Ive always wanted this to air, says Zeke.
It never crossed my mind that it shouldnt air and I certainly never asked for it not to air.
Of course, we also get into lots of other topics.
Was he truly blindsided by his exit?
Have he and Andrea made up outside the game?
What was the hardest part of playing back-to-back seasons?
Who was his ideal final three?
And will we see him again on the show?
I felt like at times that no one wanted to be there.).
Its a must-read interview for any fan of the game.
You were worried then that it might be too early to make a big move like that.
After what went down with Varner, I had no shot to win.
I knew that nobody wanted to take me anywhere near the end and that wasnt a secret.
I was the decoy vote against Hali and I knew it and I knew the reason why.
You heard it in that episode that I had a compelling story.
People were unwilling to get me deep into the game because people werent willing to sit next to me.
So I didnt just make that move against Andrea out of nowhere.
And I think Ozzy is also someone you’re able to incorporate in that group.
And then clearly it imploded.
I didnt vote for Ozzy and that group was still able to vote Ozzy out.
I was still going to go when I went.
I was just trying to vote with the majority and I correctly identified the majority.
They just didnt decide to include me in the vote.
And you have two choices.
it’s possible for you to either quit or it’s possible for you to play.
So you’re able to choose to play, but you have to suck it up and play.
Theres no crying or moping or woe is me about it.
And I also know that trans people face insanely high rates of discrimination and violence.
Ninety percent of trans people report discrimination or harassment in the workplace.
And it is very common for depression and self-harm as a result.
And that was not lost on me out there.
And what I knew is that it was very important for me to model resilience.
Was it great gameplay?
No, it certainly wasnt.
But I wouldnt do it differently.
My game life was absolutely in chaos.
And I wore a buff that said Game Changer.
It didnt say Butt Sitter.
I owed it to them to keep playing.
Like, I would have been uninterested in letting me get very deep in the game.
I dont hold any resentment towards any players for not being on the same page as me.
Its like when Jeremy pulled out the Val being pregnant back home thing at final Tribal Council.
You cant compete against that.Right, and I think with Jeremy still being fresh in peoples minds.
I would have done the same thing.
I think its smart.
I got asked back about 20 minutes after I had my torch snuffed on day 33.
I knew I wasnt going to play as well.
Because I also wasnt really sure what I did right or what I did wrong.
Were you surprised when you saw you name start coming up at this last Tribal Council?
Was it a blindside?It was.
I knew to expect my name the first two times I saw it after the merge.
So yeah, it was a blindside.
How are you two now?Andrea and I are great.
Were both New Yorkers.
Shes been over to my apartment and Ive hung out with her.
Were still great friends.
I was like, Look Brad.
I came into the merge with a lot of goodwill and Ive done everything I can to squander it.
My goal is to piss everybody off so that theyre going to be really mad at me.
Even if he did have a better social game than I did.
The interesting thing when I got voted off is that there was a lot of chaos.
Because nobody understood who was pulling the strings.
That she was the one who was the link behind why everything happened the way it happened.
But no one saw that, at least as far as I was in the game.
But no, I dont think there was a strategic frontrunner at the time.
I spent nine months preparing to see all kinds of exploitative, sensationalist headlines.
Im still struggling to make sense of it all.
I received thousands of messages from people across the world sharing their stories and lending their support.
Im still a little flabbergasted and Im touched.
I work very closely with Nick Adams who is the director of GLAADs transgender media program.
Hes the guy who guides everyone in the spotlight: The Wachowskis, and Chaz, and Caitlyn.
Hes the one who prepared me for this to be pretty hellacious.
And when we started to see the response, we were gobsmacked.
We didnt know what to say.
What do you think about the people that are saying CBS should not have aired what happened?
It never crossed my mind that it shouldnt air and I certainly never asked for it not to air.
They so quickly and adamantly rebuffed Varners actions.
It was just a textbook example of how to respond to injustice.
Probst made it clear all the way back in Fiji how well this would be handled.
He promised to never leave me hanging and he never has.
Theyve always worked with me.
It was my request to do press and writing an op-ed.
The supervising producer, Joe Lia, has always held me close to his heart.
Hes become a friend.
Hes always been a phone call away.
He really listened to understand the significance of what went down.
Im really proud to have been a part of it.
Compare your back-to-back seasons for me.
How do they two experiences stack up?There were vastly different experiences.
I obviously enjoyedMillennials vs. Gen Xmuch more than I enjoyedGame Changers.
And I think it really has to do with the attitude of the players on season 33.
I played 33 days in season 33 and they were 33 of the best days of my life.
It felt personal in a way that 33 never did.
I think people werent having fun out there.
I felt like at times that no one wanted to be there.
I was like What are you guys doing?!
This is the coolest thing ever!
Were starving, but were starving onSurvivor!
Lets get excited about it!
Would you play a third time?I dont know.
I cant say right now.
