‘Survivor 49’: What Did MC Whisper to Jawan in Tribal? What You Didn’t Hear

MC Chukwujekwu didn’t want two Black contestants voted off consecutively in Survivor 49. She tells TV Insider that that was her primary motivation in her pre-Tribal Council strategy talks and the reason she triggered the season’s first live Tribal in Episode 8, which aired on Wednesday, November 13, on CBS (read our recap here). But MC was betrayed by Jawan Pitts, making her the ninth player eliminated in Survivor 49 and the second member of the jury after Nate Moore.

Here, MC tells us exactly what she whispered to Jawan and the other players in that live Tribal, explains her strategy, and what she would have done if she made it past this vote.

Congratulations on making it onto Survivor 49. Disappointing ending, but you didn’t expect to get on at all because you were an alternate.

MC Chukwujekwu: Yeah, I didn’t expect to get on. It was a crazy experience. I wasn’t letting the alternate thing be like I was playing with house money. No, I was trying to win, but it’s still a great experience that I was able to play when I wasn’t expecting to.

I have to dive straight into Tribal Council, and that live Tribal Council that you did. What did you say to Jawan? Give me verbatim everything you whispered to him, everything you said to everybody else. What happened?

To tell you this, I have to back it up: So what I asked Jawan at Tribal Council starts with whenever Sophie told me that she was going to put a vote on Jawan if there was a tie. This did not sit well with me because I know that Nate had just gone home previously. I watched Season 42, where there was multiple Black people on the jury in a row, and I know how that made me feel when I was watching it, and I did not want that to happen again. So when Sophie told me this information, I went to Jawan. I told him the same thing I just told you. I was like, “Hey, this is an out-of-game conversation that could ruin my game, but I feel like I have a duty to say this.” So I told Jawan that I didn’t want another Black person going on the jury back-to-back. So, “Still vote for Rizo, but in the case that Rizo plays his idol, I am not going to vote with Sophie. I’m going to vote against Sophie. I’m going to vote with you, Jawan.” That’s what I told him.

I told him not to tell anyone, but he then went and told everybody, and it made it get messy. And I think that’s probably what flipped the vote back on me. And so he told me that they were all voting for me. So at camp, I asked him, “Can you fight for me? I just helped you out. Can you try to get them to put the votes on somebody else, like Sophie?” I had a plan. I knew Rizo and Savannah were going to put two votes on me at least. And I was like, “OK, well, we can put two votes on Rizo and then put two votes on Sophie.”

It would be a two-two-two tie. If Rizo doesn’t play his idol, then we would re-vote, and now we can all vote for Rizo because he didn’t play his idol. So that was my plan, and I asked him if he would do that. So at Tribal Council, I went to him and I was like, “Hey, is this still happening?” He was like, “No.” And I was like, “OK, well, I have one more big ask. Can you vote for Sophie? Can you at least vote for Sophie? And then maybe I can spook other people, one more person, enough to also vote for Sophie. And then that would be three, and she would go home. I would be safe another day.” So that’s why I told Jawan. And then with my whispers to Rizo and Savannah, I was just trying to spook them so that they thought I had something or something that would make them put a vote on Sophie. And then when I whispered to Sophie, I’m not sure if they showed that, but I whispered to her to make her feel OK and just make it seem like I was doing theatrics for the theatrics. So that’s the full story.

What did you whisper to Savannah and Rizo?

I think I whispered to them, I was like, “Oh, I think I’m going to play my Shot in the Dark,” just to make them nervous so that if I did play my Shot in the Dark and I was safe, then they’d have to revote and bounce it on somebody else. So I wanted them to just be worried enough that they would split their vote so that they weren’t all going on me.

Do you remember what you whispered to Sophie? Was that about your Shot in the Dark as well?

Me and Sophie were both lying to each other and were like, “Yeah, we’re going to vote Rizo,” or something like that. And I think to Sophie, I was just saying, “Hey, I’m going to try to confuse them.” So she didn’t know that I was whispering in all their ears to vote for Sophie, something like that.

And so then what did Jawan say to you? When you two split after you said your “big ask,” did he agree? Because then clearly something changed when he was talking to the other players in the live Tribal.

I don’t think he was ever going to help me. And so I think he may have been like, “OK,” but I am assuming that he went to Rizo and Savannah and was like, “No, the plan is still the same. We’re still going to vote MC.” I think Rizo was worried. He was asking Jawan if he should play his idol, [to] which Jawan should have said yes. So yeah, that’s what I’m assuming was the conversation.

Regardless of who was getting voted out, Jawan should have told Rizo to play his idol.

Yes, but people don’t think too clearly sometimes.

And especially not when you’re hungry.

Yeah, when you’re hungry and starving, when you’re stressed, when you don’t want it to be you, there’s a lot of stress.

And when there’s a live Tribal as well, it’s chaos. I imagine it might be hard to zone in and focus, or maybe the adrenaline of a live Tribal makes it easier. Do you know now what Jawan said to the other players?

I’m pretty sure that’s what was said. I also heard some things that were being whispered between them.

What did you hear?

I remember seeing Rizo looking stressed or nervous. I am pretty sure I heard him say, “Should I play my idol?” And then this is me just assuming, I think Jawan was trying to calm Rizo and let it be known that Jawan was on Rizo’s side. I’m assuming that’s what Jawan wanted him to know.

Did watching this episode back help you better understand your elimination at all?

No, I pretty much understood it. I knew what was happening. I knew that people were going for me because I was a physical threat. I think what separated me from Sophie was that I just had more social ties, so I was a social threat as well. And I think that is what it came down to. It was interesting being able to see the conversations that happened after I spoke with Jawan, but I kind of already knew the tone of what was going on.

Had you made it past this elimination, what was your strategy for how you would move forward? Who did you want in your final three if you were to make it there?

If I was to make it past this elimination, if it hadn’t been us pulled to a separate beach, my goal was to find that idol again because I knew that I needed it. And all of my allies were on the other beach except for Sophie. Me and Sophie S., we were pitted against each other, but she was my ally. All my other allies, Kristina, Steven, Alex, even Sophi B., at this point, I don’t think she was fully on with Savannah and Rizo. So I think I could have pulled her over. I would’ve loved Final Three to have been Hina. So if it could have been me, Steven, and Kristina, that could have been awesome, or any variation of Hina, to be honest.

Was Steven still your number one at this point?

Yeah, Steven was definitely still my number one, so that’s why it was unfortunate last week’s episode when I had to find my idol, he was not there. And then also this week’s episode, he was also not there. So yeah, that was hard to do. And if I was to ever play again, I think when it came to the merge, I definitely was tired of having to socialize and to get to know people and to create new social bonds. So I was definitely relying on the ones that I already had. But if I was to ever to play this game again, I would try to make new social bonds. That can help carry you to the end of the game. But yeah, Steven was still definitely my number one.

And also, this season had more “you have to make new friends” moments than usual. Practically every episode had a tribe swap.

Exactly! One tribe swap, cool. But two, three, I’m tired of the get-to-know-you game.

You know what? I’m not here to make friends.

Yes [laughs].

When you saw Savannah dive for that ring of keys in Episode 7, what were you thinking?

I was like, “This girl, does she really think she’s going to get this?” Even if she grabbed it, I would’ve snatched it right back from her. It was just also so funny. I’m just like, “Wait, you don’t even know what the keys go to.” Because the treasure chest was in my backpack. I don’t know what she was trying to achieve, but I applaud her for trying. But my blood was boiling. I was seeing red; I couldn’t hear. There’s blood rushing in my ears, but I tried to stay as calm as possible.

Was it fun though? I imagine looking at each other and being like, “Oh, we’re both going to dive for this right now,” then you have to dive. I would just be like, “Wait, this is really fun. I love this game.”

Yeah, it’s funny. I don’t feel like in the moment, I felt like it was fun, but when I watched it back, I was like, “Why am I smiling?” So I think in the moment, it was a little rush of adrenaline. This is what you’re here for. You’re here to play the game. So yeah, it was fun. I wanted to play the game. I wanted little crazy moments like that.

What’s your take on how Rizo was able to flip the tide in his favor in Episode 8?

Honestly, I was confused. I was just like, “The vote can still be the same.” And that’s what I was telling everybody, but I think people just started freaking out. I don’t know. I think people were worried about him playing his idol, and I don’t know if they showed it, but I told people, I was like, “He’s not going to play his idol. He’s not going to play it.” And I think even after Tribal Council, there was a moment that wasn’t shown, but I patted him on the back. I was like, he keeps not playing this idol. I was like in my head in that moment, I was like, “If he makes it to Final Tribal Council, I might vote for him because he keeps playing people with this idol.” So I don’t know why it spooks people. Rizo wasn’t necessarily seen as a threat. He wasn’t like a physical threat or anything like that. It was the idol that was making him a threat, so I think that’s also a part of it. Maybe people just didn’t feel like he needed to go home necessarily.

Do you think that after this episode, he’s more of a strategic threat?

Possibly. I guess people could see him that way, yeah.

The way he was able to negotiate the vote off of him, of course, it wasn’t guaranteed, but it was successful campaigning.

I want to give him his accolades because I do think that he has a way with words, and he can read people well. I think it’s a combination of that and also other people just freaking out and just not really not being good at strategizing. So he’s good at strategizing, but other people are not so good. The combination of it makes his strategizing look better, but I feel like he can read who is not good strategy-wise. I think that has [something] to do with it.

He also had the benefit of his number one ally suddenly joining the strategy talks. That advantage helped only him in this group.

I know, it’s really crazy how the cookies crumble. It can be a random advantage. It can be a random rock draw, a random buff draw. There’s so much random stuff that happens in Survivor that can lead to people winning.

You had sensed that you might be blowing up the game by reading in Jawan. Do you think that you did in hindsight, and would you do anything differently if you could go back?

Yeah, in hindsight, I would not have told Jawan, probably. I probably still would’ve voted the same way. I would not have voted him out, but I would not have told Jawan. I think because the goal was literally Rizo, and that was just a backup thing if Rizo played his idol, and obviously, Rizo did not play his idol last night. So yeah, I still stay true to what I did and the reason why I did it. I think a lot of people may not understand, and they’re like, “Oh, it’s a game for $1 million. It shouldn’t be about race.” But when you are a person of color, when you’re Black, everything is about race. And yes, it’s a game for $1 million, but I also just morally could not have done that. I just couldn’t have. But if I could do it again, I would just not have told Jawan. I would’ve still voted the same, though.

There has been a history of Black players being voted out consecutively on the show, so I totally get your mindset there.

Consecutively, and there’s less Black people that do play this game. Representation matters, and I think it was so cool that there are so many Black people left in the game at this point, too. So I’m not saying all the Black people have to get to the end. Obviously, I am going to vote you out so I can get to the million dollars. But I just feel like that was something that I needed to stand for because I didn’t like how it made me feel when I watched Season 42 for sure.

When you and Kristina ended up on the same team, were you excited that it was two Black women together?

Yes! I was like, “Oh, this is not intentional. It was only because I was the alternate because they do not be putting two Black women on the same tribe” [laughs]. So yeah, that was awesome. I loved having Kristina, and we definitely had bonds just being together as well, for sure.

I’m happy both of you got to have that. To wrap up, what are you proudest of in your performance this season?

There’s so many things, but I just feel like Survivor is such a hard game, and I am proud of myself for not giving up whenever it gets hard. The journey that I did with Nate, I just proved to myself that I was able to do more things than I originally thought I could. And not just that journey, but in general. I’m proud of how I treated people. I wanted to win $1 million, but I also feel like I was able to be a competitor but also treat people like human beings.

Survivor, Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS