‘Survivor 48’ star Mary Zheng details ‘incredibly frustrating’ final days

She tried. Lord knows she tried. But Mary Zheng just couldn’t get enough people to bite on her plan to take out the game’s biggest threat in Joe Hunter. So when push came to shove at Tribal Council on this week’s episode of Survivor 48, Mary was shoved right out of the game.

It marked the end of a long, winding road for Mary, who was on the outs on her original Vula tribe pretty much from day 1. A successful Shot in the Dark play kept her in the game (even though she previously dissed and dismissed the SITD as “wack”), and she appeared to gain at least a little bit of footing at the merge, but once new ally David Kinne was blindsided, Mary’s days were once again numbered.

Why didn’t other players like Kyle Fraser and Shauhin Davari buy what Mary was selling when it came to Joe? Was coconut etiquette to blame? And what did she make of David’s awkward standing at Tribal Council? We spoke to juror number 5 about all that and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let’s start here. Do you still think the Shot is Dark is “wack”?

MARY ZHENG: Not at all. The Shot in the Sark is the most unwack thing there is about Survivor.

Did you remember even writing that down as your Survivor hot take for me before the game?

No idea. I completely forgot. I just remember afterwards I saw it and I was like, “Oh yeah.” I remember asking you, being like, “Is it okay if I just say the Shot in the Dark is kinda wack?” and you were like, “That’s perfect!” And I was like, “Okay, cool. I don’t know how professional we got to be here, but kinda wack.” It wasn’t super whack. It was just kinda whack

So let’s bring that forward then to the episode we just saw last night. Since you had already used your Shot in the Dark heading into this last Tribal, did anyone even bother lying to you or did they all essentially tell you it was you?

There was one part where we were all sitting there in the shelter and I was just like, “Well, it’s been nice playing with you guys.” And everybody was just kind of like [nervous laughter] and I’m like, “It’s fine, guys. We all know what’s happening. We don’t need to lie here. And thank you, guys for respecting me enough to not tell a horrible lie.”

You were pitching everyone that Joe needed to go. Why ultimately did that pitch not land?

From the edit, it seems as if it didn’t work because people didn’t think that they could work with me after. But I have to say, after the game ended, I had quite a few people come up to me and be like, “You know what, Mary? Sorry we didn’t work with you. Sorry we also didn’t try to befriend you either. It’s because we knew that if you got to final Tribal Council, you were going to get all the votes.”

And I know that from the edit it doesn’t look like I’m a threat at all, but rightfully or wrongfully, my castmates did. And I think it was just because I had such a different story, and I came from Vula, and I had survived. So I think it was a lot of things, but ultimately people didn’t want to work with me because they didn’t want to sit next to me, and they also didn’t trust that I was going to allow them to even sit next to me.

How frustrating was that? I mean, you’re pitching the Joe thing, you’re like, “This guy’s a freight train has to be stopped. He’s in this power duo with Eva.” Some people appear to be considering it, some people are just kind of struggling their shoulders. I have to imagine that was frustrating.  

I took out my frustration on the coconuts. I was like,” I literally don’t know what else I can do here. I am assuming that the people here are smart, and they are, and it’s literally what is best for you and what is best for me.” I remember I had a conversation with Kyle, it wasn’t shown, where I was like, “Dude, are you proud of the game that you’re playing right now? Is this the way that you wanted to play?”

Because I could just tell that people were itching to make a move and I was like, “Guys, let’s f—ing” do it. So yeah, it was incredibly frustrating, but after a certain point, after I got out my rage, I just kind of accepted that it was finally my time… after it almost being my time countless times.

Did this vote all come down to Kyle? Were Kamilla and Mitch on board to take Joe out?

Oh no, not at all. Nobody was on board. I actually, before seeing last night’s episode, had no idea that Kyle had considered it so much. But yeah, there was a one point where I was asking Kamilla and Mitch, and Kamilla was like, “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ll think about it.” And I’m like, “I know what that means. It’s not happening.”

Did you have any idea Kyle and Kamilla were that close out there?

I didn’t know they were that close, but I knew that they were close. It wasn’t shown at all, but David and I were lockstep. We thought the same thing at the same time. So we knew that something was going on between Kyle and Kamilla and Shauhin. We didn’t know exactly what exactly the dynamic was, but we were like, “They’re working together and they are planning something.”

What is your take on coconut etiquette, Mary?

I think I had perfect coconut etiquette. I mean, everyone else was eating. It had been days since I’d eaten, so yeah, I think I had perfect coconut etiquette. Could not be more polite or courteous.

The thing about Survivor is you go through this experience and this jumble of emotions as you get voted out, and then you’ve got to go through it again nine months later when you watch it on TV. What was it like watching the episode last night for you?

I was really proud of myself watching it because I was like, “Wow, I’m literally serving.” I am making myself laugh at the coconut scene, I’m making myself cry when I’m crying to Jeff when I don’t get picked for reward, and I’m making myself proud with me playing the way that I did fighting till the bitter end. I think that I had a lot working against me the entire season, but I did the best that I could and I had so much fun watching the episode last night. I really did.

That’s good to hear. And I had so much fun watching something very bizarre happen on the jury last night. What was your reaction when you saw David rising to his feet and standing there — looking very angry by the way — as you were walking up to get your torch snuffed?

That was a shock to me. I had heard about that moment. I know I was there, but was I really there? I was out of body when everything was happening, when I was getting voted out, but I had heard from people that David stood up, and this was my first time watching it and I am so grateful for it because I had wanted to cry because I was sad about my vote out. But instead, I was crying out of laughter because David was f—ing hilarious! And the music, and then also Star’s just out there trying to be as polite as she can be, but it was so hilarious.

What was the reunion with David and the others like at Ponderosa?

I’m going to be honest, Dalton. When I was on that boat going back to Ponderosa, I thought to myself, “Wow, I’m really going to be like Venus. I’m really going to be someone who has no friends after this experience.” Because the last two, three days that I was out there, I felt like a pariah. It looked as if people were talking to me, but especially the last couple of days, it was as if people would be infected by my cooties if they made eye contact with me.

And so when I was on the boat, I was just thinking to myself, “Damn, I’m going to have to go to these viewing parties and I have zero connections to any of these people.” But then when I got to Ponderosa, Cedrek, Chrissy, David, and Star were standing outside and I saw them and… [starts to tear up].

Yeah, it meant a lot to me. It really, really meant a lot to me because I thought like, “Wow, these people actually care.” After feeling like nobody really cared for a long time. So it was so much fun. We stayed up maybe till one or two in the morning, everybody just out there eating, drinking, talking, laughing. I’m so grateful for my time at Ponderosa because I think I really, really took a beating out there playing. And so when I got to Ponderosa was really when I did a lot of healing.

It’s really interesting to hear you say this because you’re right: From the edit, it looks like people maybe don’t want to work with you, but it definitely doesn’t give the feeling you’re being ostracized. Tell me why you think that was. Do you think it was just people were afraid to be seen talking to you? Was it that they just didn’t want to hear your pitch? Do you think it was a personal issue they had?

I knew it wasn’t personal. I knew that with my head, but with my heart, there’s kind of a lag between head and heart, and so all my heart could feel was that people didn’t want to be around me. But I think the reason is what people said to me after the game. They were like,”Yo, we’re sorry we didn’t talk to you. We didn’t want to work with you because we saw you as a threat. We didn’t want to sit next to you at final Tribal Council.”

And yeah, they didn’t know that with a lot of Vula, I got lucky. It wasn’t like I was this huge mastermind. I feel like throughout the game everyone’s like, “She is this incredible mastermind.” I don’t think I’m an incredible mastermind. I think I’m scrappy though. But people didn’t know that. They just were like, “Wow, she really survived.” And so I think they didn’t want to work with me for that reason.

But also you can see that everybody out there has day one connections. Those are all day one connections and people at that point. It was tense because everybody I feel wanted to prove their loyalty. I was talking to Shauhin, right? I was like, “This isn’t a game of outloyal,” but everybody out there was so pressed on being loyal to each other that I think that if they were seeing talking to me, it would increase paranoia and really splinter whatever plans or connections they had.

So you and David seemed really close in the game and I asked him about that two weeks ago and he said: “Mary sort of latched onto me and I did the best I could to keep her at arm’s length, but she was just everywhere and she was following me around…It was Mary sort of inserting herself into the group and then attaching herself to me. And it just came to the point where I’m like, ‘I can’t do anything about Mary. She’s here. We might as well use her for a number.’… She was always going to be the sixth boot, which I don’t think was ever really truly clarified.” Was that ever clarified for you?

David saying that was hilarious. I love David. Let me just preface that. But from the first day of new Lagi, David, Eva and I collectively agreed that we were going to work together and join forces. It was mutually beneficial, and that was a group decision. Eva and David wanted numbers, and I wanted people who wanted to work with me who I could trust.

Eva and David were the first people since day five when Kevin got voted out who wanted to work with me, who I felt like I could trust. I think a lot of people don’t realize the desperation that I felt, and also the desperation that I think anybody coming from Vula who survived Vula would have felt. I had been continuously on the bottom… and I know people are going to be like, “How many times is this bitch going to say she was on the bottom?”

It was true!

It was true. I was, and when David and Eva wanted to work with me, listen, if you’re selling, I’m buying — especially people who I can tell really value being honest, Eva has been incredibly honest this entire game. She literally was like, “Hey, sorry, I can’t protect you.” Also, the reason I asked Eva if she would use the idol on me is because when she got the idol, she was like, “Hey, I’m going to use the idol on you and us. It is our idol.” So I was just shooting my shot.

Did you have a moment in the game after Sai and Cedrek went on the same night where you were like, “How am I the last Vula standing here?”

I actually didn’t have that moment because I knew I’d be the last Vula standing. But I felt incredibly grateful because at that moment I felt like I could finally begin to play. There’s also something that wasn’t shown. I was quite responsible for the Cedrek vote-out. When that vote happened, I was like, “Guys, let’s do Cedrek. I want to work with you guys. I don’t want to work with him. I don’t trust him. He’s a liability. I want him out.”

They were like, “All right, that’s great, Mary, but you are going to have to make him feel comfortable. You are the one who’s linking him with us right now.” And so I was like, “I got you.” So I made Cedrek feel safe enough where he didn’t play a Shot in the Dark. But yeah, I felt so free. You know that picture of Nicole Kidman after she gets divorced from Tom Cruise? That’s how I felt when Cedrek and Sai were gone.

Anything else that happened out there that didn’t make it to TV that you wish we had seen?

I just want to say, I did not intentionally manipulate David. Sorry to disappoint the fans, but I am not chaotic evil. I’m chaotic good. David did not need to be manipulated. He liked me and trusted me. And I also don’t have any regrets with working with him because honestly, trying to work with Kamilla, Mitch, Chrissy and Star would’ve been like herding cats.

Also, I just want everyone listening to this to remember: I have a lot of grace for myself, but I extend that grace to my fellow players. Everybody was playing for the first time. Everybody was making the move that they thought was best for them, and that’s all you can do.

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