Survivor: David vs. Goliath interview: Natalia Azoqa on blindside, Alec’s motives

Natalia Azoqa is one of those Survivor players who goes into the game to play hard — and in a lot of ways, she did! She had a lot of close allies on Survivor: David vs. Goliath, but ultimately fell victim to something that many others have over the years: The tribe swap. She got a bad draw and was blindsided when Alec, one of her former tribe members at Goliath, betrayed her. Her reaction to that created a classic show moment as she was so visibly angry upon her exit from the game.

In our latest CarterMatt exit interview Natalia talks about this vote-out, why Alec may have made this move, and how she actually had a road to working with Natalie moving forward if the tribe swap didn’t happen.

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

CarterMatt – I mean this in the best way possible, but I liked how mad you were about being voted out because it showed how badly you wanted to be there. Some people aren’t like that. With that in mind though, was it hard to go back and re-watch it?

Natalia – Yeah, and I didn’t think that was going to happen to be honest with you. The whole day, I was like ‘I’m feeling good,’ but about an hour before the show I started to get really angry. I’m not going to lie — when I get really angry, I start crying. I was really on the verge of crying and I was like ‘why am I crying right now?’

I was just so mad. I got robbed my chance of winning Survivor! You know what I mean? It’s a game — I don’t respect his decision and I’m sorry to say that. It is a game and I signed up to go home at any of the twenty spots. It’s what I signed up for, but it’s unfortunate.

Let’s try to piece this together because it was crazy in so many ways, especially since it seemed like Alec didn’t even have it figured out until Tribal. Did you know going into Tribal that this could even possibly happen?

Yeah, I felt it. You start to see my paranoia early on at the Vuku camp. I really felt like I was going to go home. I didn’t have much trust with Alec — it was more on a personal level than the game. I had tried talking game with him on the Goliath tribe numerous times, and it really didn’t go anywhere. That’s a sign on its own. When I got stuck with him on Vuku, at first I thought it was awesome. This was my one chance to build this connection that I’ve been trying to build this whole time. I already had Kara as a number.

I just don’t think he got me. I think the aggression threw him off, but that’s just my personality. When I saw what was happening at Tribal, that just solidified those thoughts.

Could it be that he was just threatened by you as a player? I spoke with Jeremy last week and he suggested that many of the women, other than Natalie, at the Goliath tribe were running the show. Did he possibly feel that way?

I think that might have something to do with it. Alec was very close to Jeremy and he was very hurt by him going home. We talked about it on Vuku; I didn’t want Jeremy to go home. Alec and I, again, had something to bond over, but he wasn’t sharing his thoughts on anything past his annoyance towards Jeremy going home. Maybe he took Jeremy’s thoughts about the girls being strong and thought that this was his time to shine. Maybe he was doing it for Jeremy. I don’t know. He definitely got me out, and he didn’t like that I was being strong with him. Maybe that confirmed those suspicions.

Was there a lot of nervousness about Davie or Elizabeth having idols before that vote?

Yeah, for sure. I kind of remember [Alec and Kara] talking about putting all the votes towards Davie or all of the votes towards Elizabeth. I was like ‘guys, we have to assume that one of them has the idol.’ Alec didn’t want to assume that one of them had the idol. What in the world game are you guys playing?! This is Survivor, someone has an idol!

I thought for sure that someone like Elizabeth had to have an idol because she was playing hard. Then, when I heard her talking about putting my name down, that just made me go even more crazy. I’m like ‘guys, we had to split these votes.’ I thought that if Elizabeth didn’t have it, Davie had to have it, and he did.

The tribe swaps can be such a frustrating thing, because you’re one of those players who got officially screwed over by it. I have to assume that, if there was no swap last night, by no means would you have gone home.

That’s absolutely correct. I went from being very safe to feeling exposed. My relationship with Alec was something I was finessing and it was a slow and steady pace. I didn’t know if I could ever really get there with him in the game. I didn’t know if I could build that bond, but I was working it and I definitely had a lot of connections. Yet, in the Vuku tribe I only had Kara and Alec, and then there were Davie and Elizabeth. I really didn’t have a lot of time with them.

It seems, based on the edit, that had Goliath went to another Tribal, Natalie would have been leaving.

To be honest, I think so — unless she worked some more of her magic.

Let’s say that you didn’t have Alec on the Vuku tribe and you had Natalie there instead. Would you have had an easier time working with her than Alec?

It’s funny, because I actually said this a little earlier today. I think it would have been interesting to have Natalie on that tribe; I think we could have made something happen. Honestly, the only reason I say this is before I voted Jeremy out at the Tribal Council last week, I spoke to Natalie and I said ‘why would I ever want to trust you in this game? You know I’ve been talking bad about you and I know that we don’t get along. What is my reason to keep you in?’ She responded by saying ‘Natalia, I’m Goliath strong. I am here for this tribe and I don’t care if we had a beef before. We are moving on.’ I just thought after that ‘wow, she is really telling me the truth right now!’ You can tell when someone’s being real with you and that’s the difference [between her and Alec].

With Natalie, I felt very secure with her answer and I would have liked to see how we played the game after that.

With that in mind, is there a way that you end up going really far in the game with Natalie alongside some of your other people like Kara and Angelina? What was your desired endgame?

I was willing to go with the flow in the beginning. I just wanted my two girls with me because we were so strong and we know that we had each other’s backs. We could be open and honest and I definitely wanted to keep Kara and Angelina close to me. I definitely did not want them gone anytime soon.

As far as the rest of the camp, I was really trying to be friendly and I was willing to work with almost anybody, including Natalie. After that conversation, I was a lot more open to furthering my game with her.

How much do you replay that immunity challenge last night in your head?

God, it was so close. The whole time, I’m blindfolded at that table with Elizabeth and we were each holding our own bar. We just waited, and the whole time I’m hearing ‘Kara’s falling behind,’ because you hear Jeff narrating everything. I was like ‘God, why are we so far behind!’ We were a strong tribe and I got so mad, but I calmed myself and told myself my time was coming.

Honestly, I think the reason we could not get it was because Elizabeth was over-adjusting and I felt it. Kara had a plan where she would say ‘Natalia go up, Natalia go down’ or ‘Elizabeth go up’ or ‘Elizabeth go down.’ I could hear her say, for example, ‘Natalia go up,’ but I could feel Elizabeth pushing down as she told me to go up. That slight over-adjustment is enough to make it so you don’t win that. I can’t say anything because it’s the middle of the challenge, but it was frustrating for sure. Also, I’m blindfolded! I’m used to being in charge and I like being in charge.

You got to play with some members of the David tribe, but based on first impressions alone was there somebody out there you would’ve wanted to play with?

I was willing to work with almost anyone on the David tribe. I didn’t have really any preconceived notions of them. The two people pre-game who I actually had good vibes with were Angelina and Kara and I actually ended up working with them. I felt comfortable enough to bond with anyone.

Based on your frustration over being voted out, I’m assuming that you want to go back and play again?

You’re correct in assuming that. I would love to go back again — in a heartbeat.

What does Natalia 2.0 on Survivor look like? Are there things you learned about yourself this time that you would apply moving forward?

I think really trusting my instincts. The second I see that someone is not giving me what I need from them, I need to just move on. Stop pushing the button and play against them or fake it and play with them. Just don’t push them, because my craziness does come out really quickly and I need to hide that. With some people I can show that, like with Kara and Angelina, but it’s about knowing who I could be honest with and who I couldn’t be honest with.

Let’s take that knowledge and go back to the episode last night. What would you have done to ensure that you could stick around for another three days at least?

I think I would have played it a little cooler and stop freaking out, which is hard to do in that moment. I think if I had kept asking Alec why he wanted to vote Davie out [that could’ve helped]. I kept asking and he couldn’t give me a real reason. That’s why I kept shutting him down and saying that it was Elizabeth [who was the target]. He couldn’t give me a legitimate reason. Had I just not shut him down so much, and maybe just listened and internalized my thoughts, maybe I could have been safe.

Related – Check out our other Survivor interviews, including our talk with Bi!

Were you rooting for Natalia to make it far on Survivor: David vs. Goliath? Share right now in the attached comments! (Photo: CBS.)