Survivor 48: Joe Hunter Post-Finale Runner-Up Interview (2025)

Well, I have to start with where things finish because, look, given the fact that over the past few episodes specifically, there was so much talk from so many of these players about if Joe gets to the end, he wins, he's dominating every part of this game

And I think at least a fair amount of people were surprised that, you know, all of that culminates in a jury vote for you

What was sort of your level of surprise after that final tribal council when the votes ended up coming in

So, okay, so obviously this has been extremely difficult in terms of you're kind of the last one to get the microphone, meaning the people that are at the very end

And you have to, you hear all the other exit press, you hear everyone's perspective

But, you know, what was really difficult is you hear back as you're watching it, people are blaming you for being there

Or, you know, he had a part in whatever, right, wrong or indifferent, but that's their perspective

and you think okay so i've heard several people say this is why i'm here but you get one vote

so man i really thought long and hard about how to handle this and say you know my man because

you know there's some things that are said in exit press there's things that are done that

you're like man that that's things that's and i try to realize that in this like here's my

whole um perspective on it is i just got to start with me like at the end of the day listen i could

sit here and blame and i have a lot to say about certain things i i could blame this person or that

person or why did they do that here's my perspective and you did this you did that at the end of the

day it's me if i didn't do it if i didn't get a vote it's because i didn't do something i or i did

something that i didn't like or i didn't do something and i just got to take ownership of

that it's all falls on me and i wish you know that's maybe said a little more is that we all

have a part in our own you know loss and i must have done something that and and and maybe i'll

get that feedback from them but uh one day but i must have done something or didn't do or did that

they didn't like you know yeah i mean what i'm intrigued by is that we see david in like the

little jury interstitial it's even been talked about a little bit of the exit press as well of like, you know, Joe preaches this loyalty and teamwork, and then he makes these betrayals

He's got to prove that lying was part of his game. We didn't see that really come up in the editor of the Final Tribal Council

Was that really brought up at all as a topic? And if so, how did you respond to it? You know, it gets blurry when you, like, play it back

But to that concept, you know, and that was implied there, yes

It's difficult when I hear that because I couldn't disagree more. I couldn't have a harder, um, different perspective

And that's what I've been trying to do is in this whole process, I'm like, Joe, just try to be respectful of this

Like that's their perspective, a few, but when it comes to like this lying in the seat

or whatever, it's like, you know, there's a couple and maybe we'll get into it

But like with David specifically, it's like, listen, that's your perspective. And I feel what happened on the Island and, and how I was treated by that person and treated

by a few others in the moment um that trust was broken before any of that happened and that you

know um the perception is this and i'm not trying to make it oh i didn't and i didn't play a perfect

game and i absolutely made mistakes but you know uh i will strongly disagree that that my game was

deception or that i lied or i there was a lot other pieces to this that are hey that's not how

went down from my point of view at all but I want to respect If if that how he saw it or others then i respect their opinion but uh i couldn disagree more one of the big revelations of the

many that we saw at that final tribal council was kyle sort of dropping this bomb about not only his

relationship with camilla but the fact that it seemed like from their perspective you know they

had helped kind of coerce you and eva into getting rid of shaheen talk to me about what your reaction

was there and especially now watching the season back and seeing like the thomas vote the david

vote this seemed to be the connective tissue of these two kind of coming to you and trying to

lead you to make certain decisions uh so i don't want to disrespect their game because

it would be uh unrealistic to say that any of us knew the depth of their relationship sure you know

you might have we see people talking but i'm gonna flat off say like no i did not know that

the depth of their relationship and good for them like um that's it period end of story like

sure hindsight oh i knew this i knew that no i didn't and um i'm proud of that in a weird way

because listen what makes this complicated that people can't really see is both camilla and kyle

and i shared very intimate things that are just between us that are off camera that

I know is real and I know is deep and I want to believe that and then what happens is but then

you're hit with lies and deception and so what makes it complicated is if you think about it in

your own life if a friend told you something very personal and real but then gameplay blindsides you

with deception that's why your head gets scrambled as you're like man I know this piece is real

so there's no way they're lying to me about this and so yeah was i lied to yeah did it work yeah

and i think that with trust you have to lean all into it and that's why you get hurt is you can't

be half in and then when it comes to the shaheen element of it because like did they get us with

thomas absolutely period like i i was not ready for that with david um i'll say this with shaheen

in particular um him and i had an argument right that in a much more intense emotional argument

that was kind of like outside of just theory we talked every day we strategize every day he's a

great person and very intelligent one of the best players out there but we fought that day about just

other things coconuts in the beach and what's wrong with you what's wrong with you and we just

we fought and they knew that and we gave that away as a duo we fought and because we fought

and this might be hard for people to understand if we don't fight he doesn't go home and i don't

mean that like he fought i sent him home it meant we didn't have a normal discussion why don't you

just ask him this why didn't you ask him that it's because we had fought like a couple we just fought

like a married couple and, and we couldn't recover from it. And they were smart and bright enough players to see the crack that we

created. And we just couldn't, because, and what I mean by that

like it's like, you know, two days before they come up with this plan and we're hitting like we

normally do, we have a normal conversation. We hug it out. It's over in two minutes. And I mean that it's that we had had a really

big emotional disagreement, like not about the game. and then it spilled into the conversation that you see

So that's kind of how my answer to it is. It not to take away their game but we fueled that last piece by our lack of ability to get over our disagreement So yeah I mean what is so incredibly intriguing about this season and your game in particular

is that you said a few times, right, like, I'm looking to not necessarily play the way that others have done recently

And, you know, to your credit, you were able to succeed in playing this game that was based in getting a group to the end and based in loyalty

but looking back on it do you think there is room in a modern day game of survivor for that type of

strategy man you're great questions as usual i mean it um here's what i say with that what's hard

to hear is yes i had a plan of getting a group to the end or this loyalty thing but i didn't

it gets spun into oh i'm saying that this hierarchy or this like oh i'm better or worse

because that's really hard to hear because that's not the memo i just my idea was you can't make it

to the end in my opinion alone at some point you have to trust someone you have to and the more that

you can trust i feel the farther you can go and i just want survivor fans to look at it like just

be okay with letting someone play the way their game is just lying that's the difference is i'm

okay with that that's your game and if i don't want to do that it doesn't make me better or worse

it's just my path and i think i want the game to stay that pure like don't just because i don't

play it your way it's not that i'm better than you i just it's it's what i wanted to do because

because I have some things in the bank that I have to remind myself are there

You know what, buddy? I'm 21 years old with no kids and no wife. Like maybe I do play this differently

I don't know. But in my life right now with what I've been through

it's just like, hey, I'm going to dive into this, try to be this person that is based off if we can trust each other

And that's not a perfect kind of algorithm, but it's the best that I'm going to do

And do I think there's room for that today? Absolutely. I just, I hate that it has to be one or the other

I think that you also need to read the season. David comes to me early

Hey, I got five or six others that are down to do this

Whatever this is, I do the math. That's a lot of people. Sure

And if I'm on a season that, you know, I land and it's like nothing but cutthroat

Well, guess what? I'm going to have to figure out how to move my way into that

So I also don't want it to have the perception of like, there's only this way you, you got to get there, read the crowd and then go, all right, like, this is what we're doing. All right. Well, okay. I'm going to, and then I got to make a decision. So that's, yeah, I think there's room

when you went out there you and i spoke about obviously the the meaningfulness that came with

just stepping foot on that beach given everything that happened with your sister and we we got to

see that moment of closure happen following you getting the letters talk to me about that because

in the midst of such an emotionally intense game that has to be for lack of a better term adding

fuel to the fire of everything that was going through your head at that moment yeah again that

was, just so anybody that knows, that was 100% real. That wasn't scripted

That wasn't any other thing. And I had kind of heard that maybe that was too much for Cameron Why then And it really was that the letters from home seeing my wife both my kids this this ability to work my way through this

I apologize. No, please. I'll come right through it. Them giving me the clarity to say, you know, just be courageous enough to be vulnerable

and it's something the weight of that with my sister i've been carrying on for so long but also

domestic violence and how many people's lives it just crushes and it it destroys people's lives and

we don't talk about it enough especially from a male perspective that was directly involved with

it meaning it was my sister and listen everything i do every day every weight i lift which i do a lot

of is in six for Joanna, right? The letters of her name, J O A N N N a. And we got down to six

and she was with me. And I felt that and out there, it was just like, this is time. And I also wanted

to do it for everyone that's suffering from domestic violence or in a horrible situation

just to see like, man, this dude is just, I'm just going to let it fly. And it is something that

I will never, ever be able to explain. I'm so grateful to Survivor, to production, to everybody that allowed me to do that

And then allowed it to air. Like that was just, you know, I'm grateful

The last thing I want to ask is I'm sure we could do another entire 50 minute interview about the Eva of it all

Right. What was it like to leave the island with essentially a new family member

Someone that you never expected you would have left the island with once you stepped foot on it

You know, I, when it comes to Eva, like, this is the thing that I try to focus on is

imagine I'm on a different season. Imagine I'm on a different tribe. Imagine she doesn't even have an episode

She just works through all the challenges and it never comes up. We have the private conversation and it never comes up

um it all had to align for this relationship to take off the way that it did sure we'd be tight

and sure we'd have that but what happened and what she was able to able to overcome like

i'm just blessed i was along for the ride and that she put me in a position to allow me to help her

you know without her asking she could have asked anybody doesn't happen the same way and um

she will always be a part of my life and my family's life. And I love that, that girl. I always

will. And that very much showed. I know you said in the after show that you were so grateful for

the opportunity to show the world who you really were and to say that you did would be an

understatement. So thank you so much, man. As always, I relish our conversations just because

of how open and honest and not afraid to be emotional that you are. And it's something that

I very much appreciate. It's something that so many people do as well. So thank you, as always

man, for the always fantastic chat. Oh, no, my man, you just you have a huge following

You have become Survivor. You've earned it. And it's an honor to to talk to you talking to you

You know, you've made it when you're on the mic with you. So thank you. Well, the pleasure was all mine. I wish you and your family nothing but the best. I cannot wait

to talk to you again and all the best Joe thank you so much again thank you my man you have a good

one bye okay bye-bye