Survivor Kaôh Rōng: Alecia Holden Talks About Life On Brawn

At the end of the day, it wasn’t enough to lose one Survivor due to an extraordinary medical emergency. Another person was sent packing at the end of Survivor: Kaôh Rōng‘s fourth episode, and that person was none other than the Mental Giant herself, Alecia Holden.

In all honesty, it’s a small wonder that Alecia kept holding on for so long. She was a target at the very first Tribal Council of the season, ultimately outlasting Darnell Hamilton after a bizarre tie vote. Alecia held on again when Jennifer Lanzetti‘s flirtation with a new alliance came back to bite her like a bug in the ear. But when Brawn went back for their third rendezvous with Jeff Probst, there was no place left to hide — certainly not behind a hidden immunity idol.

It was a challenging string of days, no doubt, but Alecia’s final hours in the game appeared particularly brutal, with tribe mates Kyle Jason and Scot Pollard airing their frustration with her not just to her face, but in front of the greater Kaôh Rōng cast. Indeed, Jason and Pollard pushed to hold Tribal Council immediately after the challenge to cut Alecia out then and there. Alecia refused, but was still voted out hours later, in a decision so clear cut that even Probst made it known in the minutes before the ballot was cast.

I spoke with Alecia about what it was like to live with the Brawn tribe, the idol she almost found, her final day in the game, and much more.

Was it tough to watch last night’s episode, and relive that final day in the game?

I mean, it definitely was tough, because I wanted to go a lot further in the game, and I knew I had what it takes to go further in the game… I just felt I was in a pretty tough situation, so.

The Mental Giant versus the actual giant.

Daniel and Goliath! I mean, David and Goliath.

What was life like on the Brawn tribe? It looked like it was tough for you pretty much right away.

I was definitely bullied and I definitely was picked on, but I also stood up for myself. I’m a lot more feisty than what was shown in my edit. Even in the first episode, Cydney still had some rotten fruit down her pants in the challenge, and I went and fed that rotten fruit that was in Cydney’s pants to Scot and Jason. Stuff like that. How can they not show that? There was some stuff that wasn’t shown. They didn’t know about that, but I had a good laugh.

[Wigler’s Note: I regret not spending the rest of the interview digging into this rotten fruit scandal. Internet, I leave it to you.]

Did you know they were calling you Blondie, or was that only behind your back?

That’s the thing. I didn’t know. I didn’t really know any of that until I saw it on TV. And in episode three, once they started saying things to my face, that’s when I fired back. In the other episodes, not much was really said to my face. That’s why I look helpless and maybe defenseless. I didn’t know what they were saying. The minute somebody says something to my face, I fire back, and I address the situation right away, which was shown last night with Scot.

How did your opinion of Jason and Scot change while you were out there?

Never liked Jason. Did not like him in the beginning, from when I fed him the rotten fruit I found in Cydney’s pants, and I didn’t like him in the end. I never liked Jason in the end. And I was not a fan of Scot, either. When Jenny went out, he was the only one who wrote my name down, and once you break my trust? You’re done, buddy.

Speaking of Jen, you had a chance to form an alliance with her and Cydney against Scot and Jason. Why didn’t that work out?

I was all about an all-girl alliance, but Jenny said that she wanted to go back to Jason and say it was my idea. And I was like, “Why would you do that if we’re doing a blindside?” And then Cydney came up to me and said to me, “Alecia…” — and I mean, I was all about voting out Jason, I even broke out my happy dance on TV — but Cydney came up to me and said, “Alecia, Jenny is changing her mind. She’s trying to send you home tonight now. Scot started talking to her, and now she’s changing her mind.” When Cydney told me that, I thought I could trust Cydney. So going into Tribal, I decided to listen to Cydney and write Jenny’s name down.

Can you tell me more about your relationship with Cydney? You consulted with her about the immunity idol clue, you wished her luck before you went home last night… was she someone you felt you could trust out there?

I thought I could trust her until she turned on me with the idol. Sharing the idol clue with her was the biggest mistake I made in the game. Sometimes things just happen so fast that you don’t think in the moment. But I did think I could trust Cydney up until that point, because she did help me with that second Tribal, but not a lot of that was shown. Not a lot of me and Cydney hanging out and talking was shown. Cydney’s just kind of neutral. She would talk about how it’s all about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. After the second Tribal when the idol situation happened, I realized then I couldn’t trust anyone on the tribe.

What’s your take on how the immunity idol hunt played out?

I went back into the water for a minute, and Cydney came up to me and said, “Jason is going to find the idol. Run. Run!” So when Cydney said that, I started running up there. It doesn’t show it, but me and Jason are digging in the dirt again, trying to find where Cydney had recovered the chest. Cydney came up to me and said, “Run! He’s going to find the idol!” So I said, “Okay!” I went up there and ran as fast as I could and me and Jason are digging and digging and digging, and he finds the idol. Whenever him and Scot were in the corner talking, I was trying to climb the tree that the key box was in. I got halfway up the tree, and then the tree was being flimsy, so I had to climb down. I tried cutting the tree down, and I got in trouble. But I was fighting more for that idol than was shown.

Now, when they key box dropped, Jason got his shoulder and shoved me as hard as he could into the rocks. I got scars on my legs from it. That was kind of edited. When the key was dropped, Jason pushed me to the ground.

You’re saying there was some foul play?

Definitely. Definitely. He pushed me like he should not have pushed a girl, especially if he has daughters.

There have been a lot of reactions to the nastiness between you, Scot and Jason. Do you feel it was bullying?

I definitely stood up for myself more than was portrayed. I did feel they were picking on me, but it is a game, and we are on the Brawn tribe, and that can be expected. So at the end of the day, I didn’t sit in the corner crying about it. I was more laughing at them, you know? Two men who are ten or fifteen years older, acting like that. You’re going to be portrayed in that light in front of all of America, so, that’s on you, buddy.

After the immunity challenge last night, your tribe mates were pushing for Tribal Council to happen right then and there. You refused. The show took us to Tribal Council right after that anyway. What happened in the afternoon between the challenge and Tribal? What kind of work did you put into sticking around, that we didn’t get to see?

I went and looked to see if I could find another immunity idol. I didn’t end up finding one. I went looking for over an hour to see if maybe I would be lucky enough to find one. Maybe I would be lucky enough to come across some kind of twist. At the same time, if you’re going to go into Survivor just to quit, why are you there? I don’t have that attitude. I didn’t give up in the beginning, and I wouldn’t give up in the end.

What did you think about Jeff’s remark at Tribal, that he thought you were going home?

I knew at that point I was out of options. I knew when Jeff said that I was going home, which was extremely unfortunate.

Do you think you would have done better in the game if you were with a different group instead of the Brawn tribe?

I think I would have gone further on the Beauty tribe. But I think I was very stereotyped from day one. I do think I was meant to be on the Brawn tribe. Scot said, “We don’t want anyone weak on our tribe.” Weak is not having food. Weak is not having water. You sleep for five hours while quitting, and I sit in the blazing hot sun for five hours making a fire so we can have water and food, and that’s strength. It’s not always physical. Brawn is also mental. I think I showed that throughout the game as well.

Josh Wigler is a writer, editor and podcaster who has been published by MTV News, New York Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Comic Book Resources and more. He is the co-author of The Evolution of Strategy: 30 Seasons of Survivor, an audiobook chronicling the reality TV show’s transformation, and one of the hosts of Post Show Recaps, a podcast about film and television. Follow Josh on Twitter @roundhoward.