‘Survivor 48’ star Shauhin Davari was shocked and impressed by Kyle’s lie

Like any Survivor player, Shauhin Davari was constantly thinking though all his various options in the game. But when he talked those options through with Kyle Fraser on the penultimate episode of Survivor 48, it ended up leading to his demise. Kyle took that information, and not only ran with it, but put it on a bus and repeatedly drove over Shauhin until his game was flattened like a pancake with possible foreign matter in it.

How does Shauhin feel about Kyle and Kamilla Karthigesu completely selling Joe Hunter on a lie that Shauhin had an idol? What does Shauhin make of that bizarre conversation with Joe in the shelter? Was David Kinne salty at him when he got to Ponderosa? We asked juror number six all that and more, including what we didn’t see on TV.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First question: What did you put in your pancakes this morning?

SHAUHIN DAVARI: Oh, man. The same thing I put in Joe’s pancakes last night.

Tell me about that conversation with Joe in the shelter where he’s kind of telling you something but not fully telling you anything.

Yeah, I knew that Joe had just come back from kind of an emotional moment with his sister. I knew that he was planning on going out to have this moment, and when he came back, everything was just off. And it was one of those things where we had just gotten back from a reward as well — a reward that I took him on — and so I didn’t understand why we were off.

I didn’t understand why he was so upset at me. And he’s asking me these questions, and I’m trying to do the same thing that he and I had done every single day out there for 23 days, which is go through our options, and he is not interested in talking to me about all of our options. He’s only interested in this weird dynamic that we had between us, about me lying to him, or me coming for him, or whatever. And so it was a very, very strange moment for us, and definitely an off-moment for two guys that had been on an island on the same page every single day for almost every single moment. And for that to be the first moment that we had off, bad timing for sure, for me.

So what kind of headspace did that put you in going to Tribal Council? Did you have some doubts? Did you have some suspicions? Or did you think you were still good?

I think that you always have general doubts when you’re playing a game like this. You can’t go into Tribal Council feeling comfortable. And the very first Tribal Council I went to, I learned how blindsided you can be, and it didn’t end up even being me that went home. And so I always had doubts.

I thought that I had done enough with Joe and Eva to solidify what we had. I thought that I had shown over the past 20-something days that we were good, we were solid, we were ready to rock, but that was clearly a miscalculation. A complete blindside? I mean, you see the look on my face. I definitely was blindsided, but it’s hard to completely blindside somebody when there’s only six people left. I didn’t do enough to sway the tides.

You were super gracious and friendly to everyone after being voted out, but I know you, Shauhin. I was with you right when you got cut from 46 when everyone else was celebrating and having their picture taken. I know how much this entire thing means to you. Tell me how devastating that was to be cut loose at that point and in that way.

The hardest part actually happened two days ago. I didn’t tell my family anything about what happened out there. I let them watch it and enjoy it. And so in that moment, the hard part was knowing that I was so close to the finale, knowing that I was so close to the end and really feeling like I had played a winning game that I was going to explain at final Tribal. And knowing that my family wasn’t going to get to see a final Tribal Council speech and my debate team wasn’t going to get to see a final Tribal Council speech from the speech and debate guy, that was a huge, huge bummer.

I told my family two days ago. They were obviously super, super bummed, so they’re still going through it right now, and that was the part that I was dreading the most is actually having to tell them that I didn’t win the game. They have a ton of confidence in me. You see me have a ton of confidence out there. You wonder where I get it from. And having a Persian mom and a Persian older brother, just family and my community, they all have a ton of confidence in me.

And so I went out there to win the thing and came up a little short, but I think it’s okay. I think I represented myself super well. I had amazing connections out there. I did play very, very hard. I wanted to play a winning game. I was given a majority alliance and then had to navigate the game and play a winning game while managing the bottom and making sure that people, when they left, they still felt like they were loved by me and they still felt like we had a solid connection. And I think I did that really well.

I’m sure you could go on for half an hour about this because again, I know you, but you said in last night’s episode that you were playing the best game out there, so make your case for that. You didn’t get to make it to the jury. So give me an abbreviated version now.

Let me try and get it done in 30 seconds. So if you look at Joe, Eva, Kyle, whoever’s left, and look at the connections that we had — I think that I came into the merge as a huge threat. I almost got voted out at the Cedrek vote and they were coming for me. I managed to survive. Okay, cool. Then Chrissy comes for me. I managed to not only survive, but I was actually part of switching the vote, if not the leading cause of switching the vote back from Kamilla to Chrissy.

Then we have the organization that I had for David to get voted out over three days. Then we have the fact that I switched it from Mary to Star, and you see me switch it with Joe, the one who led him through that conversation and inceptioned him into that idea even though Mary was coming for him. Then you have the Mary vote where I decide I’m not going to go for Joe because I believe that Joe has kind of burned people. I believe at the time that Joe has kind of burned the people that are on the jury and that I think that I can beat him considering Star was coming for me and thought I was the biggest threat.

Mary and I really got along, and I thought that she was using the Joe thing as a ruse to piss me off to make a move so that she could survive. And frankly, I was more scared of Mary at the end than I was of Joe. When you consider Cedrek, David, Chrissy, and consider the fact that David stood up, that’s how strong her connections were. Cedrek was on a beach with her from day one and Star and her were like ride or die. They were number ones, like Mary said. So for me, it was more important for me to get rid of Mary there and I could explain all of those things at final Tribal Council.

And also you see Star say it: I was the brains of the operation, and that was the perception of what was happening out there. The perception was that I was the brains of the operation and that Joe was the brawn and that Eva was the heart. Well, I think most of the time, the person who wins the game is the person who was the brains of the operation.

So just to be clear, your end game plan was sit next to Joe and Eva?

To be honest, I didn’t care who I sat next to. I thought that I could beat anyone that was in the game at final Tribal Council given the game that I played. But if I was planning to go with three people, if I could have the full control, I wanted to sit next to Joe and Eva.

Was David salty at you when you showed up at Ponderosa?

No, David wasn’t salty towards me because I just wasn’t the honor and integrity guy. I never said those words. I was part of the honor and integrity alliance because listen, I’m going to be part of whatever alliance wants me to be a part of it. You know what I mean? But I never was the guy that was saying like, “Oh, honor and integrity.” That never came out of my mouth.

And I think that’s probably at least partially why David was suspect of me, because in a way I was playing an honest game in saying, “I’m playing the game and I’m going to lie and I’m going to do the things that I need.” I think that I got wrapped up into the honor and integrity alliance and a lot of people thought that I was part of it and that was not my gameplay. I wasn’t going to be honor and integrity. I know in this game you have to backstab, and if you say that and then backstab, people get really upset. They get really, really mad about that. And so I always just kind of kept my mouth shut when that came up.

So David wasn’t salty at me and I knew that when he was sitting on the jury. I know that even though he was mean mugging everybody, that he’s not salty at me. And so I think that I can persuade him to vote for me and I certainly at the time didn’t think he was voting for Joe with how upset he was.

What was your reaction after hearing about Kyle and Kamilla lying about you showing her an idol?

I think I was a little confused because Kyle, Kamilla, and I were working together. We worked together on a bunch of different stuff. I was the one who helped save Kamilla because Kyle didn’t want to show his secret alliance with Kamilla. The shock was also mixed with a lot of respect, like being impressed. I don’t how to say it, but if you’re going to go out, you want it to be a complicated big move. You want it to be something that took a lot of effort to figure out and “How are we going to outshine the fox?”

I think that they did an excellent job doing that. And so as much as I was filled with a little bit of confusion, maybe anger, like, “Oh dang it,” I was also equally filled with joy because that’s the most respectful thing you can do to somebody like me in a game like this.

What was your frustration level in terms of challenges before finally winning that reward competition?

Frustration level was at an all-time high. I mean, we go from [starts moving arms into different positions to show various upper body strength competitions] this to this, to this to this, and then we have this. It’s like, how many arm things do we have? I get it. And I understand when you have someone like David, Kyle, and Joe, you want to show their flexing, bulging, glistening pecs and forearms.

I understand it and I know that they plan the challenges before they have their cast, but [these wrists] are made for nice bracelets. They’re not made for arm challenges. And so yeah, certainly super frustrated, but finally got a W, and a really important one for me and my family. I got to read my mom’s loved one letter, and that was a really important moment for me. And I was hungry, man. I wanted some burgers and fries and whatever else, and a good night’s sleep. That was just insane.

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

My connection with the people that were on the bottom that didn’t make it to television. That was a huge part of my gameplay. I always made time to talk to Mitch and make sure that Mary and the people that were getting voted out were also listened to because if they had good ideas, I was down to flip if the idea really made sense for me. But I was never going to make a move just to make a move. That’s not good gameplay and it’s a surefire way to get you sent home.

So I wish that that got shown more, especially because those relationships are so fun to see. Another thing was these little things that come off of the tree mail, both at Vula and at a Lagi. [Holds up skinny peices of cloth.] I took those off and we tied them around ourselves because I wanted our tribe to feel super connected.

And so little stuff like that, that then actually has a bigger impact in the game later because “Oh wow, I feel so connected. Why do I feel even more connected?” Well, we were the only ones that did the tying the thing around, and that plays a subtle role throughout a game like Survivor. That stuff’s never going to be shown, but it was really fun for me to be out there and do all that.

Can you explain your setup situation behind you that you have there with your little mock Survivor Tribal Council tribute area?

I got to keep some of the Tree Mail stuff, and these are the fake idols that Kamilla never saw in my bag. I never showed her anything, and so it was a boldfaced lie. But everybody that goes out on Survivor wants to bring stuff home, and I got to bring home some Tree Mail. I have the Survivor 46 buff in green because this is what was thrown to me when I was an alternate and they told me to open it. And then I have my bag. What else do I got? I have my journal. This was very important to me out there when you were in Ponderosa, you only got one thing to do, so you might as well write.

Finally, has the Smithsonian been in touch about your legs?

Yeah, Smithsonian hasn’t called. Christie’s been in touch, which is nice. I do think there might be an auction here coming soon. So visit my website and you can sign up for your chance to bid on my legs.

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