“I didn’t come into Survivor depending on other people to get through,” Drea Wheeler said at this most recent Tribal Council. Indeed, the fitness consultant played a fiercely independent game, as her entrepreneurial spirit allowed her to amass several allies and a record number of advantages. She was playing a strong game, but its biggest weakness was that others knew that too. So Drea became the latest big player to get voted out on season 42, using up every advantage she had left on the way out. Though Drea was not the one to participate in the “Do or Die” twist, that motto represents her game well. She hit the ground running from the very first episode, earning both an extra vote with her riskiness on the summit and an Advantage Amulet alongside Hai Giang and Lindsay Dolashewich. She was running the camp at Ika, seemingly tight with everybody on the blue tribe at one point or another. But Drea showed in her gameplay that, despite managing relationships well, she was not afraid to change them at a moment’s notice. Even her closest ally Romeo Escobar was not safe, as she immediately distanced herself from her when she noticed how paranoid he was getting in the postmerge. By the final ten, Drea had four advantages in her pocket, having additionally gotten the “Knowledge is Power” and an idol. But that did not last. Stunned by Rocksroy Bailey on the jury, Drea openly declared she would be playing her idol to avoid continuing the streak of Black contestants being voted off. It was an eye-opening and emotional conversation for her and the rest of the contestants, as she reconciled playing a stressful game with the added pressures of representation. After that, the castaways began to gun for the big players and threats, with the end just a week away. And unfortunately for Drea, everything converged on her as they saw the excellent story she had written over 21 days. Feeling the heat on her, she attempted a maneuver to steal Mike Turner’s idol and douse the firefighter’s flame. But a crafty tip-off from Omar Zaheer had Drea’s shot missing. She was voted out near-unanimously but went out with exuberant energy, some choice words for everyone left in the game, and even getting to snuff her own torch. Now out of the game, Drea talks with Parade.com about her unique exit, the various relationships we did and didn’t see, and how she looks back on the race discussions at Tribal Council. We have to start with the very fun way you acted after being voted out last night. What I find so interesting is the light, joking energy you had seemed to be the complete opposite of the calmer, more understated energy we were used to seeing from you. Was it just a matter of letting go of the pressures of the game? No, I was always like that at camp. I think you just saw the serious side. I think that that’s why I was a threat, because I was just a very logical person. I think I am in real life too. But I had fun. It was a fun game. I had fun from start to finish. It was awesome. My name was out there every Tribal. You guys weren’t aware of that, but I was literally fighting for my life every single time since the second episode. It was inevitable. So I knew that I was going if that advantage didn’t work out. I was going to play whatever I had in my bag. I was going to go out with a bang. And I was going to try to get the game exciting again, because they were just sleeping. Did you have any inkling that Mike would not have had the idol on him when you used the Knowledge is Power advantage? I was truly stunned. What you guys don’t see is that myself, Omar, and Hai were actually pretty close. We had very emotional and personal conversations that I felt would link us together in the sense of going farther into the game. And so when Hai was gone, Omar was out there talking to everyone, and people were starting to be aware of it. So I was just like, “We need to have each other’s back. Because we have this understanding.” So I was shocked when he tipped off Mike. That’s interesting to hear about that trio. So last episode, we saw Omar debate possibly keeping Hai around. Did you have similar thoughts at the time? I did. And I instantly regretted getting rid of Hai as soon as he was gone. Because as soon as I got back to camp, I could feel the vibe was different. And I was just like, “I made a mistake.” One fun moment from last night’s episode was a sequence where a string of people talk about how big of a threat you are and why you had to be voted out. Were you aware of that perception? I was 100% aware of that. That’s why I was trying to let other people shine. I’m really good at that. Even in my businesses, I like to let other people shine. I can be in the back, but still have strength and influence. But I knew that this day was coming. And my hope was that Lindsay would go home! (Laughs.) Then my amulet would automatically turn into an idol, and then I would have used that idol the next round. And then, in the next vote, I would have stolen someone else’s advantage. And then I would have made my way to the Final Four. That was my hope. But that stupid Do or Die, man! (Laughs.) On the note of advantages, you got a wild amount of them throughout the season, at one point holding four of them at once. Were you surprised at that inventory you built? I wasn’t surprised at myself. I was surprised that other people weren’t really doing it. I feel like a lot of the people in this season are superfans, but they were afraid to be hard players. I wanted to come out there and take every chance that I could, get every advantage that I could, and not play a goat game. Let’s talk about some of your relationships this season. Romeo was your closest ally in the premerge, but in the postmerge, you seemed to move on from him because you thought he was too paranoid. Was there an inciting incident that led you to distance yourself from him? No, not at all. Actually, Romeo was the person who told me that I should go talk to Omar, and Omar was trustworthy, which made me more comfortable talking to Omar about my secret advantage. So that’s not at all what happened. As soon as we got to merge camp, I felt like Romeo was totally different. He was paranoid. He was not really talking to me as much as he did before. He was just snappy. He’s hungry, mad, and ruining my game. (Laughs.) And I would take him to the side and be like, “You need to chill. I got you; it’s all good.” But then he would just go and talk to everyone. He was talking to Tori a lot. And everyone knew Tori wanted me out of the game. So why are you talking to the one person that wants me out of the game?! I had to get smart in my gameplay. And I had to distance myself. So it wasn’t me; it was more him. I couldn’t keep on trying to make this work. I’m here to play a game, and I need to play my game. I didn’t want to sit back. He was always just sitting back in the cut. I wanted to play a game. Speaking of Tori, you and her had a very complicated relationship. As you said, there were several times when she was targeting you. In my interview with her, she accused you of spreading lies against her. What’s your side of the story? I really wanted to work with Tori. I thought that Tori was a strong player. I liked Tori. I don’t know why she didn’t want to work with me. Even in that last Tribal that she went home, you guys didn’t see this, but I went to Tori and said, “We need to go back to being Ika strong. We need to work with each other. I don’t know where this went wrong.” And she was like, “Yeah, Drea. I definitely want to work with you.” So at that Tribal, I was still on the fence. I was like, “Can I trust Tori?” And then I looked at Lindsay, and I was like, “You’re gonna vote me out.” And she nodded. And I’m like, “Come on, Tori! Even to the end, you’re still not trusting me.” (Laughs.) And I was really going to play with her. So just like, “Okay, I can’t do this anymore. You gotta go. You keep on doing this to me. You just gotta go now.” Mike was someone you connected with at the merge both having idols. You end up targeting each other at this last vote. But even when you’re voted out, you were hugging and almost celebrating when you put two idols on him. What was that relationship like? Yeah, it’s a game. I wasn’t too sour. I love Mike. He’s an emotional player. He wore his heart on his sleeve. And I can respect that. I was coming for him because I knew he was coming for me. I gotta eat you before you eat me. That’s just what it was for me. I knew if I didn’t get rid of him that day and somebody else went home, he was going to come for me the next day. So for me, it was just eat before being eaten. But he got me. And I respect that. Kudos to Mike. Speaking of eating, you and Jonathan had a bit of conflict in last night’s episode, and you were clearly getting tired of his attitude, despite wanting to work with the strongest players. How were you balancing your head versus your stomach when it came to him? There’s a part of yesterday’s episode that you guys actually didn’t see. Lindsay came back and told me that Jonathan said stuff about me. And I was like, “I’m not playing this game. I’m going to nip this in the bud.” So as soon as he got back to camp, I was just like, “Jonathan, I know, you feel some kind of way about what just happened. I apologize if I hurt your feelings. But you’re Aquaman! (Laughs.) You’re literally the fisherman. I’m starving. I need you to show me what to do. Maybe I said it the wrong way. But you haven’t eaten, and I haven’t eaten.” I needed him to understand that we’re both starving right now. I’m a Texan; I can go hunting and do all that stuff. But we don’t have anything to hunt. We only have an ocean out there. And you’re that guy, and I need you to help me figure out what to do. And he was just like, “I’m sorry.” And we hugged. So that’s how that ended. So there was no animosity going into Tribal about that. I knew they were coming for me because I was a good player. And that’s just it. So let’s go back to that Tori boot, which is obviously an incredibly emotional Tribal Council for you. Was there anything important that we missed from the edit about the conversation that went down? All I can say is that the emotions that you saw were real. Everything that went down was how it went down. The time that it took was the time that it took on the show. I took a step outside the game. And I was just like, “This is just how I feel. This is what I’m going to do to prevent it from happening.” And I was crying because it was hurtful. I can’t explain it. I just knew at that moment that I had lost the game. It was a weird feeling. I cried because I knew that millions of people were going to see this, and millions of people were going to respond. And there’s nothing I can do about it because they don’t know me. But that’s just how I felt; it was a lot of emotions. It was real, and it was raw. How did you move on from that conversation to get back into game mode, whether it was your relationships with people like Jonathan and Maryanne and just getting your head back around strategy? It was hard. I went back to camp, and I just sat in the rain by myself. It was really, really, really hard. And then the morning after, we all talked about it collectively. The first person I had a one-on-one with about this conversation was Omar. We had this emotional conversation with each other. That’s why I say that I had connected with Omar on another level. Me telling him about this advantage was me thinking we’ve got each other. Obviously, it was hard. But you just have to shake it off and get back into it. But you always have it in the back of your head. What was it like for you to watch that Tribal Council back as a viewer? To get to see your reactions and words from an external perspective? I felt the same. I was proud of Survivor, actually. I didn’t know what they would show or how they would show it. And they showed it all. I was just proud to be able to have that platform. To be able to speak my truth, and to have a show and a network let me speak my truths and not edit me. They took a risk too. And I cried because I felt like they got me. So it was a good feeling. But then it was hard because you have people judging us. I had to realize that you don’t know me or my relationships with these players outside of the game. Speaking of that reception, in the preseason, you told me that you wanted to come onto Survivor because you hadn’t seen someone like yourself on the show before. What has it been like to see the audience respond to the “first Drea”? It’s been amazing. I played a game that was true to myself. What you see is what you get. If you see me on the street, I’m the same Drea. I have little girls reaching out to me from all backgrounds and places from all over the globe. I got a video this morning from a little girl from Australia saying, “I want to be a Drea.” I could cry thinking about it. They can be strong, they can be blunt. They can cry, they can stand up for what they believe in. And they can go out with grace, still be liked, and go home feeling good about the game that they played. Next, check out our interview with Hai Giang, who was voted out in Survivor 42 Episode 10.
