‘Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X’ exclusive: Jessica ‘Figgy’ Figueroa on Adam’s vote, a Taylor update, and Michaela’s actions

Last night’s “Survivor” episode was not kind to Jessica “Figgy” Figueroa. On the same night that she and Taylor made their relationship clear to the other members of the Takali tribe, she was voted out of the game in a 3-2 decision. It was ultimately Adam Klein who flipped on her and Taylor to make the move, and going into our exit interview with Figgy today, we had many questions regarding how all of this came about — including if some of Figgy’s own statements about her allegiance to Michelle played a role in it.

Also, we spoke about the Triforce, the current state of her relationship with Taylor (she’s definitely honest about it), and so much more.

CarterMatt – How are you feeling towards Adam right now? Do you hold any animosity?

Jessica Figueroa – I hate that guy! No, I’m kidding (laughs). I have no animosity towards Adam, and it was a brilliant move on his part. He had to make a move and it was either stay with us or go against us. Like Boston Rob said, ‘you’re either with me or against me.’ He was against us, so it was brilliant for him.

Look at you, dropping Boston Rob quotes a minute into the interview!

I’m a fan of the show! People don’t know that about me. Just because I dated someone on ‘Survivor,’ people thought [I didn’t get it], but I’m a fan of the show! I know my people.

Hey, you know who else dated someone? Boston Rob! 

Did you have a good sense going into that Tribal Council that he’d be voting you out?

Yeah. Definitely. As soon as we were leaving [camp], there was this weird energy in the air. It was super-negative, the rain was coming down, and I felt like I was going to go home. I only felt 30% good at that point and 70% awful. I had a very good hunch that I was going to go home.

Was there anything you could have done to cause him to stick with you, or was there something that you shouldn’t have done that you did?

Honestly I don’t think there was anything that I could have done. I buttered him up after the immunity challenge, and I asked him ‘who do you want to vote out’. I had to make him feel like he was in power — ‘who do you want to vote out Adam? We will do it. Taylor does everything I say, so we’ll do it.’ He said Ken, and I said okay. Ultimately, he flipped on us, but I did everything I could. I told him to have faith in me.

Originally, he wanted me out with the whole Mari vote in episode 2, but I had to still trust in him. At that point in the game, when you looked at Adam’s face when he voted me out, that was sincere sadness from him. I’d seen his reactions in the game, so it actually did hurt him to vote me out. Yeah, we’re not here to make friends, and we’re here to win a million dollars ultimately. But, you’re going to have to cut some throats and vote people off, and I was just one of those casualties.

On the show, we saw that the Triforce was you, Taylor, and Jay. Where was Michelle in all of this? Was she the fourth arm of the Triforce?

She doesn’t fall under the Triforce — she was just a number for us. I love her, but the fact of the matter was that she was a number to my alliance of three. Last night she was like ‘Figgy owes her life in the game to me, blah blah blah.’ At the same time there’s so much stuff you don’t see. Do I really owe you my life? I don’t think so. I was doing as much scrambling as she was.

So when the chips were down, you would’ve went further in the game with Jay than Michelle?

That’s a hard question, because I would have taken Jay as far as I needed to, but Jay and I both know that we would have cut each other’s throats. That was our friendship. We both sat down on a log on one of the first days and I said ‘it’s either you or me at the end of this, and one of us has to win,’ and he was like ‘okay.’

With that being said, we knew we were signing up for battle with each other. We were in a tight alliance, but at the end of the day if we had to cut each other’s throats, we would. Michelle was expendable, but Jay was like a brother to me out there.

Were you upset at all about Michaela cheering for the other tribe at the immunity challenge, or did you understand your reasoning? It seemed on the show like she just wanted to ensure the Millennials kept their numbers.

I understand her reasoning perfectly, and it was not so Millennials could keep their numbers. Let’s do some math here, all right? If you have a tribe that has four Millennials and two Gen X, you can go ahead and throw two immunity challenges. If the Millennials are going to stick together on Takali, we can throw one. But Vanua can never go to tribal. F–k all that. If she was really all about Zeke [staying in the game], she could’ve just thrown the first couple of immunity challenges.

The fact of the matter was that she did not want to see me or Taylor in the game. She wanted to send us to Tribal Council.

So Michaela was still anti-FigTails.

She was mainly anti-Figgy. Michaela is amazing in challenges and we’ve both been through a lot in life, but we’re both very headstrong. You put us up against each other, and we’re going to go at it. Nobody’s going to back down. That fight you saw [during episode 2], we fought for over an hour. We don’t stop until someone backs down. That’s who we are. She probably wanted me out, and that is what it is.

Do you think that your relationship with Taylor in the game was a net positive or negative? Do you think you’d still be there if it hadn’t happened?

That’s another tough question. I came into the game super-strong. I came in guns blazing, I was bossy with my alliance. If you go back to episode 2 where I was going to go home over Mari, Jay was going to be okay with it. He went to Michelle and said ‘it’s going to be Figgy tonight,’ and she was like ‘no.’ The fact that Taylor and I were together helped to keep numbers together. If we weren’t together on the ‘cool kids’ side, the numbers wouldn’t have been there. I think if I wasn’t with Taylor, it would have been easier to get me out at that Mari vote and I possibly would’ve went home instead of Mari. Taylor would’ve been like ‘let’s get rid of Figgs, whatever. We’ll keep winning.’ It would’ve been an easier vote, if that makes sense.

Taylor pushed me further, but in the long run Taylor was too much of a 12-year old boy who just had his first wet dream. It may be TMI, but that’s exactly what it felt like.

I always feel weird and awkward asking this, but what is the state of you and Taylor now?

The legend of FigTails has come to the end of its chapter. There’s island life and then there’s real life. There were a lot of things outside the game that I didn’t know about Taylor, and it led to us not being together. I’m very happy I did not get married, because we would’ve gotten divorced real quick. For the rest of that, you can find out on the reunion show.

What’s the biggest change you would make if you were to come back?

First of all, I will play again. I will redeem myself. This time I’m not going to pick a fool to have in my pocket. I don’t care about dating anymore, how about that? I’m over it. Figgy’s going to be single for life and focus on winning. This time around I’ll be smarter, on my toes, and not fall for anyone on the island.