And while Charles, Winna, and Valeria had been playing both sides leading up to Sunday night’s tribal council, the trio had landed with Kirby and her crew, ready to topple Feras’ alliance once again after voting out Garrick last week.
“I initially felt very much at the bottom of the pack but quickly saw an opportunity to drive a wedge between the two Rebel alliances in order to prevent them from focusing on us OG Titans,” Charles told 10 Play.
“It was pretty intense and tricky trying to convince both Feras and Kirby's alliances that we were siding with them, when in reality we could only truly be with one of the two sides. But we came through that difficult situation in a good position in the end.”
Seated at Tribal and ready to vote, the tribe were shocked to hear Jonathan LaPaglia explain that things would work a little differently, ushering them to a mid-Tribal challenge where they would be competing for the opportunity to vote.
JLP explained that only the first three tribe members to complete the challenge would win immunity from the vote, and on top of that they would be the only three members of the tribe to vote at all, meaning Charles and his alliance needed at least two people to win the challenge or their majority would slip through their fingers.
“Although, the odds were still in my favour as the chances of Aileen AND Feras (I was on good terms with Ray) winning that challenge were quite slim. There was still a chance that Aileen and Feras would both get a vote though and I was nervous about that,” Charles explained.
“I wasn't thrilled about it as we had a solid plan going into that final Tribal, with a dominant alliance and those outside of our alliance trying to get in with us as well.”
And as luck would have it, Aileen and Feras did win the challenge, along with Kirby, meaning their minority alliance had the numbers to vote out one of the OG Titans.
“I knew I was definitely in the crosshairs… For days, Aileen had been trying to get me on side to my face and was gunning for me behind my back,” Charles explained. “I called her out for it a few times and made clear to the others that Aileen wasn’t a very subtle double agent - she wasn’t happy about that.
“Feras was also very salty about the Garrick vote and I think he blamed Winna and I more than he blamed Val,” he continued.
Splitting their two votes between Charles and Winna, Feras and Aileen were able to force a re-vote and flush Winna’s hidden immunity idol, which he had held onto without even his closest allies knowing about.
“I went out on a twist after going into that Tribal Council in a super strong position, with a solid alliance in my new Titans tribe and my old alliance intact in the new Rebels tribe,” Charles said. “After 21 days of playing the long game, I was shattered that my game ended so abruptly like that.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing and had I known about the challenge I would have, of course, been more diplomatic in the first part of my final Tribal! That being said, I think I was in an ideal position going into my final Tribal and I wouldn't have changed anything up to that point.”
That being said, Charles described his Survivor experience as “fun, social, brutal and challenging,” adding it “was a great one… I consider myself so, so lucky to have been one of the few people that get to play this amazing game.”
