By John Powell – GlobalTV.com

She may be the first voted out, but she is no quitter. Although there wasn’t much of that in her edit, Nicole Mazullo, the Financial Crime Consultant, wants fans and viewers to know that she did fight for her life in the game.

John Powell: Nicole, it’s wonderful to be talking to you today. I know it can be hard watching things back as I’ve talked to many Survivors. How are you feeling today about the whole experience?

Nicole Mazullo: I feel great! Honestly, I had such a fun night last night watching it with my family and my friends and some coworkers. I mean, it was just surreal experience that I got to play and I’m feeling grateful and it was a good episode. So I’m pumped! Honestly, and I’m happy to be talking with you!

John Powell: You had absolutely no idea that this blind slag was coming, did you?

Nicole Mazullo: Oh, I did. I knew it was between Annie and myself. I was 50/50 on using my Shot in the Dark right at tribal and then Alex gave me a nod and I had built what I felt was a good relationship up to that point with Alex. He gave me the nod that I was good and that 50/50 became more of like a 70/30. 70% use it. 30% going to use it. So, I was a little I was a little surprised.

John Powell: Who do you feel most betrayed by, if anyone?

Nicole Mazullo: Honestly, I don’t in the sense that it’s a game and someone has to go home first, right? So, I hold no like sense of betrayal or hurt against the vote out. I think someone had to go and it just so happened to be me. It was unfortunate. I think they probably felt like they could’ve leveraged Annie more in a strategic or physical sense and so I was the vote out.

John Powell: When you’re in a season of three tribes, instead of a season of two tribes, it can be a lot more difficult to maneuver. It can be a lot more difficult to kind of hide in the background. Do you think that if you were in a bigger tribe that you put up probably wouldn’t be so much of a target?

Nicole Mazullo: Yeah, I do. I do think so. Even if I had one additional person I think the dynamic would have been completely different. Survivor is a game that like one relationship, one strategy, can impact your entire game. Yes, I do think that if it were a two tribe distribution, or there had been one swap, I could have had a completely different game. I think I just struggled in some way to connect with the people that were on my tribe, as evidenced by my vote out.

John Powell: We don’t get to see everything back at camp. Did you go look for an idol to protect yourself?

Nicole Mazullo: Yeah, I appreciate the question! Yes, I was looking for idols and I was strategizing with Alex. I thought that I had a good relationship going with him. I was strategizing with Sophie, even with Jake. I put a lot of effort into trying to cultivate a relationship with Jake and so there was a lot of those conversations going on. I also did look for idols. Whenever I was helping to build the shelter, I was looking. On day two and three, I alone tried to look so I ran off. There were definitely moments that I was fighting for my safety in ways that maybe didn’t translate to the big screen.

John Powell: Is there anything about your time on the island that you would have wished people would have seen or something about your story that you wish they would have known?

Nicole Mazullo: I think just that alliance building or attempt to build alliances I would have liked to have been shown just so that people could see that I was a strategic player and I was thinking ahead or attempting to…Maybe an additional confessional that explained why I took the helm on the immunity challenges and took the lead on those things to provide more clarity to the audience but at the end of the day, people will come to whatever conclusion they want so I’m happy with how it went.

John Powell: You had two Canadians running around? Was there any kind of talk about them teaming up?

Nicole Mazullo: I didn’t know that there have only been a handful of Canadians that have played and then you have Jeremiah and you have Jake so they wore their Canadian roots like with a badge of honour and I don’t blame them for that. No, I wasn’t concerned that they were going to run off and do this whole Canadian alliance or anything like that. They didn’t have that sort of bond from my perception at that point in time. I remember it being so potent that they were Canadian because Jake said, ‘Hey, buddy, buddy’ There’s a lot of “buddy”. That was great.

John Powell: Is there anything that you saw or that you know about the Kele tribe that we should know at home, that we haven’t got to see?

Nicole Mazullo: It’s a handful those people. It was an eclectic group of people. I think that the episode did a good job of portraying that and everyone’s kind angle. I think the episode is a good representation of everyone.

John Powell: What are you taking away from your experience?

Nicole Mazullo: I felt very content and humbled by the whole experience, obviously, being the first vote out. It was not on my bingo card at all but I just I was humbled. I was not at peace after that vote. I was so angry. Then, when I got home, I was just like: ‘You know, everything happens for a reason’. I’m a big believer in that. It sounds cheesy but you just got to kind of lean into these moments when they happen and that’s life, right? It’s a game. It didn’t go my way or how I wanted it to go and I wouldn’t have changed the way I did it…I keep coming back to this feeling of just like, gratitude for the fact that I even got to play well.

Survivor 49 Fantasy Tribe