun for her because ‘Survivor’ is not easy. It’s extremely hard, so for her it’s like she got to experience it without all the bad things. She spent a lot of time with my kids when I was gone, and obviously is someone who understands it and I can talk to which is nice.

Finally, any interest in going out there and doing this again?

I would love to go on again. I love playing the game, I like everything I learn every time I’m out there. It challenges [me]. I would love to.

So even if it’s another public vote, and you have to go through campaign season again?

I’ll do it. Bring it on.

If you do want to preview Wednesday night’s “Survivor” episode, head over to this link! Also, you can sign up right away to get some other TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)