'Survivor 46's Tevin Davis Reveals Defying Q and an Unseen Alliance Got Him to Target Soda

Tevin Davis

Survivor 46 is here! Every week, Parade.com's Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the castaway most recently voted off of the island.

Tevin Davis was the opening monologue of Survivor 46, a beautiful dissertation of the social and strategic complexities that come with the 24-year-old game. By the end of the season's first act, he was King Tevin, in control of an incredibly dominant Nami tribe with his personable prowess. When he finally got the opportunity to vote, he surprisingly took a shot within his own court, organizing the blindside of his closest ally Soda Thompson. But as Tevin sat back and laughed about his accomplishment, his blindside understudy was ready to step in in Liz Wilcox. After a day full of chaotic scrambling and wild Tribal Council moments, the reign of King Tevin, much like many Shakespearean plays, ended in tragedy.

Tevin came into Survivor quoting his most recent role in Caliban: "This island's mine." And that claim came to fruition early on, as he immediately bonded with Soda over their shared love of music, and Hunter McKnight for their work ethic and Andy Griffith fandom. As Nami kept up their impressive win streak, a clear hierarchy emerged, and at the bottom was Venus Vafa. It was clear from the jump that the two were not getting on, setting the Canadian's game up to go south. But as the premerge wore on, Tevin was already eyeing more prominent members of the ensemble. Feeling Soda had already emerged as an endgame threat for her relationships, he was ready to strike at the first moment.

That moment came at the most unsuspecting time. In the split Tribal Council, Nami was up 4-2. But the tension between them was more shaken up than a soda bottle, and it was time to open it. After the Soda vote, Venus celebrated getting out her "frenemy," and called out Tevin for lying to her and being left out of the vote. But Tevin was laughing it up behind the scenes, knowing who the true organizer was. But there was a third Nami behind him: Liz. She was hungry, both literally and strategically. And so she did what Tevin had just done two days ago, running around the beach to get him out. The chaos evolved into outright bedlam at Tribal Council, when Q Burdette confusingly declared he should be voted out. What followed was a sequence of shocked and frustrated whispers, as everyone tried to figure out whether to stick to the script. And while they ended up doing so, that script called for Tevin's surprise execution. He exited stage left, a tempest of emotions.

Now out of the game, Tevin talks with Parade.com about how he processed that chaotic Tribal Council, how he looks back on targeting Soda, and how his relationship with Venus fell apart.

Related: Read our Survivor 46 pre-game interview with Tevin Davis

I was about to come in here and say I get to talk with someone who is all about love. But when your tribemates told you they loved you last night, you said, "Y'all say that now!"
They had to get me gone, Mike! They had to get me gone. I get it. I get it.

Well, talk to me about what you were going through in that moment. Because this was obviously a shock for you, and it came on the heels of such a confusing Tribal Council. What was going through your head?
I mean, that's the purpose of a blindside is to for people to make you feel comfortable. So I felt comfortable. I didn't think that I was the one going home. And then especially when Q blew up, I was like, "What the hell is going? What has actually happened? I don't understand what is going on in this moment." And I kept looking at Hunter like, "What is happening? What's going on?"

But I did have a moment earlier in the day where I was like, "Something doesn't feel right. I feel like it could easily be me today." I told Liz that to her face. I said, "It could easily be me," and Liz was like, "No, you're fine." And I was like, "I don't know." After a vote like Soda's, I said, "I'm going to make a big move. And I'm gonna go to the back of the bus, and then I'm just going to make decisions from back here." And so I was at camp trying to be calm and cool. Like, "Maybe it's not me. Don't ruin your chances of not being the one going home by being paranoid and making yourself the one that goes home." So it was a litany of emotions happening to all at one time.

Speaking of litany of emotions, we have to get into the mayhem at Tribal Council when Q asks everyone to vote him out. From our perspective, it seemed like you were the only one to really entertain the idea of, "If he wants to go, we should let him go." Talk to me about your reaction, and did you feel that pitch caught fire with anybody?
It was very confusing the whole time. And I did feel that way. I was like, "This is gonna obliterate my strategy." Because I mean, I had other things working. But I was down with the six. But the six is falling apart almost immediately. So Qs leaving. And he's the one that spearheaded this. So what does that mean for the six? Are we all gonna go break apart? But I was like, "If he wants to go, let him go. I mean, that's one step closer I am to the end."

And then when we got up and did a live Tribal, you could hear. Maria and I were talking, and she was like, "I don't even know who to vote for." So people were kind of feeling like I was feeling. If he wants to go, let him go. So I felt like people were starting to change their minds. And I don't know if that was just a play to keep me comfortable. or if they really were confused, and then just decided in the moment to keep it the same vote. I'm not exactly sure. But I was very much like, "He wants to go. Let him go."

There was so much that was happening at that Tribal Council. Was there anything major that we didn't get to see that we should know about?
I mean, there was a moment where I looked back, and I don't think that it was shown. But I looked back at Hunter and I was like, "What?" He seemed like he was talking maybe to Tiffany, telling her something. And I looked around and I was like, "What are you talking about? What is happening?" And Hunter was just like, [Puts his head in his hands.] "Oh man, oh God." And I was just like, "What is happening?" And it wasn't long after that that we voted. So I think that that was a moment that I don't think was shown. But I was just trying to get information from Hunter and he never really expounded on what was happening.

So one of the reasons why you're talking with me today is your decision to take out Soda. Soda actually told me last week you told her at one point that you couldn't trust her or Venus. Talk me through your relationship, from making music together to "Soda's gotta go-da" to you deciding to take her out.
I believe that in Survivor, things can exist as both and rather than this or that. Two things can be true at once. And one of the things that was true, and I said in all my confessionals, I adore Soda. For my game, I can't trust her. But me and her aligned so beautifully in other ways. So we had kind of locked in from the beginning. But for me, they didn't show it in the edit, just how close her and Venus were. Soda kind of bent over backwards to be nice to Venus, to include Venus, to make sure Venus felt comfortable, to make sure that she listened to her and talked to her and encouraged her. I watched it happen. And none of that was shown. And so I was watching it. And I was like, "I think that they're number ones." And Soda said as much, that her and Venus were number ones from Day One, and then she had to break away from her. So I clocked it on on day one.

When Soda came and told me that I was her number one, two things are possible, and one of them is true. Either Venus still is your number one when you told me that I was your number one, and you're lying to me to make me comfortable to get me voted out of this game. Or Venus was your number one and you excised her to make me your number one. And if you are willing to excise your number one from Day One to better position yourself in the game, you will do it to me. If you've done it to her, you will do it to me. So if we get to merge, how can I trust that what you're saying is true to me? How can I trust that we are in a tight alliance when I've watched you obliterate one or lie to me about one, and try to vote me out, possibly? So that is kind of what happened.

But it also is important to note that, when I said, "Soda got to go-da," that was true. I was clocking her and I knew she had to go at some point. Had we gone to Tribal earlier, Soda was not going to be the person that I wanted personally to vote for. The reason I brought that up to Liz and Hunter was because we had not been to Tribal. Wwe had no way to test alliances or anything. So I wanted to see if I brought up a move as big as Soda, what were they going to do? Were they going to react negatively? Or they're going to try to be like, "No, let's think about something else"? Were they going to be, "Sure whatever you want"? Now, it's not a foolproof way of knowing if they were with me. But it gave me more information than I had previously that I knew before that moment. Like, "If I'm going after soda, what do y'all think?" They were down. I was like, "Okay, I think I'm locked in pretty good with them."

From our perspective, it seemed like, once you took out Soda and took the credit for the move, it put you in the line of fire for being the new biggest social threat. So how do you look back on the timing of blindsiding her?
Well, this is where watching the game of Survivor and playing the game of Survivor are two different sports. They're not the same. And so when when you're watching, you have more information than I have. When you're playing, you don't have that information. So if I had to be in that same position, and I know what I know now, I wouldn't have gotten rid of Soda, because it clearly seems she was aligned with me. However, with the information that I had, I'd probably make the decision again.

Because what happened that you didn't see was that, when we got done with the Immunity Challenge that me and Maria were on the platforms. Which was so fun; we were up there for so long, like 20 minutes on one foot. It was so fun battling her. And when Q was the one that pulled me out of the water when I swam over to the platform. When Q pulled me up, he said, "Vote Venus" in my ear. And I was like, "Oh my God, this is great. I have a plan." But when I got back to camp, I said, "Absolutely the hell not." Q has been running this game. He's been telling everyone how to vote. He's been running the votes he worked. He's trying to make us play a Q game. I'm not gonna let you tell me what to do. Because the vote was gonna go to Venus in my perspective. And so when Q said that, ironically, him telling me to vote Venus ensured that Venus stayed that night, because I was not going to do what Q told me to do.

I couldn't go after Charlie. Because on Day Two, on the journey, Maria said, "Tevin, what's the color of the pen of the Vote card?" I said, "I don't know." Jelinsky knew what the color was. I was like, "I'm gonna lose my vote because I don't know the color of a stupid pen!" So I said, "Maria, if you pick me, you and I, when we get to merge, we can form an alliance and we can work together later." I made that alliance. And then Jelinsky was like, [Raising his hand.] "Oh, I want to be a part of that too!" So it kind of all looped in together. I crossed my arms. I said, "Shall we shake and make a deal on it?" We made a three-way alliance at that moment.

And then I sat out of the basketball challenge. Because Maria and I did not know if we had our extra votes. She didn't know what she chose. I didn't know if she chose me. So when she sat out of that challenge, I said, "I want to sit out." And I went over to that bench. And I said, "Maria, did you pick me for the for the Vote card?" She said yes. And I went, "Boom." So I couldn't go after Charlie, because me and Maria had started building trust this whole time. And I didn't want to rattle her so that she'd be scared and break away from the six. And then I'm definitely going home because she was going to be so pissed that I broke the six up because now Maria doesn't trust us. And I also didn't want to break the trust I had with Maria for an allianceship. I couldn't do Venus because Q told me to do Venus. I'm not going to do Liz, because we're working together. So who does that leave? Soda.

Let's talk about your relationship with Venus. There's a secret scene in the first couple of episodes that showcases your dynamic. It's clear you two didn't click from the beginning, where she says you didn't want to connect with her, and you said she was coming across as "rude and snarky" at camp. And we see you two at odds throughout the game, including when she takes credit for the Venus vote and says to everyone, "A man who claims his entire identity in this game is surrounded by honesty and being an honest person straight up lied to my face the entire day and wrote my name down. And I saw through that." Talk to me about this complicated dynamic.
I was very excited to meet Venus when I got to the beach. I was like, "Oh, I cannot wait to talk to her and to meet her." And I know that that deleted scene made it seem as if she pulled me to the side. But in reality, what happened was I pulled her to the side. And what's important to note about that is that I set very clear boundaries for myself. I said I was not going to allow someone to just treat me any kind of way. And I felt like Venus was starting to cross some of those boundaries with me. And so, at a certain point, I just got tired of it. And I said, "I'm just going to remove myself from her. That's just a choice for me. I don't need anybody else to do it. It's just something I need to do to protect my peace out here in this crazy game."

And so a few days later, I said, "Tevin, you're playing a game for a million dollars. You have to not just remove yourself and protect your peace. You have to actually go straight face to face with the thing. "So I pulled Venus to the side. And I said, "Let's talk." I tried to introduce my feelings and how I was thinking and why she was on the bottom. And you can see in the deleted scene, every time I tried to expound on, "This is why things are happening," she would either cut me off or insert her perspective on things. And so it got a little bit tense. I said, "This is not working. How about we walk a little bit further and just start over? And let's talk, because I really want to get a chance to talk to you."

So we went a little bit further. We sat down. And then it cuts to her perspective. And she was getting kind of emotional. But we had talked for what I perceived to be about an hour out there. We sat there, we talked, I expounded on how I was feeling, I felt like I was being met every time that I explained my feelings with, "I think you're just interpreting it that way." I said, "Venus, there's four things happening here today. There's perception versus reality going on. And there's also intention versus impact. I understand that you may intend to not make me feel any type of way. But the impact is palpable to me. And so you need to take accountability for that."

And so I said, "How about this? I tell you what I think your problem is with me, and you tell me what my problem is with you. And we'll see if we can understand each other so we can be on a full page and respect each other." I said, "You think I'm making you feel like a social pariah. I'm ignoring you, your voice isn't being heard, you aren't being seen. Are all these things correct?" She said yes. I said, "Venus, what's my problem with you?" And she basically was saying to me, "I just think you're interpreting what I'm doing wrong." And I was like, "Okay, so how about this? How about we make a safe word? How about the safe word is 'sunflower'? If I say sunflower or if you say sunflower, that means one of us has done something to hurt the other one. We can clap when it happens. And then we can address it later and have a conversation about it." We agreed.

The last thing I said to Venus before we left that spot was, "Venus, nobody would ever suspect you and I working together. You and I can have an alliance together. And we can run this game from top to bottom and nobody would ever even see it coming. Do you want to work with me?" She said yes. I said yes. I said, "Now, when we go back to camp, let's keep it cute. Don't do too much. But let's just pretend like we are still on opposite ends of the spectrum so that people don't suspect that you and I are working together." And that's what we did. And in the clip, you'll see us storm back to camp. That was all part of the play. And it wasn't long after that, that she immediately threw my name out. And so I was like, "Yeah, now we're done. But I did try."

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have someone like Hunter. Talk to me about your relationship. And did you intend to take him to the end, considering how great he was in challenges?
Hunter, I would have taken 100% the whole way. I wasn't concerned about him being a challenge beast or him being overly strategic, because I know that I have a voice that is powerful. And I knew that I had a story. And I knew that I had done things up to the point where I felt like I was a contender, which is another reason why I was trying to make moves so that I could compete with these players. These people were playing. And so I was actually really unconcerned about necessarily who sat beside me in the end, because I just felt so strong about the game. I had more to do, and I had more to play. And I felt that I was going to capture what I wanted to capture in the game in order to pull out when at the end.

And so it was crazy because I think when when I first saw Hunter on my tribe, I felt like, "Oh God, we're not gonna get along." That was my perception. I was like, "He's gonna think I'm too thin and I'm not going to be strong enough and I'm not going to be a hard worker." Because I knew that I could see that he valued hard work, and he was going to think that I was the weak, flamboyant, eccentric guy. And it was funny that we bonded over something so silly and specific as Andy Griffith. It was very crazy that that we bonded in that way. But me and Hunter had a great working relationship. I actually thought on my blindside that he had voted for me. I was I didn't know who wrote Venus's name down; I wasn't sure who did it. But I just remember looking at him, and I couldn't believe that I was going home and he didn't tell me. So I thought that he could have been a person that voted for me, and that's why he didn't tell me. But Hunter would have went all the way with me, I think.

What about your dynamic with Liz? We see you working together on the Soda vote. But it also seemed like she wasn't happy with you laughing and taking credit for it, feeling that she needed to make her own move as well.
I think pretty early on, Liz and Hunter and I had formed a little three-way thing that we had going on. I think we're calling it the "shelter alliance," because we were really working on that shelter together. And there was a conversation that Liz and I had in the beginning. I was kind of like, "She's counting her dollar bills. I don't understand what's happening." But then we had a very deep conversation that doesn't need to be expounded on. But we had a very deep personal conversation out there. And during that conversation, it kind of made me not look at her as a person that would vote me out. Like I never in a million years thought that Liz would be the person to vote me out. And that's why I didn't target her. I wasn't thinking about Liz. I didn't think she'd be the person to curate a blindside on me. And so, based on that conversation that we had, I think we had a good relationship from what I understand. And I didn't know that that we weren't as locked in as we were, which is the purpose of a blindside.

Lastly, we got to see a very personal moment when you gut and clean a fish. You relate it back to your late father, who taught you how to do it. I know when I interviewed you before the season, we spoke about losing him, and how you got the call for Survivor shortly thereafter and saw this as a sign. Talk me through both getting to make that connection to such an emotional experience both on the island and watching it back.
Wow. It was beautiful. And I was glad that it was shown and shown that way. Because I got to give him his flowers in the moment and kind of sentdhim off in a beautiful way. I could just imagine what his face, his whole body position would have been seeing himself on TV, or watching me do the things that I was doing. So I was exceptionally proud of the game that I had played. I felt grateful that I had been out there to do it and I had said I felt that his passing and then the Survivor call happening not long after that, that he was kind of giving this thing to me. And so I felt like I was paying him homage and telling him thank you and and saying, "Look at what I did. I know you see me, and look what I'm doing. "I was playing an excellent game and I felt good about what I was doing. And I felt good about how I played. And so to put the game that I've been watching for so long and my dad, those things together in that way, was one of the proudest moments that I had out there on that beach.

Next, check out our interview with Soda Thompson, who was voted out in Survivor 46 Episode 7.