By John Powell – GlobalTV.com

Like James Moriarty to Sherlock Holmes or The Joker to Batman, Rizo was Charlie Davis’ arch-nemesis on Survivor. Last night, their rivalry initiated a civil war at the Cila Tribe. Rizo won that climatic battle by just one, solitary vote. Although the showdown was cutthroat at times, Charlie has bears no ill-will towards Rizo.

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

Charlie Davis: I’m good. John, thanks for having me.

John Powell: Last night, we saw your emotional exit. Some of the castaways this season said it’s not necessarily that they’re sad at being voted out. It’s all those emotions hitting them all at once. The feelings of being thrilled to be invited back to the show, feelings of disappointment. Was it the same way for you?

Charlie Davis: Absolutely. It’s a lot. You’re trying to piece together exactly what happened and what might have gone wrong. So, it’s just so much at once. Part of it is just pure exhaustion. You’re so tired at that point. You know, at that point, you were up at the crack of dawn, you’ve done an immunity challenge which is a lot of work when you’re starving. Then, you’ve done a scramble for tribal.

You had to wait before your tribal and we had to wait a lot longer than usual because there were two, right? You get voted out, you don’t know what’s going on and you’re trying to figure it all out. It’s all coming at once. You walk down the walkway, and you’re like, “Oh, dang, there’s no Edge of Extinction.” (laughs)

John Powell: Your story was centred around you and Rizo battling for the soul of the tribe. You did get two votes. Did you think that your magic had worked? When you’re off to tribal council did you sense anything was off?

Charlie Davis: Well, I don’t think I sensed anything was off. I had a lot of trust in Dee and Kamilla and I did not think that they were going to flip. That was really the main thing and obviously that was my undoing.

I didn’t think I had to work any magic, really. I thought we were going to stay four strong together as a tribe and going to clue in people. I thought Devens and Cirie were going to vote together and I was very sure that Devens was with us because he had actually tipped me off that Rizo was kind of pushing my name around. I just didn’t think there was any traction to it. So, I knew Rizo was coming for me but I just didn’t think that Dee and Kamilla were going to stray from that. Obviously, then they pulled in Cirie and that was that.

John Powell: If somebody does you dirty on the show, I understand having that moment of satisfaction that you got them out but I mean your relationship, from what we saw, there wasn’t anything antagonistic in nature and Rizo took a lot of glee in getting you out. What was it like watching that back? What were your thoughts?

Charlie Davis: I mean, that was fine. I honestly didn’t mind all of that. The Taylor Swift stuff? I literally knew, I think I told my family, or at least internally, I was like, “I knew whoever voted me out was gonna do some sort of fun thing.” So I was like, that’s just low-hanging fruit, that was inevitable. I mean, I was coming for him too, so I have no issues with him. He knew I was coming for him so I think that’s part of the reason he played it up. So no, I didn’t have any issues with that.

John Powell: Have you spoken to him afterwards?

Charlie Davis: Yeah, totally, totally. There’s no leftover anything. Honestly, even in the game, I had those feelings, and they were honest but even in the game, it wasn’t as if I hated EVERYTHING about Rizo. We had some fun out there, some good moments and good bonding moments too.

John Powell: We’ve seen before in Survivor where somebody’s focused on one person so much that they block everything else out, targeting that person exclusively, and that ends up being their undoing. I assume from the way you played before that you had your hand in many baskets and Rizo wasn’t the only person on your docket.

Charlie Davis: Yes and no. First of all, I had multiple reasons for targeting Rizo. It wasn’t just the narrative that you saw. I think there were two good strategic reasons. One, I thought he had the least connection, so there would be the least collateral damage in taking a shot at him. Whereas with everyone else, taking a shot might create two, three, four enemies and there’s really no reason to do that pre-merge. That was one rationale.

Secondly, the main reason people would target Rizzo, similar to Savannah too, is because they’re sort of unknown quantities. The longer those unknowns stay in the game, the more power they accumulate so you lose the ability to go for people. I was also worried about Rizo being viewed the same way by every player, like, “Oh, this person has no connections; I’m the one to pull him into my pocket,” and then suddenly he’s ingratiated with everyone.

Strategically, he was a good target but I did think it would be smartest for us to stay strong as a core of four, at least for that vote. At that point, it was going to be between Rizo or Devens and Rizzo was the best option.

John Powell: We’ve heard a lot about pre-existing relationships. That some felt like they were iced out already and didn’t have much of a chance. What are your thoughts on that? It can cut both ways: positive for your game but also a big negative because you bring all that baggage with you.

Charlie Davis: It definitely adds so many layers to a returning season. It’s tricky. Even people who you might think are good friends outside the game might not click with you on the island. I think I had that blind spot with Dee. She was probably someone I talked to the most outside of 50, just hanging out but that didn’t really translate in the game and I want to clarify that it wasn’t like we were just talking about returning, we were just hanging out. That created a blind spot more than anything.

John Powell: This time you seemed a lot more serious, a lot more focused. Was that how you were out there?

Charlie Davis: Well, I’m curious what makes you say that. I had a lot of fun out there too. Just to clarify, in Kalo beach, I was putting on Coach’s toe ring, tons of fun. It’s just that different stuff gets shown. I was always having fun. I had fun with the talent show, fashion show, all sorts of fun moments.

John Powell: Is there anything about your journey you wish people had seen? A moment or strategic move you wish had been included in your story?

Charlie Davis: I just wish there had been more shown from the early days on Kalo, those first two episodes. That was a bummer because those were honestly my favorite days on 50. I had so much fun on that tribe. I would have liked more to be shown there but those are memories I still hold dear.

John Powell: You made that great comment about sometimes us all being in our own heads, seeing ourselves as the heroes of our own stories. What surprised you most about your experience this time around?

Charlie Davis: I don’t know if “surprise” is the right word but every time you go on Survivor you get the opportunity to learn about yourself, build friendships and make memories. I definitely did that this season. I had a lot of reflection on my life and Survivor and just being at Ponderosa was a valuable experience in its own way.

John Powell: What surprised you watching it back?

Charlie Davis: Again, they hammered the narrative about the Maria vote and the Rizo stuff but it wasn’t all manipulated. It was more complex than a one-note “I hate Rizo.” I would have liked to see some of that nuance but overall, it was an honest and fun telling of the story.

Survivor 50 Fantasy Tribe