Survivor 48: Eva Erickson Post-Finale Runner-Up Interview (2025)

Way to go, Eva

I mean, I gotta start by wishing you a massive congratulations, you know, second place, but

you're on the podium, you know, to use some Olympic hockey part, Lance. I guess the first thing I want to ask is, what was sort of your response to how everything

shook out? I mean, I would imagine that you, of course, wanted to take home the win, but after you

end up going through with this final Tribal Council performance, what was sort of your

assessment as to how the jury votes would shake out and whether that would correspond to you

winning so i i knew that i had the biggest uphill battle in this final tribal and that was of my own

doing because my strategy in this game was to make people think that i was stupid if somebody was not

part of my alliance i would just say oh i'm just doing what joe's doing or i would i would purposely

add numbers together wrong i wanted people to see me as just the dumb jock like i i knew that i was

coming to this game as a physical threat. I can't hide my muscles and a social threat that I cannot

turn down my personality. I am who I am. And so I was like, I have to limit my threat level in some

way. So that was to make myself seem like I was not strategic at all. And that was a big lie. I am

very, very strategic. I'm a lot smarter than I was putting on. So I was like, I, in this final

tribal, not only have to convince them to give me a million dollars, but I also just have to convince

them that I'm smart. And so that I had two things in both Joe and Kyle only had one thing they had

to convince the jury of. And I successfully convinced them that I was smart. I did not convince all of them that I deserve the money. And that is that's my downfall there. But I think

going in that, yeah, it was going to be a hard battle. And I had jury votes. I there like I had

I expected that I could win for there for people that I thought that I could win. And I won two of

those four and so I'm very proud of that but no I wanted that win can't be happy with second place

so what were the two that you thought that you would get and what was sort of your your reaction

when you didn't yeah so I David had said from the start he wanted to have a an honest and loyal game

and apart from having to turn on David due to the way that he was attacking um people like his

behavior it was was not due to his paranoia it was due to his behavior kind of becoming a bit of

a bully. I love this man, but he got very aggressive out there. And so I had to shut him

out, get him out of this game. I felt that I had played this very loyal game that he idolized

that he said that's what he wanted to do. I thought that he would respect that I did that

I fulfilled his dream, but he did not. He had his own ideas out there. And then the other person

I thought that I could get that I didn't was Cedric. I knew that he was going to be an emotional

voter and I thought that I could get that emotion swayed towards me with my story with with speaking

from the heart and unfortunately his emotions were swayed towards Joe who also deserves like

a million votes um so I'm glad that he got one I'm very glad of that but I thought that I was

going to get four and that that would be enough that that could tie it and Joe had told me that

he would vote for me he he said he was expecting it to tie and that he was going to give me the

million so I I let myself down and not getting those two people that's so interesting so I guess

even rewinding a day to get back there because Star ends up saying at this after show right that

like you locked in her jury vote due to everything that happened in fire making and obviously we saw

from our perspective despite that that was not a situation that you wanted to to see yourself in

just considering how incredibly overwhelming it was both in the moment and obviously the afternoon

beforehand so how do you look back upon what you were able to get done there and how difficult it

was for you to get to the final three to your point in a very different way than joe and kyle did

oh yeah that the fire building i it was not that i didn't want to be in fire building because i

couldn build a fire like i said on the show i built fires every single day in my backyard it was because for like days and days i was letting myself down i was failing in these challenges In episode 12 we saw I got disqualified from one challenge and I would have won the second challenge if I could just throw a ball straight up in the air

And so I was already tearing myself to shreds in my head. And with my autism, I get stuck in a cycle and things build and build

In episode five, we saw a very quick build and come down. This was a build slow burn over days and days where I just was building this cycle in my

head that I am a failure. I'm a failure. I can't do anything. And what we saw in the episode of me having this autism episode, that was actually a very

toned down version of what really happened out there. It was much, much worse

I was when they showed Kyle and Joe talking, you hear me screaming in the woods

I was screaming and shaking. I was stimming on the ground, scratching myself

I was very in the thralls of this. And Joe comes to help me, but he can't pull me out of this

I have to pull myself out. And it was a very, very intense situation that I'm disappointed they didn't show because

people like me who have autism, I wanted them to see at my absolute lowest that I still

was able to come back because that is something that is so important that I battled through what

I was going through in my head. And I was able to then get myself righted with the help of an

amazing ally, Joe, him helping show me the way that I could do it and believe in myself again

And I pushed through in dramatic fashion. I'm very, very proud of that

Yeah, absolutely. So you talk about, you know, coming in with this big game that you wanted to

talk up. It seemed like from our perspective, something that took a little bit of the wind out of the sales was Kyle dropping this bomb

at least from your perspective of, hey, not only were Camilla and I working together

but we came up with these things to help turn you and Joe against people like Shaheen

What was your response to that? Was that anything you were picking up on while you were out there on the island before day 26

So I will say that anyone who claims they knew Kyle and Shaheen

or not Kyle and Shaheen, that Kyle and Camilla were as close as they actually were, they're lying

These people, like anyone, I know in Exit Press, everyone's been like, oh, I had an idea

Like I knew that they were really close. Just didn't care to do whatever. Like, no out there

It was a, it was a shock to everybody. Cause I spent more time with Kyle than anybody

We were very close. He's like a brother to me. He is very similar to my, my hockey teammates back home

So we were always shooting the ship, being very close, like great friends. He never talked to Camilla

The times you see on TV of them talking together are the only times that they interacted

And the audience just perceives this as being a very big, like all the time that they're

strategized together. No, no, no. like he was hanging out with me and like this they he would like go go walk one direction and

run back to go meet up with Camilla because he didn't want anyone to see them together like he

did a great job hiding this and um so that that was the bomb it was not I know like they made it

look like that it was like oh like this idol play was that Shaheen had a fake idol that was not what

swayed me Kyle didn't tell me Shaheen had a fake idol Camilla did why would I believe Camilla she's

not my ally Kyle told me the truth which is that Shaheen was coming for for Joe and I he had brought

this up at the reward that Shaheen was going to vote for Mitch to make it seem like he was with us

but that it would tie three, three, and he would swap and then get me out. This was the plan. So

Shaheen voting for Mitch was still part of his plan with Kyle and Camilla to come after me. But

Kyle told me the truth. It was this little added idol thing was more to make sure that Joe would

not go straight to Shaheen and be like, is this true? That was for Joe. That was Camilla's role

in this. I didn't believe that. I didn't care. I had an idol. It was really the fact that Shaheen

was coming for me and Joe. I don't care what he has in his pocket. I had a million things in my

pocket. So it was, it was, that was not a bomb. The bomb was definitely just that Kyle and Camilla

were so tight and they did a great job of that. I'm so impressed with both of their acting skills

I want to talk about another very unique relationship You had out there on the island

Which is with Star Who is your adversary through The first two phases of Loggi She gives you the beware advantage that turns into an idol You end up targeting her in the post

Then she ends up voting for you. It's tough for even us to keep track of

Talk to us about sort of the up and down that the two of you had throughout this game. Oh, yes

Yeah, Star is the most unexpected person that I've ever met. she before the game she stared at a table for five days straight and did not make a peep I was

not expecting this girl's personality when she gets out there and I am wowed by her so first off

love star but in the beginning of the game I did not like star because on those first key three

days where we're building our shelter we're meeting each other's group star was all like already

going and looking for idols I am a very I'm a I'm a hard worker that is my biggest principle is work

ethic. I am carrying the whole forest of bamboo and star is nowhere to be found. She'd be gone for

an hour, come back with two sticks. So automatically I was frustrated because I'm like, I'm working my

ass off here and you're not doing anything. So this, this kind of put us at odds from the start

because she did not care about making relationships with our tribe. She wanted that, that beware

advantage and she found it. Um, and so I wanted her out super early on and she wanted me out for

sure too when we go to the swap and um then I have this big moment where I share about my life

about autism star also understood me better because star also had not liked my direct like

my my direct way of speaking um I had said that star should sit out from this one challenge because

she can't swim um just very logical straightforward and I was not very delicate with that because I'm

I'm very bad at that that's one of the things I struggle with with my autism is I'm too blunt

but now Star understood I was not trying to be rude I was not trying to be mean to her

that is just who I am that's how I communicate she recognized these things and she saw

she there was understanding and this allowed us to connect and have this amazing exchange where

she gave me this idol which was also a great move for her to get this target off of her back because

everyone knew she had it that was very smart of her but I and we did work together for a while

those handful of first votes at the merge I told Star I was like hey I already have a very public

alliance with Joe. Like, let's keep this under the radar. Like, I'll tell you who we're voting

for. You give me information from the bottom. So we were, we were talking to each other about stuff

but then star started lying to me. And I, I'm a very black and white thinker. And it's like

you're with me or you're against me. And when star started making stuff up, she, I, I felt that she

was trying to take advantage of the fact that I, um, that I'm not good at reading lies. And I felt

she was, she was taking advantage of me here. So I started being like, yeah, I want star out because

she is feeding me direct lies all the time and this was part of her she was doing this to everybody

not just me but I took it a little personally um and additionally she at one point was going around

asking every single person what their final three was she went to everybody on the island very

direct like who's your final three she did not come to me and I was like she does not value what

my future in this game is she is lying to me I cannot trust star anymore I know she gave me this

idol but I don't owe her anything because she she does not she does not see me as a player she wants

to play with in this game so I I then took moves to get her out of the game and she respects me for

that and I respect her for her own game and so I'm glad that she was able to to then see who I am and

still vote for me in the end well talking about that episode five episode for lack of a better

term I mean you talk about how it's a quick bounce back but it is such for many reasons a moment

outside of the game where you reveal this incredibly personal part of yourself. How did

you feel that impacted the way that you approached the rest of the game? Do you feel like that was

like a fundamental moment that changed the way you approach the season? So I think that it's

this moment I was shown so much support by everybody not just Joe like Joe was obviously my biggest supporter I love him so much but every person out there they connected with my story in their own personal way They were nodding along They like they showed me that they it did not matter to them that I had autism

that they, they were proud of me and that they saw me as a competitor still, that they were not

they did not look at me any differently because of my autism. Um, and I had laid it out in the

open that I had this and that I did struggle with social cues that I did struggle with reading when

people are lying. And so this just even more pushed me into my method of being extremely open

and honest with my alliance that I was like, if I am honest and give my whole heart and they

recognize that I, this is who I am, then they will reflect honesty back at me. And I had that

absolutely happened. And I was very lucky that these people did not take advantage of these

things that, uh, that I struggle with because they connected with me that I had these social relationships so people like Shaheen Joe and Kyle they they I was honest they were honest back and

I'm very grateful for that so it did kind of push me more into being who I am in this game and not

trying to play the skeevy lying game because I knew that the thing that I had been been kind of

hiding was out there and I was free to be myself completely yeah so on that note you end up getting

to the end with your team as you sort of espouse over the course of the season so what has it been

like you know having those relationships outside again especially this moment with joe really does

speak to a life moment not even a game moment so what have things been like knowing that that's

sort of like eternally kind of bound you to each other that you are not only a part of each other's

survivor journeys but assumingly and you can either tell me otherwise you know life journeys

from here on out oh absolutely joe and i i that is a relationship that i will have forever i finally

was able to meet his amazing wife, Katie, and I am dying to meet his kids soon. And I just, I know

that we will always be together. We will always, we live on opposite ends of the country. I'm in

Providence. He's in Sacramento, but we call all the time. And I know that he is always there for

me and I will always be there for him. This is a very strong relationship, like nothing else in my

life. And then other relationship, Kyle as well. He was a member of this team too. And Kyle, well

I have this, this relationship with Joe that is very almost father daughter, like, right

Kyle is like a brother to me that we are sister brother. I'm his little sister. I'm always

annoying him and being there for him. I'm making sure the world knows that he peed his pants in

that first individual immunity challenge. Yup. He did. He did. And they didn't show it. And that's

why I was chirping him about it in that next one. We're holding the grip thing because Kyle peed his

pants and, and as his sister, I must tell everybody that, but Kyle is someone that I am even almost

even closer with than Joe because we're closer in age we have this more peer sister brother bond and

so the two of them in my life now are these two supports that I could not imagine my life without

and I am so grateful for both of them and it is a relationship that I will have forever well I sure

in terms of support that I am just you know once one amongst the many throng that have been in

support of you this entire season Eva as has been talked about it was far from easy to even have you

come out there in the first place, given the stuff that we had talked about even beforehand, and the fact that you were able to get all the way to second place to push through what seems to be

some of the hardest moments in your life. I know you said that first was the goal and, you know

everything else is settling, but you should be so incredibly proud of yourself. And I know that

you've received so much support from so many different people from so many different communities

as well. So congratulations, sincerely. Thank you so much. Yeah, I think you have really impacted a

lot of people out there. And that is so incredibly important, especially in today's day and age. So

thank you, as always, for being so open and so honest with me and with everybody else by proxy

Absolutely. Thanks. And yeah, I didn't win. But you know, I had always had this team mindset that

I want to get my team to the end. And my team won. Joe, Kyle and I, that's my team and my team won

I didn't get that out, but we did as a group