Survivor 49 is here! Every week, Parade.com's Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the castaway most recently voted off the island.The irony that Alex Moore got voted out for being too political on Survivor is not lost on him. Though he lied about his career, the D.C. resident is one of the youngest Congressional communications directors on Capitol Hill today, an experience he was obviously eager to bring into the game. But he immediately got humbled on Day 1, losing in an epic come-from-behind victory to Rizo Velovic. Little did he know that, sixteen days later, the exact same thing would happen, but in grander fashion. Despite being in the minority party, Rizo campaigned on Alex's centrist views. And when the castaways caucused, he had lost his bid for another term on Survivor 49.While the first thing we saw of Alex on the show was that one of his favorite pastimes was "kissing butt," the opening week was more about getting his tribe's butt kicked. In the first few days, he was in one of the best positions on Kele with an idol, a very open "bromance" with Jake Latimer, a controlling alliance with him and Sophi Balerdi, and a secret duo with Kimberly "Annie" Davis. But that all quickly fell apart as the "lovable losers" continued to go to Tribal Council. Alex had to eschew Annie quickly as a consensus boot, then lost Jake to a historic and unprecedented venomous snake bite. With the tribe suddenly cut in half, Alex played his idol, guaranteeing he would be one of only two survivors of the Kele clobbering.
?SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox ? Alex and Sophi were abruptly woken up the next morning with the rising tide, a representation of their low prospects in the game. But a much more fortunate wave hit them later that day with a tribe swap. Despite being greatly outnumbered, Alex was immediately brought in as a number for a variety of different alliances. Particularly, his time in the premerge allowed him to spend a lot of time with the former Hina members. So, when the merge hit, it was obvious what side he would take in the tribal war. However, he wanted to maintain his position as a middleman. So, despite reuniting with Sophi, he chose to keep her in the dark, joining a new majority to take out Nate Moore and become the last Moore standing.On paper, the path forward seemed clear for Alex. This new alliance would pick off the former Uli power players, and he could ride to the end on his Hina bonds. But things quickly fell apart when a split Tribal Council, a surprise visitor, and a chaotic afternoon shockingly booted Michelle "MC" Chukwujekwu. Despite the great surprise, Alex wanted to continue his diplomatic tactics, trying to get in good with all the factions that were beginning to develop. But it was this overcommunication that got the communications director in trouble. Clocking what he was doing, Rizo clocked in, putting in work to disparage Alex's questionable loyalty. And it was enough gossip to put an end to the self-proclaimed "office gossip." A bloc of the underdog alliance, the new power couple of Jawan Pitts and Sage Ahrens-Nichols and newfound free agent Sophie Segreti came together to end Alex's campaign for a seat in the Survivor winners' circle.Now out of the game, Alex gives his reaction to being called a "messy" player, how his relationship with Sophi never recovered from the merge, and how much his political experience helped — and hurt — him in the game.Related: Read our Survivor 49 pre-game interview with Alex Moore
You knew Rizo had thrown your name out earlier that afternoon. So, were you surprised when you ultimately ended up going? And who were you most surprised by from the six votes you got?I think that ultimately I'm most surprised by Jawan, Sage and Sophie Segretti. I knew that Soph, Savannah and Rizo were going to vote me out. That was not a question in my mind. I just didn't understand how we have an alliance of seven people, basically everyone who was on the Nate vote, we had said we would stick together. They turned on MC. And I'm at this point thinking, "Well, if they didn't get Rizo's idol out this time, surely they'll have the wherewithal to do it this time!" And so it's hard when you go into this thinking like everyone's thinking the same way as you. I knew that I wanted to take a shot. Me and Rizo were rivals from Day 1. He won the battle, I won a couple battles in there with rewards and immunities in between. But he ultimately won the war. But you can see who the players are out there, who's being strategic. And Rizo saw me as that strategic threat, and so that's why he was making up lies and embellishing things. But I just thought other people saw that too. So it wasn't I knew as a chance I'd go home, but that's what we saw as the result.We saw Rizo's campaign be all about the fact that you were in with everyone. And that then led to comments that you were "messy" and "doing too much," which took me by surprise considering how we hadn't really seen that in the edit up to that point. What was your reaction to that perception?So the definition of being "messy" is being friends with everyone and having people like you. That was my "messy." I just talked to everyone, and everyone liked telling me things and being around me. And because I wasn't sticking to a Hina side or an Uli side. I'd go have conversations with Rizo, and we'd hang out, and then I'd go have conversations with Kristina. And so it's not that I was like, spreading rumors about anything or playing this "messy" game. It's just that people didn't like how liked I was. I'm not even trying to be conceited or anything. I remember on the Nate vote, I said to Rizo one time on the beach, "Are you sure you could trust Jawan and Sage?" With me knowing that they were going to vote out Nate. And he's like, "Yeah, I know for sure." And so that was my way of giving him a little heads up, trying to give him an olive branch. And he didn't pick up on that, and then basically worked to use that against me. And so that's the type of thing where it's like, I talked about Sophie Segretti, like, "Oh, is anyone else going to ever win an Immunity Challenge?" Because she's always in contention. And he says, "Alex wants you out," that type of thing. And so he really was spinning every little thing I would say to him — in a friendly way — to my demise.You were adamant to flush Rizo's public idol. And maybe that comes from the fact that you had one yourself back on Kele. In the episode, it seems like you were close to not playing it, but ultimately chose to do so. Was there one moment or conversation that made you decide to do that? And how did you feel about the decision after you found out it wasn't necessary?So I went into Tribal Council prepared not to play my idol, and I was not going to play it. Nothing at Tribal changed my mind. It was when Jeff walked back. That's when you get paranoid, in those 10 seconds, where you're kind of like, "Am I making the biggest mistake ever if I don't play this?" Soph had told me that Jeremiah was going to vote for me. She basically was flustered at that point and trying to save herself, and so I felt like I could trust her. And I had made it clear over and over, "I'm gonna play my idol. I'm gonna play my idol." And I think that she really believed me. But ultimately, it just came down to, I couldn't do the Rizo. I couldn't risk it. I just wanted to make it to the next day, and thought I could find it tomorrow. And so really, I wasn't going to play it, and then I just couldn't risk that.Let's fast-forward to merge, where you and Soph reunite. What made you ultimately choose to go against Nate, and leave her in the dark? And what was it like trying to do damage control afterwards?Yeah, that was a funny moment. I mean, I wanted to work with Soph. We built that trust that was all genuine. And then I just saw how close she was with Savannah and Rizo, and I knew that there wasn't any penetrating, that I'm going to be at the bottom. I want to be able to have a group who supports me. And yeah, the Hina group was strong. But Kristina and I had a really close relationship. Steven and I were building a really close relationship. And so I felt like, "Those three are always going to prioritize each other. Let me just stick with these new relationships that I built." And I thought that Soph might be able to forgive me and that we could try and play this middle ground. But she was so jaded and burnt, and I knew there was no recovering from that. She was pissed at me. And I remember Savannah even told, "You really have to rebuild that relationship with Soph." And I'm like, "I know! Help me, please!" [Laughs.] Because I did want to kind of be able to shift to their side at some point, and it just was never going to happen. So that's why I'm ultimately not surprised that she voted me out.
Alex Moore (L) and Jeff Probst (R) on 'Survivor 49'Robert Voets/CBS
To that point, if Rizo had gotten voted out with an idol in his pocket here, or Soph went on the split vote, did you have an endgame in mind? Were you planning to continue the play the middle of all of these sides?I mean, I think at that point, I was so focused on making it to the next day, where I felt like my relationships would continue to carry me. I think ultimately I had a really good relationship with Kristina. I knew that she had this idol. And so, how was I going to use that information moving forward that could have benefited me? And I liked her personally, and so I wanted to go with her. I knew that Savannah and Rizo were players, and so I wanted them gone as soon as possible. And I just wanted to be able to get to a space where I could win Individual Immunity challenges. So getting out people like Sophie Segretti and Steven at some point would have come my way too.Talk to me more about these Hina relationships. Because, true to your middleman position, we see you talking with a lot of people on Kele 2.0. Who were you connecting with, and how?Honestly, killing the chicken brought Steven and I together. And I remember saying to him, "Well, my number one was Jake, and he's gone. So I'm kind of open for business." And I thought that it was working. I think that he was still questioning me, which is still confusing to this day, because I literally had nobody. I didn't have this solid group like other people. So I don't know why he would think I was lying. But I was working on that relationship. And then with Kristina, I knew that me and her were good. We were so solid; she was never going to turn on me. And so those were really the two people from Hina that I had the best relationship with. Jawan and Sage, we talked about playing in the middle ground together, but we're all just different people. And so I think that it was hard for us to click and get on the same page. So that's why I was never really working with them per se.Were you as haunted by killing the chicken as Steven was? Were you having any dreams?[Laughs.] I was having chicken dreams, being that I wanted more! I was ready to kill another one. I know that sounds grave. It was the best chicken I've ever had; let's make that clear. But it was what we had to do in the moment. It was so hard the first time. But by the second time, I was basically walking Savannah through it. And she was so excited to be a part of that, where I was like, "Alright, let's keep doing this!" And so, yes, it was crazy, and it was insane; I grew from it. But I was just ready to go. It's not anything I'll do in my normal life. I have the privilege of not having to do that, but being out there, easy!Following your boot, people online have been talking about the fact that three Black players were voted out in a row. And when I spoke with MC last week, she said that she actually wanted to keep Jawan because she wanted to avoid the first two jurors being Black, only for her to get voted out in the process. Was this something you were cognizant of out there? What's your reaction to that?I mean, this is a point where it turns into real life. We were cognizant of it. We had conversations about it. And I think ultimately it's up to each person whether they're choosing to play the game for themselves or something bigger. So I don't want to judge other people's decisions. It was hard. I mean, I think that you see, basically. I think part of Kristina giving up the Reward Challenge was kind of just to look after Jawan. And so then for Jawan to vote out another Black person, I don't know. I think online, people are not taking too kindly to it. But I don't want to sit here and be the one to say that he's wrong for it. Everyone's in it to win for themselves, to do what you have to do. But it's hard not to acknowledge and see what's going on here. Do I think it's right? I mean, it's hard to see for me personally. But I don't know, to each their own.Let's finish by talking about your experience in Congress. How much do you think your political background helped you in the game?I mean, I think I talk about it every five seconds on the show. I know people love that. [Laughs.] But it was because my experience in DC was so applicable to the game. Being able to have information and know when to use it, being able to kind of get people on your side and work between different groups of people. You have to come to some type of compromise in my job. I have to be calm, cool and collected and be able to adapt to a changing situation just like that. And I think that kept me level-headed in the game, where I was never going to explode; I was always going to try and talk things out. And I think that was ultimately the problem. Because I was in a really good position, and Rizo is probably the only person who saw that, and that's why he had to basically work to get me out. And so, hey, I think that if you're going on the show and you work in politics, you're going to make it to a point. But you have to, at some point, choose a side and break ties, because the middle ground is a tough ground to go.We saw Savannah last night tell Soph that she was a former news reporter. Did you ever debate at all, revealing your real job as a political communications director?I didn't think about it once, because I thought that would send me immediately home. I wanted people to know my true occupation. I told people eventually at Ponderosa. But at this point, it was just that would be icing on the cake for them. They already think Alex is friends with everyone, now they're like, "Oh, well, clearly he might be manipulating us as well." So that was never a thought, Mike.Finally, how has your boss reacted to your time on the show? Has she ended up watching this season?She is talking about it to everyone she can on the Hill! She's watched every episode. She had votes late last night, so she missed the episode and was furious. Blame the House voting schedule! But she has been nothing but supportive. And it's been so awesome to see political and Capitol Hill community kind of coming together and rallying around me. Especially when it's been such a hard time for federal workers, it's been great to kind of be this refreshing, exciting thing that people can look to each week instead of the negativeness of the news.
Related: 'Survivor 49’s Michelle ‘MC’ Chukwujekwu Opens Up About the Race Conversation That Changed Her Game (Exclusive)
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