‘Survivor 49’: Jawan Pitts Reveals How He ‘Went to War’ for MC & What You Didn’t See

Survivor 49‘s Jawan Pitts is sharing his side of the story about MC Chukwujekwu’s elimination. Pitts became the 11th player sent home this season in Episode 10, which aired on Thursday, November 27, on CBS. He was also the fourth Black player voted out in a row — something MC asked for his help to prevent in Episode 8, when she became the second Black player voted out consecutively.

All four members of the Survivor 49 jury so far are Black. The first member was Nate Moore, followed by MC, Alex Moore, and now Jawan. This has been an issue brought up by players and viewers in past seasons. Season 42 is the one MC noted in her final episode. In Episode 8, MC caused the season’s first live Tribal Council by pulling Jawan aside for a last-minute Hail Mary after Rizo convinced everyone to vote for her or Sophie S. instead of him, despite everyone knowing that he had a hidden immunity idol (and still does as of Episode 10). MC told TV Insider what she whispered to Jawan in her exit interview.

“At Tribal Council, I went to him, and I was like, ‘Hey, is this still happening?’ He was like, ‘No,’” MC explained. “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.’”

Jawan confirmed MC’s two-two-two vote pitch to TV Insider, but he also revealed that while he didn’t agree to MC’s plan, he did try to save her through a Shot in the Dark plan devised in a deleted scene. Jawan explains this plan below, in addition to sharing why no one tried to get Rizo and his idol out in Episode 10 and his reaction to Rizo’s fake idol move and Savannah’s extra vote that got him eliminated from the game in the season’s best Tribal Council yet.

Congratulations on making it this far on Survivor. I know it’s obviously a disappointing ending for you, but you really turned your game around at the merge.

Jawan Pitts: For a second. [Laughs]

I want to get started with MC’s elimination. What did you whisper back to her when she asked you not to vote her out? And then what did you whisper to the other players after that?

I’m ready to just jump in and address the elephant in the room in terms of just our four-boot order. For me, I want to hold space for anyone that is watching and may be uncomfortable with our boot order, and specifically with MC, too, hold space for her feelings. But I want to give some context of my perspective. My goal out there was to win $1 million for my family. I’m a broke kid, and I’m from L.A., but I also wanted to kind of be a safety net for my siblings. So, more specifically, going back to MC, what I whispered to them after that: MC came to me, and she brought up a two-two-two plan, and I think at that point I was so spooked by just Savannah’s presence. Savannah was being extra nice to me all [day that day], and I was like, “Oh, hell no, I just blindsided her yesterday with Rizo.” I had thought my name was rotated in the mix, so I try to tell MC, “Yo, they told me it’s you. Please play your Shot in the Dark.” So, when she tells me, “No, trust me, due to two-two-two thing,” I got spooked because Rizo was staring at me. I go tell them, I’m like, “Hey, she doesn’t have an advantage. The plan’s still the same,” in hopes that they would stack the votes on MC and the Shot in the Dark would play. I just was so spooked that my name was in the mix, too.

I did want to ask you about the four consecutive Black players being voted out. When MC warned you, when she was whispering to you that this could happen, and she wanted to avoid it, how did you feel? And then, after it continued to happen, how did you feel?

When she first comes to me, and she confides in me, “Hey, this is my fear about what could happen, similar to Season 42,” we have a long conversation about that. I’m like, “Hey, I appreciate you. I got you.” But in order to protect myself, I didn’t go out and say, “Hey, we’ve got to get MC out.” I go to my number one, Sage, who just saved me on the Shannon boot, to be like, “Hey, I need your help with this. I don’t want to go home, and I don’t want to send MC home. Can we stack on Sophie?” And a lot of back and forth. That was the plan until the Savannah boat comes up and Rizo and Savannah go on a tear, a whole tour about taking out MC. There was a lot of unknown about what Savannah had in her back pocket, which spooked me.

So, even before we went to Tribal Council, I pull MC aside and [was] like, “Hey, fam, I went to war. Their votes are still coming your way. Can you please, please play your Shot in the Dark?” And they don’t show this on TV, but I said, “If you see me do thumbs up at Tribal Council, please play this.” So, when I’m doing this [thumbs up] at Tribal Council, I think that prompts her to stand up and be like, “Hey, just double-checking. Can we stack votes?” But I think she wanted to be safe by me somehow flipping the votes. I wanted her to be safe by just playing a Shot in the Dark. And it’s just tough. We don’t have a lot of time to talk. I really think that was probably the hardest vote for me.

CBS

Definitely. It’s complicated. So you told her to play the Shot in the Dark. Why do you think she didn’t? When you were whispering in tribal council, did you say play your Shot in the Dark?

No, when I talked to her, when we first stood up, I was like, “Play your Shot in the Dark.” She was like, “No, no, no, trust me. Can you go talk and advocate for me?” And I think at that point, I felt like it was too late. The ship was sailed. So, I just went back to just double-check, like “Hey, everybody, the plan’s still the same,” just to save my own skin.

And so you gave her the thumbs up to say, “Do your Shot in the Dark, protect yourself.”

Yeah.

How did Rizo convince everybody not to vote him out repeatedly when you all knew the threat that he posed? You didn’t know what Savannah had, but you knew Rizo had an idol.

Rizo was a good showman. At the Nate boot, I really wanted Rizo there. I was telling everybody, “This is my one-time cloak of I’ll have all the information. He’s not playing it tonight.” So for Nate to go there and then for us to be on a split vote with someone I just blindsided with an idol, I feel like, for me, I just was like, all right, I just need to make it to the next round. So for the Alex vote, it gets kind of messy. I have a conversation with Kristina that doesn’t make air. I’m like, “Hey, don’t tell nobody. I don’t want this getting back out. But we were going to get Alex on that. We were going to get Rizo before the Savannah boat showed up.” And she was like, “OK, cool.” So when I wake up in the morning, Rizo pulls me aside, and he was like, “Hey, so you were going to target me last vote?”

I was like, “Who told you that?” And he was like, “Well, Alex did.” So I’m like, “All right.” You kind of see it in the edit. I’m like, “I don’t know how much of that is accurate or not. Let me fact-check with Alex.” This doesn’t make air either. We go to the water well together. And I’m like, “Alex, bro, why did you tell Rizo that we were going to target him?” And he was like, “Bro, I didn’t. Trust me. Everybody’s coming after you, Jawan, everyone’s writing your name.” I was like, “What?” I was like, “Yo, who?” And he never gave me a name. I wish I had a time machine to go back in time to be like, “Alex, if you don’t give me a name, I’m going to think it’s you, bro.” So I go talk to Sage, and then we really kind of weigh our options because we noticed how well Alex was playing the game and that he could be a potential leak that goes back and forth. I didn’t realize how much Rizo was embellishing stuff.

Ultimately, I did want Rizzo on the Alex boot, but we didn’t realize how loaded they were. Sophie having knowledge is power, Savannah having an extra vote, I think if we even have it inkling that they have that, it’s a no-brainer. But we thought a six-person majority, three-person on the bottom, we can maybe cut somebody that is playing both sides. That’s what it came down to.

Robert Voets/CBS

Do you think Kristina is the one who told Rizo then?

I have to double-check that. I’m not sure how that got back over.

I guess it’s possible that Rizo was lying when saying, “I know you did this.” And you’re like, “Oh, no. That’s true.”

Exactly. I was like, “Dang it.”

It sounds like Alex or Kristina were possibilities as well. So, after Episode 10, Sophi B. is still the only one who knows that she has that Knowledge is Power advantage. Did you learn she had that advantage watching this season?

Yeah! I was like, “What the heck?” Big shout-out to Sophi. I underestimated her a lot. I feel like the trio [is] dangerous for different reasons. Savannah is the obvious physical threat. Rizo is maybe a strategic showman. He likes to play it up, but I think the danger is the subtle person, like Blue Soph. We knew that she was with them, but she was always lurking and trying to get information. I feel like one of my blind spots was her. They don’t show our relationship out there, but I felt kind of close with her because I had a connection with Jake on my journey. So, he told me that he was close with Alex, and so me and her got along a lot. I just didn’t realize how dangerous she was, too.

Alex Moore said in his exit interview that he thinks everyone was scared to challenge Savannah and Rizo. Do you think that’s true? It sounds like it may be true, because as you said, they went on a tear and were intimidating.

I think that’s 50-50. There’s definitely some merit to it. I think they were scared on the Nate vote. I mean, that’s why Nate gets voted out because Kristina and Alex at that point were scared. I was scared on the MC vote when I knew my name was in the mix, and there’s an unknown about an advantage. The Alex vote, yeah, it was tough to pull that trigger. But if we have all the information, of course, we would stack it. And for our hopes, by taking out Alex, it would lull Rizo and Savannah into a false sense of security, which almost worked. If you notice before Yellow Sophie goes and tells them, there’s a different gameplay there. I think that one vote, that’s why we took out Alex there. [It] was to get Rizo and Savannah to put their foot off the pedal because she didn’t win immunity. She didn’t realize that her name was in the mix. I know it’s frustrating watching week after week, I’m like, “Oh, take your shots!” But I just want you guys to know that we saw, we saw. We just were waiting for the right moment. It didn’t work out.

What move was more impressive to you in Episode 10: Rizo’s fake idol and his little speech, or Savannah deploying that extra vote?

I think probably the extra vote. It was nothing against Rizo and his move, but I just was so confused by it. I was like, “All right, what are you gaining from that?” And I didn’t understand it in the moment, but watching it back, I’m like, “Oh, he’s just playing to the jury. We’re out there to put on the show to win.” So I can respect that. I just thought that — yeah, I was like, “Dang, Savannah’s extra vote.” I think we were cooked regardless.

CBS

And she was definitely bluffing when she was like, “Jawan, did you do this?” Did you feel like you really had her then?

Oh my gosh. [Laughs] Well, yeah. Up until then, I haven’t been on the wrong side of any vote, so I don’t even know what it feels like to feel slightly out of the loop. So at that point, when she’s asking me, “Did you do this?” I’m like, “No, what are you talking about?” Because I’m waiting for more votes. And then once I saw it was three-three, I’m like, “OK, well, I guess if she keeps prodding me, I’ll say yeah.” But it wasn’t even in an overly confident way. It just was like, “OK, I’ll give you what you want.” And then to see the fourth Jawan vote, I was like, “Oh, no, she’s a savage! That’s crazy.”

It’s my favorite Tribal Council of the season so far. If you’re going to get eliminated, that’s the Tribal Council to get cut in.

It could be worse, right, Kelli? It could be worse. And to top it with the Rizo torch thing, too, I think that’s a fitting way to end my story. Grabbing somebody else’s stuff. Classic Jawan.

Were you really just grabbing the wrong people’s bags and torches by accident? Or was this a ploy?

Yes! I wish it was some mastermind ploy of like, “I’m going to troll Savannah for days by taking her bag and water bottle.” No, I’m just the friend in real life that forgets my wallet and my car keys. I have to constantly do the phone, wallet, keys check. So I just was not doing that on the island. I’m just a dork. I’m just weird.

It was really funny. And Jeff said on On Fire that they gave Rizo his torch back after you left.

OK, good.

You didn’t know that?

No, I didn’t know that. [Laughs]

He didn’t say when it happened, but I guess after that mix-up, they switched the torches. Do you have your torch now?

Not yet. Hopefully, I get it.

I think they send the torches after the seasons are over, right?

I hope so!

CBS

I hope you get your actual torch. To wrap up, who was your ideal Final Three, and how would you have gotten there?

Just some love to Sage. I love her. She’s like my sister. She’s someone that I can truly be wacky, weird, all types of weirdness, and she still will show up for me. But we did have a back and forth about how to get to the end together. Is it better to go with a solid three? Which is kind of stupid for me. I was thinking, “All right, well, Rizo and Savannah and Sophi are in lockstep all the time. The other yellow three is so chaotic. Sophie threw out my name before. Steven lied to me about [Kristina’s] idol.” I was like, “Oh, he’s still lying to me.” Kristina, me and her had a rough road — just out-of-game stuff. So I was like, “How do we get to the end?” Ultimately, Sage made the right decision.

She was like, “Jawan, going with the yellow five, it is better for our game. We can actually probably have a shot of beating them.” So my ideal three, even though I love Steven and [the Bottoms Up alliance with Sage], I don’t know if I would’ve won against him. He’s a triple threat. So for me, it would’ve been me, Sage, Kristina. That’s the only shot I really have at winning. I was surprised to hear Yellow Sophie not wanting to sit next to me. I think there’s a good case she would cook me at Final Tribal. But yeah, that was my three. Hopefully that made sense.

Survivor, Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS