Four Black players were voted out consecutively in Survivor 49 after the merge. Nate Moore became the first member of the jury in Episode 7, followed by MC Chukwujekwu, Alex Moore, and Jawan Pitts. MC tried to prevent this from happening and asked Jawan for help, but her plan backfired in Episode 8. Jawan explained in our exit interview that MC’s elimination was a complicated, difficult vote for him, but at the end of the day, he had to protect his game. Now, he’s shared that he’s been in therapy to help him process the disappointment of seeing four Black players voted out consecutively.
MC was trying to save Jawan from elimination in Episode 8, citing Survivor 42 as another recent season that had this issue of Black players being eliminated consecutively. By the time Tribal came around, Rizo Velovic had flipped the votes onto her. MC caused a live Tribal Council to try to get Jawan to help her stay in the game, but her fate was sealed. Jawan told us that he urged her to play her Shot in the Dark to try to save herself. MC told us that she wanted Jawan to save her. Now, Kristina Mills is the only Black player remaining in Season 49.
Jawan said that this voting trend was discussed throughout the season.
“First off, it was a topic of discussion out there,” Jawan told NY Post. “Me and Kristina had a back and forth about it.”
“I think as a viewer, it’s hard to watch. When it happened on [Season] 42…you know, I’m a part of the community too, so I definitely felt it,” Jawan continued. “But I think in the game it was so hard to put a pin on it. And even experiencing it, I’m going to therapy to truly kind of process. I’m like, ‘Why? Why did that happen?’”
He doesn’t believe the contestants had “any alternative motives” with this voting order.
“I think the game was so fluid and there was so many things — advantages, variables,” he explained. “So I think that’s how I feel personally.”
CBS
Jawan explained his motives in the MC vote in our exit interview, saying he wanted to “address the elephant in the room in terms of just our four-boot order.”
“For me, I want to hold space for anyone that is watching and may be uncomfortable with our boot order, and specifically with MC, too, hold space for her feelings. But I want to give some context of my perspective,” he said. “My goal out there was to win $1 million for my family. I’m a broke kid, and I’m from L.A., but I also wanted to kind of be a safety net for my siblings.”
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“Going back to MC, what I whispered to them after that: MC came to me, and she brought up a two-two-two plan, and I think at that point, I was so spooked by just Savannah’s presence,” he continued. “Savannah was being extra nice to me all [day that day], and I was like, ‘Oh, hell no, I just blindsided her yesterday with Rizo.’ I had thought my name was rotated in the mix, so I try to tell MC, ‘Yo, they told me it’s you. Please play your Shot in the Dark.’ So, when she tells me, ‘No, trust me, due to two-two-two thing,’ I got spooked because Rizo was staring at me. I go tell them, I’m like, ‘Hey, she doesn’t have an advantage. The plan’s still the same,’ in hopes that they would stack the votes on MC and the Shot in the Dark would play. I just was so spooked that my name was in the mix, too.”
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