Survivor 51: Jenna Doore Exit Interview

TVLINE | Why is Devin so obsessed with you?!
Why are you so obsessed with me, Dev? Are you jealous?

TVLINE | I’m kidding, but what was the genesis of his fixation there?
The “Jenna-sis,” was that a pun?

TVLINE | [Laughs] Yeah, that’s totally what I meant!
Listen, I want to say a disclaimer of: The game is an alternate reality. We know this, but really, it is an alternate reality, not just because you’re not sleeping and not eating. You are playing a wildly intense mental, emotional, and strategic game. It’s insane. And I think everyone deserves a chance to be who they are outside of the game, and the Dev I know outside of the game is someone I deeply love. Really, I mean that. Now, speaking inside the game and post-game, me having to process a lot of him coming for me, that was really brutal. It was brutal, and I don’t just mean the wedding photographer stuff, [but] things spread about me that, you know, it’s, “She’s so sketchy,” and all this stuff. It’s hard to be on the receiving end of that, especially when you’re like, “What did I do?” I’m just sad, Dev. Just let me be sad for a second, OK? I will say though, outside of the game, all love to Dev and to Jelly too.

TVLINE | If you could do it over, is there anything you could have done, any type of wiggle room there, or do you think the cards were dealt when you pulled that buff at the swap?
Here’s my honest answer. I think the cards were dealt and it was a really bad hand, but I don’t think you are a good “Survivor” player if you are going to blame the cards that you get. It might not always work out because you have bad cards, but the best “Survivor” players figure out how to work with their bad hands, and at the end of the day, I couldn’t do that. Was it possible for me to do that? I don’t know. Of course, because I am a player and I love this freaking game, I’m like, “Oh, I should have been on that mutiny. I should have gotten that extra vote. I should have been more well-positioned on the initial beach.” And to Dev and Jelly’s credit, and Ori, and just how the game played out, they were really well-positioned come that tribe swap. It was almost like the implications of the game they had played up to that moment, and mine caught up to me. I’m so proud of the game I played. I had so much game left to play, but of course, I’m always running through what I could have done.

TVLINE | We saw you pitching to Devin and Jelly that you wanted to stay Toka-strong, but do you think it’s something they actually considered?
If I’m being honest, what was surprising is actually watching it and being like, “It kind of looks like they’re considering it.” All of the months I’ve been outside of the game, I was like, “Oh, it’s so stupid to trust Devin and Jelly. I should have tried to make a play with Alexis and Ori.” Of course, I don’t think that was really that viable of an option either, I didn’t have that information [about the helicopter alliance], so I don’t know. Had there not been the helicopter alliance, perhaps. It’s not like there was no relationship with Devin and Jelly. It’s not like that at all, and I think that is my strength and weakness as a player. I think some players are really good about being like, “You’re coming for me, I’m coming for you.” I wish I had a little more of that. Might have served me in this case, but for what it’s worth, I think you have to play this game to your strengths, and one of my strengths is repairing relationships and seeing potential in other people, and being able to honestly be like, “OK, you came for me in the game. Alright. That doesn’t mean we can never work together.” So I think maybe in another iteration of this game, maybe in “Pre-merge Baddies” when I come back, that will work in my favor, but this time it didn’t.