The first person voted out of his tribe reveals he also found a “fake-fake-idol” on the beach.
Well, that didn’t go very well.
Little did he know, he would also be the first person voted out.
Zach on ‘Survivor 42’.Robert Voets/CBS
What happened to that youngster alliance on Ika, with Swati and Tori both turning firmly against him?
Who would have gone home had his Shot in the Dark actually worked?
We asked the 22-year-old student all that and more the morning after his televised demise.
The cast of ‘Survivor 42’.Robert Voets/CBS
(Also read ourexit interview with Jackson Fox.)
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Okay, let’s start here: What happened?
ZACH WURTENBERGER:I mean, a lot happened, as you could tell from the episode.
It was definitely very much a whirlwind tribe that I got put on.
And there were a lot of names that were being thrown out there in those first three days.
And then Rocksroy was just pissing everyone off.
So Rocksroy’s name was out there.
And then there was also me as kind of a safe option as well.
And then the puzzle thing didn’t help.
And they were able to kind of put the puzzle on me.
So it was a lot of bouncing around and it ultimately landed on me.
Was that never a thing or did it just dissolve really, really quickly?
No, that was a thing.
That definitely was a thing.
And our original plan with that threesome was, let’s pull Romeo over.
It became clear very quickly on day three that we were not pulling Romeo over.
And I just saw Romeo talking with Drea and being like, “What do I do?.”
And I was like, ‘Oh, okay, so that’s what Romeo is doing right now.’
So we then had to pivot.
We pivoted in different ways.
Tori obviously jumped ship, because she was targeting Rocksroy to some degree.
Swati also jumped ship.
Basically, that whole thing fell apart.
And the other element of it is, we knew Drea had something.
And that was very scary for us when it was a tenuous three.
How did you know she had something?
We walked all the way up the hike.
And then we went all the way down the hike.
And that was it.
“[Laughing]Yeah, that was the big opening episode twist.
And then she was like, “But I know some information now.
There is something hidden on this island.”
And I was like, “That’s justSurvivor!
That’s not a twist.
That’s just how the game works.”
Were you guys confused about thewhole blood thing?
I know Hai put blood all over himself, which just makes no sense whatsoever.
But it was funny.
It seemed to get a bit snippy between you and Tori.
How did that go south there at the end?
Because I look at Tori, who’s someone who it also is her dream and all that.
And I genuinely felt gutted when I had to target her and put her name out there.
Why did I think I could do this?
This is just such a miserable thing that I have to do.”
You had walked away.
Did you hear her say, “Nice job on the puzzle,” or not?
I just heard all of the things she said to me beforehand.
I do want to say, Tori is a very nice person, by the way.
Were you surprised Swati was so quick to want you gone?
I mean, I am, and I’m not.
But at the same time, she just screwed up that puzzle, too.
Some would say she screwed it up worse.
So for her, she’s just trying to keep her neck in the game.
Also, she was the one who most clearly tipped me off that my name was out there originally.
So I’ll always appreciate her for that.
You mentioned the puzzle.
Take us through the puzzle.
You just said maybe she was even more to blame.
You two clearly didn’t work well together.
So starting off the puzzle, we were about 15 minutes behind.
So it was going to take a biggest comeback inSurvivorhistory for us to actually still come back from that.
The issue with the puzzle was, it’s a two-sided puzzle, right?
So you should probably see to it that you’re putting the correct sides in.
And as you could see, on Swati’s side, she wasn’t doing that.
The pieces she was putting in were a lighter shade of blue.
We probably should have been working on one side.
But that was the biggest issue we had, because then I didn’t have any of my pieces.
Where’s my Lex and Big Tom money right now, CBS?
You clearly knew it was you.
You played your Shot in the Dark.
What tipped off the Spidey sense that it was you heading into Tribal?
I was just not getting the confirmation from people that I needed.
Trust me, trust me.
It’s not you.
It’s not you.
It’s Tori, it’s Tori."
And I got that a little bit from Romeo, but really not from the other people.
I feel like Swati, for me, was a really good litmus test.
Let’s say your Shot in the Dark works.
There are no votes on anyone else, so who goes home on the revote?
Was it social connections?
Was it not being more aggressive?
I think it was, No.
And in that moment, it very much served her to jump into that kind of mentality.
Drea is a fitness trainer.
And that leaves me and Romeo just hanging around.
I mean, Romeo just had the better social connections.
And a lot of them have been very open about how difficult it is.
And I really do feel lucky overall.
I view mySurvivorexperience as overwhelmingly positive.
I get to hang out with Jackson.
At the end of the day, I kind of realized, it’sSurvivor.
And you might come in, do everything perfectly, which I’m not saying I did.
And then watching the episode last night, I mean, I had a total blast.
I really thought it was a great premiere.
There’s only so much they can fit into an episode, even a two-hour one.
What’s something that happened out there that you wish had made it to screen?
I found a fake-fake-idol out there!
What does that even mean?
We were on the beach and there was just this blue plank.
And I was with Romeo and Drea.
And on it there was this little kind of tube with a blue ribbon around it.
So I was like, “Oh my God.”
And then I literally grab it, I sneak it into my pocket.
And then I finally, I’m so excited I sneak off, I pull it out.
It is literal trash.
It is a literal blue tube with a blue ribbon on it.
And I’m looking at the producers and I’m like, “Do I do something with this?
I do something with this?”
And they’re just like, “Nope.”
I wish I took it home.
I really wish I had that souvenir.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
