It’s safe to say that Sam Schoers did not see her elimination on Survivor coming.
The 30 year-old VIP gaming manager may have been a physical asset in challenges, but unfortunately became the second Contender to leave the island after a shock blindside at the hand of her Contender teammates.
Here she opens up to TV WEEK about her sudden departure, the jaw-dropping amount of weight she lost on the show plus, the details that weren’t shown on screen.
TV WEEK: Sam, that must have been a shocking blindside for you! Did you see it coming at all?
Sam: Not at all! I had never felt so safe in any other day. Even when we weren’t at tribal, I still didn’t feel safe but that particular day I felt so good that I was not going home so blindsided is definitely the word for sure.
TV WEEK: You must have been so sure that David or Luke was going home.
Sam: Absolutely, that was the plan. I didn’t know that anyone was stepping outside the plan. The Contenders remained safe for so long, I think we were like eight or nine days, so we had thought of every possible strategy to keep the Contenders in the game for as long as possible.
We had talked about this every single day going forward about what we were going to do if we went to a tribe swap so that’s why I thought no one was going to deviate from the plan. But you can’t hate the players, you’ve got to hate the game, that is Survivor so I should’ve probably had my wits about me a little bit more and maybe had a plan B!
“Blindsided is definitely the word for sure!”
(Image: Network Ten)TV WEEK: We didn’t see too much of you on the show, was your strategy to lay low?
Sam: I guess there’s so much that you don’t see, 48 hours gets condensed into 90 minutes. So many people must think ‘You didn’t do anything, you’re invisible,’ but that is so incorrect, you’re doing so much constantly. I won every single one-on-one challenge so I knew that physically I was a really good player in the game so I did feel safe because I wasn’t the strongest but I definitely knew I wasn’t the weakest either.
TV WEEK: There was a moment in the episode when David called you smug in a piece to camera. What would you say to that?
Sam: I haven’t seen the episode so I didn’t know he said that but I don’t I was smug at all, I was just confident in our plan. I think that’s a little bit of the pot calling the kettle black, don’t you think?
READ MORE: Survivor‘s eliminated Champion ET: “I don’t see David going too far in the game.”
Sam won every single one-on-one challenge she participated in.
(Image: Network Ten)TV WEEK: Who were some of your biggest allies in the camp?
Sam: Definitely Harry, Casey and Andy. We had a sneaky little alliance going on the whole time and then obviously Sarah and Hannah, they were my girls. We did everything together so definitely some of those Contenders. And we’ve already been talking so we’ll definitely keep in contact.
TV WEEK: And how was the food situation?
Sam: That’s another thing that doesn’t really get sensationalised on screen, we literally eat nothing but rice and beans. And it’s not even a large portion, it’s generally a small handful at a time, maybe twice a day if you’re lucky. We ran out of food once or twice within the two and a half weeks that I was there.
That was probably one of the hardest things I found, not being able to eat after those challenges, trying to restore your energy and then getting back to camp and you’ve got nothing to eat. It’s a slow form of torture, it was incredibly hard. You can see everyone getting ultra lean just from not eating.
Sam says she really struggled with the lack of food, especially after those gruelling physical challenges.
(Image: Network Ten)TV WEEK: How much weight did you lose during your time on the island?
Sam: I lost a lot. After I got voted out the next morning I got weighed and I was eight kilos down. I was losing maybe half a kilo a day they were saying to the point where they were saying they were starting to get worried because I was losing it so rapidly. But eight kilos is huge.
TV WEEK: But you must’ve had fun filling up on your favourite treats when you got home though.
Sam: I think it was within the first five minutes of me getting out that I gobbled down four chocolate bars that they had ready for me!
Sam lost eight kilos during her two weeks on Survivor.
(Image: Network Ten)TV WEEK: You said you wanted it to be a Contender at the end, who would you love to see win?
Sam: I would love to see Harry win, I think he’s a fantastic player. You haven’t seen too much of him but he is amazing. Any of my people so Andy, Harry, Casey, even like Luke is an amazing guy and I’d like to see him get to the end as well but yeah definitely a Contender, that’s why I was there, I want a Contender to win. We’ve had a pretty good run so far but hopefully they can keep it up.
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