Survivor 48 is here! Every week, Parade.com's Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the castaway most recently voted off of the island."This is a game that's giving so much to us. And I know we're taking a dream away from one of these two. But that's what I hold onto. That, if it's my torch, I've been given a gift."That's one of the many quotable nuggets Thomas Krottinger has given us on Survivor 48. Besides being a master of confessional lyrics, the music executive had been hard at work in the island studio for the first week of the game. As he outlined in this most recent episode, he had a majority alliance, a tight number one, knew where all the advantages were, and had one himself. Unfortunately, his follow-up album on Vula beach was not a chart-topper. When Thomas' lie on the journey was unearthed, he became the target of outsiders Kamilla Karthigesu and Kyle Fraser. While that didn't matter in the "old school" vote, when things turned suddenly "new school" with an idol and an advantage being played, Thomas was suddenly on the chopping block. Shockingly, the one-liner above became his last in the game.
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After starting the season by educating Jeff Probst that Survivor was gay culture in an incredibly entertaining unseen moment, Thomas initially felt like the odd one out in a tribe full of jocks. He was immediately able to lock in, however, with Bianca Roses. And he surprisingly found chemistry with the other two Lagi men in Joe Hunter and Shauhin Davari. The three locked in as the "California Girls" alliance, as the fun, fresh, and fierce trio had the tribe on lock. But while Thomas was in a great position in the tribe, that didn't stop him from playing an independent game. He went on a journey and secured a Steal-a-Vote for himself, but lied about the results to even his closest allies. Star Toomey brought him in on her Beware Advantage hunt, only for him to toy with possibly "losing" her clue to sabotage her efforts. His attitude changed days later, though, when he was debating helping her find the idol and use it to craft his own big move: Taking out Eva Erickson.
On Day 8, Thomas declared Survivor players need to be ready for any curveball. And his words were the perfect lead-in to a full tribe swap. While Thomas was sent to a brand-new (and much more derelict) camp, he was still alongside the California Girls, and with two easy votes in the "Civa stragglers." Kamilla and Kyle, however, immediately started making lemonade out of their tough situation, feigning a rift between them. Additionally, Kamilla used information Star gave her from the sit-out bench to throw Thomas under the bus to his allies. The new Vula hoped to reverse the curse of the green tribe, but unfortunately, the second verse was same as the first. Regardless, the California Girls were confident they had the upper hand, especially after a rudimentary search of Kyle's bag. But their golden state quickly dulled at Tribal Council. The guys put their votes onto Kyle, only to have them nullified by his idol play. Him and Kamilla won the day, putting their votes onto Thomas, feeling he was one of the sneakiest players. An earthquake had hit the California Girls, as Joe and Shauhin looked on, shocked and devastated, as Thomas closed out his Survivor session for good.Now out of the game, Thomas talks with Parade about why he chose not to use his advantage at Tribal Council, what would have happened if Lagi had gone to Tribal Council, and interactions he's had with both Chappell Roan and Sarah Michelle Gellar.Related: Read our Survivor 48 pre-game interview with Thomas Krottinger
The first thing I have to ask is, how do you feel knowing that Chappell Roan doesn't have to watch Survivor anymore?[Laughs.] So funny. Kayleigh was not stoked. That was funny. When someone sent me that, it made me chuckle. And then Kayleigh's creative director is this amazing woman named Misha. And she literally hit me last night being like, "I'm finally watching." And I was like, "Intense night to start!" But, yeah, funny.Let's talk about this intense way to end things. You were hit with a barrage of advantages–And poles.[Laughs.] Exactly. But you also had one in your pocket. You said you would play your Steal-a-Vote if you felt something "freaky deaky" was happening. So, what made you ultimately decide not to play it?Okay, so I'm old school. I'm an old-school hardcore alliance, "let's go to the f–king end together" kind of a player. And I worked really hard to have the California Girls feel like very much a safe alliance for me. I knew that Joe and Shauhin probably were one and two above me, and I was the third person on that. So in no way, shape or form was I gonna reveal the fact that I lied about my advantage unless I absolutely had to. So when we got to the beach, and Kyle and Kamilla are, the second I'm not around, coming at my throat to the boys, and I get back, and the boys tell me everything that happened, I'm like, "Okay, great. So if I tell them now, they're gonna freak out. So maybe when I go to Tribal. We're a pretty stacked tribe, right?"Wrong, the Vula curse is real. And by the time that we're going to tribal, it's chaotic. Kamilla is pretending to be on the bottom. Kyle keeps saying, "Civa strong." The boys really want Kyle out. It would completely shatter my trust with the boys moving forward. If I play that advantage, I know that it would have cost me my alliance, and it would have kind of crumbled the game that I was building and playing. And it was all for what I felt like with a one-in-six shot that Kyle had an idol. If Kyle had an idol, I knew that I was probably going home, that was it. So I was like, "I'm gonna roll the dice and take those odds." Because if I could get through that Tribal without Kyle having an idol and survive, I think it puts me in a really good position long term in the game.You talk about taking that quite literal Shot in the Dark odds of Kyle having an idol. What made you feel that way? Was it the bag search?That terrible bag searching...You shouldn't have passed it off to Shauhin! If you want something done well, do it yourself.That is very, very true. But I didn't want to get my hands dirty. Kamilla was sitting right there, and I was like, "I don't trust her". That's the other thing you don't see. I really was pushing for Camilla. I clocked her as, "You're a problem." I mean, Kyle's a problem too. But Kamilla, I was like, "Oof, issues."The bag search was meaningless to me. I had the advantage squirreled in my underwear. I knew that if Kyle had an idol, it was going to be tucked somewhere. It turns out he left in a shoe. Kyle, if you're watching this, like, what? Risky, bro! I just wasn't expecting it to be in there, if that makes sense. I thought he was going to be very good at keeping it a secret.At the point you swap, you have Bianca, the California Girls, and you seemed to be working on a plan to possibly help Star find her idol to get out Eva. If you had gone to Tribal Council then, what would have happened?Okay, so Bianca not having a vote, that's my number one priority: To protect her. I knew what was most likely the code for Star's Beware Advantage. So if I needed to open it, I could give it to her. But if we went to Tribal and I'm protecting Bianca and she has no vote, and I know Eva wants Star out, and the boys feel comfortable with Star, I'm gonna leave that thing locked. And it's like, "Go be with the moon. Goodbye." I love you, but in that moment, my priority is keeping Bianca in because I need her. So, no swap, we go to Tribal, I think it's Star, because she has no vote and we can control it.So you had basically figured out what the code was to Star's idol, but you chose to withhold it from her?Well, I mean, me, Shauhin, Bianca, Joe, were all kind of working on this together. And once we figured it out, there was a discussion of, "Do we open it for Star, or do we not open it for Star?" And there was one moment where I think it was Shauhin was like, "Okay, let's open it." And I was like, "Baby girl, why would we do that? Why would the person you want to vote out you want to be like, 'Here's your idol, please take it?' No." So I was petitioning to keep it very much closed.On that note, we see a moment of you suggesting to Shauhin that you purposely lose the clue Star had given you to make sure she doesn't unlock the idol. Shauhin said in confessional that made him see you as a bit more of a player. Were you aware of how that was being perceived?Well, number one, I didn't feel like it was super open. It was me and Shauhin. And Shauhin was, probably other than Bianca, the person that I was working with the closest. Because Shauhin sees the Joe/Eva thing, and in Shauhin's brain, it's him and Joe and me right underneath. But he sees Eva as a threat. So then he looks at me and is like, "Are we doing this?" And he knows I have Bianca, but we have a very special relationship. So he said other crazy things to me; we were plotting Eva's demise. So him showing me that, and me being like, "What if it disappears?" didn't feel that crazy based in our relationship. What was your reaction when you saw some fans say that that was taking things too far?Do you remember in Pearl Islands Rupert stealing the other people's stuff? Me saying, "I will send this out to sea," it doesn't seem that crazy. But I guess when you're watching, and especially in the new era, and with everybody on the other tribes being like, "Here's my social security number," honesty, I guess it does make it look a little villainous.Talk to me more about your relationship with Bianca. And, speaking of that information asymmetry, when she tells you in private that she doesn't have a vote, and you choose not to tell her about your advantage.Well, okay, the truth is that I feel like Bianca probably knew that I was lying to her. But she trusted me so much that she knew that my lies would never hurt her. And that is the truth. I would use my advantage to keep her in the game without hesitation. That girl is loyal. She needs more screen time. She is an icon; she is so funny and whip-smart. I would play the game 100 times over and pick her as my number one every time. She is incredible. I got lucky. I don't know what production was doing, putting us two bitches on the same tribe. That was crazy. Also, it's nuts that she and I were the weakest ones. I'm like, "What? I'm not a schlub, but fine." Lagi was jacked. But yeah, Bianca's just fantastic. I can't say enough great things. Justice for Bianca, if I'm being honest.So you end up striking up this alliance with a couple of these aforementioned "jacked" people to form the California Girls. You mention on the show how unlikely an all-male alliance would be for you. So how did you end up coming together so naturally?Well, Joe and Shauhin are really special people. My relationship with Joe opened me up to a new side of myself. The way he's a father, the way he talks about being a father, we connected on a level that I wasn't anticipating for a 40-something-year-old hot firefighter dad. He was just so caring and sweet. I want to have kids because of him. He changed my perspective on my life. So he's just very present and right there. And then Shauhin is just a puppy dog, a ball of energy. You can't trust him, but you love him, if that makes sense. And so even though I never thought I was going to work with men, and I actively didn't want to work with men, you also have to look at the other options on my tribe. Obviously, Bianca, queen. Eva, she's talked about how she played on the male hockey team. She prefers work with dudes, which, like, hello, dude. But also probably not like the hockey player dude that she would normally want to go for. But we did connect on so much stuff. Eva and I were always cool. And then I love Star, but she never truly opened up to me. And I think that there was a moment where she started playing hard and going and looking for idols quickly, which created a very natural like, "Whoa, what are you doing?" So then it was like, you have those dynamics, and then I have these two lovable men. Why wouldn't I just pick those girlies up? And also, night one, we were sleeping on the beach, and we were talking about how we all live in California. And I was like, "Yet again, what is the production doing? They're giving me these sweet little California boys, and then this New Jersey queen, like." It was good. Life was good on Lagi. And for the record, I love Sta. I wanted to work with he. But the idol thing made things so complicated. And I felt like she came to me last about the ido. So what am I supposed to do with that information? But yeah, there was a way when I could have figured out working with all of them. But yeah, the men thing is just insane.To that point, I'm sure before the swap you were already thinking about what you wanted to do at the merge. Would you have wanted to go to the end with the California Girls?I would have taken Bianca to the end without hesitation. I am like a Black Widow Brigade girly. I would want Final Four to be me, Joe, Shauhin, and Bianca. If we all got there, I think there would be an argument of like, who is in the middle of this alliance, and made it work if we got all the way to the end. So I feel good about that. But no, I had no plans on cutting those boys or Bianca anytime soon. I'm old school, bro.Near the end of Tribal Council, you end up helping eulogize Kamilla and Kyle's games, talking about how proud they should be of how much they've learned about themselves out here. Despite that statement bouncing back on yourself immediately, you still seemed grateful to Jeff when your torch got snuffed. Talk to me about what exactly you learned about yourself out on the island.It's interesting because I feel like a lot of people synthesize their Survivor experience when it's over, and I feel like I was synthesizing it while playing. When I'd be sleeping like on the beach at night, when it would be like intense before a challenge, and the tents are hot and gross and everybody's nervous. I just remember standing in a tent one day, and it was disgusting, and I just was like, "What the f–k am I doing? This is so insane. I'm sweating my balls off in Fiji with these five strangers. I'm about to go on an obstacle course, and do a puzzle on national television, where I could lose and then go home and embarrass myself." And just going through those moments, I'm so much stronger than I thought I was. I have so much less fear than I thought I had. I believe in myself so much more than I did. I have this sense of confidence that I think I project, but don't really have, like imposter syndrome. And so when we were at Tribal, and Jeff asked the question of, "How can you crush someone's dream? How can you go into that voting booth and write down someone's name?" He was really talking to Kyle and Camilla and not really talking to us. And I interjected, I remember being like, "Jeff!" And I just had to express it. I don't know; something compelled me. The game has given me so much. It's changed my life. It felt kind of like, if it was my night, I needed to say it and express my gratitude. Which is also weird for me, because I am not this gratitude person. I'm like, "kill or be killed, win or lose, number one hit or bust." And so when I was experiencing this profound shift, I kind of had to explain to get it out.Well, you talk about life-changing. When we were out on the island in the preseason, you mentioned how you couldn't get over Sarah Michelle Gellar being a Survivor fan. And actually when a quote from that interview was put on Instagram, she responded! And I know there was more after that.I got, I got the DM from SMG! What? Insane. Yeah, that was a crazy moment. And also knowing that my demise was coming so soon, I literally, in my head, I was like, "Just in the nick of time, baby!" Yeah, that's insane. Literally we talked about Sarah on the island, yeah? Because I said, "She can't be my [loved ones] visit. I'm choosing Dorinda."I don't know if you checked in with her. She might be fans of Kamilla and Kyle now based on those acting chops they showed off!No, I'll get you the update. Also, for the record, I would like to point out that when they started that grand play, I was not at the shelter. I think I was on a walk. And I was watching that, and I was like, "These bitches are so lucky I wasn't there." They are amazing. Obviously, they're incredible. But had that started off, and had I been there, I think that I would have figured it out. But they're amazing. Your boot has definitely sent a shockwave through the fanbase. So many people loved so much of what you brought to the show. What has been your response to the fan reaction?Honestly, the response has been super overwhelming. I feel gratitude, obviously. But I think the thing that kind of blows my mind is when I watch the show, I do feel like it's actually me up there. And a goal of mine was going to the game and being myself and letting people see me. And I think I did that, and the response has been overwhelmingly incredible.
Related: 'Survivor 48's Justin Pioppi Reveals the 'Powerful Conversations' We Didn't See From That Chaotic Tribal Council (Exclusive)
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