Survivor season 43 saw Elie Scott’s torch snuffed in the most recent episode, but she owned up to the messiness she caused on her way out. The pseudo-merge episode spelled disaster for Elie, as her elaborate plans and past mistakes blew up in her face when her tribemate, Mike Gabler, who is typically referred to as just Gabler, threw her under the bus. Survivor 43 episode 6 was as exciting as fans were anticipating, but it wasn’t because of the excessive amount of advantages in the game. Instead, it all came down to the social dynamics that had been at play from the very beginning.
While fans expected a great downfall for Elie at some point, she seemed confident about her position in the game. After watching it back, Elie is able to own up to her game, telling EW, “It was a mess.” She explained that she tried to keep her game low-key, but “every day I would end up wanting to just play too hard.” In the Survivor 43 premiere, Elie looked to be in control of her small Survivor tribe of six people, but her feud with Gabler slowly came to the surface when he told everyone that Elie had looked through his bag. She knew this moment would mean trouble for her. “That’s a really bad look, and I was fully aware of that. That’s part of why I was so panicked,” she said.
Survivor’s Elie Scott Defends Immunity Idol Decision
Even though Elie’s number one ally, Jeanine Zheng, had a hidden immunity idol in her pocket, Elie revealed that she “waved her off” and told her not to use the idol. She justified this decision by explaining, “You’re trying to build a connection with somebody, and they play an idol when they don’t need to–that damages trust.” Although Elie didn’t have much trust to begin with, her ally Owen Knight stood by her side when it came down to the vote. Elie also lied to Gabler about liking heavy metal music, and she cited this as one of her mistakes in the game, saying, “I never should have lied about my taste in music.“
Elie’s chaotic gameplay was fun to watch throughout the first half of Survivor season 43. She told lie after lie, including one to convince Gabler that his immunity idol was no longer valid, even though he knew it was. Her bold and brash gameplay is always welcome on a show like Survivor. Sometimes, all it takes is a new Survivor twist–in this case, a tribal council where six out of the 13 castaways had safety–to get a player booted from the game.
Elie’s game will be remembered by Survivor fans due to the sheer chaos of it. Her overconfident confessionals and devious machinations may have been cringe at times, but she popped onscreen, which is more than anyone can say about a lot of Survivor contestants. Now that Elie has taken some time to reflect on where her game went wrong, it would be interesting to see how she might play differently if she were given a second chance.
Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EDT on CBS.
