Now that “Survivor 47” is over, Teeny Chirichillo has a new perspective about their feud with Sam Phalen.
The fourth-place finisher on the show told The Post the day after the finale that they “don’t hate all men.”
Chirichillo, 24, also explained that their dislike for Phalen, 24, on the island was due to “inner projections.”
Read Chirichillo’s full interview below.
New York Post: How do you think you would’ve fared in the final 3 jury vote if you made it there?
Teeny Chirichillo: Contrary to very popular belief, I don’t think I would have been a no vote finalist. I think I would have gotten Sol. I think I would have gotten one. I think maybe there’s potential that I could have gotten more. I do think I am a compelling speaker. I think I would have been able to own game in ways and speak to the strengths that I had in the game. I’m hopeful that I would I would have gotten more votes than one. I know that I would have gotten one. But ultimately you saw Rachel, right? I mean, come on. So I do know that Rachel is the winner of Survivor 47, and if she’s sitting against me she’s still the winner of Survivor 47. But I do still feel like I had a fight to put up and it would have been a good one.
Why did you decide to vote for Rachel over Sam and Sue?
Speaker 2: It is just undeniable the dominance of Rachel’s win. It is just incredible to see, to have been a part of, and to witness. Going into it I was pretty confident that I’d vote for Rachel. But honestly, as Sam was talking I did have waves of like, ‘Huh.’ His speaking is so compelling. He was the only person in the final three who had a hand in Operation Italy, which is like the move of the game. I do respect his scrappiness. And I also do feel compassion because if it wasn’t Sam sitting there, it would have been me in the uphill battle against Rachel and I would’ve wanted someone to advocate for me and root for me.
I had those waves of feelings and those feelings were still true. However, it was just a no brainer to put my vote on Rachel at the end of the day.
You had an up and down relationship with Sam? How do you feel about the social media response to it and people claiming that you hate men?
I do not hate all men. I don’t. I mean, it was entirely inner projections and inner gender identity issues that I projected onto him. And I am proud of myself for being able to reconcile with that and speak to it out there. I wish that I was able to do it sooner because he didn’t deserve [that]. The criticisms that I’ve gotten from people in terms of like, ‘Of course he wasn’t going to take her the reward.’ I’m like, ‘You guys are valid.’ And I know that. And so I just want people to know that I think I’ve taken away from the moment, the relationship with him, the way that I behaved in certain moments, the things that I needed to grow. But at the same time I do have lot of compassion for the things I was going through out there as well. And also just the elements of the game of Survivor too.
But me and Sam are great friends. I love him. He’s been so lovely. And we have a good sense of humor about all of it. I just do want people to know I don’t hate all men. I think that most people who I would actually get along with in real life know that. But there are people who I said that out there and they were never gonna care about me again. So I understand that as well.
Which vote would you say was the biggest blow to your game?
It’s a tie probably between the Sol vote and the Operation Italy vote. The Sol vote was like an earthquake to me out there. It was just like everything is seismically wrong and different now. I had plan of going to the end of the game with Sol. I wanted to play the game with Sol. I saw a lot of potential for us to do it and that all changed and Genevieve was a part of that as well. I lost both of them and it was so difficult and it really emotionally tore me down in a way that I found it hard to recover from.
And then the Operation Italy vote, I just felt like at that time in the game was where I really needed control, and to so loudly not have control was very sobering in the sense of like, okay, we’re at the end now, and I just got duped this badly. This feels scarily irreversible.
What was the biggest change for you from going to watching Survivor to playing it?
For me, it was the distinction between being a fan and being a player because I love the game so much and I love the human stories of it and I love the players of it so much that sometimes it was hard for me to shut off. I would get duped and I’d be like, ‘Oh my God, that was epic. That was crazy.’ It was difficult sometimes to not feel like I was watching Survivor, but also playing at the same time.
Any interest in playing a second time?
Yeah. Absolutely. I think I have a lot to prove. I think I have a lot to change and I would love the opportunity to do that.
