Last week on Survivor, the former Galu tribe members continued to fall because they kept underestimating their opponent. Since Russell had played the hidden immunity idol at the last tribal council, Galu assumed that he couldn’t possibly have found the new one and decided to vote him out. But, of course, Russell went looking for it at his first opportunity and found the idol quite easily. Come tribal council, the former Galu members were shocked when Russell played the idol, nullifying all seven of the votes against him. The remaining four votes were all for 25-year-old Kelly Sharbaugh, who was completely flabbergast about her ousting.

To be honest, Kelly, there were times I wasn’t even sure you were on this show.

Yeah.

They rarely showed you.

I think that they wanted to put on a dramatic TV show. I think there are a lot of dramatic characters on my season and they’re getting a lot of time. It’s definitely “The Russell Show.” I went on Survivor to play a game and win a million dollars; I didn’t necessarily go on for airtime or to be the centre of attention. I’m not really that surprised.

We didn’t really see you playing the game, though.

I think that Foa Foa had lost so many times and I was on the winning tribe, so they focused a lot on them because they had to go to tribal council. So by the time the teams merged, two Galu members were the first voted off, so we didn’t get that much airtime.

What moves did you make that we didn’t see?

There was a lot of strategizing going on in the background, and there were a lot of alliances that were going on that weren’t shown. My biggest alliance was with Brett and no one would ever know that. We’re both a little under the radar on screen. We’re both playing very similar games and I think I was aligned pretty well with everyone; I think the same for him. They were focusing a lot on the “female alliance” and the “guy alliance,” but there was really much more going on.

So you were completely shocked when Jeff Probst revealed you’d been voted out.

Yeah, I had no idea. I had no idea Russell had an idol; I would have tried to switch the vote. I totally didn’t think I was going home at all. I wore my favourite boots on the show and that was the one night I didn’t wear them to tribal council, and I got sent home.

When Russell pulled out the hidden immunity idol, did you know it was you going home, or did it not occur to you until Probst revealed the votes?

I think Russell said, “I’m not done playing yet, ladies” when he pulled out the idol, but I honestly thought Monica was going home. So when Jeff called my name, I was like, “Oh, no!”

Why do you think they targeted you?

I think they targeted me because I was more of a threat. Shambo said herself, “Everyone likes Kelly; no one has a problem with Kelly,” so there was no immediate threat of me going home, while a lot of people were talking about getting Monica out, so it wasn’t urgent to get rid of her. I think it was an emotional vote because Shambo didn’t like Laura. I think if there had been more strategy involved, it would have been one of the stronger, bigger, male players.

You weren’t involved in the conversation before tribal council where Monica brought up the possibility of Russell having another immunity idol.

No! Where was I? I don’t know why we didn’t think of that, but at that time, the numbers were seven Galu to four Foa Foa. We had to be really careful about what Shambo knew, because we wouldn’t have been able to split the vote if she voted with them. I really wish I had been present for that conversation; I don’t know why I wasn’t. I think we just got a little bit cocky and a little too comfortable. To be honest, I think most of us spent the day relaxing and napping instead of strategizing.

Do you have any other regrets about how you played the game?

I wish I wouldn’t have sent Erik home. I wish we had stuck to our original plan of sending Foa Foa home – one, two, three, four. I think, ultimately, we thought we were very secure with numbers, but it turned out we weren’t. We definitely didn’t account for the fact that Russell would keep finding immunity idols.

Why did everyone turn against Erik so easily?

All of that happened so fast and you want to trust these people. I think everyone will say the same thing about Erik: we wanted to trust him, but he was always up to something else. He was running around, talking to everyone. At one time, I approached him right before the vote and I was like, “Hey, Erik, what’s going on? I hear you’re saying this and this, and I don’t understand.” And he was like, “Well, everything’s on a need-to-know basis right now, and you don’t need to know anything more. I’ll tell you more later.” But there wasn’t enough time for later! We saw him talking to Foa Foa and I thought that maybe he would flip, so he had to be the one to go.

After you were voted out, what was it like to hang out with Erik? Most of Galu badmouthed him at that tribal council.

It was fun! I got to go back and I didn’t know what to expect, because at tribal council, Erik looked like he was going to kill somebody. But he was really welcoming! He was taking care of me and I spent the first two days in bed, so he brought me food and make sure I had everything. It was great and we got to spend time doing fun things and getting to know each other outside of the game. In the game, every move is so calculated and you’re constantly in game mode, but outside we could leave that behind.

If you hadn’t been kicked off, what would have been your next move?

I think our next big move was to break up Natalie and Russell. I think that after sending Russell home, all of Foa Foa would have fallen apart. He’s the only one holding them together, I think, so as long as we got rid of him, everyone else would have been pawns.

Do you think Russell’s playing the best game right now?

Absolutely. I think he’s playing an amazing strategic game. He’s finding the idols, he’s making the right moves and he’s definitely done his homework. What Russell’s forgetting to do is establish emotional connections that you need if you want to get a jury vote. You can’t treat all of these people like they’re pieces on a chess board and expect a million dollars at the end.

Who do you think is playing the worst game right now?

That’s a good question. I think that Shambo’s playing the worst game. I don’t think she’s made any real strategic moves; I think she’s basing everything on emotions. She got a few clues to the immunity idol and she told everyone about it. She’s sending people home just because she doesn’t like them. You can’t play that way on Survivor; you won’t last.

Survivor: Samoa airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on Global and CBS.

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