Earlier in the game, Sophie’s original Red tribe blindsided her, but before her torch was extinguished Jonathan revealed she would be jumping over to the Blue tribe and reunited with sister KJ.
In a regular game, a non-elimination Tribe Swap can be an absolute boon to a player’s game, but the Blue tribe had just watched their loved ones blindside Sophie, and now she was living in their camp.
“In hindsight I would have much rather gone home,” Sophie told 10 play, “because it became really difficult once I got there. There were a lot of family members that were wary. There was a lot of caution surrounding me.”
On top of that, Sophie and sister Kate (aka KJ) had become the first pairing of loved ones to be reunited and play on the same tribe, adding to the already massive target on Sophie’s back.
“People assumed we’d vote the same way and would be a stronger force together,” Sophie added, “I was grateful to be offered another opportunity but at the same time [it was a] massive detriment.
“In a traditional game of Survivor it would be a bonus to get another player on your team, some more strength and another alliance member possibly, but with the Blue tribe not knowing the reason why I was voted out, there is an instant lack of trust there,” she continued. “I felt I was never even given a chance with the Blue tribe.”
Just narrowly surviving her first Tribal Council with the Blue tribe when Alex made the decision to leave the game, Sophie was then thrown into an even more complicated scenario when the Tribe Swap happened. Now, not only were Sophie and KJ on the same tribe again but she had been reunited with some of the same people who had orchestrated her first blindside.
“I think, coming from business where you’ve got to make difficult decisions but then get over them really quickly, I was able to do that. But other people weren’t. So, when I got that new tribe, I was like yep! Clean slate. Let’s start fresh.
“But there was someone specifically, maybe a couple, that were probably threatened that I would come after them in an act of revenge, so they just stuck to getting rid of me again,” Sophie said.
“I was willing to put everything beside me and work with the best people moving forward that were going to help my game, but unfortunately other people didn’t see it like that.”
Several times Sophie tried to speak to people in her new tribe to set up an unexpected secret alliance. Approaching Khanh and Sam, Sophie wanted to forge an alliance that the rest of her tribe would never have suspected.
“I would never have chosen to work with Khanh in my life, I would never have chosen to align myself with Sam again, but for the benefit of the game I think it could have been a great strategy,” she explained. “No one would have expected it and we could have worked both sides… but there were a lot of people that were just willing to play safe at that stage and that was out of my control.”
But as she tried to save her own skin in the game, Sophie said she could see how she was affecting KJ’s gameplay.
“I knew the longer I was there, the longer it would start to rustle some feathers towards Kate. It was disappointing,” she admitted.
“Everyone dreams of making merge in Survivor but, at the same time, it was more important for me to let KJ continue on her path and play her game which she was doing so well. I had really accepted that my time was up, and had a big smile on my face when I walked out.”
Though it puts players in a brutal position of having to vote for their own loved ones, Sophie said she and Kate had spoken about the reality of potentially writing each other’s names down at some point if it came to that.
With her last episode airing on February 14, Sophie said she instead spent Valentine’s Day with her partner.
“I’ve had quite a bit of anxiety surrounding the last few episodes,” she said. “To sit back with people who you’re really good friends with now, and seeing them say things that are not true is something I’ve found really difficult, so I decided to switch it off last night and enjoy Valentine’s Day with my partner.
“I have watched snippets, family have sent the ending where I was really proud,” she continued. “I feel like you got to see me, that’s actually me where I said to KJ it’s fine… this is your time. That is actually who Sophie is.”
Now that she’s out of the game, Sophie said she’s far more excited at the prospect of being able to experience the rest of Blood V Water.
“I don’t know the ins and the outs, I don’t know what the challenges were or what conversations were happening so I’m excited to sit back as a Survivor fan and watch the rest of the season.”
Australian Survivor: Blood V Water continues Sunday - Tuesday at 7.30 on Network 10 and 10 play on demand
