The following contains spoilers from Wednesday’s episode ofSurvivor46.
The Survivor tribes may be officially merged, but that didn’t stop Jeff Probst from tossing another twist their way.
In Wednesday’s episode (read our recap here), two teams of six competed against each other in the week’s immunity challenge. But while one team won a large food reward, both groups were forced to go to Tribal Council, teeing up a double elimination and two massive blindsides. Unfortunately for Tim, he failed to convince the former Yanu members that Hunter was the biggest threat, and he was booted from the game by a vote of 4-2.
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TVLine caught up with Tim to talk about butting heads with Q, Hunter’s big threat-level and what he’d do differently a second time around.
TVLINE | What does it feel like to fall just one spot short of making the jury?
TIM SPICER | If I had sat on the jury, I would have been pissed. That would have been another layer of trauma to sit through, especially after being blindsided. I think people were tripping, getting me out. Istill believe that there were bigger threats than me out there. I think I went home when I had to. It was time.
TVLINE | Did you ever think that Siga’s close bonds would become this big of an issue come merge?
No, I didn’t think so. Ididn’t know that people would hate us. It was like a bunch of Siga haters! [Laughs] “We’re not doing this. We’re not talking strategy.” I didn’t think it would be a big problem because Siga talked about it. We talked about us staying close-knit when we got to merge and trying to do our best to play loyal to Siga and have the five numbers on our side. Maybe it was too good.
TVLINE | Those Namis were just jealous.
Yeah, they’re super jealous and they have been winning! Well, the Hunters have been winning. He led the tribe. Kudos to them for always coming out on top, but in my eyes, that was a threat. These people know how to win. Let’s go ahead and shake the house.
TVLINE | Let’s talk about Hunter a little bit. Did you think you had a real shot in convincing the Yanu members to cut him?
I think I had a real shot if I just convinced the Yanu girls. That was a vulnerable place for me to enter and [try to] persuade them that they would be the swing vote if they came with the Siga boys and gotQuintavius [Q]out. If nobody wanted to believe me that Hunter was the biggest threat, then I think the Yanu girls playing with the Siga boys would have been a better move.
TVLINE | You tried to pitch Q on voting Hunter despite having this Plus-One agreement. He didn’t seem receptive to it. Was that a mistake on your part?
No, I still thought it was logical. Like I said in the show, I said, “Bro, you haven’t beaten him all season. I’ve at least hung in there for these last five challenges. You suck. He’s gonna get us. We need to get him out of here!” But he was really tied to the Plus-One alliance and I think, partially, because he created it. But I thought the Plus-One alliance was too soon. You can’t count out six and 13 in a game like this. It’s never worked in 46 seasons of Survivor when you try to count those six seats before you even get to that stage in the game.
TVLINE | Q called you out for trying to keep your foot in too many alliances. He said you were “still playing a Siga game.” Was that true?
No. Mo got gone. Mo left, so I didn’t even show any loyalty to Siga. I did put up this fight, but at the end of the day, I still ate one of my own. And so after that, I didn’t trust the Plus-Onealliance. So when Tavius [Q] called me out in his confessions, he didn’t call me out to my face. He didn’t talk about that to me, man. Any problem I had or any thought I had, I talked to him about it. I talked about it with anyone. So, no. He don’t know what he’s talking about. [Laughs]
TVLINE | What was your relationship like with Q, in general?
The only bond is that we were two Black guys playing the game of Survivor for the first time. Five African Americans made it to the merge, so that’s a big deal in Survivor history. It was the Plus-One alliance, but outside of that, we didn’t really see eye to eye. I think one thing that really got downplayed in Episode 6, which was the merge feast, is that he and I butted heads a lot over this Mo vote. I thought it was weak of him to think that Mo was a threat ’cause I wanted Venus out. I saw the way she bounced around at “mergatory” Survivor-limbo and I didn’t see Mo as a threat. I thought, “How could Mo be threatening to you?” That day was chaotic, so we didn’t really bond too much out there. I thought we butted heads a few times and that’s what led to my blindside.
TVLINE | You mentioned Venus. Why are people so resistant to voting her out when it seems like nobody wants to work with her?
I don’t know, man. I think when you’re playing something like this and you’re deprived mentally emotionally, you’re food deprived, you’re not sleeping. It didn’t make any sense to keep her over Mo. It still doesn’t. I’m not gonna say anything crazy about Venus ’cause I know she’s got some fans in the social media world. I’m not even on the socials, but I’m not dealing with any of that. I’m not sure why the hesitancy behind Venus. I think people really hated Siga so much that they wanted us to break apart. And that’s exactly what the edit looks like. “Siga’s tight. We don’t like it,” and that narrative kind of permeated everyone’s mind and they said, “Let’s get them out of here.”
TVLINE | This challenge was super fun to watch on TV. Was there anything else from your time out there that was talked about or joked about?
It was a long challenge. I don’t remember how long we were up there. Hunter actually started shouting out people first. He shouted out his siblings or something and I was like, “Hell no, I don’t wanna hear that.” And I started shouting out my siblings, Taylor, Jalen, Devin, and then I went around everyone that was still in the game and I shouted out their family and where they were from and why they were here. I think that could have put a target on my back ’cause I knew everyone so well. But what else was I to do in the jungle with 13 personalities besides learn people? But yeah, I think they cut it really well. It was dope.
TVLINE | If you played a second time, what would you change about your game?
I would lose more in the beginning. 1) You get a lot of screen time when you lose.I didn’t know that was a Survivor hack, and 2) When things are too peachy, you do need to go to Tribal. I think that first time we went to Tribal, it was a little too late and the more you go to Tribal, the more you bond with Jeff. That’s what made Yanu really impressive because they had these moments with Jeff, what, every two days? So I will lose more, or I will control when we lose if I feel like somebody needs to get voted out.
I would also take advantage of the transitions, like before we go to a challenge. Just being really intentional with my timing of things and when I say certain things to a tribe member before a challenge or after a challenge. Get people riled up, I think. That’d been cool to see.
