Survivor: David vs. Goliath interview: Bi Nguyen on her injury, gameplay, desire to return

Bi Nguyen found herself in a difficult spot at the start of Wednesday night’s Survivor: David vs. Goliath episode — she had badly injured her knee the day before in the challenge, and she realized that she had to leave the game since as an MMA fighter, her health is of the utmost importance. As we talk about in this exit interview, it’s frustrating in a lot of ways to call this a “quit” just because it’s not as though she wanted to leave the game. She just felt like she had no real choice.

In our most recent CarterMatt exit interview, Bi talks about the decision to walk away, how she didn’t for-sure know until the last minute that this is what she was going to do, and also the state of her game prior to her departure.

At the bottom of this article, you can also check out our exit interview video analysis featuring thoughts on both Bi and Natalia — if you enjoy this, be sure to subscribe to our CarterMatt YouTube channel so you don’t miss any other updates. Also, take a look at our Survivor playlist for more.

CarterMatt – Let’s start by getting the obvious question out there. How are you doing now?

Bi – I’m good. The knee is not 100% — it’s about 75% right now. I was doing really good, and then I saw the episode and got sad all over again.

Did you think that something like this happening out there was even a possibility?

Definitely not. Even though I’ve torn this knee before and I’ve had previous injuries, I never thought that I’d have any problems.

As somebody who has broken bones and had injuries before, when something happens to my body I’m pretty clueless sometimes as to the severity of it. Yet, when you first injured yourself, did you have a good sense at that point how serious it was? 

Yeah. As soon as I went head-on with Alec and I stood up and it was unstable, I was like ‘no, no, no.’ I tore the same MCL not that long before coming on the island; maybe it was a few months before. It was the exact same feeling that I had in training when I tore it.

At that point, did you realize on some level that you would have to end up leaving the game?

I actually was holding on to any hope that it would get better. That’s why it took me a full day to make that decision, when we finally got on the mat. I was just like ‘let’s see how I wake up,’ because sometimes you wake up and it’ll be better, and sometimes you wake up and it’s inflamed. If it’s inflamed, that’s your body telling you that you are on the brink of a big injury. And I woke up inflamed.

I know you were working with a few different people on the David tribe. Did you tell them about your decision before getting to the mat for the tribe swap?

I talked to the whole tribe the night before and I told them that I was thinking about it. We all shared some cries and some hugs, but I told them that I wasn’t going to make my final decision until I woke up in the morning. I was taking everything into consideration. I did not want to leave obviously, especially not like that. I felt like I was in a good position and didn’t want to leave my team behind. I just decided ‘let’s wait until the morning.’ I didn’t even know that I was going to make that final decision until I woke up.

In getting to your game leading up to the injury, it seemed like a lot of targets were being pointed towards Gabby on the David tribe. Was that accurate per your experience?

What people don’t know is that Gabby and I had an alliance and a relationship, so when I failed to reassure her and she joined the other side for the blindside [of Jessica], I was very upset. Then, Nick pointed the finger at Gabby. At that point, we were gunning for Gabby.

Entering Survivor my plan was to play it low-key and make them underestimate my social game until it was time to make moves. I was ready to make a move on Gabby.

So you felt pretty confident that she would’ve been the person going home.

We were just getting the gears turning, but with me and with Nick pointing the fingers at her, I think I would have had a lot of assistance in getting Gabby out. But, she is a strong player and she is strongest when she is paranoid. You never know.

Nick’s an interesting guy because it first, it felt like the targets were pointed towards him. Did Gabby doing what she did shift the target away from Nick, or was he still someone who was on your mind?

Nick had been on my mind from the beginning. I think I was one of the first people to say ‘we really don’t know Nick’ the first couple of days into the game. He didn’t do anything at camp and he didn’t really open up until we heard about his mother. The moment he did that, the target was immediately off his back and onto Lyrsa and Carl. But, he definitely dodged a bullet on the first night with Pat being gone and he redeemed himself. That kind of woke him up.

I think he’s a really strong player, especially after seeing what went down with the [Jessica] blindside.

So did Nick try to approach you in order to have some sort of secret alliance with a name?

No he didn’t, and I’m kind of like what the hell?! (Laughs.) I think he didn’t because I was kind of the workhorse on the team. Nick didn’t care; he said on the first episode ‘anything to avoid work.’ I think he felt like he wouldn’t have related to me and I wouldn’t have been the best choice to bond with.

Were you and Pat close, and did him leaving impact your game?

Not really. Me and Pat had a mutual respect because it was me, Pat, Carl, and Elizabeth basically putting camp together. We bonded through that, but I never really got to know Pat. The only thing that you really need to know about Pat is how hard he fought to stay in the game when he was on the stretcher. I was sad to see him leave because of that, but we didn’t really have a bond.

Were you aware of anything that Davie had going on with the idol?

It’s funny, because we all knew he was looking for the idol, but a lot of us didn’t know that he had one … but he was alone a lot. Davie started on the island alone and doing a lot of stuff like fishing. We knew that he was looking for something.

I don’t know if it is hard for you to play hypothetical situations out in your mind because of the way you went out, but do you think that you would have done well on any tribe after the swap?

I think I would’ve done well, because the Goliaths have a lot of faith in themselves. They wouldn’t have seen me as a social threat. I think after the merge I would have issues because of the individual immunities — I think I would’ve won a lot of them and would have posed a physical threat. I was planning to make some big moves after the merge, so I could’ve had some trouble after that … but I definitely would’ve made it to the merge.

Who was the closest person to you out there?

On the island, I was the closest to Gabby and Jessica.

So are you still yearning to come back and play this game again?

Yes! I mean, look at the circumstances — I hate this happened. I really wish that I had gotten to play like I wanted to. I was going to coast a lot until I started making big moves. Then, my injury happened and it really sucked. I would’ve preferred to go out playing my hardest than not getting to play. I would love to play again, and I think I would do great.

I’m curious what the reaction was to you leaving the game since the show aired. I know that it’s called a ‘quit,’ but I kind of hate that word since this is clearly something you didn’t want to do. Has everyone been pretty understanding?

Everybody has been so loving and so supportive. I was concerned because a lot of people aren’t athletes and wouldn’t empathize with my situation. I think that throughout the time I have spent on Survivor, with the challenges and my personality, I think people have gotten to know that I’m tough. If I say I can’t, it’s really bad. I’m glad that this is the case and that everyone has been showing me a lot of love during this tough time.

Related – Check out more Survivor interviews, including the latest via Natalia!

Did you want to see Bi Nguyen last a little bit longer on Survivor? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! (Photo: CBS.)