I’m not part of Coach, Joe and Colby’s honor and integrity alliance. I believe lying is often a reasonable and maybe even fundamental part of playing Survivor. You need to do what you need to do to maneuver yourself to the end of the game. That being said, getting caught in a lie is most definitely not strong gameplay, and oh wow, do I have an Angelina Keeley story for you about that.
During one of his exit interviews, Q was asked about the people on the tribe he ended up with after the swap. Even though he started on the same beach as Angelina, he wasn’t particularly happy to see her grab the same color buff because he was pretty sure she had already lied to him. Apparently, during the early days of Vatu, Angelina was asked about her relationship with Mike White, who we know from a confessional is one of her “best friends on the planet.” Instead of owning up to how close they are, she went the exact opposite direction and said they hadn’t spoken in more than three years.
Rizo told Q that definitely wasn’t the case because Angelina is in Season 2 of Mike’s HBO hit The White Lotus, which aired less than three years ago. I guess it’s theoretically possible, given when The White Lotus filmed and when Survivor filmed, that she could have shot her lines slightly more than three years before, but if she was going to hold to that, she should have told Mike. She apparently did not because he did not back her up when confronted at all.
Q told Brink Of Reality that he decided to question Mike about his relationship with Angelina, since he was suspicious about what she said, and the popular showrunner told an entirely different story. Here’s a portion of his quote…
Angelina had told us she hadn’t talked to Mike White in 3 years. Then Mike White gets on the beach, and I’m like, ‘Dude, what’s up? Angelina told me ya’ll haven’t talked in 3 years. Why’s that?’ He was like, ‘I talked to her right before we came out here.’ I’m like okay. She’s been lying to us, trying to downplay her situation with Mike and Christian on top of not doing much around camp. That’s enough for me.
I think downplaying her relationship with Mike may have been a smart idea. We know Savannah and Rizo, as an example, downplayed how close they were to each other on 49. You don't want to be seen as a duo, but if you're going to lie, you need to coordinate your story with the other person. You need to have a plan for what you're going to say when people ask about your relationship.
Regardless, Angelina won her battle against Q. Her confirmed good friend Mike partnered with their David vs Goliath castmate Christian, plus Emily and Ozzy to send Q packing. He was eliminated during this past episode in 21st place, though his long-term future on Survivor still looks very promising. His brief appearance was treated very positively by fans, and OG legend Rob Cesternino predicted he could be a five time player before he’s done.
As for Angelina, her future is a little more questionable. She’s still alive in the game and seemingly in a good spot in her tribe, but she’s also been surprisingly under-edited this season. She’s only gotten five confessionals, which is a shock given how big of a character she was on David vs Goliath. There’s still time for her to rebound, but she’s going to need to start being a bigger presence on the show, both to make a deep run and to be in consideration for a future season.
You can check out new episodes of Survivor 50 featuring its stellar cast when they air on Wednesday evenings on CBS. You can also stream on Paramount+.
