Survivor 45 Star Has "Intense" Regrets Over Quitting the Game
The new season of Survivor has seen not one, but two players decide to quit the competition.
Watching a castaway quit the game of Survivor is extremely rare. Even when the elements and mental strain are at their worst, there's a million dollars waiting for the winner at the end, so most people that play find a way to push through the difficult moments for a shot at the big prize. That's why it has been such a shock to see not just one, but two castaways quit Survivor 45 in the first four episodes. WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for the latest episode of Survivor 45! Continue reading at your own risk...
The very first Tribal Council of the new season saw Hannah Rose bow out of the competition. Her former tribemate, Sean Edwards, got a second chance after a tribe swap and seemed to be on the right side of the vote at the end of Wednesday's episode. However, Edwards shocked both his new tribemates and host Jeff Probst when he announced that he'd like to be voted out.
Edwards explained to everyone around the fire that he always saw Survivor as his opportunity to take an adventure and reclaim some time he lost growing up in a conservative Utah community. He then said that he realized that he was already doing that by living his life with his husband, and that he was ready to leave the other castaways and return to that life.
The decision came as a major surprise to fans because Edwards appeared to be safe at the vote, despite the fact that the other four members of the new Reba tribe had been together since the start of the game. Now, months removed from that Tribal Council, Edwards is admitting that he has some serious regrets about choosing to leave.
"I will say there definitely is, as I've been able to process this experience and come back from it – it's been months since it's been filmed – I'll be honest with myself and with everyone else, that there definitely is an intense feeling of regret about my decision. And it's okay to have regrets," Edwards told EW after his elimination episode aired.
"I think a lot about how I wish I could have been more flexibly minded in that moment to be able to say, 'Hey, Survivor, this has been a great experience. It's not really fulfilling what I initially came out here for, but now as a player of the game who loves this game, now I can turn up and play the game instead of asking for this adventure of a lifetime.' So definitely, looking back, I wish I could have been more in that space. I just wasn't. And I have to find a way to come to terms with that."
Were you surprised to see Sean Edwards quit Survivor? Let us know in the comments!