In a majority alliance on his original Brawn tribe, Jesse had a very chilled start to the game, one that he wasn’t entirely familiar with from the get-go.
“I’m not a superfan and I didn’t really fully understand what I was getting myself into in a way,” Jesse told 10 Play. “It was really hard for me because I didn’t know what was around every corner, whereas a lot of other people had the chance to know what was going to happen so they could be more prepared.
“I was just winging it day by day, and I think that made it harder in general,” he continued. “I’ve never been that hungry, that cold, that wet, and I’ve never been that mentally frazzled in my whole life.”
While he admits that he was winging it, Jesse said that his only goal in the game was to make sure he wasn’t the first person voted off. And after making it past the first vote, everything else was gravy.
“The only thing that ruined my game was Ben’s absence. Had he not been sick and left the game, Paulie would have been voted out and Ben and I would have made merge.
“I was feeling really confident until Ben was absent, and that’s when I realised… f**k, I don’t really know what I’m doing.”
Heading into the merge, Jesse still felt confident in his place in the game. With allies in people like Kate, Morgan and PD still in the game, Jesse made one major error in the game of Survivor: trusting people.
“I just trust people in general and I thought we had such a strong thing that we’d all get to the end together,” he laughed. “I believed it was in our best interest to get as far as we could together.
“I didn’t want to rock the boat. I just wanted to cruise.”
Without his number one ally still in the game, Jesse said he felt like a sitting duck, and it was only a matter of time until his name was pulled from the urn.
“To be honest, every single time I went to tribal I’d fantasize about them calling my name. I was hoping it was my time to go… my last tribal, I had no suspicion that it would happen but I was hopeful it could be me, and it was!
“It was an interesting experience,” he continued. “I made some good friends, I did my best and I’m grateful I was given the opportunity to do it.”
Australian Survivor Brains V Brawn II continues Monday - Tuesday at 7.30 pm and Sundays at 7pm on 10 and 10 Play
