The runner-up tried his best to recover after being bested in front of the jury.
Austin Li Coonwanted to replicate theSurvivor: All-Starsexperience ofBoston Rob MarianoandAmber Brkich.
So how did Austin feel when Dee dropped that bombshell on him?
Austin Li Coon on ‘Survivor 45’.CBS
We asked the runner-up that and much more when we spoke the morning after the finale.
(Also check out our finale interviews withDee,Jake,Katurah,Julie, and hostJeff Probst.)
CBS
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First off, sorry about retroactively jinxing you by making youmy winner pickthis season.
Austin Li Coon on ‘Survivor 45’.CBS
AUSTIN LI COON:I’m honored.
Thank you so much.
I mean, to be a winner pick of yours.
Austin Li Coon on ‘Survivor 45’.CBS
No need to apologize.
How were you feeling walking into that final Tribal Council in terms of your chances?
I knew, for me, it was an uphill battle.
Austin Li Coon on ‘Survivor 45’.CBS
I knew that the jury kind of was leaning more going into the final Tribal towards Dee.
I felt like a lot of my moves kind of went under the radar.
So that was my thought going into Tribal.
Dee Valladares and Austin Li Coon on ‘Survivor 45’.CBS
Honestly,Kendrasurprised me.Bruce I was even surprised about a little bit.
I knew that I had to earn every single vote that I got at Tribal Council.
I was a little surprised [about]Emilytoo.
Could you sense it slipping away from you during final Tribal?
It was kind of the opposite.
That happened earlier on in Tribal Council, and when that happened it was like, Okay, shoot.
Now I’ve got to turn to overdrive and really push towards it.
And that’s where a lot of my arguments came that were shown earlier on in Tribal Council.
So, for me, it felt the opposite.
It was like, Oh, shoot, early on, got the wind sucked out of me.
And then afterward, it was like, Okay, now I’m fighting for it back.
And I thought I was able to claw my way out through a little bit more.
What’s going through your mind when she drops that?
That cant have happened.
I look like a fool a little bit right now.
But I reeled it in and I was sort of like, Okay, listen.
And, ultimately, that is what happened in my mind.
So that’s ultimately why I told Dee about it.
That’s kind of what I was thinking, so I kind of explained that to the jury.
But yeah, it was a little bit of a sucker punch.
How does this game play out differently if you donottell Dee about the Julie vote?
Yeah, so that’s interesting.
It’s something I’ve definitely thought about a lot.
It helps their games more than it helps my games.
It would give them a lot of the power.
And then Dee would lose a lot of trust in me.
She probably would still want to work with me, but that was kind of unclear.
So I was worried about losing my positioning in the game.
That’s a big what if?
And I think anyone else would’ve too.
I don’t think so.
You said Jake was really struggling with making fire when he was practicing.
Was that 100% true or were you just trying to get Dee to put you in?
I felt like Jake, he was okay.
I mean, he wasn’t very good at maintaining the fire.
So Jake never really needed to make fires.
And he was struggling.
And it was a worry that Jake was going to lose.
So who knows what would’ve happened?
He might’ve pulled through still, but it could have been much different.
It would’ve taken longer, I think.
I got to say, props to Jake.
He was fighting to the bitter end.
If that went down, that would’ve been crazy.
Then the final four would’ve had Julie instead of Dee.
And you saw how close Jake was for 80% of that final four challenge.
Good chance he ends up winning that.
Then he’ll put himself into fire.
He’ll take on Julie, potentially he’ll win that.
And then you’ve got Jake who just comes to Final Tribal with two massive moves on his resume.
Who knows what would’ve happened?
That would’ve been another war of a final Tribal, but a different pop in of war.
Thats a bunch of what-ifs, but the game could have been completely different.
And I felt for Jake.
So going to keep that private for now.
On original Reba, we had so many incredible fun moments.
So we went into overdrive trying to find the idols.
At that point, Dee knew we were looking.
Julie knew we were looking, obviously Drew knew, and I knew.
And then Sifu was noticing that we were looking for idols.
And we’re like, Dude, you’ve been looking this entire time.
And then he’s like, No, I haven’t.
What are you talking about?
And Dee’s like, You have spy shacks!
You’ve been spying on us!
We have this huge blow-up the day before the tribe swap and people are yelling at each other.
Dee’s chasing Sifu with a stick, swinging at him.
And it’s crazy.
We’re about to potentially swap.
Weve got to be ready for this merge.
We might not see each other soon after this.
We have to stay tight.
So I went to talk with Dee.
I went to talk with Sifu, got him to calm down [and] apologize.
And then we had the most lame [team cheer].
I was like, All right, everyone, hands in the middle!
We’re like, 3, 2, 1.
We would do that after challenges, but this time it was so sad and pathetic.
It was a hilarious moment.
And it just built all this tension to this explosion that happened.
I need the footage.
Yeah, me too!
So if they ask you to play again, what do you say?
Anyone who says no, they’re kidding themselves.
Of course, I would.
That’d be great.
