Sarah Wade (‘Survivor 44’ exit interview): ‘I join a special club of sad, sad people’

On Wednesday’s fourth episode of “Survivor 44,” Sarah Wade found what she believed to be a hidden immunity idol only to opt out of playing it at the Tribal Council where she was blindsided from the game. What she didn’t know on her way out was that the idol she found was fake. Read on for her “Survivor 44” exit interview from the end of the episode.

Early in the episode, Carolyn Wiger set the trap for someone else at the Tika camp to find the fake idol she was given alongside her real one in the birdcage. To trick them, she placed two red sticks in an X on the cage and then matched them with another X near a log bench right in camp. Sarah discreetly found the hidden fake idol with the real note, wholly believing it to be a real idol. The prize was her ticket out from the bottom of the tribe for safety at the next Tika Tribal Council.

The tribe swap that brought Josh Wilder over to Tika following the reward challenge journey improved Sarah’s position with Carolyn and Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho, lulling her into a false sense of security. When Tika did in fact lose the immunity challenge and was faced with voting someone out, Sarah firmly believed that they were united to target Josh for the vote.

Ahead of Tribal Council, Yam Yam and Sarah attempted to make Josh feel comfortable with them so that he wouldn’t play an idol if he had one. Sarah was also concerned with being able to save her idol, but said that if Josh does play one that she would have to play hers as well. Well, Josh did play his idol after all, nullifying Sarah and Yam Yam’s votes against him, but Sarah felt secure enough that Josh would be voting for Carolyn so she didn’t play her own.

Unfortunately, Carolyn felt sidelined by Yam Yam earlier in the day and then again at Tribal Council, so she followed through with a plan she had with Josh to put two votes on Sarah. “I kept trying to tell myself not to worry and held on to the idol,” Sarah concluded after being voted out. “I didn’t think he was going to vote for me and it was stupid.”

Still, Sarah believed that her idol was real and that she could have saved herself. “It’s miserable going home with the idol in your pocket,” she reflected. “I join a special club of sad, sad people because I had the ticket to keep going and I didn’t use it. I got played.” Little does she know that the special club she’s actually in is much smaller than that and it’s for players tricked into believing in fake idols other players put into their hands.

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