Survivor 49 Boot Pinpoints Exact Moment He Lost Control, Blames People 'Caving' To Rizo For Exit

The following contains spoilers from Wednesday's episode of "Survivor 49"!

The consequences of those fateful tribe swaps are continuing to pile up. 

In the latest episode of "Survivor" (read our recap here), Rizo further cemented his godlike status (at least in this particular season of reality TV) when he went on a quest to tarnish Alex's name and bury his rival in the sand. After Savannah and Steven secured individual immunity necklaces, Rizo knew his No. 1 ally was safe, allowing him to spread some truths and a whole bunch of lies about Alex, who he saw as the biggest threat. All of his gabbing was also a way to protect his own hidden immunity idol, which he didn't play and didn't need. Yet despite all of Alex's solid connections and strategic plans up to this point, he couldn't save his game from Rizo's smear campaign and he was eliminated by a vote of 6-2-1. 

Below, Alex talks to TVLine about Rizo's sneaky moves, why he couldn't work with [Blue] Soph anymore, and the moment he felt he truly lost control of the game. 

TVLINE | Why didn't more people write down Rizo's name? Were you surprised by that?
ALEX MOORE | That is the question of the century. I feel that it was the obvious decision that, hey, even if they wanted to put votes on me, at least get the idol out of there. I think that some people, were just so... they wanted to be with Savannah and Rizo for some reason. I saw Savannah and Rizo as competitors. I saw them as the people strategizing. I thought it was obvious to everyone, so it's like, why would we not take a shot at competitors? Why are you going to try and please them? So, I think I knew that there would at least be three votes on me with Soph, Savannah, and Rizo, but I just thought it made sense for everyone, especially after not getting Rizo out last week on the MC vote. It just was so confusing to me, and they ultimately believed Rizo, even though me and everyone else had great personal relationships. And I'm telling them, "Don't believe what Rizo's saying. He's just spinning lies," and so for it to be shown so clearly that Rizo was just making stuff up last night, I hope people are feeling a little differently today.

TVLINE | Rizo was working overtime trying to dirty up your name. What are your thoughts on that having now seen the episode?
Rizo and I were rivals from Day 1, like with the fight for supplies, and I ultimately got some wins and immunity challenges and rewards, but he won the war, and he had to do what he had to do. I think I'm more frustrated with the people and the relationships that I built not trusting me and believing that I'm saying, "No, I ultimately want Rizo." Of course, when I say things like, "Sophie Segreti is going to win challenges down the the line," it's something that we need to look at. Of course I was doing that. I was just pointing out a fact, like she's making it to the end of all these challenges, and so things like that would just be spun. I thought we still had the ultimate goal in mind, but that wasn't the case.

TVLINE | We saw Blue Sophi talking about possibly getting you in with Rizo and Savannah. Was that ever really on the table?
Yeah, so [Blue] Soph, I knew right away, was locked in like that with Savannah and Rizo. She was so tight with them, where I knew I was thrown to the curb. I would be on the bottom of that easily. So why would I go side with her when there are other people who wanted my vote and who I had built relationships with, like Kristina and Steven, where I feel better with the relationships I made, where I don't need to rely on you. I can play this game independently. I'm not some lost puppy. So ultimately, when I did the Nate vote (which I had a bigger role in than I thought), Nate was kind of throwing my name around, and so I just kind of wanted to be on the right side of the vote, and I didn't want to loop Soph in because I knew that she was the enemy at this point. So I'm not surprised that she ultimately voted me out.

TVLINE | You got caught trying to play the middle, but Jawan said you were causing chaos. What did he mean by that?
So "causing chaos," I guess, means being friends with everyone where, sorry that Rizo and I would have conversations because we genuinely liked each other, and then I'd go have a conversation with Kristina. I was not starting rumors. I think that was part of [Jawan] believing everything that Rizo was saying. Whatever Rizo said went for some reason. I don't know, I'm not here to judge other people's games, but I ultimately was just in a really good position, and Rizo, I think, was the only one who saw that, and that's why he just wanted to spin things on me.

TVLINE | Is there any overlap between your job in Washington, D.C. and your ability and inclination to play the middle? Or did playing the middle happen naturally because of your early days on a disaster tribe?
I think it's my job, but also just who I am. I'm that type of person to be able to go between friend groups and have these connections with all different types of people. That's just my nature. And the political background, I know that you have to reach some agreement. You have to meet in the middle. So my thought was, if I'm able to have connections with everyone, they'll ultimately feel that they want to use me, use my vote, work with me, and that would just carry me further, where I'm not just gonna sit back, I'm gonna be playing the game, I'm gonna be winning challenges. So I just needed it to get me a little bit further, but Rizo caught on, and I think if it weren't for Rizo, I think my plan would have worked out much better than it did.

TVLINE | What didn't we see out there from this time period or episode? Anything you can add that might add a little more context?
Ultimately why I went home is Sage, Jawan and [Yellow] Sophie Segreti just didn't want to make a move and get out the idol that we know is there. But also, I was kind of a main person in getting Nate out, and I think that people knew that. Nate was coming for me because Soph told him about my idol and he was sketched out. He was like, "Well, Alex is misleading people," even though it was already played. It's not even like I still had an idol. And so I kind of orchestrated that vote, in a way, with Jawan and Sage, because they were trying to decide which side to go on, and I was like, "Yeah, I'm trying to decide too, but Nate's here saying my name," and we didn't know what Rizo was going to do with his idol at that point. And so we knew if he was gonna play it for anyone, it would be Savannah, and so Nate was just the way to get numbers on our side. We had an alliance of seven. How in the world did we lose? How did we give up the game at this point to a three-person alliance? It just didn't make sense. I thought we could stick to the numbers and make it to the Final 7 easily, but people had different plans.

TVLINE | What were your plans entering the merge? Clearly, you were already at a disadvantage, numbers-wise.
I always think about like, what if I would have sided with that side, Rizo, Savannah, and Soph? I personally had a really good relationship with all of them, it was just that they were too tight in the game already. I wanted to work with Soph. I really did. We really liked each other, but just by how close she was there, I couldn't infiltrate that. They had that time built up on two tribe swaps together, and it all ultimately came down to these swaps where you're able to build a relationship. I feel like I came into this already down in numbers, and people were just sticking to their original tribe. So it's like I was starting at home plate and everyone else was on third base. I had to try and catch up to everyone else, and ultimately, that lack of original tribemates kind of cost me in the end.

TVLINE | Had you made it further in the game, did you think about who you wanted to bring to the Final 3?
Kristina and I were very close. I think personally and strategically, I would have wanted her to be in the end with me, and then, I don't know. I for sure wouldn't have wanted to be there with [Blue] Soph, Savannah, or Rizo, because I knew that they were players. The fact that people are even keeping them around at this point is just... Rizo should have gone, but whatever. But I think someone like Jawan or Sage I could have made the case against because I'd been playing the game since Day 1, and they were kind of on the outs, and it would have been triumphant for me. So I think someone with a very different story.

TVLINE | Were people aware of how close Jawan and Sage had gotten? Was that public knowledge?
It was obvious because they were kind of on the outs. They're both quirky. We're all friendly, but you could tell those two really clicked, and so you knew that they were working together. Then with Steven, Steven was doing a good job of going between the Hina group and then Jawan and Sage. I didn't ultimately know how close Steven was at this point with them, but Steven still voted Soph out, so he was on the outs there, but they just were friendly with him. And we saw in this episode last night, Steven told about Kristina's idol, so clearly they had some type of relationship.

TVLINE | Any final words or anything you want to make sure viewers know about your exit?
I'm very proud of the game I played and I think that I would have made it further if it weren't for Rizo planting these seeds and people kind of just caving. I think that my strategy was working and I knew everything that was going on. It was basically when MC didn't come back where I was like, "Wow, I think I just lost hold of this game," because how could we turn on this seven-person alliance that we had? So that was the first time really this whole entire game that I felt, "Man, I don't know what's going on."

TVLINE | Can't be a good feeling in the game of "Survivor."
No, it was tough, but hey, that's the way the game goes, and it's the way the cards were dealt. I'm still happy that I was actually playing the game and trying to be strategic.