‘Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X exclusive: Jessica Lewis on drawing rocks, her David dilemma, and more

Jessica Lewis has the rare distinction now of being one of three people eliminated from “Survivor” due to a rock draw, with Katie Collins (“Blood vs. Water”) and Paschal English (“Marquesas”) being the other two. Seeing her leave in such a way was pretty devastating, and that was only amplified further by the anxiety that she had about before committing to her alliance and eventually drawing the infamous rock.

Today, we had a chance to talk with Jessica about being eliminated in this infamous manner, some of the moments that led up to that, and of course the Legacy Advantage that defined part of her time out in the game. We also really enjoyed hearing her talk about her dilemma with David, one where she felt very indebted to him but at the same time realized that she’d have a hard time beating him at the end of the game.

CarterMatt – Have the past few days helped you to recover from seeing [the rock draw] on TV?

Jessica Lewis – Actually, the sting’s come off over the past six months or so (laughs). Seeing it again was really hard, but I’ve had some time to process and get past it again.

CarterMatt – I saw what you posted on Twitter not long after the episode aired (see HERE); did it help you to have such a good sense of humor about what happened?

Yeah. You have to go into this game knowing that there’s no guarantee that you’re going to win. Everyone wants to win, but there’s no guarantee. You have to try to make decisions and moves that are going to help you in the game. My going to rocks would have ultimately helped me win the game if I had made it that far, because at that moment flipping wasn’t going to get me the win based on where I was because of my resume and what I needed to do moving forward. I couldn’t lose any of the loyalty that I already had and I needed to maintain those relationships. I certainly didn’t have a whole lot of love on the other side. I was really putting a lot of my game to chance in order to win at the end.

You gotta laugh about it! You have to, because it all just boils down to [the fact] that I picked the wrong rock.

I can’t imagine all of the different scenarios that played out in your head. Let’s say that you flip, and you go over to the other side. Does that just put you at #6 in that group, whereas in your group you’re at least in the top 5?

It’s one of the those situations where flipping wasn’t being respected in that game. Zeke was getting voted for because he flipped on us, and Hannah was getting voted for because she flipped on Zeke. Sitting there and hearing that I should vote out Hannah because she’s a flipper, and they want me to flip, well that just doesn’t work (laughs)! That’s your argument — to tell me to do [the thing that you’re voting out this other person for doing].

It was one of those situations where I was hoping that someone from the other side would’ve gotten the block rock, since that would’ve put us in a really great position moving forward because we would’ve had the numbers. But, unfortunately, even if someone from my alliance had gotten the rock, we still would’ve had Hannah so we still would’ve had numbers. We still could’ve made some things happen. At least I wouldn’t have had to make any excuses back at camp. If I had gotten the white rock, there’s no justification that needs to be explained, like ‘I did this because.’ I could just walk in there and say ‘I picked the rock,’ and that’s what it is.

How much of it had to do with how many people were pulling the rocks? Let’s say this is similar to ‘Blood vs. Water,’ where there were only three people pulling the rocks. Would you still be willing to do it then?

I don’t know. It all depends on where the game is at. Some people have said that since there were so many people left in the game, going to rocks wasn’t necessary, versus if you are down to a minimal amount of people, where lines are a little more drawn in the sand and you kind of know what side you’re on and where you’re going to finish.

In this particular moment, the line was drawn in the sand in terms of where I was going to be in the game. It might not be the same for someone else; it might have been someone else who should’ve flipped and avoided the rock draw.

One more question on the rocks, though I could talk about that all day. On the show, it looked as though you were the person who was struggling with going to rocks more than anyone else. Was that accurate? 

I was struggling with it the most visually; it was obvious that I was struggling with it. Will didn’t want to go to rocks, Bret was headstrong about the whole thing, Sunday was kind of quiet about it, Adam seemed very sure of himself and so did David. I was the one who was most like ‘this is ridiculous, we shouldn’t do this’ (laughs). Will echoed that sentiment, as well, that it should have been one of those two going home instead of one of us.

The problem that you also run into is what if Will decided to flip, and then I flipped. We would be back in another tie, and you don’t know what the other people are doing. It’s also possible that someone is putting on a show, and will then go back to camp and be like ‘I didn’t flip, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ You really have no idea. It was said at that Tribal that Tribal Council is theater, and I do think there were some people really putting it on heavy.

Before Jay won immunity, was he ever considered to be a target?

I don’t think so at that point, honestly. Initially, we all went into it thinking that we were going to vote for Jay, but once we got back from Tribal Council I found out that Zeke was gunning for David. Everyone just cleared out, the beach was desolate other than David and I, and that’s when he ended up telling me that Zeke was gunning for him. That’s when everything changed. Before that the thinking was that we were six strong, and that Zeke was going to vote with us and Hannah was going to vote with us.

Then, all hell broke loose right after the immunity challenge. I think that maybe he would’ve been targeted had David not went to Sunday and Bret [to talk about Zeke]. I think we would’ve been in a much different situation than we were.

Were Ken and David your desired final three, and were you thinking about places to cut one of them down the road?

I never wanted to have to vote David out, because of what he’d done for me; but, I knew I couldn’t sit next to David in the final three because he clearly beats me. He saved me with an idol! It’s an easy argument to make as to why he wins over me. I didn’t necessarily know how I was going to deal with that, but I knew it was something that I was going to have to deal with. My final three would’ve been Ken and then Adam or Hannah. Some combination of those three. Those were the ones I was really looking at.

Why did you specifically leave the Legacy Advantage to Ken over David? It seemed on the show like you made that decision a while back.

I had promised it to Ken because I needed to get his loyalty back and needed him to trust me again. I knew David was going to take me far in the game because he saved me, and I knew he was going to be loyal to me, and he knew that I would do what he needed me to do. I didn’t need to gain favor with David; I knew that I needed to get Ken back, because I knew that you could only make it so far in the game with only one other person on your side. If you’ve got two, you have a much better shot. Ken was also close with David, and in order to [get him with me], I told him about the Legacy and promised it to him so he would continue to trust me moving forward.

I was going to keep that promise. I know David had saved me, but I wanted to keep the promise that I’d made to Ken.

I got off the phone a little earlier with Chris, and I asked him if there was any way for everyone in Gen X to get back together. Do you think that there is anything that he [or anyone else] could’ve done to unify the tribe again after the merge?

I think it could’ve happened if we could’ve had conversations. I think a lot of it was on Sunday. When we merged, I was very nervous because I knew I was coming back to Bret, Chris, and Sunday, and I didn’t know how they were all going to be. In my head I thought that Sunday had spent a significant amount of time with Bret, and I hoped she had paved the way for us to move forward together. When we got to the merge and I started talking to her about that and said ‘did you talk to Bret about what had happened, and did you try to make amends for me?’, and she said no. So, I said ‘okay’ (laughs), and I realized at that point it wasn’t going to happen. If Sunday wasn’t going to go to bat for me, there was no chance that those two were going to listen to me alone. She was really integral in that whole dynamic, and decided not to [have that conversation] for whatever reason.

Had the conversations been different, I think that things could have worked out very well. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.

What would your game be like if you came back? What would Jessica 2.0 look like out there?

I would’ve picked a different rock (laughs). I would’ve tried to slow down a little at the beginning. The game moves very fast, and I ended up with six people almost immediately. I had thought about who I wanted to work with as the game moved forward, but I ended up [in that group]. Someone like Ken, he waited and didn’t commit himself to anyone right away, even if he was playing from the bottom. Sometimes, that isn’t really a bad thing, at least in the way that ‘Survivor’ has progressed and is played.

I think I might want to slow down a little bit, and if I’m presented with ‘hey, let’s do this thing,’ keep my options open. I’ll say ‘yeah, I’ll do this thing,’ but in the meantime I’ll look to do something on the other side, too.