‘Survivor 43’: Jesse Reveals How He Downplayed His Alliance and Which Jury Votes He Feared
Survivor 43 jurors were amazed by two idol plays at the end of the season. Showbiz Cheat Sheet talked to Jesse Lopez over Zoom on Dec. 15. He explained how he stayed under the radar for so long and more.
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from the Survivor 43 finale, “Snap Some Necks and Cash Some Checks.”]
Jesse reveals the moment Cody understood his ‘Survivor 43’ game
Q: So once you made it to jury, Cody [Assenmacher] went up to you, and he said when you pulled out Jeanine [Zheng’s] idol, your game made sense to him. What did he mean by that? Was it like, ‘Oh, the betrayal is less personal. You are just that much of a strategic, strategic player.’ Or something else?
Jesse: I think that what he was trying to say was just like, I mean, nobody knew I had that idol. Nobody knew I had that sort of backup plan, that safety net there, right?
And so, like, for him, he thought when I used his idol and then voted him out, he’s like, you just got rid of your ally, and you got rid of a safety net. He’s like, ‘Why would you do that? You just crashed our entire bus, right?’ Like, he’s just thinking like he’s not only is he betrayed, but he’s just like, that makes no logical sense.
And so I think that pulling out that idol, I think, oh, it started to click. He’s like, ‘Oh, he had a safety net. And what he’s told me since then…he’s like you said, I’m just glad that we went as far as we did together and you didn’t flip on me sooner [laughs.]
Jesse thought Cody had James and Sami’s jury votes
Q: If you and Cody were at the end at the final six, who do you think would have voted for him over you? If that make sense. Because I think Cody says, ‘Yeah, I think I could have beaten Jesse.’ You had the perspective Cody was more social. But I don’t know. Since we’re watching the show a lot from your perspective, it’s like just Jesse’s got this. So I’m just curious of which votes you’re counting, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to that, Cody.‘
Jesse: Part of it is the fact that there is the edit, right? You are all seeing my game, but I was very under the radar. I feel like I don’t feel like people saw my game until it was too late for most of them, right?
But I think that people saw Cody’s game, and people saw like he was interacting, like he was more social, like an outwardly extroverted person. And I do think that he had built these relationships with like Sami [Layadi]. He had built these relationships with James [Jones]. I didn’t.
It would have been a close one like it would have it. I was running the numbers in my head, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God. Like, we made the same moves. And if Cody gets to the end. The votes are already probably really close. And, you know, he’s got the sort of charisma to him.’
And I’m like, I do not want to go to the end with that. I wanted–my game plan was if I’m going to get to the end, if I’m going to somehow magically slip in a final three, I don’t want there to be questions asked. Like I want it to be known. Like I, I played the hardest. And sitting there with Cody. There would’ve been a lot of questions, so I did not want that.
How Jesse and Cody hid their alliance
Q: [Mike] Gabler admitted he wanted to go to the end with you and Cody. He was like, down to ride or die. It was funny watching Cassidy [Clark] and Owen [Knight], look at each other and be like, he just messed up. He just kind of admitted he got here accidentally if that was always his plan. But what’s your perspective as a juror when he said that? Like he might have had a plan to go at the end with ride or die, the plan changed, why he still should win?
Jesse: I mean, I’ve never been to final tribal, unfortunately. Um, but I think, I think you’re going to say whatever you can right to make the jury feel special and make the jury feel good.
I don’t know for sure what Gabler would have done. I do know that when I went up to Gabler at the Cody vote. And I said, ‘Look, Gabler, I know you love this ride or die alliance we got going on, but like, Cody’s a huge threat. And if we end up sitting at the end with him, we might be toast.’
And I did not tell Gabler that I had Cody’s idol. I did not tell him I had Cody’s idol. I just said, ‘Look, Cody’s this huge threat. If he gets to the end, it’s going to be a tough one for us.’ And Gabler was just like, ‘You know what? You’re right. I’m not here for I’m not here to play second place for a second. I’m not here to play for third. I’m not here to place fourth, fifth. Because I want to win.’
And so he’s like…Even if…And again, he didn’t know I had Cody’s idol. He’s like, ‘even if Cody plays his idol, I’m putting my vote on him tonight because I came here to win. I didn’t come here to…come in second.’
Q: How were you able to hide that you were working so closely with Cody? Because, of course, as the viewers, it’s like they’re inseparable. Why are you guys letting this happen?
Jesse: Yeah, no, I think what’s funny is, like, as soon as we knew we were going to hit the merge, like, together. Like, as soon as we got that letter, like the tree mail or whatever, we were like, we have to downplay us. Like, we have to, like, do whatever we can downplay ourselves.
And so me and Cody, we as much as we were shown together on TV, like right strategizing those check-ins we’re like, I don’t know, they were like very few and far between. It was like 10 minutes. Like, you know, we would just like randomly like go up to each other back when nobody was looking and be like, all right, so what’s the plan like? And we would cross-reference each other’s information.
And so I don’t think people saw it until later in the game that, like, ‘Oh my God, Cody and Jesse had voted together this whole time, right? I think then it eventually started to click with people, but we were able to lay low for a long time.
This interview has been condensed for this article.
More ‘Survivor’ exit interviews from Showbiz Cheat Sheet
‘Survivor 43’: Cody Doesn’t ‘Blame’ Jesse ‘but, We All Need the Damn Money’
‘Survivor 43’: Sami Felt Guilt For Blaming Gabler, Explains His Connection With Karla
‘Survivor 43’: James Gives His Fix for the Knowledge Is Power Problem, ‘It’s Not Meant to Be Fair’
‘Survivor 43’: Ryan’s Secret Goal in His Merge Alliance Pitch, ‘It Was More of a Trap’
‘Survivor 43’: Jeanine Says ‘Kudos’ to Jesse Keeping Her ‘Baby’ in the Game
‘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
