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Not everyone wants pizza and champagne shoved in their face after losing the million-dollar prize on Survivor, especially not Survivor 47 runner-up Sam Phalen.
If you have yet to tune into the finale of Survivor 47, Sam defeated Teeny Chirichillo in a final four fire-making competition that host Jeff Probst deemed “the most dramatic, nail-biting, could-go-either-way showdown” he’s ever seen, ultimately punching his ticket to the Final Tribal Council alongside Rachel and Sue Smey. Despite proposing a rather convincing case to the jury, Rachel won in a 7-1-0 vote, with Sam receiving just one vote from Kyle Ostwald (not his ride-or-die, Sierra Wright).
Ever since the “New Era” of Survivor began, the after-show has been on-site in Fiji, rather than traveling to Los Angeles, California to reveal who won the million-dollar prize and the title of “Sole Survivor” months later in front of a live studio audience. Because of this, the after-show is as authentic as could be, featuring the good, the bad, and the ugly from the season’s castaways.
As seen in Survivor 46 – where Charlie Davis narrowly lost the competition to Kenzie Petty – the after-show isn’t fun for everyone, as the finalists who did not emerge victorious are still facing the shock and devastation that comes with losing a 26-day game that they cared for so deeply. History repeated itself with Sam, who (like Charlie) was also down in the dumps during the after-show.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Sam said that the hardest part of the Survivor 47 after-show was that he was left with so many questions, with no time to get the clarity or closure he needed before hashing things out on national television:
“It’s very hard, especially when you don’t get explanations before you’re having this after-show. I stood up, Kyle comes up to me, gave me a hug and said, ‘Hey man, I was the one that voted for you,’ so I knew already at that point, but then your brain starts to go, ‘Well, why Kyle and not so-and-so or so-and-so,’ and you try and sort of figure it out in your head. Not the easiest thing to do in the moment.”
Although he was left with so many questions, Sam knew that there was a different time and place to address the jury and get those answers, as the Survivor 47 after-show was all about celebrating Rachel, a castaway he grew to know and love throughout his time in Fiji:
“I think it’s much better for everybody to sort of come at the after-show and come at the final Tribal Council with a level of gratitude and grace instead of bitterness or misunderstanding. Those conversations can happen afterwards. They can happen off-air. We can hash it out and figure out why this or why that, but yeah, it is a whirlwind of emotions for sure. Just trying to figure out exactly what to say and exactly what to do, while your brain’s going a million miles a minute.”
Although he did not emerge victorious, Sam played one hell of a game, telling the tale of a true underdog throughout Survivor 47. To relive his tumultuous journey from start to finish, you can stream the entire season – as well as previous seasons – via Paramount Plus.