Survivor: Ghost Island interview: Chelsea Townsend on why the blindside plan fell through
In our weekly exit interview (this time compiled by email), Chelsea opens up about why she was a target, how much danger she knew she was in, and also who she wanted to make it to the final three with at the end of the game.
CarterMatt – Do you think being so good at immunity challenges is what put a big target on your back?
Chelsea Townsend – I definitely think that was a big factor. Dom and Wendell needed to take out challenge threats to be able to secure those wins for themselves down the line. I was in their way to accomplish that. I also had solid relationships and was a big strategist. I think overall they saw me as a threat, and got nervous when they realized how hard I was playing.
When Donathan started dropping truth bombs at Tribal Council, did you think at that point you were going home?
Absolutely! The only way our plan to blindside Wendell was going to work was if two things happened. We played our parts in pretending like he wasn’t our target and that Donathan was so he wouldn’t get spooked and play his idol. Also, laurel and Donathan deciding they were ready to make a big move. I felt hopeless after Donathan stirred up tribal because I looked back at Wendell and could see the expression on his face. I was positive he was going to play his idol. I was honestly shocked he did not play it. I felt my hope come alive again that I just may pull off a huge blindside, but unfortunately Laurel decided not to pull the trigger.
Is there anything more that you could have said to Laurel and Donathan to convince them to make a move against Dom and Wendell?
You name it, I probably made it part of my pitch to them. I came at them from every single angle of game play on why it was significantly more important to take out Wendell when everything was set up perfectly for an epic blindside. Laurel had his trust. We were playing our cards right around camp. It was all coming together perfectly. I honestly can not think of a single additional thing I could have said. I literally pushed my agenda on them nonstop for two days haha. It was clear Wendell and Dom were the biggest threats not me, and nobody stood a chance against either of them if they made it to the end. Donathan was ready to make a move with me, but he was a pair with Laurel and she was hesitant. To me it was obvious, and playing with a cast of superfans I thought it shouldn’t even be a question of what to do. Unfortunately, I guess it just wasn’t enough because it wasn’t guaranteed security down the line, even though I was their better choice if they wanted to win.
What would your ideal final three have been and why?
Ultimately I hoped to end up next to Laurel and Angela at the end. Angela was very loyal to me and we were extremely close. I knew I could trust her to the end and probably beat her based off strategic game because she had been left out of so many votes. I also wanted to take her because she was so loyal and I was/am so fond of her. I wanted to take Laurel because everyone knew her to be a goat. She was very passive throughout the game and basically just rode Dom and Wendell’s coat tail. I knew a cast of big Survivor fans wouldn’t respect her passive game play.
If you were to play Survivor again, would you play differently and if so, how?
After my edit I’m not so convinced I would be invited haha but… I would love to play Survivor again! I would definitely play a similar game to how I played this time, but I would use what I learned to just amp up my game play. I played really hard and am very proud of how I played.
Related – Read our take on this past episode of the show
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