Survivor type TV Show network CBS genre Reality Where to watch Close Streaming Options

Kelley Wentworth is used to playing from the bottom. She never really had a chance in her first go-round of Survivor: San Juan del Sur and she always seemed out of the numbers when she returned for Survivor: Cambodia — Second Chance. So we can forgive Kelley if she has experienced a sense of déjà vu this season while playing Survivor: Edge of Extinction.

Kelley’s tribe lost every single immunity challenge except for one before the merge. Not only that, but she has been on the hot seat at several Tribal Councils, narrowly avoiding plots to oust her. With the merge happening on tonight’s episode and the game resetting, we checked in with Wentworth to get her take on her tribe’s early season woes. Not only does she take us inside the huddle at that last double Tribal Council, but she also reveals who was next on the Lesu chopping block, her early game relationship with David, and her reaction to seeing the people she voted out returning.

Image zoom Robert Voets/CBS

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First off, take us through that double Tribal Council we just saw where you and Lauren went over to talk to Gavin and Victoria after the tie vote. What exactly was said in that huddle, how did you all convince them to join you in voting out Wendy, and how confident were you that they would actually do it?

KELLEY WENTWORTH: That Tribal was absolute chaos. Both sides appeared to be holding steady, but throughout that Tribal there were a couple comments made by the Manu 2.0 members (prior to the initial vote) that made our Lesu group feel like they were willing to cut ties with Wendy. I believe there was even one point where Gavin made a comment along the lines of, “The three of us will come together and vote with you all.” And, as nice as that sounds, you just can’t trust someone you’ve never met before.

Despite the lovely idea that we might leave that Tribal in a 7-1 initial vote, Lesu wasn’t revealing our plan, and in turn, Manu 2.0 had to stick with theirs. After the tie vote, Lauren and I spoke with Gavin and Victoria to confirm we were on the same page with all voting Wendy on the re-vote. There was also a bit of “Let’s work together come the merge” stuff happening, which is to be expected in a situation where two groups are voting together.

Had it not been a double Tribal and just Lesu went to that last Tribal Council, whom would you have wanted to vote out and why?

I would have voted out David. Although Wardog was targeting my closest ally, Lauren, and irritating the tribe, he and I had been working together on every vote up until that point. I had been trying to work with David as well, but going in to a merge down in numbers, I felt that I needed people who were definitely on my side in order to try and tackle that large Kama group.

Were you ever aware that David and Devens were the ones who were so intent on getting you out early in the game and what was your early game relationship like with David out there in terms of both being returning players? Were you trying to work with him or did you not trust him?

I had a conversation with David very early on at the Manu beach and expressed that I felt returnees should stick together. Throughout my time at Manu, I really felt that David was of the same mindset, and we had a fairly decent working relationship. We were in on all the same plans the first three votes, so I was quite shocked to hear (in the early episodes) that he was so adamant about voting me out. It seems he had multiple opportunities to pull the trigger, and didn’t, so I’m not sure how badly he really wanted me gone.

Image zoom Robert Voets/CBS

Your tribe’s challenge futility was bordering on epic. What was your lowest moment in terms of challenge performance and why were you all having such a hard time out there?

Two words: peanut butter. The entire Lesu tribe had been talking about peanut butter for days. When we lost that one, after so many other losses, it was devastating. And why were we having a hard time? Oh, man, where do I begin? We were living on about 1/2 cup of rice per day. That’s maybe 200 calories a day, if that. It was a struggle just to walk down to the beach to gather firewood. We had no fuel in the tank. We had no shelter. Our bed was the ground, literally. We laid palm fronds on the dirt and slept on them. Our challenge performances were a direct reflection of what we were experiencing back at camp. We had zero energy, we weren’t sleeping. The list goes on.

We’ll see how it all plays out on Wednesday night, but hit me with your immediate reactions about making it to the merge and then what you were thinking when you saw all the people you had voted out walk back into the game.

MERGE! YES! Wait, I voted 5 of these people out already. HELP!

For more Survivor scoop, follow Dalton on Twitter @DaltonRoss.

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