By John Powell – GlobalTV.com

She quit the game faster than any player in Survivor history. Hannah Rose, the 33-year-old therapist, is the 18th person to quit the show. Speaking to GlobalTV.com, Hannah doesn’t regret her personal decision to leave and let us in on a twist we did not see on last night’s episode.

John Powell: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. Now that you have had the time to watch everything back how are you feeling this morning?

Hannah Rose: So in terms of watching it, watching it last night with all my closest people was amazing. I’ve obviously known what’s happened this whole time and I love that they showed my duo with Brandon. There was so much you didn’t see like how hard it was on so many levels. I loved watching it. The only thing I’m reliving is I made the right decision for me. I will say waking up this morning and being not very accessible on the Internet, I don’t have social media. The amount of vitriol that is leaking through my work and email and strangers on the internet that are just like coming after me, that’s not fun but I knew it would happen. That’s why making the decision I did was so scary. I said it in my final confessional that I know millions of people are going to hate me. It’s still not fun when people are just like: ‘You’re the worst. Go die.’

John Powell: Unfortunately, there can be some passionate fans and they do go overboard. Let’s give them a little bit of perspective here because I think context really matters as we don’t get to see everything. Tell us what was going on with you at the time and what made you make that decision in the end because I think that’s important for people to know.

Hannah Rose: I’m seeing a lot of like: ‘She should have known’. I’m like, well, there’s only so much you can prepare for and I did prepare in many ways for a long time. As Emily said, worst shelter in Survivor history because there was no shelter and it rained for almost 24 hours. I’ve always watched that and been like: ‘You just stick it out. It’s not that big of a deal.’ I can’t describe what it feels like on your fingers and toes and your toenails almost falling off. We also couldn’t open coconuts because we didn’t have a machete. We would get these tiny pieces every now and then.

I didn’t sleep one minute because some of my tribemates snored and we were rained on and we had no shelter. We were on the ground. We weren’t on bamboo. No sleep, no food, being wet, I had no control over my emotions in a way that I would have never anticipated. I thought: ‘I’ve got all these tools. This is going to be fine.’ So, it was all of that mixed with knowing who was going to go home and knowing it was their dream to be there and it was their biggest fear to leave first. I just had a moment at tribal where I was like: ‘I’m not going to take their spot just to save face on TV. I’m not going to do it.’

John Powell: Well, we have all been in situations where we thought something would be one thing and it turned out to be something else. Did you let your tribe know before you went to tribal council? What was the reaction?

Hannah Rose: So, I talked to them all individually and I was very, very open in my confessionals as well about struggling with…that I wasn’t convinced I was going to leave. It wasn’t until I was sitting at tribal and it started drizzling and any resolve I had…I had no control. I was like: ‘No. No. You can’t make me go back there.’ They all knew that I was really struggling with it. You saw in a conversation with Brandon, I was like: ‘I can’t leave.’ I would flip into like: ‘Okay, this is fine. I’ve got it. Everything’s fine. I can do this. I can do hard things.’ Then I would be like: ‘But I might be able to eat tonight. I might be able to get a bed tonight.’ I couldn’t get rid of that thought. It was like an addiction. I could not separate from it. At the end of the day, I wasn’t willing to write their names down.

John Powell: If you had stayed who was going home at tribal?

Hannah Rose: It was going to be Brandon or Emily. That depended on a myriad of factors including if Brandon would play his shot in the dark. Kendra was at our camp for hours from the Belo tribe. That was a whole plot-line that no one saw, which I think was good to know…

John Powell: I was going to ask about that. Can you explain that twist that we didn’t see?

Hannah Rose: Absolutely. I just think it’s really good for the fans to realize like you are not seeing everything. You would never know Kendra’s there.

What happened was we were all in the water washing off and I was like on an upswing. I was like: ‘You know what? This is so fun. I love this. I love Sean. I love Brandon. I love my tribe. I’m in such a good place socially. They all had me in their pocket.’ It was great.

Then, we see a boat coming up and it’s Kendra. Everyone goes to say hello to her and I am like: ‘No, I can’t do this. I walk into the jungle very angrily…I am kind of glad that didn’t air. I apologized to her later that day. I was like: ‘Listen, you’re so full of joy and enthusiasm and bubbly and it was like the antithesis of everything I was feeling.’ I went up to her and apologized. We love each other and it’s great. She’s so wonderful. We didn’t know she had a secret vote and Sabiyah ended up telling me because Kendra told her. I was like a game of telephone right before tribal. That’s when I knew I wasn’t writing Brandon’s name down.

It was Day Three and I’m not a Survivor player. I’m just not. I wouldn’t write Brandon’s name down. I don’t want Emily to go because I love Emily and I would go to war for her but I would rather it be Emily than Brandon but I still felt really badly. Then, I found out about the secret vote and that Kendra was going to write Brandon’s name down as a back-up. All of those things culminated at tribal and I’m sitting there I’m like: ‘It will devastate Emily or Brandon. It is like their worst nightmare and I’m not going to slide through the first tribal just so that I look good on TV.’

John Powell: Is there anything that when you were watching it back that you didn’t get to see that really surprised you?

Hannah Rose: I don’t think so because I’m very close with this entire cast. I just love them so much! I feel like we’ve talked a lot about all aspects of it but it was so amazing to see Sweat and Savvy play out because the entirety of our time out there we were wondering if it really happened at all. Watching Sabiyah, who is a workhorse, struggle to pick up these logs and Brando? Oh my, God! Then, finally getting to see what that freaking puzzle looks like because we didn’t know, they explained it to us and obviously Emily was like: ‘They’re lying.’ I was just crying because we had no flint. It was chaotic at Lulu. It was amazing to watch Sweat and Savvy.

John Powell: Is there anything about your Survivor journey that you wished fans could have seen?

Hannah Rose: I really just wanted mine and Brandon’s love to be displayed because we are just two peas in a pod. Like, that’s my dude. I’m glad that during tribal they showed Sean crying and me holding his hand because Sean and I got incredibly close and so me leaving was a real blow to him as well. I know it’s 90 minutes and so much happened but I wish people got to see more camp life specifically in the middle of the night, Sean and I talk about this all the time. Caleb and Sabiyah are snoring so loudly, everyone’s asleep and hold my buff down. I’m like: ‘Sean, are you awake?’ He’s like: ‘No.’ We’re about to cry and start laughing. I just wish they showed more camp life. Maybe there will be some deleted scenes because those people are the best, man. Lulu forever!

John Powell: One last question before you go, and this may be a little bit too early but have you thought about or given any thought if you were ever invited back would you go back?

Hannah Rose: I would say: ‘Oh my God, I love you Jeff and I love the crew! You guys are all amazing! You couldn’t pay me. You could not pay me.’ I should have done Big Brother. Maybe I could even do The Challenge but what I have learned is I will never go on TV ever again because I don’t like being on camera and being a character for the public to assassinate. I don’t love that.

 

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