Fans of Survivor waved goodbye to castaway Drea Wheeler this week after an impressive season 42 run, and she is opening up about which remaining castaways are playing a strategic game. Drea entered the game as the cool and collected castaway with one goal: leverage anything she could to make it to the end and claim the million-dollar prize. Whether that was with social bonds with virtually all of her fellow castaways or searching carefully for hidden immunity idols, Drea constantly kept busy during her journey to the final seven. Unfortunately for her, castaways quickly caught on to her gameplay, resulting in Drea getting voted off to prevent her from potentially winning. Jeff Probst and Survivor producers have hailed seasons 41 and 42 as the new era of Survivor, with the addition of numerous new twists and turns that have castaways reeling.
Since travel delays caused seasons 41 and 42 to be filmed back to back, the latest set of castaways had no clue of some of the changes. The Beware Advantages, Shot in the Dark, and a new opportunity to risk or gain a vote during a summit had season 41 weighing their options at every turn, and 42 is no different. Winning Survivor is about making the most out of the current situation, and Drea immediately embraced the new format. Earning an extra vote, finding a Beware Advantage that turned into an idol, stumbling upon an advantage amulet and locating the Knowledge is Power advantage led to Drea becoming one of the most decorated castaways in Survivor history. But her time on the island was cut short due to a shocking betrayal from her closest ally.
In an exit interview with EW, Drea revealed that her ally Omar Zaheer was the cause of her downfall, mainly due to his emotional gameplay. “You know what, kudos to him. His strategic game is emotional,” Drea admits. Drea’s Survivor game ended swiftly after she mistakenly told Omar about her Knowledge is Power advantage before attempting to steal Mike’s immunity idol. Omar told Mike and they did a mindful idol maneuver before Tribal. Drea’s advantage was washed, causing her to be voted off the island. Speaking on Omar, Drea adds, “We related to him in very emotional ways; I guess ways that I thought were bigger than the game, and that we had each other's back. But, for him, it was just all gameplay. So that's how he got me.”
Anyone who watched Survivor 42 knows that Drea was the frontrunner of the season. Once they got to the late game, castaways began to target Drea for connecting with all of the castaways and never being on the wrong end of a vote. When asked if she felt she would have won the game in the scenario of making it to the final three on Survivor, Drea admits, “I think I would've won for sure. For sure. I was Drea in the game. If anyone who knows me saw me, they were like, you were yourself. I was myself. I played hard. I related to people. I told people how I truly felt. They knew where I stood. I would've given honest answers to the jury. I would have won. I genuinely feel like I would've won.”
Survivor 42 has been an exciting season full of twists and turns, but Drea hit the ground running and immediately embraced the new generation of gameplay. Carefully revealing information when needed and always on the scope for advantages, Drea consistently demonstrated her willingness to take risks to win Survivor. While those risks had been rewarded for the first 21 days, it all came crashing down when she was too trusting of Omar. All eyes are on Omar as Survivor fans watch to see how castaways respond to Drea’s shocking elimination.
Survivor 42 airs Wednesdays at 8pm EST on CBS.
Source: EW