Survivor 51's Latest Boot Says Dealing With Devin's Fixation Was 'Brutal': 'It's Hard To Be On The Receiving End Of That'

The following contains spoilers from Wednesday's "Survivor"!

Sometimes there's nothing one can do to avoid getting swap-screwed on "Survivor." 

In Episode 4 of "Survivor 51," Jeff Probst threw the castaways for a loop. After teasing that the two tribes would be living on the same beach á la "Survivor: One World," the host instead announced the Open Era's very first tribe swap, expanding the game's two tribes to three. Unfortunately for Jenna, she found herself on the same tribe as her Toka adversaries Devin and Jelly, and original Savu Ori who, unbeknownst to her, had already made inroads with the helicopter alliance on Day 1. After trying to pitch her former tribemates on staying "Toka strong" (and discussing a potential alliance with Alexis), There was nothing Jenna could do to prevent four votes from coming her way, subsequently making her the fifth player to leave "Survivor 51." (Read our full recap here.) 

So what did Jenna think about her tribe swap predicament and why was Devin so fixated on getting her out? The eliminated castaway answers these and more in our exit Q&A below. 

TVLINE | I think it's pretty safe to say that you were swap-screwed there, Jenna. Heading into that Tribal Council, what did you think your odds were?
JENNA DOORE | Here's the thing. In real time, I was blindsided. This was the best I felt going into Tribal the entire game. And let me say this: Watching it, of course, I was really not in a good position, worse than I knew. I didn't have all the information, but at the time, I very much thought I was in the middle, and I can kind of get into the reasons I believed that, but yeah, it was brutal.

TVLINE | Tell me a bit about that. I'm guessing you didn't know that Ori was more or less already connected to Devin and Jelly?
That's the biggest thing. That was not a part of my calculation at all. So what it led me to believe is Alexis and Ori [were on one side], and Devin and Jelly [were on the other]. And Alexis and Ori, take the helicopter alliance out of it, it would be to their advantage to work with me, because otherwise, it's gonna go 2-2, and Dev has an extra vote. So if you're them, why would you only save yourself this Tribal? So I'm thinking our interests are aligned, and maybe they are kind of desperate and it's one of them. And the conversations I'm having are backing that up.

Alexis is coming to me so strongly, and I'm like, OK, so she's desperate, but let me see if I can corroborate this information. She's telling me, "Devin and Jelly are coming for you." I go to Ori and he doesn't corroborate this information at all. Of course he doesn't, because he is not with this at all, but that's not a part of my calculation. What I think is, Alexis is desperate, and she's making up a lie that Dev and Jelly are coming for me. So Devi and Jelly aren't coming for me. Fantastic. So Alexis doesn't really have any options. Devin and Jelly, I'm aligned with them, and so I really thought I was in the middle. It's obviously portrayed as if it's me or Alexis. In my brain, it was Alexis or on the other side, Jelly. That was the other target. I loved how it aired because it was so suspenseful and amazing, but when the first vote is read and it's "Jenna," that is when I do the hands in the face. That is when I was like, I got it all wrong. Instantly, I knew.

TVLINE | Why is Devin so obsessed with you?!
Why are you so obsessed with me, Dev? Are you jealous?

TVLINE | I'm kidding, but what was the genesis of his fixation there?
The "Jenna-sis," was that a pun?

TVLINE | [Laughs] Yeah, that's totally what I meant!
Listen, I want to say a disclaimer of: The game is an alternate reality. We know this, but really, it is an alternate reality, not just because you're not sleeping and not eating. You are playing a wildly intense mental, emotional, and strategic game. It's insane. And I think everyone deserves a chance to be who they are outside of the game, and the Dev I know outside of the game is someone I deeply love. Really, I mean that. Now, speaking inside the game and post-game, me having to process a lot of him coming for me, that was really brutal. It was brutal, and I don't just mean the wedding photographer stuff, [but] things spread about me that, you know, it's, "She's so sketchy," and all this stuff. It's hard to be on the receiving end of that, especially when you're like, "What did I do?" I'm just sad, Dev. Just let me be sad for a second, OK? I will say though, outside of the game, all love to Dev and to Jelly too.

TVLINE | If you could do it over, is there anything you could have done, any type of wiggle room there, or do you think the cards were dealt when you pulled that buff at the swap?
Here's my honest answer. I think the cards were dealt and it was a really bad hand, but I don't think you are a good "Survivor" player if you are going to blame the cards that you get. It might not always work out because you have bad cards, but the best "Survivor" players figure out how to work with their bad hands, and at the end of the day, I couldn't do that. Was it possible for me to do that? I don't know. Of course, because I am a player and I love this freaking game, I'm like, "Oh, I should have been on that mutiny. I should have gotten that extra vote. I should have been more well-positioned on the initial beach." And to Dev and Jelly's credit, and Ori, and just how the game played out, they were really well-positioned come that tribe swap. It was almost like the implications of the game they had played up to that moment, and mine caught up to me. I'm so proud of the game I played. I had so much game left to play, but of course, I'm always running through what I could have done.

TVLINE | We saw you pitching to Devin and Jelly that you wanted to stay Toka-strong, but do you think it's something they actually considered?
If I'm being honest, what was surprising is actually watching it and being like, "It kind of looks like they're considering it." All of the months I've been outside of the game, I was like, "Oh, it's so stupid to trust Devin and Jelly. I should have tried to make a play with Alexis and Ori." Of course, I don't think that was really that viable of an option either, I didn't have that information [about the helicopter alliance], so I don't know. Had there not been the helicopter alliance, perhaps. It's not like there was no relationship with Devin and Jelly. It's not like that at all, and I think that is my strength and weakness as a player. I think some players are really good about being like, "You're coming for me, I'm coming for you." I wish I had a little more of that. Might have served me in this case, but for what it's worth, I think you have to play this game to your strengths, and one of my strengths is repairing relationships and seeing potential in other people, and being able to honestly be like, "OK, you came for me in the game. Alright. That doesn't mean we can never work together." So I think maybe in another iteration of this game, maybe in "Pre-merge Baddies" when I come back, that will work in my favor, but this time it didn't.

TVLINE | Had there not been a tribe swap, what would've been your vision for the rest of the season?
One of my gone-too-soon game vibes was me and Lewis. It obviously wasn't shown much because, of course, I die. So they're not going to build this storyline at all. Lewis is a great player. He's connecting with all sorts of people, but I really felt this deep sense of like, Lewis and I kind of have a good thing going. And he came into the game late, and I came to the game on the bottom. The Patt vote was a brutal vote in so many ways, but I felt like Lewis and I were solidifying something there. I was also very close to Thien An. I felt like I had a lot of good relationships, so those are ones that I would have loved to see come to fruition more.

TVLINE | In the first episode, you miraculously saved yourself by dropping some info to Brady at just the right time. Was there anything else you had to do there to prevent being the first one out?
A lot of people are asking me afterwards, "Why didn't you go to everyone and say, 'I'm a wedding photographer.' Why didn't you do the ISO/aperture/shutter speed to everyone?" And I'm like, "Fam, I did." I went person to person, and I'm like, "So guys, what do you wanna know? Ask me about my camera bag." Ask me about this, ask me about that. And I'm also simultaneously, kind of wildly, opening up to people, just being like, "So sorry I was closed up, guys. I was going through something, OK? Let's just talk." And I think that was what I had to do.

Yes, I was closed off. I obviously was struggling emotionally and that was very real, and at the same time, it wasn't as if I wasn't opening up to people. I had, Night 2, a really deep conversation with Maggie and Thien An that really bonded us, and that was a big reason I didn't go home because they had my back so deeply. And, of course, Patt. Patt gave me this information. I'm sad that Patt and I couldn't align. That was sad to me, but in that first vote, I feel like there was a lot of relationship stuff that actually was coming back to save me. It was just Dev driving, like, "I'm not gonna get off of this!" And so people were like, "Well, maybe it should just be Jenna. How much are we gonna stick out our neck for somebody on the first vote?" But they did.

TVLINE | You told me at the premiere that you had a "Survivor" clause in your wedding photography contract. So did you remove that clause or are you keeping it in there in case there's a "Second Chance 2"?
The clause is staying forever, and it literally is gonna say, "When I achieve my newfound dream of playing 'Survivor' again in the 'Pre-merge Baddie' season." That's what it's gonna say.