Survivor: David vs. Goliath interview: Davie Rickenbacker on strategy, immunity idols, and more

Throughout the entirety of Survivor: David vs. Goliath, Davie Rickenbacker was a consistently-entertaining presence. He fought hard throughout the season, he had an incredible sense of enthusiasm about the game, and he could’ve easily won at the end. Yet, he was taken out at the final six on Wednesday’s finale due to him being such a massive threat in front of the jury.

New Survivor video! – Be sure to check out some more thoughts on Wednesday night’s finale at the bottom of this article! Meanwhile, remember to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube to get some other discussion and check out our Survivor playlist.

So what does Davie have to say about his time on the show, what he learned about himself, and also what he would have done if he had an option to play his final immunity idol at six? These are things we touch on in this new exit interview, which was conducted on the red carpet finale night.

CarterMatt – What do you take away from this crazy experience, now that you have a chance to look back at it?

Davie – I grew up as a nerd. I wasn’t sure how people were going to perceive me when I got out there. I said in one of the episodes that I hadn’t been around a lot of Caucasians in my life and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to open up to them like I could my black friends. But, I think that I did! That’s one of the things that I learned out there — just continue to be yourself, Davie. It doesn’t matter about race, sex, anything. People are going to accept you for you.

One of the things that I want to go back to is when you and Nick worked together in order for him to find that advantage — you created that great distraction so the Goliaths wouldn’t pay attention to him. It was hysterical, but it also worked! How much planning went into that?

You know, the reason I went out [to do the distraction] was because I thought everyone was going to watch him. So I got up on that rock, I saw all of them over there congregating, and I start twirling, which is a thing my fraternity does, Kappa Alpha Psi. But, I’m also a cosplayer and a big fan of The Walking Dead — I was in full Morgan mode! So, I knew they were going to 100% fall for that stupid trick. They’re Goliaths! They let their guards down.

Speaking of which, it seemed like when the Davids were all working together, you guys kept coming up with brilliant plans and moves to keep the group alive in the game. How did that eventually end up falling apart?

I don’t want to blame it on them, but Christian and Gabby just kinda took it away from us. I understood why Gabby wanted to do it, because Christian was getting all of the credit for things that she was doing, and I wasn’t even mad at her for it. I was more perturbed with Christian — you don’t really see it on the show, but I saw him as one of my closest allies if not my closest ally.

But, I also blame myself because I used to talk to Carl all the time about toning it down with Gabby. She needed a lighter touch. I should have been able to pull us all together, but that’s how we lost those numbers.

So this is something I’ve been thinking about a lot. Let’s say at final seven, you get another week added onto the life of your immunity idol. Would you have still played it at seven, or kept it around until final six?

100% I would’ve kept it. I thought Alison was going home anyway.

Now, the idol play that I did with Christian [earlier in the game] was 100% a callback to Jeremy Collins and Stephen Fishbach — I wanted to come off in the game like them, like great players. I’ve heard from them and they’re proud of me, and I’m proud of my game.

So you bring up Jeremy Collins. A really good player, and someone who came back to play Survivor and won the second time. I feel like you may have thought about coming back to play again at some point before tonight, right?

Absolutely. I think that if I play a second time, I would like to learn another lesson like I learned this time. With that being said, I don’t think I would play immediately. I would like to make some connections, fall in love, have some kids, and then I can go out there and play for someone. I was playing for my immediate family out there, but I don’t have a wife or any kids. I need something more that is going to give me more drive and until that happens, you won’t see me back.

Related – Be sure to check out some more Survivor finale interviews

Were you rooting for Davie on Survivor: David vs. Goliath? Be sure to share right now in the comments below! (Photo: CBS.)