Survivor 51 is here! Every week, Parade.com’s Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the castaway most recently voted off the island.
Aaliyah Puglia came into Survivor 51 feeling she had the recipe for success. After all, living day-to-day in the kitchen, she knows how to execute in high-pressure situations while also being quick on her feet. But even the chef wasn’t prepared for how quickly the heat was turned up on her. In the first few hours of the game, her prep was going well. She had assembled the right ingredients for longevity, namely a quickly-formed alliance with Devin Way, Angelica “Jelly” Loblack, Ori Jean-Charles and Sharonda Cox. Even when the arrival of a chopper chopped up their strat chat, the fivesome vowed to stick together, no matter which way the tribes shook out.
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Luckily for Aaliyah, she wound up sharing the beach with Devin and Jelly. And the former was leading the charge early against Jenna Doore, feeling she was acting too yellow for the yellow tribe. The shot began to shift for the wedding photographer, however, after the first challenge. People were commending Jenna for her admirable performance on the puzzle, while also admonishing Aaliyah for quite literally dropping the ball. And when Jenna found out how in danger she was, she quickly changed the focus.
Hitting the beach hard, she began embellishing a comment Aaliyah made about Brady Booker’s behavior in the challenge. Being accused of being too intense sparked an intense reaction from the pro wrestler, as he began to pivot to turn the votes against Aaliyah. The first Tribal Council of the “open era” was quite the open conversation, as it became incredibly public knowledge that both Jenna and Aaliyah were on the chopping block. That came as quite a surprise to the latter, and, presumably, many others, considering it prompted an immediate live Tribal. The two public targets felt so uneasy that they both played their Shot in the Dark, and unfortunately both missed in the process. But in a battle between the two most boisterous characters on the tribe, Devin did not get his way. Between her challenge performance and a very vocal charge led by Brady, Aaliyah was left feeling salty as the first boot of the season.
Now out of the game, Aaliyah talks with Parade about what led her to play her Shot in the Dark, her immediate connection with Devin and Jelly, and the person she almost turned the target onto after the challenge.
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You say at one point in Tribal Council that you had no idea you were on the hot seat. So what happened between that moment and playing your Shot in the Dark that made you feel like you had to sacrifice your vote for a one in six shot of surviving?
Well, I was slightly tipped off before Tribal by Dev and Jelly that my name was circulating around. They were like, “Aaliyah, we’re trying to work it out. But it is picking up steam.” So I was definitely super nervous going into Tribal, almost to the point where I was prepared to play my Shot regardless of if it went live or not. Honestly, [I was] that nervous. But I didn’t want to play that we were so tight. Because they put their necks crazy on the line for me in three days, right? So I didn’t want to blow up anyone’s spot at that point when they’re trying to throw me a bone, you know? So was I shocked that Patt put it out there? Crazy, of course! But I wasn’t hyper shocked that my name; I knew my name was out there.
How live was that Tribal? Did you get the sense that you were going to be the boot going in?
Gosh, that Tribal was live! There’s only so much time, right? And you only can see like so little pieces of that. But the Tribal was insane. It was very long, and there was a lot of talking. I mean, look, to go out on a live Tribal like that in the first episode. If I’m gonna go out first, that’s a great way to go out!
Have you been told when exactly the majority of the votes turned on you?
Well, I think it’s what was shown at camp, right? It was the slight conversation. It was one little thing that kind of turned the tides. Me saying Brady was hyper-aggressive at the challenge, really casually too. And at that point, honestly, to give context, even though we lost at the challenge, Jenna did well at the challenge. She honestly did. She performed decent on the puzzle. So even at that point, we’re sitting in the water and we’re like, “Wait, maybe we don’t even want Jenna to go home. Let’s maybe throw somebody else right under the bus.” So, I mean, it was what was shown. She kind of put a seed out and it caught flame.
Who do you feel most betrayed by from the people who voted you out?
Kilby! I was actually working lose with Kilby, and they didn’t show it. We were going to find peppers together, and he was looking for idols next to me. And he was another one that tipped me off before Tribal as well. But ultimately, like, he wasn’t gonna put his game out there as much as Dev and Jelly were. He wasn’t gonna be on a minority of the vote. It’s Day 3 of Survivor. You want to protect your game as much as you can, and I’m not mad at nobody for that.
Well, let’s get into the people who did vote to keep you. You make this alliance with Devin, Jelly, Ori, and Sharonda mere hours into the game. Talk to me about how that came together so quickly.
Well, it’s crazy. With Sharonda, she lives in Kentucky, and all my family lives in Kentucky. So there’s that connection there. And then Ori kind of brought me and was like, “Aaliyah, I’m feeling good vibes from you. Let’s do something.” I like people that like me! Great, I love that. And me and Dev, we connected in the water. We were trying to get those supplies in the water. And he just reminds me of a cousin. And then Jelly, she’s just hard not to like! So I mean, all that combined, I feel like it just made for a really great group.
Were you planning to roll with that group by the time you were voted out? Or were you already seeking other options?
No, I would have rolled with them the whole way. I would have went the whole way, 100%.
Let’s go back to your comments about Brady during the challenge. Talk to me more about what you were observing with how aggressive he was.
I think it was just shock. It was almost like polarizing opposites. Before the challenge, he was like that super fun, lovable, high-energy guy. So then to see a flipped perspective at the challenge was just shocking for me. It was like two levels of hyper intensity. So I mean, even you see in that pool, I’m like, “Hey, he was kind of aggressive at the challenge, but I don’t want to get rid of him. I’m just making observations, like, ‘Hey, he was like kind of aggressive at the challenge.’ It’s a trait that scares me a little bit.”
Speaking of the challenge, were you aware how many eyes were on you for your performance in gathering the balls?
I mean, I did terrible at the challenge. I’m not going to negate that fact. However, I think we all saw in my portion of the challenge, we were still ahead. Now, did I do terrible at the challenge? Yes. Was I brave enough to put myself in a position for that challenge? I was. I would never put myself in a position where I thought I would ever set the team back. But I did, and I owned that. I didn’t perform well the challenge, and that’s any reason for anyone to look away.
We’ve talked a lot about Jenna. Can you elaborate on how closed-off she was in the first couple of days? And did you sense that changing in the time between the challenge and Tribal Council?
I think [the edit] was accurate. I think she was closed off in those days. You kind of didn’t really know where she was. She wasn’t really opening up, at least to me, strategy-wise or hyper-emotional-wise. And I think the challenge, in a way, changed her perception. Because although we lost, I mean, I looked and even I was like, “Damn, she kind of did pretty well in the puzzle!” Maybe we should consider somebody else.” So it’s kind of crazy that she threw me under the bus because I’m like, “Girl, actually, I was like gonna maybe switch my vote after the challenge!” So I think it kind of worked adversely, right? For her, people saw her in the puzzle and was like, “Oh, there’s a strength there.” And then for me, people saw me in the challenge like, “There’s a weakness there.”
You’ve mentioned a couple of times that you were thinking about flipping the vote after the challenge. Who would you have tried to flip it on?
I don’t want to say this. [Pause.] Kilby. Kilby was hyper-gaming. Even though Kilby did look out to me to look out for me to an extent, and I appreciate that. But he was gaming very hard in the beginning, and I feel like maybe didn’t perform as well on the puzzle as Jenna. So there could have been a way to do something.
Talk to me more about Kilby “gaming very hard” in those first few days.
Well, we actually were pretty close. We’d go on walks together and find chili peppers, and he would look for idols. And I’m just walking, and I’m like, “This man is crazy! I want to know what he’s doing.” I’d rather be close to him because he was my fake number one. Kilby was my fake number one, and then Dev was the real number one. So he was the smokescreen for Dev in my perception. But yeah, I was like, “Oh, he’s like doing stuff, and I don’t like that. So I’d rather know what the freak he’s doing than not know what he’s doing.”
Finally, what’s one moment that you wish we got to see from your three days on Survivor 51?
I think a lot of speculation came about my arm during pregame and my scars. So I got into a boating accident a couple of years ago. I got ejected out the boat, and the propeller blade slashed my right arm all the way to the bone in multiple places. And so I had to get a metal rod put in, multiple surgeries. And I’m right-handed, and I cook, right? So that to me was a huge story. And I was there for a day, right? Had I’d had a couple more episodes,I’m sure that would have came up. But yeah, that was a huge story for me. Because a big reason why I went out there is that I’ve always been open about my scars and never been ashamed to talk about it or express it. And I wanted to show viewers that you do not need to hide imperfections or scars. A lot of people have that internally. I just happen to have it externally. That was a big portion I wish could have gotten shown more. But I understand why, because it’s just not enough time in a two-hour episode.
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