Survivor's [Spoiler] Explains His Controversial Decision And How He Learned To Embrace His Difficult Past
The following contains spoilers from Wednesday's episode of Survivor.
Another Tribal Council, another quitting castaway.
On Wednesday's episode, a tribe swap shuffled the teams around, putting solo Lulu member Sean Edwards on a tribe full of Rebas. Despite his close connection with J (who ultimately argued for him to stay) and his general likability, a moment of deep introspection at Tribal Council led Sean to speak from the heart and emotionally unravel — perhaps a little too much so. He eventually asked his tribemates to write his name down on their parchments, thereby orchestrating his own exit and quitting the game. (Read our full recap here.)
Below, Sean breaks down that fateful night and explains what he learned throughout his Survivor experience. He also clues us in as to whether he knew Sifu was the target, and comments on the tribe rummaging through his belongings.
TVLINE | When I spoke to Hannah a few weeks ago, she was taking a lot of heat online for her quit. What has the reaction been like for you thus far?
SEAN EDWARDS | I've definitely taken a lot of heat. I'm getting a flood of hate coming at my way and at the same time, I'm getting a lot of love and compassion from friends and family and some fans as well. It's a mixed bag, I guess you could say.
TVLINE | During Tribal Council, there seemed to be a shift in your demeanor. First, you were selling the fact that you could be a loyal player whose vote would be valuable going forward, then it was like a switch went off and you didn't want to steal anyone's dream. Why the big change there? What was going on?
Yeah, that's such a great question. And I know it's got to be so confusing for the viewers and the fans because it really was like a switch that happened very much in that moment. I think the editors captured that perfectly. They did such a good job because even I was surprised and confused a little bit myself. I had every intention of staying in the game, playing hard, being loyal, like, "Take me into your Reba arms!" When Jeff asked me that hinge question of, "If this is your last day, what has this experience meant for you?" That's when I was given permission to really speak from my heart. It was this flood of emotion, obviously, and the words were coming out. It felt uncontrollable. I could try to hold them back, but they were gonna come out the way they were gonna come out regardless.
For me, my whole intention of going on Survivor, of course I wanted to win the million dollars, get to the end, be the sole survivor. And my core purpose of going was this idea of reclaiming lost time. In a way, I was asking Survivor, I was asking Jeff to rewrite my past, and what a tall order. How unfair of me to expect Survivor to do that for me. It's not reasonable. And so I learned throughout my nine days, those moments popped up for me where it was like, "Is this really fulfilling the core purpose of why I'm here?"
It was right as we were walking into Tribal Council that night where it came to me. "Sean, you don't need to erase your past. You need to embrace it because it's made you who you are today and you're proud of the person you are today." So when Jeff asked me that question, that's when it all came out as, "I am not receiving from Survivor the purpose of why I came out here and that's OK." And so that's why I ended up responding in the way that I did. And that's why Jeff's question really was that light switch because the whole Tribal Council I was pushing it down, pushing it down and then it just came flooding out.
TVLINE | On the official Survivor podcast, Jeff said that before you guys went to Tribal, Sifu was, indeed, the tribe's target, and had you not had that change of heart, he would've been gone. What's your reaction to that?
I felt very confident that Sifu was the vote going into Tribal Council. So I did not have any thought that it was me and as a Survivor player, maybe that's a little naive. You should always have a little apprehension about who the vote's going to be. But I felt very confident in my conversations with J, Dee and Julie that the vote was going to be on Sifu.
TVLINE | J really went to bat for you. Tell me a little bit about your seemingly instantaneous connection with her.
Oh, my girl J! I love her so much. So right when I got back to Reba, J immediately took me in, pulled me aside and was like, "Sean, I love your energy. I want to get to know you better. Tell me what's going on," and it felt very genuine. It didn't feel forced. It didn't feel like gameplay. It felt like this was a person that likes me and that wants to get to know me as a person. And so she and I were just able to connect and get authentic and real and genuine with each other right from the very beginning. So I had a lot of trust in her and it was so fun to watch the episode and see those moments. I wasn't there in person to see J really advocate for me. I love J.
TVLINE | What was it about Sifu that made J want to target him so badly? Was there anything we didn't see on the Sifu front?
I think from J's perspective — I don't want to speak for her — but my understanding is that she just didn't fully trust him. There was a rumor going around that Sifu possibly had an idol, which the viewers know he doesn't have. Austin does, but J didn't know that at the time. Of course, Dee and Julie, did but J didn't know. So she was speaking from like, "Hey, we can't trust Sifu, but I feel pretty good that we can trust Sean moving forward." And so I think that was her thought process.
TVLINE | Rewinding a bit to your days on Lulu, how difficult was it to constantly lose and have to be fighting for your life from the very beginning?
Oh, my Lulu Lemons! Oh, my goodness. My Survivor experience definitely was not what I thought it would be. My poor Lulu tribe. Every single person gave it their all in the challenges and ultimately, you want to win. That's the goal. Everyone worked their absolute hardest. It was hard to go back to camp and just sit in that failure and reflect on that and know that we're going to Tribal time after time. That was really hard. And Lulu somehow found a way to keep the energy light at camp. I know that wasn't always shown. There was a lot of chaos and there was also a lot of moments where we could just laugh and enjoy one another and the experience of being on Survivor together as a family. So I love my Lulu tribe, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.
TVLINE | When the tribes first swapped, how nervous were you feeling about being the only outsider on Reba?
You know what? I felt very good about the swap! Again, maybe a little naive of me, but I have always been very confident in my ability to connect with people, to make friends. And so I was like, "These four have been together, but I don't know what's going on back at their camp. There could be division here that I could slip my way into." And even if there's not, I know that I have this power within me to connect with people in a real way, so I felt good. I felt excited for the swap in the game, for the change, for the new life that Reba was able to breathe into me because I wasn't feeling in such a great place with Kaleb and Emily.
TVLINE | Did you know that your new Reba tribe went through your bag and spent so much time trying to learn the specific knot that you had tied?
Oh, I like watching that moment! Last night was the first time I had ever heard about anyone going through my bag. I felt so honored that anybody would think that I had an advantage or an idol hiding in my bag, that they would go through my things, and so I just loved that whole moment. Reba came to play the game! I love it. I'm here for it as a superfan. I mean, they're like learning my knot... I don't even know how I tied that knot! There was no idea in my mind of like, "Oh, I'm gonna tie this really tight knot on my bag." I just didn't want my things falling out, so I tied this random knot.
TVLINE | What was something we didn't see from the episode that you wish made the edit?
Again, I feel like the editors are so masterful. They've done such a good job of capturing the story. What I wish would be shown more is just the relationship building. The fun that we had back at camp. For example, Sifu cooking the breadfruit. I had never had it before and eating breadfruit with the tribe was a beautiful moment and we had so much fun. I wish like things like that could have been shown.
TVLINE | Any final words about your Survivor experience?
I've loved my experience on Survivor. My nine days were the best nine days of my life. And then Ponderosa was absolutely amazing with my Lulu tribe — it was like Lulu 2.0 out there! I'm just so incredibly grateful to Jeff and the team for this amazing, transformative experience. The Survivor fan community is what makes the show what it is, and I just have so much love and respect for everyone in the community, and for this experience I've had.