Was Sophi Balerdi almost the Survivor 49 winner? That’s what the recent castaway has insinuated during new interviews about the show.
Sophi finished as the runner-up on Survivor 49, but she says that viewers didn’t see everything. She also added that Tribal Council was heavily edited, with many moments not shown during the televised episode.
Producers and editors indeed have to cut down on the footage, especially since they have more footage than can be used in each episode.
As such, the producers routinely release “deleted scenes” that provide more context for what’s happening at camp. It turns out that we may have missed a lot of the back-and-forth between the final three castaways and the Survivor 49 jury.
Savannah thought Sophi had won Survivor 49?
A video clip below shares some interesting thoughts from Sophi Balerdi. When she sat down for her exit interview with Rob Has a Podcast (RHAP), she addressed how Savannah reacted following the jury’s interrogation.
“I didn’t think I had a good chance,” Sophi stated after speaking about Savannah’s resume of winning challenges and the final Fire-Making Competition.
“But I did a really good job in the Final Tribal, and, so much so, that Sav turned to me before Jeff read the votes, and she told me, ‘You just won this game.’ Like, there’s a lot that they edited out. But I did really good at that Final Tribal,” Sophi added.
Sophi wasn’t done there. She then explained how several jury members were unsure how they would vote.
“Nate, Alex, and Steven told me they were 50-50. So I had a chance even against Sav,” Sophi elaborated.
Nate Moore, Alex Moore, and Steven Ramm all voted for Savannah to win. Had two of them voted for Sophi (along with Kristina Mills and MC), then Sophi could have been the Sole Survivor.
Instead, Savannah won by a 5-2-1 vote over Sophie and Sage.
Later, Sophi shared how she still cries about losing Survivor 49.
More news and notes about Survivor
Here’s a look at the Survivor 50 cast. The momentous season is about to take over primetime television at CBS.
Jeff Probst revealed why they chose Raz and Savannah for Survivor 50. It’s interesting to hear about the selection process.
Survivor alums are featured on the rumored cast list for The Challenge 42. A new season is in the works, and many new people from the world of reality television are about to meet TJ Lavin.
