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.

Though the game can undoubtedly change once a typical Survivor merge hits, sometimes those impressions and targets from the game’s first couple of weeks linger. Libby Vincek had one of those targets painted on her early on in the game, once a tribe swap put her in the minority. She tried her best to wipe away the giant X on her back, but with players having an aim as keen as Wendell Holland‘s on a slingshot, it’s hard to miss. When the Naviti-based majority decided to target the “power couple” of her and Michael Yerger, his play of the infamous fake idol in Survivor Micronesia put Libby in a sticky situation, sending her to the jury.

Twenty-four days before that, Libby started on the soon-to-be-doomed Malolo tribe. Though the first tribe swap sent her over to Hotel Naviti, it did not necessarily mean an immediate five-star experience. She was in a four-person minority of previous Malolo players, so their house had not yet become a home. Despite the uphill battle, Libby turned on her southern charm, getting particularly close to Morgan Ricke due to their shared faith. When Naviti lost the next Immunity Challenge, the alliance of Morgan, Wendell and Domenick Abbate tried to make a hit on a weeklong rivalry and take out Angela Perkins. But the Malolos decided to take advantage of their temporary minority to make a permanent change in the tribe. Much to Libby’s chagrin, they blindsided Morgan. Having spent the entire Tribal Council talking up Libby’s sweet demeanor and smile, she took on a sour attitude as she got her torch snuffed, muttering loudly, “Don’t trust the cute blonde.” Though Morgan walked out that night, those last words seemed to follow Libby and the rest of the tribe back to camp. The new Naviti began to win challenges, and so she prayed that they had forgotten the sin she had committed that night. But it seems a Domenick never forgets. When a second swap kept the two of them and Donathan Hurley on the same beach, with Bradley Kleihege and Chelsea Townsend falling back into the Naviti fold, the construction supervisor was back in the majority. He now saw what Libby was capable of, and planned to devour her like she did the ribeyes from a recent reward. But when push came to shove, Domenick and Chelsea felt that Bradley was the bigger threat moving forward, ending what the law student would consider a trial in more ways than one.

Though the new tribe merge brought an individual game, original tribal lines seemed to bleed through still. The Naviti women, specifically Angela and Desiree Afuye, wanted to take advantage of the prevalent schism to make their tactical strike. They wanted to get rid of an original Malolo and opted for Libby, considering her an “easy vote.” Though the two of them voted for her that night, everyone else opted to bar the bars of amateur rapper Chris Noble. Frustrated and confused at her name coming up for the third time, she hoped that a reward trip to the Survivor taco bar would smooth things over. But a bad taste in the mouth can never be quelled by any taco, as the castaways were soon about to learn via an upcoming gross food challenge. With a plan afoot to split votes between Michael and Libby, she was hopeful the Malolos could pull out the old maneuver and use their votes to take out Wendell. But Malolo loyalty could not provide in this instance. Michael was the only one to vote for Wendell, as Libby herself voted against him as part of a plan brought to her by Domenick. But Michael played his second idol of the season–this time correctly–leaving Libby with the most votes remaining.

Today, over email, Libby gives us some of her thoughts about her time in the game.

Talk me through your reaction as the votes came in for you. You seemed to have a very steely reaction. Did you have a feeling it was you after Michael played his idol?

Camp life that day was insanity. Talks of idols, fake idols, alliances, just every kind of strategy was being brought up–confusing the heck out of everyone. The only thing I knew for sure was the Naviti girls didn’t like me and wanted me out. There was nothing I could really do about that. I knew that if I had voted Michael, there was a slight chance of saving myself with the others who were splitting the vote. Michael had a great plan; we didn’t have enough time to gather the for-sure numbers to execute. So when Michael pulled out that idol, my heart dropped to the bottom of the ocean. I knew I was a goner.

At the time the vote happened, who did you feel most stung by, either with voting against you or keeping you out of the loop?

Chelsea, I think. I felt pretty close to her. Of course, I knew the risk in her being so close with the Naviti girls, but we were working pretty closely up until that day of Tribal, then she pretty much kept me out of the loop.

You pointed out how you received votes at the last four Tribal Councils you attended, and we saw people like Domenick talk about how he felt you were a “devil in an angel’s body.” Do you think the stem of that came from your betrayal of Morgan?

Oh yeah, most definitely.

Let’s talk about your Malolo relationships. James told me in his exit interview that the foursome of you, him, Donathan and Laurel were tight. However, you also seemed to be close with Michael from your early days at Malolo. What would your ideal endgame have looked like if everything fell your way?

If everything fell my way, I don’t think I would have won with Michael. Let’s be honest. His gameplay is awesome. I would’ve had to make a big move to get him out. My ideal would [have been] to end up with Jenna and Angela. I would want to take Jenna to the end with me because I believed [out of] everyone, she was the one who showed the most trust and who I could relate to the most. Angela, it would’ve been fun to end up with her because she probably would’ve voted for me at every other Tribal going forward, and that would have shown even more gameplay, along with just been entertaining.

What techniques did you try to get people to trust you, since now they knew what you were capable of duplicity, and would you recommend those techniques to future players?

I tried to stay as true to myself as I could while still playing the game. That was a challenge, but I believe most people try that. I believe that the ingenuity I used to create bonds, but spared from looking like I was trying too hard, allowed me to be trustworthy. I do recommend that to others because overall if you can accomplish that and make it to the end, I believe that’s how you win the game.