Often in Survivor, the twists giveth, and the twists taketh away. Nobody this season has realized that more than Brad Reese. The cattle rancher thought he could steer the course of the game early on, fueled by a hard work ethic, an unhealthy dose of paranoia, and several advantages to boot. But hunter Brad surprisingly found himself the prey of his ally Shan Smith, who chose to get rid of him for the power he was amassing. Brad started the game as a workhorse (or cow) for his Ua tribe. But he quickly stepped in it when he told Shan and Sara Wilson to their faces he was targeting them, causing panic to erupt and an attempt to swing the vote against Brad himself at Tribal Council. That night had the oldest member of the tribe cautiously eyeing the youngest in JD Robinson, only confirming his paranoia during a stakeout mission at the water well. Brad transitioned his hunting from conversations to advantages, finding two in one day. The windfall of parchments ended up giving him a Vote Steal, but also barred him from voting until the three-way “shared idol” was found between all tribes. Despite not being able to wield the pen at Tribal Council, Brad felt confident that his tight trio would hold that he’d be able to dunk on JD. But Shan became nervous at the possible goldmine Brad was sitting on. As a result, Brad felt like broccoli by the end of Night 7, his game absolutely cooked. Now out of the game, Brad talks with Parade.com about the “warning signs” towards his boot, the thinking behind some of his earliest moves, and how Wyoming residents have reacted to its first Survivor contestant. You seemed to have a big reaction upon finding out it was you over JD who went home. Were you truly surprised that you were the one booted? I had the feeling beforehand. The show really didn’t show it. But when all your power is taken from you, and this “monster” that Jeff has been talking about strips you clean. I kind of knew I was in trouble, which is why I knew I had to find the idol. And I think I did a good job. JD’s like, “Brad does nothing but sit at camp.” Well, I had him pretty fooled! I was looking for that idol. It didn’t just fall out of the sky; I had to look for that dude. When I found that, I was like, “This is what I need!” But I immediately saw “Beware” on it, which I had never seen before. This monster grabbed me and threw a twist at me that I wasn’t prepared for. When that neuters you and takes you down where you can’t vote, play your Shot in the Dark, steal a vote, or use an idol, you’ve got nothing. The four things I had zeroed out. So I thought, “I can’t play aggressive.” I backed off, and I trusted my alliance. I laid it all out to Shan, saying, “Use me how you want to use me.” But JD never felt worried that night. When we went off to Tribal Council, he wasn’t worried. That’s a bad sign. He’s a good enough player where he won’t feel confident when it’s him. And he was feeling confident. So I knew I was in trouble, and when the second Brad vote came up, I knew I was done. Talk to me about your choice to target JD. You were hesitant to work with him after that first Tribal Council, and you weren’t happy with his challenge performance. What made you decide to go after him? So Ricard and I clashed from jump street. From the get-go, I was against Ricard. That’s why that first tribal I was trying to get Ricard. That’s one of the reasons why Genie voted for him. But when Ricard and Sara and Shan jumped up to do their live Tribal thing, I looked at JD and Genie, and I said, “They’re turning it on me. Let’s just drop the hammer on Ricard right now.” And JD was like, “Yeah, Ricard.” Then JD jumped up and ran over to Shan. I’m like, “Dude, you ditched me in my moment of need!” And that was unforgivable. When I needed you most, you jumped up and ran. I was done with JD from that point on. And then we got to the Immunity Challenges, and he was doing his NBA jump shots. It was great footage, but we needed more from JD than that. And so it was easy. It seemed like you thought you, Genie, and Shan were a tight trio. Talk to me about your respective bonds with the two of them. Shan has an amazing ability to know every person’s emotional needs. She could touch you on an emotional level. She touched each one of us. And I thought I had a deep relationship with Shan. We talked a lot about her doing overseas missions work. She touched me on a very spiritual, emotional level that hit very deep. And Genie, of course, hit me on that work ethic, the sweating together, bleeding together. I really thought I was strong with those two ladies. I was very comfortable with that. And I know Shan was talking to others, but we were kind of using that to say, “Oh Shan, you can go make friends with them. But you know that us three are tight to the end.” And I sincerely meant that. Let’s talk about a different threesome you were a part of this episode, with the late-night trip you took with Tiffany and Sydney. What was your perspective behind meeting them for the first time and talking out the tarp vs. Vote Steal decision? It was the first time I met them, so I was very vague. We talked about each other’s tribes, and I said, “Mine’s a little shaky. I’m in a 3-2 with the third going either way.” So I shared with them that I was in a little bit of trouble. And that’s when they’re like, “Well, Brad’s in trouble. Maybe we should help him.” They really did build trust with me. I mean, they didn’t show it. But they told me, “If we give you this Vote Steal, just remember it. If we go further and make the merge, just remember what we did for you here.” I was very impressed they were looking out for me, despite barely even knowing me. What did you tell your allies about what happened when you got back to camp, if anything at all? So Shan was the only one I really shared with. When I came back, I crawled into bed. The next morning Shan asked me, “Hey, how did it go?” I’m like, “It went awesome!” I shared with her the Vote Steal. With Genie, she wanted to see my idol. She saw the Vote Steal too. We really talked about that Vote Steal and how to use it. So why did you ultimately decide not to give the Vote Steal to Genie to use at Tribal Council? So, all my powers were taken. I asked, “Can I use my Vote Steal even though I lost my vote because of the broccoli thing?” And they said, “No, you’ve got all your rights to vote revoked.” But in my mind, I could give this to Genie, and Genie could use this. But then you do the math. If it’s three to one and Genie steals JD’s vote, it’s just going to be two to two. JD and I are tied; we can’t vote. They’re going to revote, and it’s going to be two to one. We wrestled through that lot, and I just didn’t see a way to make my idol and my advantages work. So I figured, “Well, I’m just going to hang it out there. I’m going to be vulnerable to Shan and Ricard and trust Shan instead of trying to stir it up and get paranoid.” I didn’t want to blow them up and make them paranoid because my whole game is trust. I am who I say I am. And I think everybody there on that beach could tell that. True to that authenticity, you tell Sara and Shan to their faces in the beginning that they were your two targets. What was going through your self-proclaimed broccoli head to get you to do that? (Laughs.) First of all, great line by Sara. “2000 gameplay,” I love that. So here’s the deal. When you’re on that island, this is the first time I’ve been vulnerable in my life, right. And I’ve prepared; I’ve listened to podcasts, and I know you’re not supposed to do that. All my friends are like, “Brad, what are you doing?!” But I had dodged that question for hours. Everyone kept asking me who I was voting for. Ricard was the one I wanted gone. And I felt Sara was in line with Ricard. And so I thought, “Well, I don’t think I can get Ricard. But let’s get Ricard’s number one.” And I think I was probably wrong in that, but that was my inclination. So I walked around that corner after dodging them for four hours. And here they are! Ricard’s like, “Just the man we wanted to talk to!” And I didn’t want to talk to him. You could see I just don’t want to be here. I knew I had to do something. And I look at Sara, and Tribal Council was getting close. I could not look into Sara’s eyes and lie to her. I just couldn’t do it. So I was like, “You know what? I’m going after the worst in the challenge.” I said in a confessional, “Brad opened his mouth and laid an egg.” I knew the second I opened my mouth I was wrong. At one point, when you’re spying on JD and Ricard at the well, Shan called you unpredictable. Does that surprise you, given what you said before about wanting to set up a reputation of being trusted? I truly don’t believe it. Shan is such a good read of people. I don’t believe for a second that she thought Brad was unpredictable. I think what Shan thought was, “I’m talking bad about Brad to Ricard and JD, so they don’t think I’m with him.” And it made her nervous that I might accidentally hear something that she didn’t want me to hear. I do believe that made her uncomfortable. But never for a minute did I doubt my loyalty to her. Speaking of those water well shenanigans, were you able to make use of any other hunting tactics out there on the island? No, unfortunately. The way my brain thinks is forward. I know we’re going to make some mistakes, but we’re going to learn from those mistakes, and we’re going to move on. That was a spontaneous thing. I saw JD and Ricard leaving. I’m like, “Oh, I need to see what they’re talking about.” It just hit me. I just jumped up and dove into that bush. And that was the same way I found that idol. It’s a thought process. If you were Jeff, where would you hide an idol? Usually, it’s in a big tree, and I couldn’t find any of those big trees. But I found a grove of weird trees with those little roots that spread out, and I’m like, “This feels alien to me.” It’s kind of a Survivor spidey sense. I looked at that place about three different times until finally, I found it. So I had that mental process just to dive in and calculate. You were the first Survivor contestant from Wyoming. How did it feel to represent your state, and what have your neighbors’ reactions been? That’s been the hidden jewel out of this whole thing. I’m the first contestant from Wyoming. Wyoming people are strong, resilient, good, trustworthy, solid people. And so when I play a game that’s wide, open, and hard, and then you get to the end of it, and you get beat, you hate it. But at the end, when I said, “I’m going back to the ranch with the people I can trust,” I really did that. And it’s like, “Dude, this is amazing.” I walked in a volleyball game with the high school the other day. I walked into sections of students chanting, “Brad Reese survived!” That’s been the highlight of this whole thing. Next, check out our interview with David Voce, who was voted out in Survivor 41 Episode 2.
