Survivor 49 is here! Every week, Parade.com's Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the castaway most recently voted off the island.Kristina Mills took a hard fall on Survivor 49. We're not just talking about some of the literal back-breaking tumbles she took during what ultimately wound up being her final challenge of the season. But the MBA career coach had also experienced a big tumble in the game, going from a power position at the beginning of the merge to an underdog by the end of it. No matter the circumstances, though, Kristina had a way of getting back up and continuing to fight, whether it was finding an idol, voting out an ally, or simply making her way to the next stage of a challenge. Unfortunately, the bird-fearing Kristina got her wings clipped at the beginning of the finale, making her the final person voted out of the season.When it comes to the elements of Survivor, Kristina would be the first to tell you she was, well, out of her element. But even if she wasn't making friends with the Fijian flora and fauna, she was with her fellow castaways. The self-proclaimed "social nerd" thrived in the premerge, as, having never gone to Tribal Council, she was able to build bonds with tribe members old and new. When the game turned individual, a new cross-tribal collective emerged, turning the top Uli dogs into the bottom feeders. But that high was short-lived. In two straight Tribal Councils, Kristina lost some of her tightest allies. All of a sudden, it was her and Steven Ramm against the world.At the Final Eight, Kristina had hit a strategic low. And that transitioned into an emotional low, as she was yearning more than ever for the support system of her late mother. That culminated in an incredibly visceral moment right before the challenge, where she simultaneously expressed her frustration at her death, while also gaining a new connection to her. It gave Kristina renewed energy to continue in the game, as she made the moves she felt necessary to get her to the Final Three. She found and played an idol. She turned on her former tribe members Steven and Sophie Segreti to be the last Hina standing. The way she saw it, if she made it to the Final Four, she was guaranteed to make Day 26, as the best firemaker of the group by far. Unfortunately, that was a fact everyone else recognized as well. And so they chose to extinguish her flame before she could light a larger one the next day. But make no mistake, she was ready to bring the fire, especially in her dramatic question to Savannah Louie in the Final Tribal Council.The day after the finale, Kristina talks with Parade about how her jury question came to be, the reaction to the perception of her "sloppy" gameplay, and how she reconnected with her mother through this Survivor experience.Related: Read our Survivor 49 pre-game interview with Kristina Mills
I have to start by asking, are you okay?! I know it's obviously been a while since that Final Five challenge, but you took some big falls there. Did you sustain some big injuries from that?[Laughs.] My knees got really, really injured, and my back as well. And you all did actually not see how many times I fell. I probably fell eight times off that barrel, and they only showed one.Well, I have a barrelful of questions for you! I actually want to start at Final Tribal Council. You said in the aftershow that you voted for Sophi both because she played the game you wanted to play, and her answers that night. How open were you going into that night?I had a strong inclination that I was going to vote for Soph. But I honestly was very open. And I was like, "I really could go either way. I could vote for all three of them." But for her, I think at the Final Tribal, she owned everything. One of the best answers she gave wasn't shown. She said, "I didn't need to take Rizo's idol. It was mine. I controlled that." And we were like, "Yes!" She owned it so well. Like I said, she played the game that I was trying to play. I just unfortunately, didn't have allies that were going to stick with me to the end. But I just really respected the way she played the entire game from start to end.Of course, we have to get to your jury question, which is arguably the most talked-about part of the Final Tribal Council. You ask Savannah to name one family member from every jury member except Rizo. Talk to me about the purpose behind that.So honestly, if you all go back and look at all the challenges and things that were aired, you'll see that we would say, "Do it for Brandon. Do it for Nico. Do it for Christie, for Cody." And so we were saying people's families' names throughout the entire season. And I really value a social game. Even the before the season started, in our preseason interviews, I actually mentioned that the thing that I love the most in Survivor was when Kelly back in Season 1 was able to name her tribemates' last names. And I said, "I want to know, did you actually get to know me?" Because I value a social game. And I knew that Savannah did not know that. I actually wanted her to prove me wrong. I went in, and I was like, "If she can prove me wrong, she can get my vote." And when she couldn't, I was like, "Okay, that's what I thought."Let's stick to your relationship with Savannah. You say at Tribal Council there's a "strong dislike" between the two of you. And we have that scene where she directly asks you who you're voting for, which takes you aback. Talk to me more about your perspective on her, as well as that moment.I think they showed our relationship a little late in the season. But if you go all the way back to things that were being said on the mat chats and a few situations that happened that I observed, I was like, "I don't think this is a girl that I vibe with. I don't like the way that she's talked to some of the people that I'm close with." And so leading up to that moment, I was like, "You know what? I actually have never given her a conversation. Me and her have actually never talked. The way that I feel about her is through the eyes of things that I've noticed or things that other people are saying. Let me actually try to have a moment with her." And leading up to that conversation, we were actually talking outside of the game stuff. I was telling her why I was having the reaction that I was missing my mom and everything like that. And in that instant, we switched to game, and her whole demeanor and everything changes. And so I think people thought I was more taken aback by the question, and it wasn't the question. It was the fact that we were having this really tender moment, I felt like. And then she switched it, and she got very like, "Well, what?" And I was just like, "Okay, give me a second. Okay, we're switching." And I do want to make clear that I did not walk away after that. I did not walk away at all. I actually said, "Okay, I don't really like your tone right now." And she said, "Well, let me calm it down for you." And then we kind of got into a heated argument.You said in your Final Words that the others had made the right decision in voting you out. Given your firemaking skills, no matter what, it seemed you would have made the Final Three. What do you think your chances of winning are if you're there on Day 26?I think it definitely depends on the person who takes Savannah out in fire. If I could do that and I could get to the end, I actually think I had a pretty good shot against Soph, Sage, and Rizo. And I know that people are going to go crazy over that, and it's fine. But I think what you all don't realize is I knew the jury very, very, very well. I knew what they were thinking. I knew what their perceptions were of different players, different moves. I had a very good relationship with everybody on that jury — minus probably Nate. Even with Rizo, with the idol and dangling it and everything, that was not being perceived well at all. And I even told Rizzo. I said, "Hey, just so you know, the jury, they're not voting for you." And he's like, "No, yes, they are." And so I think that's why, at the last one, he's just kind of like, "Alright, Jeff, here we go." But yeah, I think I would have had a pretty good shot.You talk about perceptions. In last week's episode, we saw Steven call you a "sloppy player." What's your reaction to that?He had actually warned me about that. He told me he said that, so I knew it was coming. But I'm a mom who already has Mom Brain on a regular day when I'm well-fed, when I've had lots of sleep. And I don't think people realize you don't sleep on Survivor. It is so uncomfortable. And so we're at 22, 23 days and I have not slept a full night the entire time. And so I think there are some things that I definitely misspoke on. Sometimes my math was a little off. But Mom Brain, no sleep, it's not a good combination. [Laughs.]Let's stay on Steven. It seemed like the two of you were tight allies, especially when you used your idol on him. So what led to you voting him out at the Final Six?As soon as we got back from that challenge me and Sage, the first conversation that both of us had,was with each other. And she was like, "Hey, we need to get him out." And I kept trying. I was like, "I get what you're saying, I understand. But we really need to keep him. It's best for our game going forward." And she said, "Kristina,, you have to stop being loyal to him." She told me that he was in on the Alex vote the entire time. She said it wasn't Alex who told me about the idol. Everyone told me that Alex was actually the one who told everyone about my idol. She said it was Steven. So she gave all these things, and she's like, "You need to stop being blindly loyal to him." And even with that, I still was like, "Okay, taking emotion out of it, I think this is best for our game." But at the end of the day, Sage was not going to budge. Sage wasn't going to budge. Everyone wanted to sit next to Rizo at the end. Soph and I, we were actually working very closely. They didn't show that, but me and Soph had a great relationship. I wasn't going to vote her out. I wanted to sit next to her as well. And so, honestly, if Sage wasn't budging, then I either look dumb for not being in on the vote, or I go ahead and try to build my resume by getting a strong person out.Talk to me more about that relationship with Sophi. Because, as you mentioned, it's something we really didn't see. The two of you hadn't even met until the merge!Going all the way back to Ponderosa, you get asked who you're getting good vibes from. And me and her both named each other. And so I think just coming in, we always just knew there was something there. And I don't think you really got to see this. But during the split Tribal, we had a whole day where we were just at camp playing cards. We made cards with leaves and got to do "get to know you" games. And me and her, we really wanted to work together really badly. I think we thought we both recognized that we played a similar game and that we were going to potentially need each other down the line. And so we actually had a really great friendship that just wasn't shown.I want to talk about a moment we heard about between you and Jawan. MC has said that she told Jawan that she wanted to protect him at the split Tribal Council to avoid two Black players going home in a row. And not only did she go home, but Alex and Jawan after her. Jawan said you had a heated discussion when the two of you reunited. Give me your perspective on what went down.So when they get back from camp from that split Tribal, I'm like, "Hey, Jawan. What went on?" And he actually was the one who brought up not voting two Black people out back-to-back. And he was telling me how much he was struggling with that, with that decision. And so I really felt for him. It's actually the reason that I gave him the reward in the first place. I was like, "As a Black man, I just want you to know that I see you. And I appreciate that you had to do something that you weren't comfortable with." And so it was a very big thing for us. And so after the Alex vote, I was like, "We have this whole conversation about how tough it was for you. And Alex had the votes, whether you voted for him or not, and you knew that. So if this was something that really meant something to you, then why not just tell them, 'Hey, I know that Alex is leaving tonight, but I just need to do this for me'?" And so that's kind of what our argument was about. Like he said, it got pretty heated in the moment. But I think we just have to agree to disagree with how all of that went down. I respect the decision that he had to make. And he was doing it for his family, so...Let's get to your emotional climax of the season, which is this moment you have before the Final Eight Reward Challenge. I'm not sure if you know this, but Jeff told me it's his favorite moment of the season. Talk to me about how everything had been building up to that outburst you had.MC and Alex were so close with me. They were my top allies and in and out of the game, and they were kind of my village. And just losing them, it was the first time in my life that I've never had anyone looking out for me and noone in my corner. And it wasn't necessarily that I couldn't handle a blindside. It was that I had lost the people that were literally grounding me in this game and keeping me going. And so that just led to really just wanting my mom. Because she's the person that when I felt like just all alone, or if I felt really hurt by someone or anything like that, like she was the person I would call. And so it just kind of did this ripple effect of just really mourning. It was kind of mourning the loss of my friends, and then it was mourning my mom.And then we get to this challenge, and I'm thinking it's going to be a single challenge. And then I was like, "Great, now I have to show up for other people that just completely blindsided me." And so it was, it was just so many emotions that led to that. And when Jeff asked me what's going on, he could see it in my face. I always showed up to challenges smiling and bubbly, and I just did not have it in me. And he recognized that. And I just thought it was so beautiful, the way that he was able to kind of navigate that whole conversation and get me back on track and be ready to compete.During that moment, Jeff had said that this experience had transformed your relationship with your mother. Did you feel that as well?Oh my gosh, yes. I don't know if you all heard or anything like that, but I came into this game not hearing from my mom at all since her death. My kids had heard from her. Everybody in my family had had signs or something. And I had so much guilt from just the way that things happened through her addiction, and I was like, "Is she mad? I don't really know what's happening. She's not reaching out to me." And so, in that moment, I just felt her so much saying, "Baby, I got you. I'm here. I got you, and it's okay." It was such a transformative journey for me. Just healing from all the guilt, the shame, the "woulda coulda shouldas" through her addiction. This journey really helped me deal with all of that.That's beautiful. I mean, what's interesting is you told me in the preseason that Survivor would be a "recharge" and an opportunity to get away from some of that trauma you faced the past few years. But if anything, it allowed you to confront that trauma, and find a new relationship with it.It did. I mean, I'm labeled by so many things in the real world. I'm a mom, I'm a wife, I'm the oldest daughter that takes care of everyone. And for the first time in my life, I got to just focus on me and deal with things that I needed to deal with in order to be a better mom and wife and all these labels. And so it really forced me to come back to face just a lot of things that I guess I wasn't facing in the real world.
Related: ‘Survivor 49’ Star Rizo Velovic Reveals the Real Strategy Behind His Idol ‘Antics’ (Exclusive)
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