Elizabeth Olsen shares her experience and insight on the 37th season of ‘Survivor.’
Another week and another Survivor sent home. Elizabeth Olsen lasted 20 days on the island but ultimately her flame was snuffed out and her shot at a million dollars was dashed.
CBS Local’s Matt Weiss spoke to Olsen earlier today to discuss her relationship with Angelina, the most important trait a Survivor player can have and what she wishes she had done differently in hindsight.
EO- What’s up, Matt? I’m doing good. I got me a good old Texas cold but other than that I’m peachy keen, honky dory!
MW- Oh no, well I’m sorry to hear that but I’m really excited to talk to you today! It was a wild scene at the end of last night’s episode with Angelina and everything that went down. I’d love to get your take on everything…
EO- Yea, at that point there was this decoy that we were voting Davie but I knew that was BS. I had told Christian already that these squads are smart and they’re either going to be gunning for me or him because we were the only two that made sense from my perspective. I wasn’t surprised or caught off guard but I was working real hard to try to get Dan out, felt like I had some decent traction going that way but not anything for sure.
When Angelina approached me right before tribal, and it was RIGHT before tribal mind you, I was like shoot. I didn’t have any reason not to believe her, there was no reason for her to be lying to me about that. She was trying to convince me to say I have an idol but I can’t lie like that, I’m not good at poker [laughs]. I think she genuinely did want me to stay but she was definitely playing the game at the same time. She definitely wanted me to remember her in good favor down the road but there was a human connection there too. Some of it was definitely strategy but there was a real connection that tipped the scales that way and then she tried to take advantage of it – I don’t think it was purely game motivation.
MW- I think from a viewer’s perspective it did seem like she was just playing the game so that’s interesting to hear you felt like there was at least some semblance of a genuine connection.
EO- I think it was probably 80/20 but there was genuine connection. I appreciate Angelina and I think she appreciated me.
MW- You were able to last on the island for 20 days. Such a small number of people even get on the show let alone make it to day 20, so from your experience what is the most important skill a Survivor player can have?
EO- I think it’s tenacity, you can’t give up. In Survivor or in whatever, you got to keep trying and keep believing. Don’t quit.
MW- Is there anything you’d do differently now that you’ve had some time to digest the experience and watch everything back?
EO- Yea, I would have won the immunity challenge, duh [laughs]! That would have been the easiest thing for me to have done differently but I did my best. I lost my concentration for a split second in the challenge and that really cost me. Other than that I would have just made better connections with some other folks. I didn’t get a chance to reconnect with someone like Nick and I had a connection with Nick. I was trying to keep my enemies closer than my friends by getting to know the all which maybe gained me Angelina’s trust to tell me what was going on but I lost connections too. I feel like I could have given more.
Then there was the bed situation on Vuku, of course it was as silly moment in the game but it wasn’t silly for me. For me, I’m intelligent but I’m not crazy intelligent, there are people who were much smarter than me and who knew the game better than me. Sleeping on that stupid bamboo bed really affected my brain. It wasn’t from the food it was from the lack of sleep. I knew I needed every ounce of my brain to win and that was about fighting for my chance to win, I needed my brain. I was only getting about a half hour to an hour of sleep every night for 16 nights and it was really getting to me. I couldn’t wait anymore so I just decided to go for it, the bed thing wasn’t good timing but in the moment I was doing my absolute best.
It’s like Angelina trying to get the jacket, things like that matter way more than you realize sitting on the couch. The elements and the shivering and the lack of sleep – it’s a real game. It really is surviving and each person has a need for different things and I had a need for sleep.
MW- Goodness, I can’t even imagine an hour of sleep a night for 16 straight nights…
EO- And I can get grumpy in real life when I’m getting sleep so yea dude, I was grumpy [laughs]. Unfortunately I was grumpy.
MW- Well hopefully you can catch up on that sleep now and kick that Texas cold! Thank you so much for the time today Elizabeth and good luck the rest of the way!
EO- Thanks so much, Matt!
Survivor returns with an all-new episode next Wednesday at 8:00PM ET/PT, only on CBS. Check your local listings for more information.
