Survivor 46’s Tiffany Ervin is opening up about her surprise elimination. After the artist was blindsided at Tribal Council during Wednesday’s episode of the CBS competition show and sent packing with a Hidden Immunity Idol still in her pocket, Ervin explained her gameplay in an interview with Parade‘s Mike Bloom.
Believing that former ally Q Burdette was the target at Tribal Council, Ervin decided not to play her Hidden Immunity Idol, only to be blindsided by a plan set in motion by her closest ally Kenzie Petty as well as Maria Shrime Gonzalez. That sent Ervin to the Survivor Season 46 jury with an idol in her pocket, much like Hunter McKnight, who made the same error at the previous Tribal Council.
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Ervin told Parade that her decision not to play her idol was a well-calculated “risk” that didn’t pay off. “Okay, so going into any Tribal, especially with an idol in your pocket, I know it’s a 50/50 chance that me not playing this is a terrible decision. But I was taking a risk!” she said with a laugh. “I’m a gambling girl. I’m a risk taker. That’s why I’m on the game of Survivor in the first place.”
There was “a lot more” that went into that decision that wasn’t shown on the show, Ervin added, including her close relationship with Charlie Davis, who was allied closely with Shrime Gonzalez. “Charlie had brought up the idea to me about possibly blindsiding Maria with the idol. So I’m like, ‘Okay, that could be a thing. Maybe we use this opportunity to get rid of Q and then make some big moves,’” Ervin explained. “So for me, I knew it was a big risk. But also it would be a big reward if we pulled it off the next week.”
Ultimately, Ervin says she doesn’t blame Davis for deciding to “actually be a good ally” to Shrime Gonzalez, even if she still doesn’t understand why the parent coach wanted her out so badly. Burdette making waves back at camp also factored into Ervin’s confidence in her safety. “People were really fed up with Q. So I was like, ‘Are we finally going to do this? How long can you guys front?’” she explained. “But I think the reality of the situation was that nobody was afraid of Q. They were just like, ‘Yeah, he’s getting on our nerves. But we think we can beat them. So we’ll keep him around.’”
Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
