In the final six, Heidi had two avenues into the finale. She could either team up with Jaime and Lauren, who were trying (though not very hard) to break up the Tika Three, or she could align herself with the Carolyn, Yam Yam, Carson alliance. She chose the latter, sending Carolyn and Yam Yam into the final three after winning the final immunity and beating Carson in the fire challenge.
The biggest reason why she didn’t try to work with Jaime and Lauren, she told us, is because they tried to vote her out previously. Trust was lost, but with the Tikas, it could still grow. Here’s why she chose that route.
“Something wasn’t shown: Jamie was close to Yam, and we can see that. Carson was close to Lauren, and we can see that at the island, but it was never really shown on TV. So, when they said to me to ‘vote for Carolyn,’ I was like, ‘OK…’. And then I’m like, that doesn’t make any sense, right? Because if they’re close with the boys, let’s vote Carolyn. And guess what? I knew I was gonna be next. Because in their eyes, maybe they had their top four together.
“I was also close to the Tikas. As soon as I knew they were gonna be in the middle, I started making friendships with them. And you could see, the Tikas never really voted for me. Carolyn only voted one time for me — it was a bit rogue. And then Yam Yam voted for me in this one ’cause he was returning the vote that I did for him. Even though I didn’t write it, I made Lauren write it down. So, he’s like, ‘Well, you wrote my name once. I’m gonna write your name once too.’ [Laughs] The chemistries and the friendships and relationships [weren’t quite shown], but it just didn’t make sense at the time to just vote for Carolyn. And when I tried to pitch something else, the energy at the moment wasn’t quite there. So, I just knew it wasn’t gonna work for me. I wasn’t playing for fifth, I was playing for Soul Survivor.”
Heidi’s final-six decision got her into the final five (as did playing her idol, although it wasn’t needed in the end). But her fiery risk got her into the final three. She said sending Carolyn and Yam Yam into the final three was less about them and more about Carson.
“It wasn’t so much about, ‘Oh, I’m gonna take Yam Yam and Carolyn to the end.’ It was more of, I’m taking the best player out so I could put myself into the best position to tell that to the jury and hopefully get their votes,” she said. “At the time I thought [Carson] had the strongest game, and I wanted to make fire with the person I thought was gonna win.”
This story originally appeared on TV Insider
