Survivor: Ghost Island interview: Morgan Ricke on surprising vote, how Dom’s fake idol screwed her
So was this actually the case? Were there more things that she could have done? We were eager to get into some of this in the latest exit interview.
CarterMatt – I’m still trying to unwrap everything from last night. How long did it take you to figure out what happened?
Morgan Ricke – The moment I saw the fourth vote I knew exactly what had happened. It didn’t take me long.
That’s something I hear a lot from Survivor players — they often have that ‘oh, crap’ moment that they’re being voted out before the final votes are read.
When I saw the first vote that had my name on it, I was like ‘oh, crap. I’m in trouble.’ Having been a fan of Survivor and knowing how the votes are read, seeing one for Angela and three votes for Libby, I knew that there were four votes left [likely for one person].
On a scale of one to ten, how stunned were you to be leaving Tribal Council that night?
Right before Tribal I was sort of getting weird vibes from Libby, so I wasn’t 100% confident that things were going to go as planned. Maybe 5?
I’m sure this is a question you’ve gotten a lot today. Had Chris been at Tribal, do you think that he would have gone home?
[At first] it seemed like people wanted Domenick out, because that’s something that the Malolo people wanted to do. But Domenick, Wendell, and I really wanted Angela out — we feel like we couldn’t trust her. She wasn’t very strong in challenges and if we could keep Chris around for a while that would have benefited us.
But, if the Malolo four would’ve wanted out Chris we would have written his name down and not hesitated on that.
Is there anything different that the Naviti people after the swap could have done in retrospect?
Yeah, there was a lot we could have done. I mean, we could’ve gone 4-4 and split the vote, but no one wanted to go to rocks. Dom, Wendell, and I were not going to rocks for Angela. We really didn’t trust her and we didn’t have a bond.
[Getting rid of Angela] was an easy vote for Malolo, and they just thought that it had to be too easy and that there had to be some trick to it. Dom kind of in inadvertently effed me over when he showed them the fake idol. Dom was their ultimate target, but when he showed them that idol that’s when my name got brought up. They just thought that it was too good to be true that we wanted out Angela when, really, we just wanted out Angela (laughs).
In that moment, how did you have the presence of mind to seemingly call out Libby? Do you remember the emotion that was going through you in that moment?
I was really proud of myself for that, but from the fourth vote on I don’t remember getting up, I don’t remember grabbing my torch, and I don’t remember going over to Jeff. I don’t remember getting snuffed, but I do remember turning around and looking her right in the face and making that comment. I woke up and I was like ‘I’m throwing some shade at you, girl.’
However, Angela thought I said ‘you can’t trust the two blondes,’ which shows just how completely clueless she was for the entire Tribal! That girl had literally no clue what anyone was doing. Angela hated me in that moment, as well.
This has been a whole season of trying to ‘reverse the curse,’ but is that Legacy Advantage actually cursed at this point?
I always said that I don’t believe in curses and that stuff, but I officially believe (laughs). Sierra couldn’t keep her mouth closed and it was cursed; then, Jacob couldn’t keep his mouth closed and it was cursed. Now, Morgan, the girl who tells everyone everything, actually kept her mouth closed! We’ll now have to see if Domenick can use this to his advantage.
It seemed like you were fairly close to Domenick. Did he tell you about the actual immunity idol?
I didn’t know 100%. I didn’t ask him when I was there, just because what’s the difference between a real idol and a fake idol if you’re telling everyone you have the idol; [it impacts the game]. Him having that fake idol screwed me over because everyone thought it was real. I tried to keep him from telling Malolo, but ultimately he did. He didn’t mean to screw up everything but he saved his own life.
How different do you think your game would’ve been without the Tribe Swap? Would you have been a target?
I think if we hadn’t swapped tribes, I don’t think [we were losing anytime soon]. Even if we did lose, I didn’t think I was in danger. Chris was going after Dom and Dom was after Chris and we were after Angela. I don’t think that I was a threat at all at that point.
About the experience
What was the best part about playing Survivor?
What you see on TV having been a fan for so long is actually what you get. There’s no restroom and you’re only getting [limited] calories a day. I wanted to see the survival aspect of it and how well I did in it.
What was the worst part?
That we were there during the Fijian winter. A lot of people have been like ‘why are you wearing so many clothes?’ — it was cold! It was freezing! It wasn’t like I didn’t expect it, but people see you on a tropical island and they think that it is hot all of the time. You saw Bradley complaining at Malolo about how cold it was — it was really cold outside.
How hard was it watching yourself get voted off?
It sucked, but it was really cool seeing how many people loved me on television and are saying things like ‘you got robbed.’ I did play a good game physically and socially so I blame this on the tribe swap and the rock draw. I don’t think I did a lot wrong. I formed these alliances and I was physically very strong, and that’s ultimately what led to me being voted out. People really liked me.
Any interest in playing again?
Hell. Yes. Honestly if they called me I would pack a bag to go play right now. No questions asked. I’ll drop everything in my life. Have CBS call me.
Related – Read our take on last night’s Survivor episode
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