Sophi Balerdi Breaks Down the ‘Survivor 49’ Moment Fans Keep Arguing About (Exclusive)
As a core member of Survivor season 49's most dominant alliance, Sophi Balerdi managed to stay influential without becoming a huge target, maneuvering through the game with a level of awareness that ultimately carried her to Final Tribal Council and earned her two jury votes in a 5–2–1 finish that ultimately went to her closest ally Savannah Louie.
In a post-finale interview with Men’s Journal, the Miami native, 27, exclusively breaks down the strategy behind her game, from navigating alliance dynamics to making calculated decisions that kept the spotlight off her. She also reflects on the now-infamous Knowledge Is Power play, the dynamics within her alliance with Savannah and Rizo Velovic, and why she believes her game would play out even better the second time around.
Scroll down to read the full interview with Sophi.
Men’s Journal: Now that the finale has aired and you’ve had time to watch everything back, how are you feeling?
Sophi Balerdi: I'm feeling so good. I I feel like we have a deserving winner, and yes, I lost, and there's things I would have changed, just like every single person who's ever lost Survivor would have changed something about their game that maybe would have led them to a win. I played strong towards the end, and I feel like I left on a high note, and I'm proud of myself, like I truly feel like I did the best that I could with how I started the game and with the knowledge I had and everything. So I got myself as far as I could, and I'm proud of myself. I got the second best title.
Men’s Journal: How did you feel heading into Final Tribal Council, and why were you so surprised to receive votes?
Sophi: I’m very self-aware and honestly pretty hard on myself. Sitting next to someone with four immunity wins and a fire-making win, I didn’t feel confident at all. On paper, I didn’t think I stood a chance. But after Final Tribal, producers and people like Nate [Moore], Steven [Ramm], and Alex [Moore] told me they were 50–50. Before Jeff [Probst] read the votes, Savannah even turned to me and said, “You just won.” When the second vote was read, I thought, "Wait — did I actually pull this out?" I knew I had a strong Final Tribal performance, and I threw everything at the wall, even though not all of it made the edit.
Men’s Journal: Why were you so shocked you got any votes?
Sophi: I'll tell you why. So I'm a very self aware person, and typically a little pessimistic about myself and things. I'm really hard on myself, but also, just on paper, you're sitting next to someone with four immunity wins, now a fire. She had a lot of ammo, and I just I didn't feel confident. I didn't feel confident. I didn't think I was gonna win, I didn't think I stood a chance. But I was actually surprised, like people came up to me after Final Tribal–producers, Nate [Moore], Steven [Ramm] and Alex [Moore], that they were 50-50 on who they were gonna vote for. Before Jeff [Probst] read the votes, Savannah turned to me, and she goes, "You just won." And I was like, what? So when, when Jeff read the second vote, I was like, Wait a second, did I actually pull this out? Because I did have a really strong Final Tribal performance, but I knew that's what I had to do, because sitting next to Sav like I was ready to throw everything at the wall, and they didn't even show all of it, which kind of sucks, but I think I had a solid at least, what the audience got to see, a pretty solid final tribal, which is cool.
Men’s Journal: Any votes you were surprised you didn't get?
Sophi: Yeah, Alex, what was that? What the hell? I think maybe he was a little salty that I was the last Kele standing. I don't know. But I respect his vote. He was in the jury for a while. You know, I wasn't in the jury, so who knows what he was hearing, but yeah, he made his choice, and I respect that. I love the fact that I convinced MC [Chukwujekwu], and Kristina [Mills]. MC told me that I earned her vote, and that truly meant everything to me, because that's all I wanted. I wanted for people to have an open mind going into Tribal, because my game was definitely a lot more subtle than other people. So I just wanted to be heard, and I was, and ultimately, Sav won. I think she deserved it, but I'm glad that people went in there with an actual open mind.
Men's Journal: You talked at Final Tribal about fitting into the Savannah–Rizo dynamic. How aware were you of how that trio might be perceived?
Sophi: For sure. I think even when Sav won her second immunity, my wheels started turning like, "Oh, she might just win all these immunities, and I don't think I could beat her." But I loved her on a personal level at that point. I was actually ready to make the move. Like, genuinely, I wasn't just saying that. But yeah, I think my biggest threat, though, was was Savannah, because I could see that not only was she playing a really good game and winning when she needed to, but she was being respected by the jury, and that was really scary to me. So whenever I talked about flipping on Sav and Rizo, I was really talking about turning on Sav because they were kind of a package deal, and I knew I could never tell Rizo about turning on Sav. So turning on Sav meant turning on both of them whenever I talked about that. But yeah, I was ready to do it. I was just waiting for the right moment. It's tough, and she really, truly won when she needed to. She did not know that at five I was ready to take her out. Me and Kristina were working on that puzzle together, because we were like, "We need to get her out now." And so I was ready to do it. She just she won when she needed to. And so that's why I respect her so much.
Men’s Journal: You kept your fire-making decision private. How much time did you spend weighing that choice?
Sophi: So I was either going to put them in fire or put myself in fire against Sav. I literally spent hours on that beach thinking about it, but ultimately I convinced myself, like, "You deserve to be in the Final Three, with everything you've gone through, you might have a chance." And I truly felt like Rizo winning fire, I would have won. And I was told that by a lot of people in jury. So, you know, I still had a chance, even against Sav, like people were telling me they were 50-50, so who knows if there was a world that I still could have won if I said something different, or if I played that Knowledge Is Power better. But I stick with my decision, because who knows if Rizo would have won, I could have won.
Men’s Journal: The Knowledge Is Power move sparked a lot of debate. How do you look back on it now? I feel like you redeemed yourself a bit. Do you feel that way?
Sophi: I do. My ideal outcome would have been take Steven's or take Rizo's idol and vote Steven out. But the reason I didn't take Rizo's idol was because I was afraid that Sage [Ahrens-Nichols] and Kristina were gonna vote Rizo out. Even though we had discussed voting Steven out, I was worried about Rizo going because at that point, truly, I didn't. I felt comfortable sitting with Rizo at the end over Steven. Steven was perceived to be a threat. He had won two immunities. He had every single friend in the jury, and I thought getting one challenge threat out would give me a chance to actually win immunity. And ultimately, I think that was the case. Who knows if Steven was competing in the Final Four, if I would have won that. But obviously Hindsight is 20-20. If I would have known I couldn't take Steven's advantage, I would take Rizo's idol in a second, because I look so stupid. But I did know that Steven had a Block-A-Vote because Kristina told me. And that's ultimately one of the things I said in the final tribal was like, "I always had the knowledge. l didn't even need my Knowledge Is Power." Truly, what I should have done was not even play it and bring it out like Maryanne [Oketch] at Final Tribal and be like, I had the Knowledge Is Power since day 11, and I didn't need to play it because I always had the knowledge and was able to make moves without having to use this. But it is what it is.
Men’s Journal: Do you feel that moment overshadowed your overall game?
Sophi: Honestly, I don't think so. I think the episode made me look a lot dumber than I did. The jury was just confused at what happened, and when they heard me out, actually, MC told me my explanation for it is what convinced her to vote for me in the end. So I wish they would have shown that, because I think I answered it pretty strongly and explain it well, but, yeah, I don't know. I don't think it had that much of an effect as it did on the audience. The audience was like, "What an idiot. She lost that million dollars." But no, had Rizo won fire, I probably would have won the game.
Men’s Journal: Did Rizo not playing his idol on you remind you that you can play selfishly too?
Sophi: Oh, yeah. That completely shook me, because at that point, I felt like all of us had been playing for each other, and we had each other's backs to a fault. But that woke me up, like, "Oh, we're actually all playing for ourselves." And it made me wish I maybe would have taken the idol that much more, because I was like, "Damn, he wasn't willing." I could have gone home that night. I knew I wasn't, but I could have very easily if Sage and Kristina changed their mind or whatever. So, at that point after that, I was like, "Yeah, I don't care. I'm playing the game for myself." I was willing to flip on Sav at five after that very easily. And when I won, I did not feel that bad putting them in fire, to be honest.
Men’s Journal: How important was your Final Four immunity win for your confidence?
Sophi: For sure. Because I thought after that Knowledge Is Power thing, I felt like it was just a really embarrassing thing to happen. I thought my chances were pretty slim. And so after I won it, I was like, "Damn, with the story that I have, with the relationships I have with the people in the jury, with the moves I know I made–I know it didn't make air, and people are like, "She rode Sav and Rizo's coattails." If I would have won, the edit would have been different, okay? But it is what it is. I don't want to be that person that's like, "They left so much out," but, like, obviously they did. It reminded me, like, you do have a chance to win this game. Don't count yourself out yet with the start you had, like, finish strong. You just did finish strong by winning the immunity.
Men’s Journal: Do you think Savannah and Rizo’s return on Survivor 50 affected your edit?
Sophi: I this is a hard one to answer, because they truly are one of my best friends now. And I don't want to take away from they were incredible great TV. I want to see them on 50. I have to say yes, because there was a lot of stuff that I did that was left out. [There were things] that me and Rizo did together, that they chose to just show his side of things. For example, let's say he had a conversation with Sage trying to convince her to do something. I also had a conversation with Sage trying to convince her to do the same thing. But maybe they just showed his side to not maybe give him more credit or give him the flowers for something that maybe we did together to highlight his moves, to make him more rootable to go on 50, you know? And again, he played a phenomenal game. I played hand in hand with him. I know what he did. I know what he's capable of, and he's going to kill it on 50, but, yeah, I think I definitely maybe was a little bit of a casualty of them being there. At the same time, like, we did that. I'm so proud of us, the fact that one of us won, we still find baffling. We came back from a seven-three minority. I think Sav deserves the win. I think Rizo is incredible player. He's going to go down as as a legend, and I hope he puts all these Survivor 50 vets in their retirement homes and claims his legend status. So I'm so proud of them, and if I'm gonna get slighted by any edit, I'm happy it's it's to them.
Men’s Journal: Would you play Survivor again?
Sophi: Oh, my God, girl, I would, and I would do so much different. I would prepare physically. I did nothing. I was like eating Oreos. I was trying to get fat. Because I heard once that Boston Rob said to fatten yourself up so that your body uses the fat as storage. And maybe that works in a 39-day game. But that did not work for day for a 26-day game. I was burnt out by like, day 12, physically. I could not catch a break. I would stand up and, like, almost pass out. So I would do exactly what Sav did. I would follow the Sav diet. She was working out every day, fasted. And she came in with a plan. And I think with my social game and strategy...I don't know, I think with my game, I think I would do well in a returning game, because people would still underestimate me. And then also tying it with a physical preparation, I think I would kill it. And I would say yes in a heartbeat. It was the best experience of my life.
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