‘Survivor 43’: Jeanine Says ‘Kudos’ to Jesse Keeping Her ‘Baby’ in the Game
Jeanine Zheng played hard and took a lot of risks on Survivor 43. Showbiz Cheat Sheet talked about her last major gamble over Zoom on Nov. 10. This is what she had to say about Dwight Moore giving her idol to someone else.
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from Survivor Season 43 Episode 8, “Proposterous.”]
Why Jeanine trusted Dwight with her idol on ‘Survivor 43’
Q: So you lost Elie and Dwight while technically having an idol. Do you regret not playing it on either person now?
Jeanine: I don’t. In general, I don’t regret anything about how I played the game. I don’t think it’s helpful to do that for my own sake. But I also, you know, watching it back, it didn’t make sense for me to play the idol for Elie.
That would have just further isolated us and not put us in a good situation moving forward. You know, it would have been it would have put both of us in a worse situation, honestly. So I don’t regret not playing it for her.
I also I don’t regret not playing it for Dwight because I don’t think that–just in my mind, that’s not how I wanted it to be used. And so I really was like envisioning long-term it being able to be used for a much more personal move to be made.
Q: Why did you pick Dwight when it came to handing off your idol?
Jeanine: It’s a great question. I think what’s missing from a little bit of the episode on his vote-out was the degree to which we all bonded. Like this whole Baka/Vesi relationship started pre-merge. You see that a little bit in the helping with the challenges but in particular, like Noelle and Dwight said day one of merge, ‘We saw you do the log challenge. We thought you were bada**. We wanted to work with you.’
And I felt similarly about them. I felt like I had this. I don’t know. It’s crazy to say when you haven’t gotten to exchange words. But this rapport with them and this ability to see eye to eye. And what’s also missing, we hadn’t seen was we sent Noelle on the journey because Dwight mouthed to send Noelle, and then they go on the journey. So Owen solidifies his relationship with her.
And then Dwight and I felt like we had this crib trust, sorry, tribe trust, where when I was sent on the journey with Jesse, I really felt like that was them kind of also sending signals, like, ‘We’re extending an olive branch. We want you to make this connection with him, and we want you guys to bond in that way.’
And so honestly, even though, as crazy as it sounds like after two days of post-merge, I felt super close with them and close enough to which I was willing to let him hold onto my idol, which is like maybe the biggest thing you can do to show someone that you trust them.
And then similarly, Noelle giving her advantage to Owen. Like us, four were very close and very wanting to work together. So that’s why you see me giving it to him. It was not an arbitrary decision, and I think it was also a decision made because I felt like giving it to anyone on Baka would be even too close to home. So that’s why you see the cross tribe swap. I think that was the rationale.
Why Dwight gave the idol to Jesse
Q: When did you find out that Jesse had your idol and what was your first reaction?
Jeanine: I can’t say it’ll be a surprise like it was for me. But it–my reactions were of, ‘Oh, my God, that’s my baby. Give me my baby back.’ I was so shocked. And just like, honestly, maternal.
And I think other reactions were like, as a super fan of the game, I was just so…Wow, like that is kudos! You know, like, I am honestly so impressed. I am also so grateful that the blood, sweat, and tears that it took for me to assemble this is not going to waste and that you didn’t just go home with Dwight.
Q: That’s a great perspective on it. My question to you now is, why do you think Dwight gave your idol, Jesse? Because for us as fans, we’re like, okay, they had that fracture. Noelle’s supposed to be his number one. So it’s like, what’s going on?
Jeanine: So Dwight, he got spooked right before Tribal Council and was really scared that it would somehow be taken from him. He thought it was a little too close, but he was wary of the fact that people would think that we were or pick up on the fact we were close.
So he’s like Jesse is yet another degree removed from that. So it would be safer in Jesse’s hands. There was also another level of, you know, he was really trying to save my idol, and he was saying that there was a part of him that he feared would play it for himself if it were on his person because he’d be scared at Tribal and he didn’t want to even tempt himself or give himself that option, which is so sweet. I’m like, ‘Oh, Dwight.’ So it was well-intentioned all around. Like, he was not trying to–he wanted my idol returned to me at the end of it all.
Jeanine chimes in on women being voted out of ‘Survivor 43’
Q: Cassidy really went to bat for you and argued to James that he shouldn’t want to take the bigger guys to the end. He said that you might be strong, not just the dudes. And Cassidy said that maybe it’s not the cast’s intention, but she’s tired of seeing all these women go home first. What are your thoughts?
Jeanine: I’m so glad that you brought this up. This was a theme post-merge that was on all of our minds. I mean, that’s why you see the decision made to split votes on Ryan and James, because we were like, we need to put votes on Coco.
I felt this moral stance of I don’t feel comfortable writing another woman’s name down. Noelle felt similarly. And if people feel indifferent about the names, whoever it is on Coco, then that leaves James and Ryan to vote on.
And you know, even out there, I had conversations with Karla and with Cass about how uncomfortable that this was making us. Like it really left a sour taste in our mouths to know that the superlative of our season so far is that we voted the most women out pre-merge. Like that’s unsettling, and I’m glad that it was shown that she was also taking a moral stance and if that was something that was a conversation that we had all had as women in a level of protection that we wanted to have for each other just because of that.
Q: Ryan said when voting you out that you’re a wonderful girl and you can start embracing yourself and being the leader he knows you can be. Do you have a response for that? Like, where was that even coming from?
Jeanine: [Laughs.] Ryan, I love him. I really do. I…hearing that, I was a little bit like, ‘OK, I think it feels a little infantilizing.’ But he means well when he says it. He’s not–he wasn’t trying to be, have it be condescending.
But I just watching that was funny because I’m like, you know, ‘Yeah, maybe I should embrace who I am more. maybe I need to, you know, be more assertive or whatever it is.’
This interview has been condensed for this article.
Other Exit Interviews:
‘Survivor 43’: Dwight on That Idol Mystery and a Jesse and Karla Preseason Theory
‘Survivor 43’: Geo Responds to Cassidy’s ‘Sassy’ Comments and Says ‘Karla Had the Bullets’ Not Her
‘Survivor 43’: Lindsay Hates You Think She’s out for ‘Paranoia’ and Not Karla’s Strategy
‘Survivor 43’: Nneka Talks Struggling in That Challenge, Bonding With Cody, and More
‘Survivor 43’: Justine Says ‘Hats off!’ to Cody for Clever Idol Hat, Shares What the Edit Left Out
Morriah on Disappointing the Dad of ‘Survivor 43’ and Not Believing Gabler
