Power couples rarely work out well on “Survivor” and power couplings certainly didn't work out well for Joaquin Souberbielle on “Survivor: Worlds Apart.”
Joaquin started the season by volunteering for a leadership position on his White Collar tribe. He and second-in-command So told a fib about a secret Immunity clue, didn't find the Idol and So was the first player voted out this season.
From there, Joaquin got to fly a bit under the radar until he formed another power couple in the shuffled Escameca tribe, forming an East Coast bond with Rodney. Unfortunately, Joaquin misjudged how much other people, particular swing-vote Sierra, distrusted Rodney and a majority alliance fell apart and Joaquin was sent packing.
Fortunately, Joaquin doesn't sound bitter about what went down.
He's got a pitch for a new Joaquin/Rodney reality show, he's full of mockery for Shirin and he's mighty annoyed that his tribe threw that last Immunity.
Click through for the full Q&A…
Joaquin Souberbielle: Danny-Boy, what”s going on?
HitFix: It”s going well. How are you doing Joaquin?
Joaquin Souberbielle: I can”t complain. I”m off of work and I”ve got people asking me about me. How hard could it be?
HitFix: Last night's Tribal Council, Rodney seemed rather hilariously blown away by what happened with the votes. Were you as surprised as him or were you not surprised at all by how things went down?
Joaquin Souberbielle: No, I was beyond surprised. They blindsided me and they blindsided him, you know. God bless those four that blindsided Rodney, because when he gets back from Tribal I already know all hell's gonna be breaking loose, because that kid is a wild animal. But yeah, we had no idea man. It was a shocker to say the least.
HitFix: Do you have theories on why Sierra decided to go the way she did?
Joaquin Souberbielle: The only thing I can actually come to mind is, you know, she wanted to stay true to Blue. You know as cliché as that sounds, “Stay true to Blue,” it was probably going to take her the furthest which I”ll shall see soon how it turns out for her.
HitFix: In that context it seemed like you felt fairly confident that you had Sierra under control. Rodney was at least trying to do so. Who do you feel like sort of dropped the ball when it came to making sure that Sierra was with you guys?
Joaquin Souberbielle: It wasn”t that anybody dropped the ball. She”s just didn”t trust Rodney and that was just an unfortunate turn of events because I trusted Rodney, Rodney trusted me. We had a good thing going. And Sierra was just not having it with Rodney. And I got the s*** end of the stick.
HitFix: You obviously had some awareness when you were out there that that was the case but how much more aware did you come watching episodes on TV of how much she distrusted him?
Joaquin Souberbielle: She told me that she really didn”t trust Rodney and that I needed to be careful, et cetera, et cetera. But, you know, I had it so well with Rodney that I was just very sure, “Don”t worry, listen, we”re going to be a strong pack, don”t worry about Rodney, I”ll take care of him.” But in the end, Mike's got his way with words and he convinced Sierra to make that leap and it probably looked like a game time decision. And she obviously went with Blue.
HitFix: Did your fairly brief alliance with Rodney feel as significant to you out there as the way it played out on TV on last night”s episode?
Joaquin Souberbielle: Oh yeah, yeah. No, Rodney”s my boy. It started on the show and then we brought it back here. We ended up spending New Year”s together. We're the Bash Brothers, you know. Nothing”s ever gonna change that and yeah I”m just waiting for our little spinoff show, you know. I”m ready for “Joaquin and Rodney Take the World.” That”s exactly how it is. We”re great friends right now and we”ll be best of friends hopefully forever.
HitFix: Okay, tell me a bit about “Rodney and Joaquin Take on the World.” What would that show be for you in a perfect world?
Joaquin Souberbielle: Well perfect world. Lots of women, lots of champagne, nonstop partying. Just networking. I love networking. I love meeting new people. And yeah I would just tour the United States and just take over one town after the other.
HitFix: Rodney was very proudly Blue Collar and you were on the White Collar tribe. Is that a reflection that White and Blue really can get along or do you feel like maybe you were on the wrong tribe from the get-go?
Joaquin Souberbielle: Like I said from the beginning, my job definitely doesn”t define who I am. I could honestly have gone out with any single one of those people and had a drink and ended up spending the rest of the night laughing our faces off. And yeah, of course, you”re right. I could have been put on any of those tribes honestly. I work hard. I like to have a lot of fun and I go with the flow. So I could have been Red, Blue or, Yellow. But it was just my luck that I ended up on Yellow with a couple of good castmates and a couple of very, very annoying cancerous losers.
HitFix: Which of those three tribes do you feel like would have been the best suited though for your long term game? Where would you have found yourself most comfortable and had the best chance of making it further than you did?
Joaquin Souberbielle: I probably would have said the Red tribe. If we would have knocked Will out of it and put me on the No Collar tribe that probably would have been a slaughterhouse. But anyway, those of the cards that I was dealt. I did my best and like I said, I”m leaving with a smile. It was a great experience and hopefully I get the call back.
HitFix: Rodney got to have all of the blustery confessionals on last night”s episode about how he was in charge but did you feel like you to some degree were in control of that alliance you guys had there?
Joaquin Souberbielle: Oh yeah for sure, you know. Like I said I don”t mind – I would love to let Rodney take the reins and in the back it”s just me just pulling the strings, because then I don”t look like I”m the one trying to set everything up. But yeah, no listen, we were going back and forth the whole entire time. We didn”t care. At that point we didn”t care who looked like they were the alpha male. At that point, we were good friends so it didn”t even matter. We were like, “Let”s just get to the end.” That”s all that mattered. “Get to the end. I”m going to take you. You”re going to take me. Let”s make it there” and it was a mutual feeling.
HitFix: But you mentioned earlier that Rodney was, you called him a wild animal. Did you have worries about tethering yourself to a wild animal out there and what that would mean for your own game?
Joaquin Souberbielle: Right, yes. And with Sierra that”s how it probably would why Sierra decided to go with Mike, because once Rodney is set in his ways that”s it. There”s no changing him, you know. For example at one point I did come up to him and I was like, “Hey, listen man. We”ve got to tone this down, this relationship. I love you, but listen, they”re not gonna like it too much.” And he was basically like, “F*** this. I don”t give a s*** about any of them. I”m gonna do what I need to do. I love you. I”m gonna show that I love you. You”re my boy blah blah blah.” So I turned around and I was like, “Alright. I guess fuck me. All right. I”ve got to try to spin this some other way and spend all my time with the others.” But yeah, at the end it was like downfall but like I said I wouldn't change it. It was great. I mean beautiful, beautiful relationships out there that I”m probably going to have for the rest of my life.
HitFix: Now the decision to throw that last Immunity. We didn”t see you involved in any conversations but I”m assuming you knew that that was coming, right?
Joaquin Souberbielle: I was told by Rodney that they were going to throw the challenge so at one point I sat down with he and Tyler and we were like, “Listen Rodney, there”s no reason to throw the challenge. We”ve got a solid team here.” But when he”s set in his ways and he has made the decision, that”s basically that. I was just surprised that Mike was willing to throw the challenge because at the end of the day he didn”t want to see me and Rodney get any closer. He was like the jealous ex-girlfriend.
HitFix: It wasn”t just that you guys had a solid tribe. You guys had a tribe that probably should have been unbeatable. I mean how forceful did you try to be to tell Rodney, “This is a bad idea. It rarely works out to throw challenges?”
Joaquin Souberbielle: Pretty forceful man, honestly. That what I kept stressing. I was like, “Listen bro, we have the strongest tribe probably ever built,” and out of pure luck too. Just picking out of a freakin' hat. All the strong leaders land on the same team. Joe, myself, Rodney, Tyler”s a very, very strong player as well. Mike, extremely strong. Dan? I don”t know about Dan, but you get the drift. Yeah man, you know. I tried, I tried, I tried. And after a while it”s just like beating a dead horse. I was like, “You know what? F*** it, forget it. What am I gonna do?” And on top of that I sat out like a schmuck, which killed me and the whole time I”m like cringing as I”m watching the challenge go on. I”m like, “Oh f***, f***, f***.” But what are you gonna do?
HitFix: The way we saw it play out on TV, Mike”s attempts to help Kelly were hilarious. Was it as blatant to you guys when you were out there?
Joaquin Souberbielle: Yeah, you didn”t really hear the talking between both of them. Obviously because they were whispering and they”re miced up is the only reason. So I was just saying like, “These guys can”t be that f***ing stupid.” But then I”m like, “Wait, wait, hold on. They”re both Blue Collar, they probably have minimal schooling done.” I was like, “Yeah, maybe they are that stupid.” It went from seven items to six items to five items. I”m like, “Come on, are you kidding me. Like my six-year-old brother could've nailed that faster than both of them.” But yeah, it was pretty obvious but I couldn”t do anything. I was on the sidelines. I had my hands tied. I couldn”t help whatsoever and that killed me, knowing that I can”t do anything about it, you know.
HitFix: What was your strategy sort of as pertain to a Merge? Because we saw in the teaser it looks like it”s coming up soon. Had you been assuming it was coming that soon and what were you ready to do to make sure that you had a long-term game after the tribes came together?
Joaquin Souberbielle: Well see I thought I had the perfect plan. I mean I kept telling them I was like, “Listen, we”ve got to get rid of Joe because there”s four Red on the other side. We cannot let Joe go into the Merge and have five solid Reds with…” Well, who knows, maybe they could have grabbed Shirin, because the Whites weren't having it with her. So I was like, “Guys, we cannot let Joe in.” So my plan was basically to go in with me, Sierra, Tyler and Rodney so strong, get over there, my girl Mama C, you guys don”t know this, but since the second episode, Day 4, me, Tyler and Carolyn were together like so strong. All we did all day was just try and like make fun of Max and Shirin and just like hope to God that once we hit the mix-up that we would stay together. So my strategy was go in there with Sierra, Rodney, myself and Tyler, grab Mama C and then Rodney was telling me that he had Kelly a hundred percent of the bet and we were going to ride out to the sunset. But, you know, this is “Survivor” and sh** happens.
HitFix: Last week we saw that tribe have to decide who was more annoying between Shirin and Max and they decided Max was. Was that the decision you would have made between who was more annoying between those two?
Joaquin Souberbielle: No, no, no. Not even a question. I was gunning for Shirin a hundred percent. She just takes the cake. I can”t even describe her actions. It”s just absolutely ridiculous and having Max behind her just lighting the flame as she's being this annoying woman, made it 10 times worse which put the X on Max”s back. I knew once we get to mix-up and Carolyn was on the tribe I knew one of them two were going first and I didn”t have a question in my mind. I knew I was either Shirin or Max were going home. Actually I wasn”t even surprised that it was Max because Carolyn was gunning for him since day four.
HitFix: Would there have been any way that you could have come back together after a Merge with Shirin and with Max to align with them?
Joaquin Souberbielle: Not with Shirin. Definitely not with Shirin. With Max a hundred percent. I have no problems with Max aside from him being together with Shirin. Max without Shirin? He”s the man. He”s a great guy. He”s hilarious. And I got along with him fine. But when you put Max with Shirin it”s just like non-stop. It”s incredible. I”ve never witnessed anything like that and plus I had to witness it 24-hours-a-day for 12 days. I was ready to like off myself.
HitFix: And in retrospect how relieved were you that the initial decision to take the leadership at White Collar and the lie about the “Neutral” decision, how relieved were you that that wasn”t really finally your “Survivor” downfall?
Joaquin Souberbielle: Oh God, please. Yeah, that just made my day. Honestly. It was a stupid situation. I should have went with “Honest.” Unfortunately my bestest friend out of this whole entire thing, So, got sent home. And it's something that even till this day I just… You know… It should have been Shirin. Shirin should have been the first one to go. And then forget it. Me, So, Tyler and the rest of our tribe would have been so much stronger. We would have teamed together so much more instead of having Shirin there.
Other “Survivor: Worlds Apart” exit interviews:
Max Dawson
Lindsey Cascaddan
Nina Poersch
Vince Sly
So Kim