Being voted off of “Survivor” is a drag. But there were perks after Kelly Wentworth was eliminated from the newly reshuffled Coyopa tribe last week.
“Eating! Running water!” she said over the phone last week. “It’s just so weird to be holding a cell phone again.”
It wasn’t quite a merge last week, but a reshuffling of teams, needed especially after one team had los three members at tribal and the other only one.
“As a fan of ‘Survivor,’ I knew there was a good chance that would happen,” Wentworth said. But it didn’t go well for her, being one of four people who came from Hunahpu to Coyopa. And the new Coyopa was all coupled up, with Jon and Jaclyn reunited, Baylor and her mother Missy both there and Kelley back with her dad Dale. Only Wes was still playing with a relation on the other team (he and Keith essentially swapped).
Tribal showed that anybody could have gone home — Dale had two votes, Baylor had two as well, but three voted for Kelley (all from the other women on the tribe, as it turns out).
Mostly there was a fight between Baylor and Dale that only intensified when their loved ones arrived on tribe and Kelley was the victim (to get at Dale).
On camera, Wentworth said one of the oddest things somebody could say on ‘Blood vs. Water’: “I almost wish I didn’t play with my dad. I think it was more of a hinderance than a help for me.”
Kelley and Dale were still trying to repair their relationship when they got on “Survivor,” though she says they’re doing much better now. “We originally applied for ‘The Amazing Race’ five years ago,” she says.
Going forward, things don’t look good for Coyopa. “If you look at the two tribes, Coyopa’s the one with one 55 year old guy and one 45 year old, and one strong guy. On Hunapu you have Jeremy, Josh, Reed and Wes — all big athletic guys.”
And almost weekly, the competitions have been physical. “Where are the puzzles?” Wentworth says. “I’ve been waiting for the puzzles.”
Kelley says she was used to the conditions she faced on “Survivor.” “I grew up on a farm,” she says. “I was used to being outside, used to getting my hands dirty…It wasn’t that bad.”
But other aspects of the game did weigh on her. “Just the mental aspects. You don’t realize when you’re out there, your mind never shuts off,” she says. “You miss two conversations and suddenly you’re in jeopardy. It makes you super paranoid.”
Also, she was called evil by Drew, who pulled off a total implosion two weeks back. Wentworth says she still can’t quite figure out why he had such animosity for her. But maybe he was surprised that she didn’t swoon over him. “I think Drew and I are very different people,” she says finally.
Previews show that tonight, Dale will show off his fake immunity idol, pretending it’s real. And there’s a big negotiation with host Jeff Probst and the Hunaypu tribe over getting some rice.