No one wants to be the first player voted out of Survivor and, for that reason, any first vote is bound to feel a little personal — no matter the real reason behind it.
But as Survivor host Jeff Probst revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he believes Nicole Mazullo’s ouster in the Survivor 49 premiere was, in fact, “clearly personal.”
“How can it not be personal?” he questioned in a story published Thursday, September 25.
“Even though it’s a game, you’re saying to somebody, ‘Of all the people here, you’re the first person that we’re gonna choose to get rid of,’” he explained. “Whatever the criteria, it still hurts. That’s why I’m always in awe of people who come play Survivor, because it’s incredibly vulnerable.”
Nicole, 26, met her Survivor demise after her Kele tribe dropped all three competitions during the premiere. It seemed clear heading into tribal council that the vote would be between her and tribemate Annie Davis.
Also speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Nicole said she knew the vote was personal.
“I think my vote-out was the product of one person not liking me, frankly,” she said. “And they were just going to have the sole impact on that vote. And it was his vote, basically.”
“I’m talking about Jake [Latimer],” she clarified. “I think Jake just didn’t like me from the jump, and he just wanted me out, I think he was just like, ‘Eh, that’s an easy target,’ if you will.”
Nicole added that she tried to build a relationship with Jake at camp, but the two just didn’t hit it off.
“Survivor is like a microcosm of the world,” she said. “Some people you just don’t get along with. And so I can appreciate the unpredictability of that and the nature of that.”
When Probst, 63, read the votes, confirming Nicole had been casted out, she stayed quiet and did not say goodbye or share hugs with her tribemates.
“I wasn’t going to turn around and hug him,” she said of Jake, 36. “I was like, “Nah, you guys just voted me out. I’m not hugging you.”
Probst also recalled seeing hardly any emotion from Nicole in her final moments on the show.
“When I read the third Nicole vote, she dropped her head and she knew it was over,” he said. “And that was the last time I saw her eyes. She was down the whole time.”
Survivor airs on CBS Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET.
