Role reversals are an integral part of Survivor, and Sierra Reed knows this first-hand. In the first episode of Survivor: Brazil, the waifish blonde was chosen by her team as the weakest, most expendable player, and although she avoided elimination, Reed remained on the bottom of her tribe's totem pole for the next several rounds.

After Reed managed to stick around past the merge, suddenly her Timbira tribe mates Coach and Debbie were asking for her help, even though they had cruelly rejected Reed's peace offering only a few days before. Reed gleefully turned them down, too, even though the alliance would have helped her stay in the game longer. Coach was furious and told the rest of the contestants that it was actually Reed who came to him with an alliance offer, which led to a big blowout. Although it looked certain that Coach would be eliminated next, he unexpectedly won immunity and Reed was voted out at Tribal Council.


Was it difficult to watch your elimination last week?
It was difficult, but I think the most difficult for me to watch, where I actually cried, was the one where Tyson went home and the one before where I had the scene with Coach where he was yelling at me. I really wanted to stay in the game. People make choices and everyone was in their own alliances, and they were coming after me because I was in an alliance with Brendan. I was telling Debbie, "You're in an alliance with Tyson, but that doesn't mean I'm not a good person. It doesn't mean I can't shift in this game and that I can't still be a loyal, honest person. That's what I was showing, consistently, with Brendan, and that's what I can offer you." That really hurt me, that they would just kick me in the face.

When Coach and Debbie did come back later to ask you to align with them, do you now regret rejecting their offer, as much as you dislike them?
What do you think? Absolutely not! I have no regrets. It was one of the defining moments for me in the whole game. It was the first time in the whole game when I was finally making choices for myself – and really good choices. When I watch it, I feel really proud of myself and I think my family is, too. That's something that I would never regret doing. In that moment, I owned myself and for the first time I was no longer everyone's little play toy to mess around with. I actually had leverage in the game and I chose to walk out and shove it in their faces.

What would have been your next move if you hadn't been voted out?
I would have aligned with Taj, Stephen, JT and Erinn and I would have tried to see how far I could ride that out. I really wanted to make it to the family visit because I knew my sister was there and I never got to see her. She was actually there.

You didn't even get to see her when you were voted out?
No. Not at all. She was three miles away from me. It was hard. It's a large goal for everyone out there, when you get past a certain day and you're like, "OK, I want to get past Day 31 because I want to see my sister." I made it to 11 p.m. on Day 30. That was very, very painful. I think that was the hardest thing for me. You just want nothing more than to have a hug – a real, genuine hug from someone you really love, who really knows you.

Do you think you could have done anything that would have kept you in the game at least one more round?
I think I did do everything I possibly could have, and that was to out Coach and Debbie so that JT and Stephen believed I was on their side. Stephen even said, "She's more loyal to us than she is to them because she turned them down!" Stephen was worried the old Timbira tribe was going to align. Coach was going to go home that night, but he happened to win immunity for the first frickin' time in his life. So the others were still deciding between me and Debbie and I don't think they wanted to keep me and Coach, two bulldogs, together any longer. So that's why I think I went first. They were just picking us off anyway; it didn't really matter what order it was to them.

After the first episode, when your tribe picked you as the weakest player on their team, did you think you were going to last this long?
I didn't know how far I was going to go, but I knew that I had studied and prepared so much. I had memorized every Survivor manual, I had started fires by myself in my house with flint – and I started the first fire on the Timbira campsite after three men went at it. I built the first shelter and I was one of the biggest food providers, climbing up to the highest parts of the trees and picking fruits. I was a provider and, in challenges, I think I surprised my team as well by being very strong, so the more and more I started find my own way, the more I knew I was more comfortable in the game. When Brendan and I got in the four-way Exile alliance [with Jalapao members Stephen and Taj] I knew I was safe until the merge. You can't really get too confident that you're safe, but I took it day-by-day and I tried my hardest.

Do you think the show's portrayal of you was accurate?
I think, for a long time, you don't see a lot of me in the game – other than when I was telling Coach, "Hey, cook your own beans. You're a frickin' man, you're 37 years old, and a 23-year-old girl is having to tell you that we're preparing food for eight people, not one." I don't think anyone really ever stood up to him in situations like that. I think it was good to stay in the background at first because it's advantageous to keep quiet but be really strong in challenges. Especially when you're sitting on two secret immunity idols, like my alliance was, it was good to lay low and wait to merge and then take action. I think that everyone's really juiced on the last two episodes that were really dramatic and it looks like I'm taking a harsh beating, but in actuality, for a long time, I was just really happy. Debbie was a good friend of mine; I was good friends with Jerry; Brendan and I got along. And Coach and I actually had some good moments, too, as friends, which you never saw, either. All you really saw were those last two episodes where they really came after me after Brendan was voted out. They came after me because they all truly were extremely jealous of Brendan; Brendan had a lot of authority at our camp and I think when they got rid of him, they took it out double on me.

Wait, you had nice moments with Coach? How is that possible?
Coach is full of it. He's really full of crap. But, underneath all that crap, there is somewhat of a really good man, actually. That's why I originally went to him to ask him to take me back into their alliance, because I knew that we were all on the same page, ultimately. He had heart, as well. He still always played with exposed heart. I knew that I would be able to get through to him. I knew I couldn't get through to Tyson, so I went to Coach. There is still, surprisingly, somewhat of a good man under there, I think. He is living on a different planet and he is crazy and I don't think it even occurs to him that what he says is so far-fetched that it just sounds like bullcrap. I'm a little embarrassed for him, but I loved the fact that I made him look like such a sore loser and a liar after he said that he was such a man full of integrity and all this bullcrap. It felt great because I think all of America was waiting for someone to say, "Look, this guy is full of it. Get rid of him." And I did! It felt great.

What was your strategy going into the game?
I was going to find one person to be extremely honest with the whole time, to support, to back up and to strategize with. I was going to always stay true to that person and take them to the end. That ended up being Brendan, which was a great choice; I still don't regret that choice. The only thing I think I regret is that I should have had more conversation with him. I should have had more control of the game, I think, because I started so submissive to everything. I let him grab the reins. I still did a lot of things that you guys never saw – I planted a fake idol for Erinn and she dug for it and it was great. I just wish I had gone to Taj the minute after the merge and said, "Look, everything's fine, we're totally on board." But Brendan said we should lay low and talk to them later, but Taj was a sitting duck so she was very nervous. Because we didn't talk to her right away, she decided to make other arrangements.

Who do you want to win the game?
Either Stephen or Taj. They've both played great games, but very different. I never even knew Stephen was that much of a mastermind. When you know him in the game, if you were there, you would think he was just this little nervous guy who was really bad at challenges. You'd think he was just a weakling. But he was whole mastermind behind the whole game. I watch the game now and I'm like, "Wow." He obviously made a big impact on the game. And Taj, coming from a lavish lifestyle, she really held her own out there and played a great game as well. I think she played with a lot of integrity.

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

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• Survivor: Brazil Interview: Jerry
• Survivor: Brazil Interview: Candace
• Survivor:Brazil Interview: Carolina
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