Q Burdette Explains His Risky 'Survivor 50' Move That Backfired (Exclusive)
Christmas is officially canceled. Q Burdette became the latest player voted off of Survivor 50 after landing in an unlucky tribe swap without a vote—and coming up with a risky plan that ultimately didn’t pay off. Rather than sit back and watch his ally Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick get taken out–as was the plan publicly—the Season 46 standout tried to flip the script by encouraging Mike White to vote for him instead, hoping it would force a tie and revote. It was a bold move, but one built on bad information: Mike had already been lying to Stephenie and was planning to vote for Q all along (with the rest of the tribe too).
In his exit interview with Men’s Journal, Q breaks down exactly what he was thinking heading into Tribal Council, why he believed the plan could work, and what he didn’t realize was happening behind the scenes. He also opens up about trust issues on his tribe, pregame relationships, and something fans never saw in the edited show.
Scroll down to read the full interview with Q.
Men's Journal: How are you feeling today, Q? Is Christmas canceled?
Q Burdette: Christmas is canceled. Everything counts. I had a birthday last week. I knew this episode was coming up, and I'm just like, you know what? Let's just go out the same way we went in with a smile on my face and proud and happy. So let's get into it. What you have for me today?
Men's Journal: How confident were you going into Tribal that the votes were going to go your way?
Q Burdette: I was hopeful. I knew I was getting three votes. I did not know Emily and Ozzy were also joining those other three and voting for me. And a lot of people ask, Well, why were you telling Mike White to vote for you? And it's real simple, they were telling Stephenie that they were going to vote for her. What Mike White did was right. No one else came out and said that to Stephenie, other than Mike. And we were sitting around camp, and Stephenie was like, "Well, if he's voting for me, I have to assume those other two are also voting for me, because you don't have a vote. I'm not going to trust Emily. I'm playing my Shot in the Dark." I was like, Stephenie, "Would you feel comfortable if I can get the vote shifted to me, for you not to play your Shot in the Dark?" Because as long as Emily, Ozzy and Stephenie stick together and vote Angelina, if Angelina, Christian, and Mike White vote me on a revote, Angelina can't vote again. So now we have three votes going back to Angelina, and they only have two. That was my thinking. I did not understand at the time that Emily had flipped back and then Ozzy had also chose to vote for me. But what would I have have done anyways?
Men's Journal: You knew when you were switched to this tribe that you were in trouble, right?
Q Burdette: Yeah, the second I drew the buff, I'm like, oh man. Because at that point in time, I was thinking it was going to be Angelina, Mike White, Christian and Emily Flippen, we're going to stick together because of the past these folks have–these sort of seven, eight years, and then Emily and Christian, they're friends outside of the game anyway. I mean, that's public knowledge. And it was like, Where do I stand in this bunch to get rid of somebody? They will probably get rid of me. And here we go. But it was days leading up to this that I'm just like, okay, we talked about throwing a challenge before so Colby [Donaldson] and I could get our votes back. And I'm telling you, my biggest fear for us is we never lose, we get swapped, and Colby and I are on the same tribe, and we're down two votes versus one, or having both. Or I get swapped, and I'm by myself. And that's exactly what happened. I'm swapped. I'm by myself. Ozzy knows I don't have my vote. And the biggest fish to catch on that island at that point in time, because they're not both for each other. It's me, and I knew I was done.
Men's Journal: Were you right not to trust Emily?
Q Burdette: Can't trust her, you know, but, but here's the thing, the the only reason you see me kind of going to Emily and trying to work with her is because Emily first gave me information about the Aubrey [Bracco] thing that I already knew. So a lot of folks saw us search Aubrey's bag. They're like, oh, they don't know. No, we knew, okay? Because we used to always keep our bags in one spot. One day, Aubrey takes her bag and walks out of camp. She's never done that, never, but all of a sudden she's doing that.
Men's Journal: Do you think she already had it when you searched her bag?
Q Burdette: Yeah, she did. We only searched her bag after she did this. We searched her bag. Wasn't there, fine. But then Aubrey was coming back to me. She was like, "Hey, Q. We have to start looking. Help me look." Me and her looked underneath the shelter for stuff. So I'm thinking like, okay, she definitely has something. Because why? Why all of a sudden would she just want to start looking with you, correct? So I knew she had, but she never came out and said it. And so now, when Emily tells me this, it confirms what I already know. So I'm thinking like, okay, maybe she want to play with me. Maybe she's going to play with me, at least not anything. Else for one vote to get rid of Angelina, because I knew her and Christian were close, and I'm thinking like, Okay, if we can get rid of Angelina for Emily, it's the best, because now she has Christian almost to herself. There's no thought of him going with Mike White and Angelina. What do I know?
Men's Journal: What was your reaction when you found out Ozzy gave his extra vote to Cirie?
Q Burdette: So first and foremost, going back to day two of the game. I never wanted the extra vote. I could not afford to get the extra vote and come back empty handed. I knew that, all right, so it wasn't that Ozzy convinced me. Ozzy can't convince me of that. I had already processed it in my mind. If I go back empty-handed, I'm done. Not going to trust me. They already have a perception of me, that I'm unpredictable, chaotic. They can't trust me if I go back with nothing and I'm lying about it, that's fair. Now an X on my back. So I was like, I have to have the pot and machete. Then fast forward, and here we get back on the beach. Ozzy, I go up to him like, "Hey, look, if push comes to shove, man, you got to play the extra vote to make make sure we get through." He was like, "Man, I don't even have it." I was like, "What?" He was like, "Yeah, I had to give it away to Joe [Hunter] to save myself at the last tribal." I knew then that that was a lie. I was like, I don't know why he would lie to me about the extra vote, which makes me think he don't want to play with me. Now knowing that he actually did give it away, he just didn't give it to Joe. He gave it to Cirie [Fields], it's like, okay, he was telling the truth, but he was also lying to me. But I picked up on that. I picked up on the fact that I thought he was live, but then I'm still thinking, like, okay, at the very least Ozzy, from what he's known for, likes to win challenges and blah, blah, blah. He's going to keep me because I can help him do that, which he tried. But did he really try? Probably not. Three of those folks have been together the first six days. Three of these folks have been together the last seven to eight years. Two of these people play video games together. She doesn't do anything with any of them. I'm the obvious choice. I'm a sinking duck with no vote and nothing else. So, yeah, it's writing on the wall.
Men's Journal: Who spilled the beans on you losing your vote?
Q Burdette: No, I didn't tell anybody other than Stephenie knew, right? It hasn't been confirmed yet. I didn't see it, but I would have to, if I had to guess, Ozzy told him I didn't have a vote, right? Right? Because when I'm telling just think about it. If you don't know, I don't have a vote, and I'm telling you, I got an extra vote from a journey, and you're not spooked at all. That means, you know something.
Men's Journal: Did you feel like Mike was buying what you were selling?
Q Burdette: No, but my whole thing with Mike was to just make sure that they put their votes on me. So I'm saying and doing anything to make sure the focus is not on Stephenie, that those three vote for me, because again, I'm thinking, at the very least it's going to be a tie on a revote. They're going to go down to two votes. We're going to still have three. So that's what my mind was thinking. That's where my mind was that my mind had to be. That was the only choice for me to make it through that tribal is for that to happen, because even if a lot of folks ask, "Why don't you turn on Stephenie?" That's not me. I only turn on folks when I feel like they've turned on me. Stephenie gave me no reason at all to say, oh, she's against me now. I also understood if Stephenie left the game, it now leaves me by myself, needing to pull in two people just to force a tie for me. But if Stephenie is still there, we only need one other person, and it's more likely to happen. So I needed Stephenie there and again, hands were tied with the bunch that we pulled with.
Men's Journal: Talk to me about your relationship with Angelina.
Q Burdette: So my thing with Angelina was, really, you know, two things. A, she didn't do anything around camp. I felt like some of the things that she was doing was, like, for the camera. For instance, we were in a challenge and like, with her ball that she has to pull, instead of her just pulling the ball, because it's clear, just pull the ball. She was like, "Okay, okay, guys, I'm gonna pull it. I'm gonna pull it now. Okay, you ready? I'm gonna pull it." Just pull it. What are you doing all that for? So to me, it's like, okay, she's doing stuff for the camera, and it was her idea to do the fashion show and all that at the beginning of the game. It kind of like it started early with, like, when we got on tribes, and she was like, Q skirt, Q skirt. But what really, what really turned me off for Angelina is when Mike White came, because Angelina was telling us that she hadn't talked to Mike White in three years. Then Mike White came. I brought that up. He was like, "No, I talked to Angelina right before we got here." And I'm like, dang. So she just went wrong. So what else is she's covering up? That's when I'm like, okay, yeah, she, for sure, has to be the vote.
Men's Journal: What was your reaction to seeing your fellow 46 player Charlie [Davis] having flashbacks about Maria [Shrime Gonzelez]?
Q Burdette: Well, it's one of those things like, I almost can't blame them, because here's the thing: Before I went for Survivor 50, some of the former players, who've played multiple times talked and given me tips, and they were like, one of the things you're going to have to be careful of is because people will try to vote you out for screen time. He was like, believe it or not, they do that. And I was like, okay, so people do stuff on the cameras. So when I see Charlie in this episode reflecting back and saying, You know what, I don't want Rizo [Velovic] anywhere near a jury seat, it was almost the same thing that I felt with Angelina, like somebody who would do something for the camera. So we all carrying our baggage into the game. His just so happened to be from his original season, with his No. 1 at the time not voting for him, and him feeling this certain way. So you can't blame him. I don't blame him.
Men's Journal: Anything from the edit you wish they showed?
Q Burdette: I really wish they would have shown the true dynamics of the original Vatu, and how close I really was with majority of those people, how I changed their perception of me– like coming back from the journey. They weren't high on Q. Now I'm telling you that, and they admitted it. They were like, man, this guy's dangerous. He's unpredictable, chaos. I don't want nothing to do with them. Then when I got there and I'm showing my work ethic, and I'm showing who I am, and I'm connecting with them, I kind of won everybody over. So I kind of wish that would have gotten shown more. But also just the fact that we were talking about throwing a challenge prior to the swap, I wish in there, because I specifically said, you know, the things that I'm concerned about, if we don't throw this challenge is we're going to swap, and either Colby and I are going to be on the same beach, or I'm going to be on a beach by myself and get voted out, and then Colby now on the same beach, we're down two votes now. And worst case scenario, let's just throw this challenge. But Cila was so bad in the ball challenge, we couldn't even throw it like it was no way to do it without it being obvious. I really wish Vatu would have had just one more challenge together, because we would have definitely thrown that blindfold challenge.
Men's Journal: And who would have gone out?
Q Burdette: Aubrey, or Angelina. Probably Aubrey, unless she would have played her idol at the time. But she really didn't have a reason to play it, because she was thinking Angelina, because Aubrey was coming up to us, with me specifically. It was like, "Q, I feel like, you think Angelina and I are together." And I was like, "Well, that's what Angelina is telling me, that you two are together." And she was like, "You know, I kind of want to separate that we're not playing together like that. It was just she's only person I thought I had." I was like, "No, you got me. I want to play with you, but I don't want to play with Angelina." So Aubrey was then like trying to distance herself from Angelina, in a way could have gotten Aubrey blindsided. So it was just one of those things, like, man, just one more day with Vatu, things might be different.
Men's Journal: You were doing well until that switch.
Q Burdette: I was in a great spot. I was shocked, seriously. But here's the thing, somebody has to go out in a swap scenario. I say this all the time, Survivor right now is a crapshoot. A lot of things have to go right for you. And I have to ask myself, why did it go wrong for me? Well, maybe because so much went right for me on 46 that I got all my rights out the way the first time, and I just got my wrong, and who knows, I come back a third time, it might balance out and be even, and I can do some justice.
Men's Journal: Would you play Survivor again?
Q Burdette: I would definitely play Survivor again. You know, I really love saying I would never play again just because of the optics. You know, the returning seasons are tough. My thing is, what I think made it tough is, when it was announced that it's going to be a returning season, and all players are considered. It's like, now, the phone start ringing, but you start ringing phones as well. If it would have just happened to where people don't know what's going on...it's less likely to pick up the phone and call a friend, because it's not public knowledge and they're scared to say it to the wrong person. But now it's like, okay, the odds of me saying to the wrong person is very small when it's been announced that this is what's happening. Alright? It's no longer a secret. So just one of those things returning season that's not, you know, publicized early, to where a bunch of pregaming goes on, and all these predetermined relationships are now in one place at one time. But even with that, you have to know how to play the game now, and I know how to play the game now.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.