Survivor's Angelina Keeley Says Season 50 Will Be 'A Complete Slaughterfest,' Vows To 'Protect Mike White At All Costs'

The following interview was conducted on location in Fiji before filming began for "Survivor 50."

Let's get this clear from the jump: Yes, Angelina brought a jacket to Season 50. 

Perhaps best known for "jacket-gate" from her "David vs. Goliath" season, Angelina Keeley, who's now a mother of two, is coming into the game as a new person. "I am just more grounded," she says. "I'm still gonna bring all that fun and creativity because I can't help that, but the difference this time is that I'm always going to do things with a 'why.' Always things with intention." 

Despite being reunited with two of her friends from Season 37 — Mike White and Christian Hubicki — Angelina hopes they can get "lost in the mix" among the Season 49 newbies, other close-knit trios like Joe, Kyle, and Kamilla, and legends like Ozzy and Cirie. Feeling more confident and more like herself, she says, will hopefully help her navigate this high-speed new era season and land her one of those highly coveted Final 3 seats.

Below, Angelina talks to TVLine about being reunited with her fellow "David vs. Goliath" cast and her plan to team up with players from the "middle era" seasons. Plus, she dishes hot takes on the new era cast ("It's a choice, Jeff!"), fire-making, and so much more.

TVLINE | My first and probably most annoying question I'm going to ask you: Did you bring a jacket to Fiji?
ANGELINA KEELEY | Y'all, if I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me for my jacket in the last seven years, I would be richer than Tony and Sandra, OK? Alright? My butt wouldn't be out here in the sand again scrambling to win. The jacket. Did I bring a jacket? When Jeff called and asked me to be on Season 50, I said thank you. I was very honored. I also said, "I'm not coming back without a jacket, alright?" It's me and the jacket or it's nothing! So you better believe we're back in business, baby. We're bringing the jacket. We're coming in hot, warm, cozy. We're doing it, OK? So I can't wait. I've got some layers. I got a jacket. We're in business. We got this!

TVLINE | You have two of your former cast members here with you. How will that factor into your gameplay?
So there are a few very familiar faces for me. Christian Hubicki and Mike White are rolling up to this beach with yours truly, and honestly, I couldn't be more excited to see them. We are upgrading Christian to Goliath, by the way, so he is now an honorary Goliath because, I mean, let's be honest: He's Christian and he's on Season 50, so I think there's no doubt in our minds anymore, OK? He's not a David. He never really was a David, but now he's really a Goliath.

I'm excited to see my Goliath boys. I love them to death. Mike White is, in real life, one of my best friends. We talk almost every day and I feel really lucky to get to play this game again with him because last time we played all 39 days together. We stayed close. He put me on his freaking amazing Emmy-winning show ["The White Lotus"]. God knows why, because he knows how my acting skills are, and he put me and Kara [Kay] out there. So luckily, Kara had held down the team, but I couldn't be more thrilled to see them. I want to play as long as I can with both of them and because this season is "In the Hands of the Fans," I think I have a good sense of what the fans truly want, and I think the fans want Mike White. OK? I think the fans want to see Mike White play as long as possible on this season, and I do too. So, one of my goals, I have three goals for this game. 1) Do whatever it takes to win. 2) Have a lot of fun. It's a celebration season. I mean, come on. 3) Protect Mike White at all costs. Almost all costs, as long as it doesn't come into a conflict with No. 1. We are protecting Mike White at all costs because he is a national treasure and everyone deserves to see him run back another season. I'll be his supporting actress and then, I think I might have to figuratively poison him with a piña colada smoothie right before the end. So that's the plan. You heard it here first. 

TVLINE | How does having three people from the same season affect your target level?
While I'm very excited to see Christian and Mike, I know that it is a very dangerous situation potentially to be seen as a throuple. To be seen as three people who are bonded, connected, and like each other, and who honestly are all very smart and capable players. And so we're gonna have to mitigate that. We're gonna have to be really careful and luckily, there are three seasons that have three players returning, so I'm hoping that that takes a little bit of the heat off us. There's also people who, this is their third time playing together. I believe Ozzy and Cirie, third time playing together, and then Seasons 48 and 46 have three players. So I'm hoping we kind of get lost in the mix and make our way through because 24 people, this is gonna be a complete slaughterfest. This is just gonna be insanity. Twenty-six days, 24 people. We're gonna be at Tribal a lot.

TVLINE | Did you always want to come back for a second shot?
To be completely transparent, I was called — I think I can say this now — I was called for Season 40 before it was "Winners at War." I was asked to play "40," but they called me one month after the "David vs. Goliath" finale, so we're talking January of 2019, and I respectfully declined and I said I'm just not ready yet. I need more time. It's not a no forever, but it's a no right now and I meant it. I always said if the timing's right and if I feel like the moment's right, then I'd love to try one more time, and here we are! We're out here for one more time, Season 50. Is it perfect timing? No, I have two daughters that are really young, and it's gonna be the hardest thing. It already is the hardest thing to be away from them. It's only been a week, but that being said, I'm harnessing all of that emotion to inspire my game, and to motivate me to win it this time.

TVLINE | Who were you most excited to see out here, outside of your former castmates?
Outside of my Goliath bros, I am really excited to see some of these powerful women out here. I cannot wait to play with Chrissy. I'm excited to play with Cirie, Aubry... oh, there's too many to even... I want to create a powerhouse. Honestly, I think the 30s are gonna run it. Rick Devens, I'm excited to see Rick. I think the 30s are gonna be the swing. I think we're gonna be the power. I think we're gonna be the bridge between the old and the new. We've played the old format, but we're recent enough that we're not old yet, and for me, I'm actually coming in stronger this time than I was last time. I'm 35 now versus 28, so I feel more ready than ever. I'm really excited to play with some of these people, even the legends, how could I forget, Cirie, Ozzy, and Coach too. Coach is probably the biggest character to ever play this game. Q. I'm ready to play with my other characters. Let's have some fun. I want to play hide and seek with Q. I want to have Coach lead a guided meditation. We're out here. Let's do something with it, you know what I mean? You're never gonna catch me sitting around being bored. Not while I'm on the beach with these folks. It's going to be so much fun.

TVLINE | Who needs to be the first boot?
Oh man, there's always gotta be a first boot. Look, I am superstitious, so I'll preface this with saying none of us are immune, OK? I'm not trying to tempt the "Survivor" gods. Don't let it be me. It can't be me, alright? It's not gonna be me. My threat level's so low, OK? I think there's two scenarios for the first boot. 1) It could very potentially be one of the two people from Season 49. We just have very little information about them. At this moment in time, their season has not aired, so we don't know anything about them besides their names and what their faces look like. We don't know how they played. We don't know how far they made it. We don't know nada about them, alright? And so, that's a mystery box, and in "Survivor," the less mystery, the more information you have, the better. So, I think one of them could be a first boot. Or it could be someone who's just so threatening, right? It could be a winner, if people think, you know what? They already got their flowers. They got their money. Their bank account's happy. Maybe it's one of them. Just anyone but me and Mike, alright?

TVLINE | What did you do wrong last time and how are you going to course correct it?
Where do I start? [Laughs] Look, my first time playing this game... I've had the benefit of time. I'll say that it's been seven years, so a lot has happened in my life since then. I've become a mother. I've started a business. I've lived 20% more life than I [did] last time I played, and it was a lot of life, right? Pandemic, just a lot of stuff. I also have the benefit of watching my season back, which is always eye-opening, and it was humbling for me. It was really humbling to watch it back and be like, "Oh, yeah, I pushed the envelope too much there," or had too much confidence there, or did that move without really thinking. It was a little impulsive. So, I've been able to see all that and learned more about myself from it. So, I think I'm coming in a lot more self-aware, a lot more patient, a lot more "me."

I told Jeff and all those guys during my interviews, I'm more confident than I was before, which for them is hard to believe because I know that I'm very confident, but I really feel more like myself. I feel like I can bring all of myself to bear, not just that hyper-aggressive, dominant side, but also the softer side and the motherly side. I think I actually have the benefit of coming in having played the game that I played because people see me as just the girl who was asking for the jacket, right? I know that. I'm OK with that. I was cold! I stand by that. Should I have asked Natalie five times? No, that was crazy, and that was not editing. I actually did ask her five times, so I'll own that. But look. I know my reputation. All you can do is laugh about things that you do. That's what I tell my husband all the time. You're never gonna be bored, alright? So, I'll say that to you too. You're never gonna be bored. 

But this time around, I'm coming in as a different person. I am just more grounded. I'm still gonna bring all that fun and creativity because I can't help that, but the difference this time is that I'm always going to do things with a "why," always things with intention. My husband and Kara told me to do less. I think it's about that a little bit, but also doing more when it's the right time and knowing when it's the right time for things, But really just having good depth to my existing relationships, forming new relationships, and freaking bringing some joy and some fun to camp. I think we need a player who has a comeback story. I think mine would be a huge swing to go from being the ladder girl and the waterfall and the no jacket to being hopefully, my plan, my hope, is to be a really dominant, strategic, savvy, smart player on "50" who again, is just as fun, but also a lot smarter.

TVLINE | Did you vote in the fan vote?
Oh man, there were some good things on there. Let me give you my answer that I think a lot of people agree with, and then I'm gonna give you a hot take, too, if that's OK. Alright, so in the fan vote I voted on everything, and the one that I think that a lot of us can agree on is, let's just clean it up, right? Yeah, maybe we could have some idols, but advantages need to just... let's go back to the basics of what makes "Survivor" great, which is the players. People being people. That's what we want, that's what I want.

And then my hot take: Because it's literally hot and also I know that most fans don't want this, but I love fire-making. I think it's so fun to watch. I'm also really good at fire, so selfishly I want to go to fire. I want that hero moment. I want to beat the record. I want to beat Heidi's fire-making record. I think it's gonna be gone, but time will tell.

TVLINE | Have you kept up with the newer seasons?
Oh yeah, I've watched all of it. I mean, it's half the cast! If I didn't, I'd be like, "Who are you?"

TVLINE | Do the new school players have an advantage?
Alright, so new era. Fifty% of our "50" cast! It's a choice. It's a choice, Jeff! Alright, here we are. You know, I would have done things a little differently, but I'm just the talent, OK? I'm not on the production side, so I'll take the hand I was given, but did we need that many new era [players]? I think the fans would say no, but I could be wrong. They need to have their talent pool ready for the next 10, 25 years, whatever. Do I think they have an advantage? They have half the numbers. So hypothetically, if they stay, if they hold true, if they hold tight and they stick new era, that could be powerful. It's 12 people. That's a lot of people to stay in line, and to not be tempted with pulling in their own kind of group of people, so... Does it scare me? No. Is it something I'm aware of? Yes. Is it something we can handle? Of course.

My prediction, my hope is that the band of people from the 30s, I hope that we run this game. Chrissy, me, Aubry, Devens, Mike, Christian. I could see us really kind of pulling in the right people from different eras and being the through line, being the driving force. We've played the old format, we've played 39 days, but we're recent enough that we still have an edge. And the other thing too is we're hungry. There has not been a returnee season for us. For a long time we've been waiting. Chrissy's been waiting eight years. I've been waiting seven years. Christian, seven years. We are eager. We are ready. These new era people? They didn't even need to take a flight back to the U.S. Some of them were still here a week ago.

If there's a winner here, which I think there is from "49," their bank hasn't even cleared their check yet. Did they have time to deposit it? Was the ATM open? These are the questions we have, OK? So, new era, they don't scare me. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to talk.... I told my dad I wouldn't underestimate my enemy! I'm not underestimating anyone, but I think we're going to have a lot of fun voting them out. We've got to do the work for the fans. Jeff and Matt [Van Wagenen], they couldn't cut the cast beyond 24, so we're going to have to cut it for them. [Laughs] I talk so much s–t.

TVLINE | You aren't able to speak with each other yet, you're all on lockdown, but tell me what the vibes are like. Who are you getting good feelings from?
To bring everyone in up to speed, during pregame, there are several days where the cast is together, but we cannot talk. We're not even supposed to look at each other, which is really hard to do. The vibe is kind of wonky. I'm gonna be honest right now. It's a little weird. I think it's reflective of the fact that the cast is very eclectic. There are people from Season 1 who, by the way, she seems lovely. Jenna seems awesome, good vibes, just based off of body language, but she's smiley, so I like that. So all the way from Season 1 to 49 and everything in between, you've got characters, you've got brainiacs, you've got huge muscley dudes, you've got the whole gamut out there. The social butterflies, everyone, and so it's just like a weird mix of energy right now. I think maybe people are bubbling up, getting ready to play. I know I'm just ready to go, but, I don't know, man. It's just such a weird thing to be locked down like this. I just want us to start already.