Andy Rueda’s ‘Survivor 47’ exit interview: ‘It’s just an unbelievable transformation that I’ve had’

On Wednesday’s 13th episode of “Survivor 47,” the final six were narrowed down to a final four with two challenges and two tribal councils taking place over the two-hour penultimate episode. Despite one player being told by four others that the first tribal council was their “funeral,” yet another blindside occurred when Andy Rueda was “idoled out” of the game. Read on for Andy’s “Survivor 47” exit interview from the middle of the episode.

Laughing, Andy exclaimed, “I got idoled out of ‘Survivor!'” And he continued with an acknowledgement that given his first day on the beach, he made it farther than he thought he would, stating, “After the start I had in this game, I have my head held high.”

After performing poorly in the season’s premiere episode challenges, Andy was ready to submit to the inevitable fate that he wasn’t cut out for the game and that his tribe of six would be voting him out. Sam Phalen and Rachel LaMont, now in the final five, were both with Andy at that point and helped him turn things around in order to make it this far. Despite her support then, Rachel used an immunity idol only Sue Smey knew about to nullify the three votes against her and send Andy to the jury instead.

SEE ‘Survivor’ deaths: Full list of castaways we’ve lost

Originally Rachel was planning on using her idol for this vote to oust Sam. However, when Andy approached Rachel for a conversation intended to keep her respect on a personal level in an open admission that he’d be sending her to the jury, Rachel realized that Andy was playing a much stronger game than she or anyone else was giving him credit for. In that moment, she decided it would be best for her and Sue to vote Andy out instead of Sam.

Blindsided by Rachel’s decision once the votes were read by Jeff Probst, Andy took it as an honor to be eliminated in that way and an acknowledgment that he was indeed a big threat in the end. “It’s just an unbelievable transformation that I’ve had over these 23 days,” Andy said in his final moments. Like many others this season, Andy understood that it’s just a game and that there are personal achievements to bring back with them to their real lives. He concluded, “I’m going to take it with me for the rest of my life – definitely for the better.”

Andy is now the 13th person eliminated from “Survivor 47” and the sixth member of the jury, joining Sierra Wright, Solomon “Sol” Yi, Gabe Ortis, Kyle Ostwald, and Caroline Vidmar. The players booted from the game pre-jury were Jon Lovett, Terran “TK” Foster, Aysha Welch, Kishan Patel, Anika Dhar, Rome Cooney, and Tiyana Hallums.

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