Survivor: Game Changers – Malcolm Freberg exit interview: Twist reactions, idols, and hopes to return

Going into this Survivor Game Changers Malcolm Freberg exit interview, the prevailing emotion we had was disappointment. It wasn’t over Malcolm or his game, but the crazy way that he went out. We already made it clear that we weren’t a fan of a twist like two tribes going to Tribal Council together this early in the game. He couldn’t strategize with the other tribe ahead of time and figure out some sort of escape plan. Because of JT’s miscue and Tai’s idol play on Sierra, he found himself going home far earlier than anyone expected.

Malcolm’s always been a great interview over his three seasons, though admittedly it would’ve been great to talk to him a month or two down the road as opposed to right now. Take a look at what he had to tell us in our exclusive one-on-one about idol hunts, why Tony had to be voted out when he did, and if going out because of a twist makes him all the hungrier to play again.

CarterMatt – I can’t imagine you’re doing all that great after having to watch that again.

Malcolm Freberg – I’m okay. I mean, you watch yourself screw up the endgame in the Philippines and then you watch yourself go into Caramoan and blow two idols on a single vote. This time, I’m watching it and I’m like ‘what the hell else do you want me to do?’. It makes it easier to sleep at night. I’m sure some of the pundits will come up with ways I could’ve avoided that, but I don’t know what the hell else you could’ve expected me to do there.

You make a really good point, because that was my next question — how much do you attribute this to luck as opposed to if there was anything else you could’ve done? With a guy like you, I always want to see you have some control in the game.

I agree with you. I’m usually the guy who’s like ‘there’s always a way out’ and ‘there’s always something you can do.’ I always pick terrible alliance partners. In Caramoan, Corinne wrecked me because she ran her mouth too much. This time, it was JT. He and I were much closer than they showed on the show. After the swap, we were literally bromancing on the beach. We were spending every second together. We were as close to a heterosexual love story as you can possibly have on Survivor.

Then, he ends up getting me booted. I can’t explain his thinking. Freaking alliance partners.

Let’s get into that with JT. This is something I’ve wondered all season — do you sense that he’s trying to play harder as a way to show everyone he’s a strategic mastermind? Is he trying to conquer the ghost of Heroes vs. Villains?

I think there’s an element of that, especially after what happened with Heroes vs. Villains. Even before that, I think there’s this ongoing thing on the internet about how Stephen ‘carried him’ through Tocantins and I think he’s always had a chip on his shoulder about it. I’ve never had this conversation with him — this is just my take the morning after I watched him ruin my game.

I think there might be a part of him that is trying to prove that he has the strategic chops. Heroes vs. Villains was a time where he did something ridiculously dumb, and he did the same thing this season. He tried to play too hard, too fast and didn’t think things through.

Well let’s do a hypothetical situation here because it’s fun and why the hell not. Let’s say Tony is there on your tribe last night. Is there a chance that he gets targeted over you?

I’d say it’s close. Me and Sandra both laughed about [the vote] going into Tribal Council last night, since we both assumed that one of us would be getting four votes — five if you count Hali.

My understanding on why it was me was for challenge prowess. Sandra’s not going to help anyone win a team challenge. There are a lot of tribal immunities left to play for. Tony’s good in challenges, but I don’t know that it’s definitely Tony. I think that it may be more of a coin flip between me and Tony than it was between me and Sandra.

How much idol-hunting was going on before you left to Tribal Council?

I had been very slow looking for idols, which hurt my heart for days and days. I instigated it early on in the game that if you’re playing too hard, you’re going home. Tony was so frantically looking early on in the game that it put a huge target on his back.

Then, when we got to Nuku, there’s that great scene with JT where he stranded us. He either had the idol or he was going home if not (laughs). There wasn’t a lot of frantic looking until the two hours before we went to Tribal Council. Then we had a massive team hunt, JT included, tearing apart the woods looking for an idol.

Just for my own curiosity — how long did JT strand you guys out there for? On the show they made it look like he left you out there to die.

A long while — like, 45 minutes to an hour. It was probably ten minutes to swim in, because we were far out [in the ocean]. We realized [how long he was gone], but we kept thinking ‘oh, he’ll be back soon. He can’t be there forever.’ He freaking stayed there forever (laughs).

How close were you with Sandra? How often was she discussed as a target?

I think that’s what JT wanted. Me and Sandra were pretty close. She was one of the people I was closest with from Mana, but it never came across on television.

You have to take what JT wanted to do in the context of us potentially going to a normal Tribal Council. He has to put the target on somebody except himself. That’s why he was so gung-ho about it, saying ‘we gotta keep the tribe strong.’ I think he believed Aubry and Michaela would go along with it because Aubry’s great in challenges and Michaela’s a monster.

One of the things I’ve learned is if someone tells you something, you say yes. You don’t ever disagree with someone to their face. So if JT says he wants to get rid of Sandra, I’ll tell him we’re getting rid of Sandra. If we had actually gone to a traditional Tribal Council, I don’t know if it would’ve gone that way.

I know when you’re out there paranoia’s probably swarming, but can you prepare or anticipate something like the twist we saw last night?

We just assumed — the term ‘Game Changers’ had been shoved down our throats so d–n often. We knew that there were going to be twists after twists after twists. You can’t anticipate something that hasn’t happened before, but at first I was fine with it! Our tribe was on cloud 9 after we got back from the challenge. You should’ve seen the smile on Varner’s face. He thought he was toast after he blew a huge lead in that immunity challenge, but when we got back he was bouncing around saying ‘I’m good!’.

All you can do is try to react to [the twist] as best you can. After the challenge, Aubry and I sat there all afternoon trying to think every scenario possible, trying to make sure nothing went south. Obviously, we didn’t quite pull it off.

Once again hypothetically, who did you want to go far in the game with?

I was really trying to meat-shield it in the beginning, and that was the endgame strategy. I thought, when looking at the cast on day one, it was set up really well for me. There were all of these huge names sitting around.

Then, Tony wrecked himself. There was no way we could keep him around. The entire tribe was against him, and I’m not going to put my neck on the line on day six to save Tony. Then, Caleb went home. I would’ve loved to go to the end with Caleb. Nobody’s going to vote for Caleb to win. After those two guys, who I wanted to go far in the game with were gone, I had to keep readjusting. JT fell into my lap and we hit it off, and he tells me that he’s extremely close with Brad. Perfect! Those were my next two meat-shields.

I know it doesn’t replace a million dollars or anything close to it, but is there any solace in the fact that you’ve now been a part of two of the best Tribal Councils ever in between this and ‘hold up, bro’ [from Caramoan]?

(Laughs) Oh god, there was ‘hold up, bro’ and now this one. I don’t know what it is! I can’t go quietly into the night. If you’re going to go out, you hope that it’s in a blaze of glory with fireworks going off everywhere.

With that, it’s hard for me to say that I like the idea of going out at all. Not sure I can get there with you on that.

Does going out in this way make you more or less interested in going back and playing again?

I hesitated and mulled it over before coming back for a third time. I was obviously was thrilled for the opportunity, but I had to make sure it was the right time for me in my real life. A lot of things fell into place.

After the way this just went to hell — I don’t think I ever got to play! I was just out there being social and setting up my endgame. I hadn’t even done anything yet. This feels like there is unfinished business. I know getting a fourth chance is a rare thing, but if I get the offer you can expect to see me out there again.