‘Survivor 48’ star Joe Hunter reveals the finale votes he thought he’d get

Everyone said if Joe Hunter made it to day 26 of Survivor 48, the game was his. Until it wasn’t.

Joe indeed did go the distance on Survivor, but in the end, the jury gave the game to Kyle Fraser instead, leaving Joe on the outside looking in. On the plus side, Joe not only achieved his goal of making it to the end, but he made it with his island partner Eva Erickson. The two have to be considered the tightest friendship pair in franchise history, and went through an emotional roller coaster filled with highs and lows along the way.

Why does Joe think the jury valued Kyle’s game over his? Which votes surprised him the most? And how hard was it to go straight from his loss to the after-show celebration? We asked the fire captain all that and more, and also got into whether he in fact broke his word with David Kinne earlier in the season.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First off, are you doing this interview from Club Condo?

JOE HUNTER: Yeah, there’s a lot of dancing going on in Club Condo right now.

So what happened? Why am I not speaking to a million-dollar winner right now?

That’s a great question, but let me start with that when it comes to any of the exit press or the way I want to handle this is that I try to look at this as if I’m not sitting in the winner’s circle, I’ve got to reflect back on myself. And I think sometimes people might get caught up in it was this person’s fault, it was that person’s fault, this person, that person, the jury. I either did or didn’t do something. I may never know all the details, but I didn’t get the votes. So instead of making theories, I just think that they didn’t see what they wanted or I didn’t give them what they wanted, and I’ve got to take accountability for that. So I guess why you’re not talking to the winner, it must have been something I did or didn’t do.

I know you’re constantly doing jury math in your head, so walking into final Tribal, how were you feeling about your chances?

It sounds funny now only getting one vote that I would say this, but I thought that it was going to be a much more levelheaded situation — not as emotional. I thought when it comes to Shauhin, I thought that regardless of what had happened, we had been so close for so long up to the final minute that I thought that was going to be there. And as I went through it, there was only a few that I was unaware of and I really thought that Kyle maybe had snuck in there and maybe ruffled some of their feathers once they figured out, “Oh man, maybe it was him.” So I thought I had a pretty good chance going into it, but hey, you never know.

Which votes surprised you the most? Which ones did you think you had on lock?

Man, it’s hard now because you see it back, but I thought Shauhin. I know that sounds crazy, but I thought Shauhin because he’s such an intellectual guy, he’s such an intelligent guy that is so levelheaded 99.9% of the time. There’s just things where you go, “Hey, I thought that would be there.” And I know this sounds crazy too, Mitch. I did! And I say those two because some of the conversations that you have, you go, “Man, I really…” And Chrissy. I thought some of those were on lock.

I was very up in the air about David. I didn’t know because you’re like, “Okay, well maybe they don’t love me, but they might love me more than the other two.” I thought maybe he would see that his number one had voted him off. Maybe he was still frustrated with Eva and he had had a very kind of strong person win the game model. And because of the challenges I had won, I was like, “You know what? Maybe he just defaults to that.” So there was those kind of couple that I thought were going to vote [for me], but you can see it unfolding. You can kind of see body language as it goes. It changed in my head immediately, but that’s what I thought going into it.

Yeah, I was going to ask if you could feel it slipping away at final Tribal Council.

I still thought I had a good dog in the fight, but you see the eye-rolls, you see the body language, and and I hate to say this part too, but you kind of wonder like, “Man, how many came in like 60% already loaded? Yeah, they gave us a shot, but how many did?” And you don’t know. Or again, I just default to: Well, I must have not done what they wanted. I’ve got to take ownership somehow. That was me.

What was your reaction when Kyle drops the intel about his super-close relationship with Kamilla and the lie about the Shauhin idol?

It would be super-disrespectful to Kyle and them to say that we knew about their alliance. You knew something possibly was going on, but I had no idea of the depth, for sure, of their relationship. When you think about the lies told, there’s so many on top of so many, and what makes this difficult about that is in between any conversation about an idol about gameplay, we are sharing some really heartfelt off-camera-type conversations that make that complicated, right?

Because it’s not just people that you’re not talking at all and then they just tell you a lie and you’re like, “Oh, I believe it.” It’s like this mix of gameplay and real life, so you’re left kind of shell-shocked by it. So the idol was a brilliant thing to say just because it creates deception. Of course, looking back you can say that was crazy. That wasn’t as impactful as the theory of him throwing out my name, meaning Shauhin. But their alliance together? Yeah, I don’t want to lie. I didn’t know. I didn’t know the depth.

How hard was it to get that jury verdict, watch $1 million slip through your fingers, and immediately have to shift to the after-show celebration? I’ve talked to people in that position before. I know it’s not easy.

I’ll be honest with you. I’m just so competitive. Here’s the real deal. You almost feel like you can’t say that it hurts because on one hand, you’re top three. And I mean this, what an honor because of how great every player out there was. Everybody in my cast, I was impressed with everybody. Literally everybody. And so it’s difficult to then, well, how do you complain at three? But yeah, it kind of slipped through your fingers, and I’m just so competitive that it’s brutal. It’s brutal.

Obviously, we’ve already talked a lot about your relationship with Eva, but we haven’t talked about the fire-making. Take me inside that moment where she’s having a tough time, you offer to go in for her, and she won’t let you.

Credit Eva flat out for just being able to do that. That was a pretty lengthy experience that she went through so much of her own emotional, physical, mental process there to really put herself in a position where she could fight through it. But that was extremely difficult. It was extremely difficult obviously for her, but it’s because as a human being… [Starts to choke up]

It’s hard not to choke me up because who wants to see a person in pain? You have to be a really deranged person to want to see that. And I think what I want people to realize is outside of the episode on the beach, we hadn’t really talked about the depth and range of these episodes for her. So I’m also seeing them live for me. Her family and really close friends I’m assuming maybe have some like, “Hey, we’ve been here before,” but for me it’s like, you are also not prepared for that.

So you just feel awful for her. I don’t want to make it about me. I just felt awful for her, and I am so grateful that I was in a position to just help her. And I was so upset. It was not gameplay when I said, “I want to do this.” I’m trying to somehow sneak in. I mean it. I’m like, “This is not okay. We’re not doing this, we’re not doing this.” And she just so stubborn and she did it. She did it.

Let’s talk about your word because David says you’re an incredible guy. But he also still says you broke your word on the Chrissy vote and broke your word by voting him out. What do you say to that?

I was really upset and still am when it comes to topics like this, because I have to step back and… Let me just answer this directly. I have to realize that it’s people’s perspective. So I don’t want to disrespect him because I feel like when it happened to me, when I’m hearing these kind of, I feel, attacks on me, I’m not going to do the same.

So I will say that I value his opinion. That’s how he saw it going down. And maybe his people saw it that way. It’s difficult for me when you look at who he voted for, you look at what others voted for. It’s difficult that I share this sole burden of that. But I will say, here is my honest opinion of the whole comment: If you went back on your word, there were things that happened there, body language, demeanor, and how I was being spoken to and how others were being spoken to and treated during this whole event.

That day before that I had said it on camera that he had changed. There was something that was different. I I think he’s a great guy. I don’t want to say anything negative about David, but an obligation or a contract or a word that we have between each other — there’s two ends of that bargain. There has to be a mutual respect. There has to be a “Hey, we can’t just talk to whoever, however, whenever and it’s going to be okay.” And I just want to say that I see it completely differently. And I just want to say I also respect his opinion, I respect others on it, but I see it completely different. I don’t see that I did it.

Anything about your game you would go back and change?

This is going to sound crazy, but no. The wins were great, but your kids don’t have the opportunity to see you… [Starts getting choked up] It chokes me up. Pardon me.

Take your time.

They don’t have the opportunity to see you make mistakes. And, more importantly, how you handle them. So I embrace all the mistakes, and I made a ton. I made a ton out there that sure, maybe I’d handle this conversation different, I’d handle this conversation, but I’m really proud of how I played and I want to show them how to handle those mistakes with grace. So I’m fortunate for those mistakes.

I know how much you were looking forward to your kids watching you on the show. What did they think?

Oh my gosh, my kiddos, and you start seeing ’em yell at the TV, “Go, Dad!” and, “Don’t do that!” What an honor to have something that you can watch with your kids and just have them be proud. What a blessing this has been to sit with my kids and my wife and just have them be proud of you. And man, if that’s not enough, then I don’t know.

 Would you play again if they asked?

Absolutely.

Last thing: Did Shauhin bring you any pancakes this morning?

No, he brought me none. Even though he tore up my oatmeal.

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