Yahoo Sports 'Survivor 46': Q Burdette solidifies embarrassing record of most players voted out with an idol
Burdette explains why he didn't play his idol and why he previously asked to be voted off the island
The Survivor 46 cast has made history, but it's not a particularly great legacy to have. In this week's episode, Q Burdette was voted out, making that a record five players who left with an idol in their pocket this season.
"To play an idol and not to play an idol is a risk that you have to calculate," Burdette told Yahoo Canada. "You have to figure out if it's in your best interest."
"For me, waiting one more tribal was in the best interest of my game, simply because it would have guaranteed me to final three. ... There was nobody in the game that could beat me at fire."
While that plan didn't seen to work, Burdette also stressed that he thought Charlie Davis was "the bigger threat to win," because he had won multiple immunities, was "in the know" on every vote and hadn't, as Burdette described, "pissed anybody off."
"All this stuff translates on paper to a Survivor win, versus a Q who's been not liked, he's been chaotic, he's been crazy. I thought they would see that and say, 'Maybe we should take the shot at Charlie,'" Burdette said. "It's because they saw Maria [Shrime Gonzalez] with me, they were so fascinated with getting me out of the game that it blocked everything else that really matters."
"From the Hunter [McKnight] vote all the way down, all these people went out thinking about me, and all of them say that they can beat me. Why are you writing my name down then, if you think you can beat me? ... Everybody has watched it back and maybe they're thinking, 'I think I could have beat him at the end.' But in the game nobody thought they could beat me and I know they couldn't beat me. And I was willing to bet on myself to try to make it to that three, and that's why I didn't play the idol."
Where to watch Survivor 46: Global TV in Canada, CBS in the U.S., Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT Where to stream Survivor 46: Stream with STACKTV channel through Prime Video in Canada, or through Paramount+ in the U.S.
Watch Survivor Season 46 by adding the STACKTV channel to your Prime Video subscription. 14-day free trial then $12.99/month
'It was just a chaotic moment that caught everybody off guard'
One of the most notable, and controversial, moments in Survivor 46 was when Burdette told the castaways to vote him out. While some of his fellow cast mates have called him out for lasting longer than them in the game, when he wanted to go home, Burdette refers to it as a "human moment."
"The day I raised my hand and said, 'Hey take me out,' it wasn't that I was trying to quit because I'm tired of the game, ... it was a human moment," he explained. "And what happened was, I screwed up Liz's [Wilcox] idea, and this was before the Applebee's so I still kind of had a heart for Liz, at the time."
"I screwed up her plan and told Hunter about it. Hunter went to Liz, and this is Liz who was excited, so over the top ready to make this move in the game. Now she's crying. ... I have four little sisters. That bothered me so bad and I felt like I screwed it up for her. ... But then also, I felt bad because of Tevin [Davis]. Tevin was in my alliance, he's in my group that I created, and I did not do my duty to protect him. I did not do my duty to notify him of what was going on. ... I felt bad about that."
Burdette also highlighted that his goal was to win the title of the a Survivor winner, versus playing specifically for the $1 million prize money.
"You've got to weigh in that 17 of those people were there for the million dollars," he said. "I was there for the title. I just wanted to win the game."
"The million dollars is not going to change my life, but for like a Tevin, that would change his life. So I was like, OK I kind of screwed it up. I didn't protect him like I should. This means more to him than just a title. Let me try to give him my spot. But now, I'm not going to just walk out. You're going to have to do the right thing and vote me out, but they didn't and it was just a chaotic moment that caught everybody off guard."
Burdette also shared that he never explained this reasoning to anyone on the island, and he also didn't tell the production crew what he was going to do.
"There was nothing out there that would have made me leave, I had a human moment, a real Q moment," he said.
Q Burdette's advice to future 'Survivor' players
We've also hit that time of the year where Survivor is taking applications for the next season of the show.
Having gone through the experience, Burdette's advice to any Survivor prospect is, "go for it."
"Just make sure when you do go for it, that you're willing to be yourself," he said. "So many players go out there and try to play like other people. Don't play like them, play like you and be you."
"Although I did not win the title, I'm happy [about] the game that I actually played. Why? Because I played my way. I did my things and it was just so beautiful to see myself on a television screen just being unapologetic me."
