One of the most fascinating aspects of Survivor’s milestone 50th season — In The Hands Of The Fans — is how the 24 returning players allowed their previous connections and experiences on the reality show to impact their gameplay.
For self-proclaimed Taylor Swift superfan and Survivor 46 runner-up Charlie Davis, it was abundantly clear he was seeking redemption this time around. The 28-year-old attorney famously finished second in his original season after his number one ally chose not to vote for him to win in the finale — something that clearly haunted him coming back to Survivor.
Charlie was determined not to repeat history this season and quickly targeted Survivor 49 returnee Rizo “Rizgod” Velovic upon learning that he also didn’t vote for his number one ally to win his yet-to-be-aired season. However, Charlie didn’t have the full story, and ultimately, his tunnel vision led to his elimination.
In an Australian exclusive, PEDESTRIAN.TV chatted with Charlie all about his feud with Rizo, where he stands with Dee Valladares after she called him the “dumbest player”, and who he predicts will take out the title of Sole Survivor.
PEDESTRIAN: It’s been a few months since you filmed Survivor 50, but how are you feeling about the experience now, because it ended on a pretty rough note?
CHARLIE: You know, I was excited for the season, but then kind of as the season goes on, you — not dread, but like, there’s an uneasiness, an anxiety around your boot episode. So honestly, it feels good and a relief to have it in the rear view. It’s not like watching it was terrible or anything, but it was nice to kind of put a button on my 50 experience, and now I get to talk about it.
Well, your elimination was definitely emotional. You had your head in your hands, and it was your first time getting your torch snuffed on Survivor. What was that experience like when you walked out of Tribal Council, you had to film your final thoughts, and then the cameras stopped rolling?
Oh, there were so many heavy emotions, and part of it is literally pure exhaustion. It’s just such a long day, especially with two Tribal Councils; it’s really long. So honestly, I can’t even remember, because they have you say a couple of different final words, because obviously you have a lot of thoughts. So you’re saying a lot of different things, but I honestly don’t even remember if me [putting my head in my hands] was like… I don’t remember tears. I was sad for sure and emotional, but that literally could have just been me resting my head, waiting for the next one. I was also feeling just very reflective, not only specifically of the game, but my whole Survivor journey and Survivor experience and everything connected to it.
Well, speaking of tears, you had an iconic final line to Jeff Probst — “teardrops on my guitar”. Was this something you had prepared for your original season and just never got to say, or did it just come out in the moment?
It’s something that I was like, that would be a fun little homage. Funnily enough, there was an episode of the On Fire podcast that I did where they asked me, ‘Did I have anything prepared that I would say to Jeff if I ever got voted out?’. And I was like, ‘No, I don’t want to say it, I don’t want to jinx it’, but that is what popped into my head. So I did have that, and honestly, kind of thank goodness I did have something in my head, because I think otherwise I would have been in such a daze that I would have said nothing — which is fine too, but I was just like, I’d keep it short and sweet and then walk on out.
In terms of your “edit”, you were very much portrayed as a Taylor Swift super fan on Survivor 46, but this time around, that portrayal felt like it was more cast upon you by your co-stars, and you weren’t dropping references all the time. Was that an active choice to tone down your inner fanboy, or is it just something we didn’t see?
Maybe a little bit. Part of it is when 46 filmed, I literally had gone to The Eras Tour like, two days before leaving for Fiji. So I was just like, riding the concert high. It’s not like my fandom has died down since then; I’m still a huge fan, but it was just less top of mind. I was also super conscious that whoever came at me or voted me out was gonna use some, like, Taylor Swift pun. I knew this was gonna happen, and of course, Rizo took advantage of it.
What were your thoughts on Rizo’s references?
Oh, they were solid. I mean, he kind of saved it for me with “Getaway Car”. Not that it’s like a deep cut, but his others were like, I think he just said “Bad Blood” and “Love Story” and those are very low-hanging fruit to pick from. Not that they didn’t fit his ditty, but I was like, ‘Okay, “Getaway Car”, he got something off Reputation that’s not a mega-hit. He’s demonstrating some knowledge.
I have been really interested to chat with you about Rizo, because obviously, your main motivation for wanting to vote him out was that he didn’t vote for his number one ally to win the game on Survivor 49, which is understandably a trigger for you. But what were your thoughts when you eventually watched Survivor 49 and saw that it was a very different dynamic from your experience? How did that colour the picture?
So first of all, I found a lot more details out as soon as I got to Ponderosa from Savannah [Louie]. It didn’t take me long to kind of figure out, and at that point, I just kind of threw my hands up like, ‘Whatever, this was kind of ridiculous beef in the first place’. At that point, it was just comical. And then watching 49 wasn’t eye-opening necessarily, having gotten the Ponderosa debriefing.
Is there another world where you would’ve wanted to work with Rizo if you had watched Survivor 49 before filming Survivor 50?
I don’t know, honestly. I can’t say whether I would have or wouldn’t have targeted him, but I will say — and these were equally reasons why I wanted to vote him out in that spot — I thought he had the fewest connections, so voting him out would cause the fewest ripple effects throughout the cast, and you’d make fewer enemies by voting Rizo out there. Whereas anyone else, they’re pretty much guaranteed to have alliances or pre-game alliances or pre-existing friendships, and you’re gonna have people coming after you. So that was a big reason that I wanted to vote on that as well, among some others. So it wasn’t all just that one little beef.
I’m curious whether there were any messages exchanged when watching the episode, either between you and Rizo or with Dee, who called you the “dumbest player”?
Rizo texted me that day, and even in the days leading up. We were texting back and forth throughout the beef episodes, joking about it. But no, Dee didn’t text me, and it’s whatever. That’s fine, I don’t know if she will. I’m not knocking her for not texting me, but I think Dee and I were just playing very different games. I’m interested to see what happens next, but I think we were just playing very differently. I was more of the mind of like, ‘Let’s just keep it chill and try to get as many allies as you can in the pre-merge’, and I think she was a little bit more like cards on the table. Maybe she perceived my gameplay as being a little bit more held back and therefore untrustworthy, but it is what it is. They took a shot, and they got me.
Well, I imagine watching the show is very different from filming the show because you get to see everyone else’s confessionals and what’s happening on the other tribes. What were the biggest surprises for you watching the season?
A lot of stuff around the advantages, I thought was interesting. I didn’t know about Christian [Hubicki] and [Rick] Devens hiding the fake idol at Tribal, I didn’t know about Ozzy [Lusth] giving his extra vote to Cirie [Fields], so that was cool stuff to see. That was fun. The Dee confessional, where she’s like, “He’s the dumbest”, that surprised me. I didn’t expect that, but nothing else really surprised me.
I cannot wait to see how the rest of the season unfolds, but I’m curious, when you left the game, who did you think had the best chance of winning?
Honestly, I didn’t really have an idea of who had the best chance of winning. I was close with Mike [White], and he obviously got voted out. I selfishly was not really rooting for Dee and Kamilla [Karthigesu]. I was rooting for Tiffany [Ervin]. I really wanted Tiffany to do well, so that’s who I would throw my chips behind. But I didn’t have an idea, because I didn’t really know.
Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans airs exclusively on Stan every Thursday.
The post Survivor 50’s Charlie Davis Claps Back At ‘Dumbest Player’ Comments & Spills On Rizo Feud appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
