With 18 castaways, three tribes, and just 26 days of gameplay across 13 episodes, not every player on “Survivor 49” could be portrayed as the “main character” of the currently-airing season.
CBSThat being said, some castaways’ edits seemed more sparse than others, especially when it comes to 31-year-old strategy associated Sophie Segreti, who, after being eliminated during this week’s December 3 episode, told The Post that she felt “gaslit” by producers after witnessing her barely-there pre-Merge edit.
Sophie Segreti Says She Felt ‘Gaslit’ By Her Pre-Merge Edit
“It’s funny because it honestly felt a lot like gaslighting in that I was there. I lived those days. I was at those challenges. I was part of this game for those 13 or so days before the merge, but like very little of that is show,” Segreti told the publication after finishing the competition in a respectable seventh place.
Over the course of the pre-Merge portion of the season, Segreti was featured in a total of seven confessionals across six episodes. By comparison, players like Savannah Louie and Rizo Velovic received six and 12 confessionals, respectively, in the premiere episode alone.
By the time she was eliminated from the competition, Sophie was featured in only 34 total confessionals across 11 episodes. While still more visible than castaway Kristina Mills – who currently stands at only 28 confessionals heading into Episode 12 – Segreti was notably featured less than both Jawan Pitts (46 confessionals) and Alex Moore (44 confessional), despite lasting longer in the game than both of them.
Segreti similarly pointed out that, since castaways have no way to document their own experiences while on the island, they are stuck “relying on the edit” compiled by producers to confirm everything they saw and heard.
“And when it doesn’t, it’s extremely upsetting,” he shared. “So I was super bummed to not get airtime early on.”
Sophie (Partially) Blames ‘Logistics’ for Her Lack of Screen Time
That being said, Sophie’s undefeated pre-Merge record kept her from attending Tribal Council before the individual portion of the game began in Episode 7, meaning that she wasn’t present on-screen for the back-half of the first six episodes as the narrative focused instead on the losing tribes trying to figure out who to vote off.
“Part of it, of course, is logistics,” Segreti admitted. “When your team is winning and you’re not going to tribal, that’s a big part of the episode that you’re just not a part of. But I will say, that was tough.”
Of course, both Rizo and Savannah also celebrated squeaky-clean pre-Merge track records, thanks to the “disaster” Kele tribe, yet both of them had significantly higher confessional counts by the time Jeff Probst snuffed Segreti’s torch. As of Episode 11, Velovic had the third-highest count at 53 total confessionals, while Louie currently leads the cast with 64.
Segreti Opens Up About Her Post-Merge ‘Emergence’
Regardless of her pre-Merge “erasure,” Segreti said she was happy to find herself more heavily featured in the post-Merge, where she emerged victorious from two Individual Immunity Challenges and participated in the savage blindsides of players like Nate Moore, MC Chukwujekwu, Alex Moore and Jawan Pitts. In fact, up until her elimination, Segreti was the only Season 49 castaway to always be on the right side of the vote.
“I am so happy that I’ve gotten to have my little moment in the sun and my emergence and coming out party in the immunity challenge,” she told The Post. “I feel like it was fun to have people want more of me than get sick of me. So I will maybe take that as a net positive in the end – but distressing while it’s happening.”
Thankfully for fans who felt like they were short-changed on seeing Segreti’s full potential this season, the castaway added that she’s already chomping at the bit to play “Survivor” again.
“Absolutely. I would play again simply to compete and do these challenges again,” she explained. “Also because I’m like, damn, the no eating, no salt, no alcohol skin routine is really working for me. How do I get that back? I can’t recreate that in New York City. Yes, I would love to play again.”
In the meantime, fans can catch Sophie Segreti as she returns to “Survivor 49” as the newest member of the Jury when the season returns to CBS this Wednesday, December 10 at 8:00pm ET.
Yep, I think she probably has a point! When watching, I often commented on how she never did much of anything. The last several episodes she finally got some recognition.
That being said, I wouldn’t call it gaslighting.