Survivor 46 Moriah Gaynor On Her Fiery Tribal- Worst Conversation w Q
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:01 Six person voted out of surviving 46.
00:04 Mariah, that's six, that's enough.
00:06 >> Mariah, you were so close to getting that merge buff.
00:09 It's so hard to see you go out that way.
00:11 How are you feeling walking away after you were voted out?
00:15 >> I mean, walking away, it was tough, cuz you see it right there.
00:21 It's like right, right there.
00:22 And yes, you can hear them when they shout, by the way.
00:26 I think the positive thing for me is it wasn't a blind side.
00:29 So once they came back and there were seven people,
00:32 a literal majority over at that table who said, yep, you're just the vote.
00:37 It was kinda like I could almost start processing and
00:39 kind of like obviously going around and trying to change the vote.
00:43 But knowing it's probably not gonna happen,
00:45 just because that's just the name that they came up with.
00:48 So I was at least able to kind of walk away and have that time to prep at camp,
00:53 say my goodbyes, talk to the people I was close with.
00:56 And at my tribal, it really freed me to say what I needed to say or
01:00 whatever I wanted to say, because there's probably no tomorrow for me.
01:05 So might as well throw whatever I can.
01:07 >> I'll let you all in a little secret here.
01:09 It was not unanimous at the last tribal council.
01:12 [MUSIC]
01:14 I was the odd out.
01:16 I didn't get the vote right.
01:17 I am on the damn bottom and I do not fit in.
01:21 [MUSIC]
01:23 >> I really appreciated what you said at tribal and
01:25 revealing what really happened with that gem vote.
01:28 At what point did you decide that's something that I need to do?
01:31 And did you tell anyone that that's what you were going to do?
01:33 Had you talked about the demo before?
01:35 >> Well, I mean, we talked about it a little bit in SIGA of like,
01:39 obviously it was just like, yeah,
01:41 like we knew that Yanu had a decision to make when it's 5v5.
01:45 And they can go with Nami or they can go with SIGA because at the end of the day,
01:48 they're not looking to pick up a stray.
01:50 They don't care for an alliance of four, they need to get in with someone.
01:54 And we're not gonna out hot mess the hot mess tribe that is Nami.
01:59 So we had to bring something else to the table and
02:01 our pitch is basically, we're together, we're strong, work with us.
02:04 We can work on order later, but we're at least a final aid over here.
02:08 Let's do this, let's steamroll this.
02:11 And obviously that didn't happen.
02:14 But my decision to really like come out and say that was that,
02:18 I'm going out guns blazing, I'm going to try everything.
02:21 I am going to reveal that because my game got sunk by a table and
02:26 you can have fun with that next week kids.
02:30 >> When you're making that pitch and stating your case,
02:33 Hunter is coming back saying, well, perception is reality.
02:36 You guys pretended you were this big happy family for so
02:39 long that it kind of became the reality.
02:42 Looking back, is there a point where you wish you had revealed how things really
02:46 were at SIGA earlier?
02:48 >> Yeah, so yeah, like I said, it can go either way and
02:51 especially knowing that Tim had this relationship with Q,
02:55 Maria had one with Tevin.
02:56 Just from the journeys, Ben had one with it.
02:58 There's so much going on with the journeys and
03:01 preconceived that I just didn't have the opportunity to do.
03:05 I'm like, I need this protection.
03:07 I don't want to seem like easy picking.
03:09 So had I brought it up earlier,
03:11 I really don't think it would have made a difference.
03:15 Q had to be in his bonnet for us.
03:16 They went with a different tribe for a reason.
03:18 I think I am like bottom of 13 here.
03:22 The other thing is that I work in politics, I work in government and
03:27 votes don't count till you cast them.
03:30 So part of Survivor is reacting to the information you have and
03:34 if that made enough of an impact to change your game, it could have.
03:38 >> Now there was one vote for Venus and that was Charlie's vote.
03:43 Did that surprise you that Venus's name came up?
03:45 And did you know who had written her down at the time?
03:48 >> So I was not surprised Venus's name came up.
03:51 I kind of knew coming back from the feast again, they're so secure.
03:55 It's seven, V6, they don't have an idol.
03:57 It's very clear I'm going home.
04:00 The people were pretty candid with me of like, yeah,
04:02 it was between you and V and we're going with you.
04:05 So I knew that she was the other name of discussion and it made sense.
04:08 She is bottom of NAMI very clearly so.
04:11 But I didn't know who threw the hickey boat.
04:14 I'm not gonna lie.
04:16 I knew I had asked before my seniors, I'm like, part of my pitch and
04:20 you see me going around scrambling a little bit of trying to get people like,
04:24 who should we vote for?
04:26 Is that my pitches like at least do one on Venus.
04:29 And this is before we had seen 45, but I knew at least there would be one for
04:34 Venus and I wasn't sure who did it.
04:38 >> It just sucks to be on the wrong side of not only a vote, but
04:43 the first vote and on top of that,
04:47 a blind side by people you think you can trust.
04:49 >> I wanna go back to the very beginning of the episode.
04:52 You're coming back from the gem vote.
04:54 You were so tight with Charlie and Maria as the Charlie's Angels.
04:57 And then suddenly you're left on the wrong side of the vote.
05:00 What was that conversation like with Charlie and Maria?
05:03 Because we didn't get to see that and I'm so curious how they explain that to you.
05:07 >> Yeah, I mean, you kind of see it a little bit in the episode before actually.
05:12 It was very intentional that I wanted to paint myself as,
05:16 listen, something fishy is going on, but I don't hear my name out.
05:21 And I wanna work with you and I'm grateful because they went with Tim and
05:25 Ben, but just because they had a stronger relationship with Tim and
05:29 Ben over Gem, the dynamic was that doesn't really speak to they had
05:33 a stronger relationship with Tim and Ben over me.
05:36 And so when you see me go to Charlie in the episode before,
05:40 like friend to friend, I know this is really tough for you.
05:44 That was kind of laying that groundwork of, I know something's going on, but
05:49 we still cool.
05:50 I appreciate it, my name did not come up at all.
05:53 I was completely protected and that's a testament to that social game,
05:57 to that emotional game that I was able to play and able to set up.
06:00 >> Moe is dangerous.
06:02 >> Is she?
06:04 >> I can just tell you.
06:05 >> Yeah.
06:06 >> She's like Aubrey geeky, look in your eyes, dang.
06:10 >> Another big moment in this episode is your conversation with Q.
06:14 I'm curious about your read on that in the moment.
06:17 Did you realize that just by dropping Aubrey's name as one of your favorite
06:21 players that that would set off alarm bells in his head?
06:23 >> That was the worst conversation I've ever had in my life.
06:28 Like it was immediate.
06:30 So I was like, I said Aubrey, he goes like, and then walked away.
06:35 It was so bad.
06:37 So I knew immediately, I'm like, this man probably,
06:41 just thinking about who he was, he's a very stubborn guy,
06:46 very Ole Miss footballer.
06:48 He probably doesn't interact with a lot of people like me.
06:53 And so he's probably making a lot of leaps and a lot of jumps on who I am as
06:57 a person, and I'm telling him something that's really feeding into his worst
07:02 fears of me.
07:03 Is that I am the strategist, I'm this like nerdy girl.
07:06 I mean, she's smart, she's thinking.
07:08 And so when I was talking about Aubrey,
07:10 I was very intentional to talk about her impact on me and not her game.
07:15 Because I didn't want to lie.
07:16 I'm like, it's so obvious that I like Aubrey.
07:19 I talked to my tribe about it.
07:21 I didn't want to lie or get caught in a dumb lie like that.
07:24 But I wanted to frame it in a way that was less about the game and
07:27 more about the person.
07:29 And even then it was like ice.
07:32 It was not good.
07:34 I walk away, I'm like.
07:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]
07:40 >> Now during tribal, Q says when you're talking about the gem vote,
07:43 like if you had told me this earlier, then maybe things would be different.
07:47 Do you believe that?
07:48 >> Absolutely not.
07:50 Like when it came down to Q and me, he was turned off immediately by something
07:55 as small as saying my favorite player is this person.
07:58 Do you think that guy is buying anything I'm saying?
08:01 Do you think he's investing in me or wanting to work with me?
08:04 No, he wanted to work with other people on Seagum.
08:08 And I was a really great opportunity for
08:10 him to get out someone that he didn't really know or want to play with.
08:15 Test him to see if he's willing to let me go or
08:18 like what his like approaches to that.
08:21 And still retain his relationship because by throwing my name out,
08:25 they know they can get rid.
08:26 He knows he can get rid of me without ruffling feathers over there.
08:30 So no, I do not think that there's a way for me to do that.
08:35 Also at tribal, I got fact checked.
08:37 I said this thing in front of like 12 people and
08:40 the first thing that you see is like, is that true?
08:42 And it's like, no, I just lied in front of 12 people.
08:45 I'm like, of course it's true.
08:47 >> There were all these like big ideas about Mariah is gonna play the game this
08:51 way or that way or she's like this player.
08:53 But we never really got to see what you truly would have done in a merge
08:57 situation to like play the game and get to the end.
08:59 What was your strategy going in?
09:01 What game would you have hoped to play?
09:04 >> So honestly, I was really glad that you were at least able to see a little bit of
09:08 on SIGA is being able to make those individual relationships and
09:11 leverage them at different times.
09:13 So I had a very different relationship with Jim than I did with Maria and
09:16 I did with Charlie.
09:17 And that's what allowed me to kind of be in Charlie's Angels and be with Jim.
09:22 But also kind of know my name's not even on the table tonight and
09:26 know that there's something fishy and know that I can kind of wiggle my way back in
09:30 with Charlie or like even have Ben.
09:32 I wrote down Ben's name 24 hours ago and he still didn't throw my name out.
09:36 It was Tim.
09:37 So I think that's a really big testament to the game I wanted to play and
09:41 moving forward.
09:42 I wanted to get through murgatory.
09:44 Probably best way to do that is to convince Yanu that go with us over at NAMI.
09:50 And then from there, I was ready to flip.
09:52 I was ready to work on leveraging new relationships and
09:57 starting a different chapter of the game in a similar fashion because that's
10:01 really what saved my skin on SIGA.
10:03 >> Maria, you are not safe.
10:07 >> Let's say that your shot in the dark did work and
10:10 you got to go back to that beach.
10:11 What would have been your first move and
10:13 who would you have wanted to build connections with?
10:16 >> I would have gone to Tevin actually.
10:18 Tevin and I had a really great bond out there and
10:21 you can kind of see it in the merge episode.
10:24 Even in the merge, Tevin is like, really?
10:27 And I think that speaks to kind of his read on me and my read on him.
10:31 So being able to cross that SIGA to NAMI would have been important,
10:35 especially knowing that they now have Yanu.
10:38 So Tevin would have been a beeline.
10:40 Similarly, Hunter, really great connection.
10:43 Love a good meat shield.
10:45 And he is the best one out there.
10:47 [LAUGH] So those two would kind of been tops.
10:50 And then of course Venus.
10:52 I mean, Venus went to bat to me.
10:54 Well, actually not Venus because she would have gone home.
10:56 But in a world in which the hickey vote is like Charlie or
10:58 something, then probably Venus as she's arrived.
11:01 >> I need to understand why Mo.
11:03 If it's because she's a super fan alone, you should be scared for
11:06 the next vote.
11:07 That's why we should think- >> Have you picked that up from SIGA's
11:10 dynamics?
11:10 >> Yeah, but the boys are super close.
11:11 It's like, why?
11:12 >> That's why I'm saying Charlie should be the name, not Mo.
11:15 It'd be stupid of us to vote out a girl because the three boys say,
11:19 look, all men want on a feast.
11:22 >> What was it like to watch Venus go to bat for you?
11:24 >> That was actually really nice.
11:26 But something I did not know until last night's episode is that
11:31 Venus was so strongly pushing for not her, not her.
11:35 Which is, it is just so wild to do that from a position where you're
11:40 not only vulnerable, but you're the backup.
11:44 So to see that, that was really nice to see, actually.
11:47 >> Were there any other moments of strategy or conversations,
11:50 special things that you'll remember from your survivor journey that we
11:53 didn't get to see?
11:54 >> I think that they're just walking into the last tribal,
11:57 knowing I'm going home is such a gift in a weird way.
12:02 Because when you're blindsided, you're out like that.
12:05 But for me, I was really able to come in and say what I needed to,
12:09 blow up my tribal.
12:11 I'm probably going home anyway, so might as well go out on my terms.
12:15 The only thing I have control over in this entire terrible rock draw of a vote.
12:20 So I was really able to go that, own it, empower it, and
12:24 just the confidence of being able to speak up and being able to do that.
12:29 And having that almost fiery energy, I think, was a very special feeling.
12:33 >> That's so nice.
12:35 You had a quote in the credits roll outro interview that I thought was really
12:39 interesting.
12:40 You said, in this game, my takeaway is you deserve as much as you believe you do, and
12:44 that's up for you to determine.
12:46 So what does that mean to you in the context of your survivor experience?
12:49 >> So you saw me struggle with it in the beginning,
12:55 is playing this kind of coy game of I'm usually an outsider.
12:58 How does an outsider become an insider very, very fast?
13:03 And something that I learned is you gotta ask for it.
13:06 You have to put yourself out there.
13:08 You have to make yourself, push yourself to go to those people,
13:12 to make those connections.
13:14 Not let that I'm an outsider, I'm an insider, I'm weird, or
13:17 whatever mentality hold you back.
13:20 And you get the opportunity to set your limit, unless rocks are involved.
13:25 [LAUGH] >> Yes, which unfortunately they were in
13:28 terms of that split at the challenge.
13:31 Is there a moment that exemplifies that for
13:32 you where you are really proud that you pushed yourself to make that connection?
13:36 >> I think a big one for me was on Sega.
13:40 We had this for and I said in one episode of it's a game of survivor.
13:45 It's not dibs.
13:47 You can't just take it and grab it.
13:49 And not only making connections, but being able to retain them was really special.
13:54 And even coming back, I was really, really proud of, no,
13:58 I fought for my position after that gem vote.
14:02 And my fighting happened over 12 days, because I was able to fight and
14:06 make the case and say I deserve to be here so
14:09 much that my name didn't even come up.
14:12 So that to me really exemplifies the idea that you can't just sit back.
14:18 You need to go out and you need to take it and you need to fight and
14:23 work for it because that can be up to you.
14:25 [MUSIC]