It was no surprise to learn that the majority Naviti alliance was going to turn on one another, it was more a question of when. Well, we received an answer to that question this week on Survivor, when Desi Afuye took the first shot at trying to dethrone those currently in power.
If you missed any of the action, you can catch up with our Episode 10 Recap, as well as checking out the Podcast below.
CLICK THE CONTINUE READING BUTTON FOR MORE!
For me, Desi was one of the liveliest and most memorable players heading into Ghost Island, judging by the pre-season videos that CBS releases ahead of each season. But sadly, Desi was not given much screen-time through much of this season, making her “big move” this past week feel like it was coming seemingly out of nowhere. Her game was a quiet one, one of the “numbers” of the powerful Naviti alliance that has dominated much of the game thus far. Occasional comments we would see, indicated that Desi was a free-thinker and was far from a follower, but we just weren’t ever shown enough to really make us believe that.
But knowing she had to begin creating her Survivor resume and wanting to make a big move, Desi went for it. Her plan was to blindside her Day One ally Kellyn, and along with Chelsea, align herself with the minority Malolor four. Her ruse may have worked, if not for Laurel already having a secret alliance and bond with Dom and Wendell. Laurel blew up Desi’s plan, but Desi wasn’t about to go down without a fight. She doubled-down and adamantly denied that she had ever pitched that plan, and tried to paint Laurel as the big liar. It was a she-said/she-said moment, but ultimately Dom and Wendell sided with Laurel, and voted out Desi making her the third member of the Survivor jury.
I had the chance to speak to Desi today on the FilmSurvivor Podcast (the full audio of which you can find and download at the bottom of this article). But here were some highlights from the interview:
DESI AFUYE INTERVIEW
On what her plans would have been had her plan to blindside Kellyn worked:
Desi Afuye: My next plan, well my true plan was to get the guys out. The only reason I was getting Kellyn out was because she was in the way of getting the guys out. So I felt like if I got Kellyn out, I could then get the guys out, and once I get the guys out, it would be smooth sailing from there. I’d be left with people who had not really shaken up much in the game.
On the timing of her big move:
Desi: When I decided to make this big move, the numbers were 6-5, and I felt like it was the only time I would have the numbers to make a move like that. So I was kind of pressured to do that at that time, and also Kellyn was winning a lot of things, so it just made it easier to make Kelly the target…I had just gotten news that Dom and Wendell had Idols, so those were all things that were putting the pressure on making that happen. It was getting closer and closer to the time where people were thinking about the end. So I wanted to make sure that if I get to the end, I didn’t want to have somebody there that could just blow me out of the water.
For much more from Desi Afuye, including my full interview, please listen to the latest episode of the FilmSurvivor Podcast below or by clicking here.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter – @tomsantilli – and on Facebook, for all of the latest Survivor coverage, interviews, and movie reviews.
TELL US: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT DESI’S ELIMINATION?
Photo Credit: CBS/Monty Brinton/Robert Voets/Timothy Kuratek/Jeffrey Neira/Michele Crowe
