By John Powell – GlobalTV.com

According to her own castmates Sophie Segreti was one of the most competitive players on the Survivor 49 island…but you wouldn’t know that with the almost ‘purple’ edit she had during the first part of the season. To put things in perspective though, the Hina Tribe didn’t lose someone though until five episodes in when the tribes were swapped. Now a member of the jury, Sophie filled us in all that we might have missed about her Survivor journey.

John Powell: Sophie, it’s great to be talking to you today. How are you?

Sophie Segreti: Honestly, doing much better than expected. I hate to lose. I’m a competitor so I am not going to lie. Last night was a little rough to watch but I’m in good spirits today.

John Powell: Well, I have to say I sympathize and empathize with you because all the way through high school, all the way through public school in our classes there was two other Johns. So I became ‘John P’ the whole time. So, you can imagine in public school being called John ‘P’. How did ‘Yellow Sophie’ come about? Did you have any say? How did this work out?

Sophie Segreti: So we had no say in ‘Yellow Sophie’ versus ‘Blue Sophie’. That’s just like, early on, how we were able to distinguish us but what’s funny is the whole time I’m like: ‘Come on! Kele keeps losing. Vote her out, if for no other reason then so I can be the only Sophie!’ When that didn’t work out Jeff (Prost) told us you cannot do the blue and yellow thing. We are not doing that.

We had originally wanted to go by our last names which I think are sick: Segreti and Balerdi! However, somebody on our cast, who I won’t put their name out there, was like: ‘They’re too hard to pronounce, they’re too many syllables.’

So, now we’re getting ‘Soph’ and ‘Sophie’. I think that’s actually more confusing. I did secretly hope that somebody was going mess up when it came time for me to get voted out and actually write like ‘Soph’ and then I’d be like: ‘It’s not me!’ But no, everyone last night was like: Yellow Sophie. They did not leave anything up for discussion.

John Powell: Before going to tribal did you have any clue that your name was going to come up?

Sophie Segreti: I was absolutely shocked. Shame on me for not realizing that I was clearly an option. Watching that episode back there are some things that maybe should have tipped me off but Savannah’s name had been thrown out and people have been voting for her in previous tribal in the past so it wasn’t beyond the pale for me to be like: ‘Oh, of course Steven, Kristina and Sage and maybe even Soph are going to flip and vote Savannah.’

John Powell: You were in a position in the game where you basically had to pick between which side you’re going to focus on. Why did you make the decision you made?

Sophie Segreti: I think it comes down to two things. It was rust and then also the numbers. So, from a numbers perspective, I ended up choosing to ally myself with Rizo, Soph and Savannah because then I was in an alliance of four. Whereas had I stuck with Sage, Jawan, Steven and Kristina in that Jawan vote I’d have been the bottom of an alliance of five and kind of an easy vote out. Whereas, if you’re with four, you at least at the bottom of a four and if you make it to fire that’s a fighting shot.

I think the other reason was those Hina allies had just proven again and again that they didn’t fully trust me. I was the last person to know about MC’s idol! I found out at tribal council that Savannah and the other alliance even knew about it! So that was a clue that everybody knew except for me. After MC went home and I got back to camp and everyone was blatantly upset that I was still there.

I just realized that I was just kind of a number and not really being treated like a valued member of the alliance. I was dispensable to Steven, Kristina and Alex at the time. I was kind of more of: Hey! I know that Rizo and Savannah and Soph have not been on my side but at least they’re not blatantly behind my back pretending to be allied with me and wanting me out. Those were kind of the two reasons why I think I had a better chance of getting further.

John Powell: You were able to watch it back last night and you got to see a lot of the things you didn’t We saw comments by Sage. She was obviously very emotional about what happened. We saw Savannah’s comments. How was it watching those things back?

Sophie Segreti: Watching it back I think I just underestimated how upset Sage was at the Jawan vote. At a point in the game you’re backstabbing a lot of people and people are going home and there are some votes that people get over quite easily after they’ve been betrayed and this was not one of them. Watching it back that was a key thing that kind of stood out to me.

I will say nothing surprised me about what Savannah said. I similarly never intended to go to the end with her. It didn’t make sense for either of us. It’s no it’s no secret that I was her biggest competition threat.

It honestly was tough watching back because I was reliving that moment where all of a sudden, my Survivor dream came to an end and it was so unexpected. In the moment, I am so shocked. I laugh and I take it well but watching it back the magnitude of that moment hit me and I got a little teary eyed, not going lie, when Jeff snuffed my torch.

John Powell: Well, you do have one fan. I spoke to Jawan and he this is what he said. “Well, I want, first off, to give ‘Yellow Sophie’ her flowers. Man, she’s such a dominant force!…I remember early days, even before we did the merge and the tribes watch, she definitely was someone who was very competitive.” What do you think about that?

Sophie Segreti: I read that and I love Jawan! That made me so happy to read. I really appreciate that he said that! He’s great guy! It makes me laugh because I am extremely competitive and there was a moment when I was preparing for this game, like: Do I try to hide that at all and lessen my threat value? What I learned is I simply cannot. I want to win so badly even if it means that I’m cutting off my nose to spite my face, like winning the battle but losing the war which is what I did. I can’t lose! I can’t willingly lose! It got me a reputation early on even in those team challenges because I was a little bit of a drill sergeant like: “Do this!” I loved competing! I love the challenges! They were so fun!

John Powell: We didn’t see it on the show but you have an extremely competitive athletic background going all the way back to school. A number of people have mentioned that your story didn’t begin to later on. How do you feel about that? Even Jawan, a video editor, was saying: “They’ve done her dirty.”

Sophie Segreti: That’s a certified video editor who says they did me dirty! It’s funny because you are out there and you are living it and you feel like you are a part of Survivor. It honestly felt a little bit like gas-lighting, where I was watching these episodes and I know that I lived that day and was on that beach and competing in that challenge but I’m just not getting airtime. You know that you’re filming confessionals and talking to people and that Jeff (Probst) is talking to you and so to not get any of it? I was kind of questioning things. Was I a part of (Season) 49? Did I do things? I thought I was.

It’s also funny because it just was so at odds with what I thought. To Jawan’s point I feel like there were a lot of chatter even before the merge that: ‘Sophie is a challenge threat.’ You don’t see any of that because none of that is shown. I agree with Jawan. I would have loved to see a little more of me but I guess producers just wanted to leave a little up to the imagination well.

John Powell: Are there any other moments, whether it be a strategic thing or a bond with somebody, you wish fans would have saw about your journey?

Sophie Segreti: I think I wish that they would have shown a little bit more of Sage and I becoming close. That’s the reason why I voted out Jawan instead of Sage and I think that’s also the reason, interestingly, why she came for me so hard because we were so close and so it hurt even more so that I betrayed her. At one point, she disclosed to me that she was an alternate as well. We just really bonded over that. I was an alternate for season 48 she was an alternate for season 47 and I think it helped explain my strategic decisions to flip when I did and to show that I was building relationships.

The critique of my game is that I didn’t have a ‘ride or die’ but that’s not to say that I wasn’t making relationships and building bonds. I think that’s one where I wish they had shown a little bit more of that context so that you could understand why I made the decisions I did. I feel like people had no idea why I picked Jawan instead of Sage and it was because of this relationship we had built but nobody ever really got to see that.

John Powell: I want to ask this because it came kind of left field at Tribal Council. Well, if you watch Survivor, you kind of get the reference, but what was the whole ‘Yellow Jacket’ comment?

Sophie Segreti: You didn’t get to see the jacket in question. I had this sick jacket but it was yellow with flowers and it is cold at night in Fiji. I know this is the hottest season on record but at night it is cold and it had been raining, and I had Nicole’s clothes. I was wearing Nicole’s clothes as well that she left on the beach. I had the best fits of anybody. I had the best clothes. So, a lot of people wanted my jacket…I was in that moment, it was a little Angelina call back and a little: Enjoy the rain!

John Powell: You obviously can’t talk about who you voted for because that’s under wraps but you’re a fan. You’ve been watching for quite some time. What are some of the attributes you look for in a deserving Survivor winner?

Sophie Segreti: I’m not a bitter. I’m not a bitter voter. If you’ve blindsided me, that’s probably more points to your credit. I wanted to vote for people who were intentionally strategic. I will be honest, I don’t love a coattail rider. I like an active player and the other thing I’ll say is I love competitions. I love seeing somebody who can win. So that does mean a little something to me. I know there are some folks who just go pure strategy but to me winning challenges is part of strategy. Those are big things. I think the other thing is I really value players who were at the bottom or in situations where their names were coming up and they evaded being voted out. There have been some seasons where a majority alliance just rolls through to the end and then you’re picking one of three of the alliance and that’s not really as fun. Get some grit! Get some people who’ve really clawed their way up!