‘Survivor’: Jessica Admits She Regrets Not Strategizing With Gabby — It’s ‘The Most Frustrating Thing’

Courtesy of CBS

After she was majorly blindsided on the Oct. 3 episode of ‘Survivor,’ Jessica opened up to HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY about her biggest regret, why Gabby turned on her and more!

Jessica Peet was eliminated on the Oct. 3 episode of Survivor: David vs. Goliath, and it was a vote she did NOT see coming! The David tribe was all set to vote Lyrsa Torres out of the game, but the whole tide shifted when Jessica and Bi Nguyen were reluctant to talk strategy with Gabby Pascuzzi. Gabby, who was a bit paranoid, then turned to Lyrsa and Elizabeth Olson, and the ladies concocted a plan to vote out Jessica instead. However, Jessica told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY that she never intended to make Gabby feel left out.

“Gabby was never not included in conversations when it came to gameplay,” Jessica explained. “I think the issue was, Gabby wanted to talk about it more. And I didn’t really feel like it was necessary. In my head, at that point in time, we had already established that Lyrsa was going to be the one going home. I didn’t want to have those conversations about Lyrsa going home because I didn’t ant Lyrsa to know she was going to be the one going home! I didn’t want to give her time to scramble and figure something out. So that’s why I was kind of just like…yeah, we’re good. Gabby wants to talk about it, and I should’ve listened to her more and given her the reassurance she needed. Watching it back, that was probably the most frustrating thing. I know now that if I extended that conversation, then maybe the vote would have been different.”

Instead, Gabby rounded up Christian Hubicki, who rounded up Nick Wilson, and the five-some had enough votes to send Jessica packing. “I didn’t think I should’ve had anything to be concerned about until we actually got to tribal,” Jessica admitted. “Then I started hearing the conversations and knew I was going to see my name at least twice, with Lyrsa and Elizabeth. But I didn’t anticipate the others.”

Why do you think you were targeted? I think Christian explained it very well in the episode — he was voting for me because I was a strategic player. I was close with Bi and Carl and Bi was close with Gabby an Carl was close with Davie. I had good relationships with Davie and Gabby, as well. I was closer with Carl and Bi, though, so we had a five, but a three in that five. So I think ultimately that’s why they took me out. I was just playing strategic already.

Were you aware of how close Christian was with Nick and Gabby? I didn’t really know that Nick and Christian had an alliance! I knew they were friends, but in my opinion, there’s a difference between an alliance and a friend. I didn’t realize how much influence Christian had on Nick and the decision he was making [at the vote].

Who do you think is the biggest threat on the David tribe? I would say — honestly, Nick is the biggest threat right now! He has a lot of good relationships. I didn’t realize he had that good relationship with Christian, and it highlighted in the first episode that he’s talking to Elizabeth. I know that Carl and Davie both really like Nick. So it’s interesting to watch it from this perspective. I was shocked by Nick in general [watching it back].

How did you handle the tough elements in Fiji? It was really hard. I don’t remember a time where I wasn’t shaking. There was even a point when I looked down at my toes and they were starting to turn purple because I was so cold. It was terrible to go from being so cold and then you’re finally warm again, but then it’s warm to where, when we got back to camp [after the challenge], I had sun blisters on my arm.