Survivor Ghost Island has arrived! Every week, Parade’s Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the castaway most recently voted off of the island.

Every piece of paper matters on Survivor, and that’s not just speaking from an environmental perspective. Those ballots can mean the difference between a million-dollar fantasy becoming a reality and having your hopes dashed on the rocks. Domenick Abbate was the last person to see his name written down all season, a testament to the big strategic game he played, as well as his season-wide relationship building. As the end of the game approached, he tried to fill the paper with his partner Wendell Holland‘s name, fearing what would happen if they sat at the end together. Unfortunately, this was one plan he was not successful in, and it brought up the worst-case scenario. Domenick and Wendell made Survivor history by splitting the votes at the Final Tribal Council right down the middle. And so it came down to arguably the most crucial ballot in the show’s history, as third-placer Laurel Johnson became the kingmaker and chose to give the title to Wendell, leaving the gambler cashing out in second place.

Domenick’s Survivor foundation building started on shaky ground. After temporarily elected leader Chris Noble had pulled the plug on the first Reward Challenge to guarantee a fishing kit for the tribe, his “truth-telling skills” overpowered his filter, and he vocalized on his mat the disagreement with the decision. This candor set him off on a bit of a wrong foot with the rest of Naviti, as they saw it a sign he was coming on too strong. Luckily, Wendell formed a quick connection with him, and he was the one to tip him off to Chris and his fellow Floridian Sebastian Noel targeting him. The man with an affinity for power-snatching decided to snatch power by finding an idol, then constructing a fake one and presenting it to Chris in an attempt to create an olive branch. But that only left a bitter taste in the male model’s mouth, and after a tribe swap kept them together on Naviti, they decided to forgo their majority and attempt to sway their new Malolo members to their side in an attempt to take out each other. But in doing so, they just exposed an opportunity for the minority to become the majority, as the Malolo quartet blindsided his close ally Morgan Ricke.

His first visit to Tribal Council ending in shock, the surprises continued for Domenick when he received the Legacy Advantage in his bag courtesy of Morgan. With another advantage in his pocket and the Malolos’ votes still up for grabs, he went to Laurel and offered her another quartet with the two of them, Wendell and Donathan Hurley, even showing his real idol as a proof of loyalty. But before the new alliance’s loyalty could be tested, another swap kept him on Naviti but swapped away Wendell and Laurel to the new Yanuya tribe. In exchange, he stayed with Donathan and Libby Vincek, while welcoming Chelsea Townsend and Bradley Kleihege back into the fold. When Naviti had to attend the final premerge Tribal Council, the initial pick was Libby, a Malolo who had the potential to charm her way to the end. But Domenick and Chelsea were looking to the upcoming individual game, and decided to betray the “Naviti strong” principle (which I’m sure made Kellyn Bechtold have an Obi-Wan/Alderaan moment) by barring Bradley.

Of course, another reason why he may have wanted to keep the Malolo connection alive was to weaponize them against Chris when the merge hit finally. Sharing the same beach once more, and without the guise of tribal strength, their rivalry kicked up to a fever pitch (not to be confused with Chris’ feverish pitching). Though Chris tried to accuse him with conversations that bordered on interrogatory, the others were not as keen to his threat level. At Tribal Council, both men had pieces of safety in their pocket, and while Domenick utilized his Legacy Advantage to guarantee his stay, Chris confidently kept his idol unused, a real Ghost Island decision that would haunt him forever as nearly everyone came together to blindside him. His most significant mission now accomplished, he attempted to fall back under the radar to not substantiate the rumors Chris had spread about him. But it was becoming apparent as the days passed that he and Wendell were becoming the ones in power, especially with Laurel and Donathan spurning any plans from the Malolos and the bottom Navitis to flip the game on its head. Along the way, he won two individual Immunity Challenges, another fake idol and an opportunity to see his happy-angry wife. With the end in sight, Domenick felt the arrows coming his way and decided to fortify. He made a huge show at the final six, simply putting down his fake idol in front of host Jeff Probst to bluff its power. His tactic ended up saving him, as Sebastian did not play his Extra Vote as intended, but it perhaps was a representation of his more abrasive game style. At the final four, he won the final Immunity Challenge and decided to officially attempt to put his closest ally out of the running. It was a tough decision, not helped by the fact that he was staring down three urns from Survivor’s past where the final elimination often lost someone the game. After a period of actually contemplating putting himself in the new fire making challenge against Wendell, he ultimately chose Angela Perkins to compete, only for her game to go up in smoke. At the Final Tribal Council, Domenick tried his best to explain all of his moves while simultaneously talking down the more abrasive parts of his personality. He thought he could reverse the curse by bringing the voting urn from Survivor: Cagayan, but the Tony-like player could not woo enough people to clinch the victory for him.

I spoke with Domenick shortly after the live finale on the red carpet about the reaction to the jury votes he ended up receiving, how he was able to utilize his family history to make relationships, and the hardest part of that Final Tribal Council.

You said at the reunion that when you knew Laurel would be the ultimate decider of who won, you knew how things would shake out. What has it been like watching everything back, knowing the outcome?

I was still pumped for this season. It’s not like I was like, “Oh, this is going to be dreadful because I know the outcome.” I knew I played a good game, and I was looking forward to seeing how it played out, how it looked and the things I did. I wasn’t sure after I did them if they were too out there and too messy. I was pleased; I thought it looked pretty good for the most part. All in all, it was fun seeing what I was able to do onscreen.

I noticed that you ended up getting votes from the first five jury members, while Wendell got votes from the last five. Does that say anything about what had been happening near the end of the game for you?

It could [just] be the first five who were there. You saw Chris voted for me for the million, which shows Chris was able to leave our nonsense behind and say, “I’ve got to respect this guy; he played a great game.” Michael had that same vibe. The girls that were there as well, [Libby, Desiree, and Jenna], they all told me afterward, “Dom, you crushed it out there.” And I think I left a sour taste in some of the mouths of the second five: Ang, Donathan, Kellyn. I just had a hard time meshing in those last few days with them. I think that’s where my downfall [lies].

We saw a lot of your decision-making in those last few days, and to your point, that may have led to your ultimate loss. Was there a mentality shift when you saw Day 39 in front of you? Or was it just a matter of circumstances?

I think it was more circumstantial. It was hard to maneuver those last few votes. I had objects to play with, but [Wendell] also did. So I couldn’t put anything together that was going to get rid of him. So because I couldn’t work him out of the game, I had to go with the people that were still there. I think the way it went down with the Sebastian vote; I think it left a bad taste in some people’s mouths.

Going back to the beginning, you stick out from Day 1 between your “truth bombs,” idol hunts and just a general feeling of not fitting in. How were you able to overcome that to ultimately get to a position of power?

The game is very difficult for anyone who plays it in the beginning. But if you have the ability to stay a little longer and get your footing, you can get that working. That was the luck component of my game. I was on Chris Noble’s team, and we won every challenge in the beginning. So I did find it was important that I find an idol, just in case we did go to Tribal. I found the idol on Day 2, and said, “If we go to Tribal on Day 3, I’m playing that idol on Day 3. I don’t know what’s going on; I don’t trust anybody.” So when I found the idol, I was so pumped; I was like, “Oh my God, I’m here until at least Day 6.” But then we won that challenge, and I’m like, “Oh, I’m here until Day 9.” And then we lost that one, but Chris [wasn’t there]. But in the beginning, I was scared for my life. But then you find your footing, and you say, “Okay, I’ve got it now. I think I know where I’m going.”

I think Sebastian said at one point in a confessional where you “brought a sense of home.” That stuck with me because while there were some elements where you came off a little brusque, you have two daughters back home. Can you elaborate on what he may have meant by that?

At the beginning of the game, I was trying to find what I can use to win their love. I didn’t intentionally do this, but I had mentioned something about Sunday dinner at my mom’s. Because I have eight siblings and when I have dinner at my mom’s, it’s like fifty people [with] a big bowl of pasta. So I started talking about that, and I think that [caught] Sebastian a little bit. He mentioned that reminds him of his family who lives in New York. Then as soon as I heard that, I started to work that and play up the family component of my game. Not to say it wasn’t genuine, but I knew who to speak to more about it. If it was helping me bridge a bond between us, that’s what I’m going to go with.

You mentioned how perhaps some of your more significant moves at Tribal Council rubbed jurors the wrong way. What was the hardest part of dealing with that at the Final Tribal Council?

Going into Final Tribal, you start to prepare to answer questions. And here’s the trickiest part about it: you think you know why people are mad at you, so you prepare your answers for that question when it’s coming to you. Then you find out that they’re mad at you for different things. You say, “Really?! That’s bugging you? You should be mad about this!” Now it’s a challenge to try to show them, “No, no, no. Don’t be mad about that. That’s nothing to be mad about.” You need to do it in a way that’s smooth enough to not come off in an arrogant way but still get your point across. I had to stay tight and not blow up, really articulate it in a way that everyone up there is perceiving it the same way. Someone might perceive it one way, but someone sitting [next to them] might not. That was the hardest part of the game, getting your point across [while] having the consensus see what you’re trying to do.