Jeremy Collins’ time on Survivor: David vs. Goliath may have been cut short not due to his intimidating gameplay, but due to his inability to keep a secret.
The castoff from Wednesday’s episode of the CBS reality show told The Hollywood Reporter Thursday that it wasn’t a strategic move from the rest of the Goliath tribe, nor his feud with Natalie Cole that led to his elimination from the game, but a joke he made about Angelina Keeley’s relationship with John Hennigan, saying they were in “a showmance,” that rivaled the clearly romantic relationship between allies Dan Rengering and Kara Kay.
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“The showmance was like Dan and Kara’s, except Angelina was into John like Dan was into Kara; John, not so much,” he told the publication. “But since Angelina was a newlywed, she didn’t want anyone to say on air that she was in a showmance.”
No mention of a showmance between Angelina and the WWE alum known as “Johnny Mundo” has been made in the show’s three episodes so far, but Angelina was newly married and Johnny was engaged to wrestler Taya Valkyrie at the time of filming.
Jeremy, who was unanimously voted out Wednesday, claimed to THR that Angelina spearheaded his elimination because she “didn’t want us to say anything [about the showmance] in testimonials, out of fear that it would make her look bad. After the reward challenge where we won fishing equipment, I made a joke about Angelina and John’s showmance that got back to Angelina the day we went to the immunity challenge. That [put] Angelina on the warpath to get me out before anyone said anything about her being in a showmance. It’s very difficult, because you don’t get to see it on air, but I think that was the nail in [my] coffin.”
He continued of the two tribe member’s dynamic: “[It] wasn’t a secret. If it rained, Angelina would take care of John’s clothes and make sure they were dry, even before her own. If they went out to look for coconuts, they went out to look together. They were in a showmance.”
Jeremy also claimed his fight with Natalie wasn’t portrayed correctly on the show. “Everything was pretty accurate, but what’s not clear is why we were having the blowup. Natalie and Natalia from day one did not get along, because Natalie hated how Natalia wanted to build the shelter and she did not want to take direction from Natalie. When Natalie’s upset with somebody, it grows, and it continues to grow and grow. By day three, [it escalated], which is when Natalie and I had that conversation,” he said. “It wasn’t that me and Natalie had a fight; I was trying to calm her down and make her self-aware that Natalia didn’t care about her. But Natalie kept saying, ‘You’re taking her side, when you should be taking my side.’ I was just trying to tell her it’s not the reality.”
As for Angelina, she denied the showmance accusations in a statement to the publication, saying in a statement: “My husband and I are aware of Jeremy’s comments. While we do not appreciate his blatant mischaracterization of my friendship and alliance with John, I am not surprised he feels compelled to attempt to revise the narrative. I think all of this really comes down to one fundamental Survivor truth: being the first eliminated member of your tribe by a unanimous, undisclosed blindside, must really sting, especially for a supposed ‘Goliath.’”
Survivor: David vs. Goliath airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
Photo credit: CBS
