By John Powell – GlobalTV.com

They definitely got her before she got them. Anika Dhar had one of the most surprising exits from the Survivor game with multiple allies turning on her, flipping on their word but according to Anika there was a lot fans, viewers didn’t her about her Survivor journey.

John Powell: Anika, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. How are you feeling after having watched everything back?

Anika Dhar: Yeah, it’s definitely a very interesting experience to watch yourself be so vulnerable on national television. So, I’m okay. I’m doing okay.

John Powell: Give us a sense of what was happening before you went to tribal because obviously you had no idea what was going on behind your back.

Anika Dhar: My nervousness about the vote came from thinking that Andy was going to use his Shot in the Dark. We’ve seen that it works successfully. It is what me and Rachel were worrying about the whole entire time. We’re like: Do we try to lie to Andy?

We had a debate that wasn’t shown. We were like: ‘Is it worth feeding him something to make it seem like he could be safe or do we just keep it quiet and just assume he’s not going to play it or whatever it may be.’ We went back and forth a ton of times.  Rachel had an idea. We’re like: ‘You know what? Let’s run with it. Let’s do it.’ We see that. Andy feels as if he’s kind of set us up to do that and then when I see my first name written down, I’m like: ‘Okay.’ I knew from the first challenge my name was being thrown out. Sam had told me right before. He’s working with me and as an alliance member so I feel like I can trust Sam. He’s the one who told me that my name was getting thrown out. When I see the first name, it’s assumed and I’m like: ‘Okay.’ When I see the second name I think I go completely black. I have no idea. It’s utter shock.

I obviously realized what was happening being a fan of the show and seeing how the votes come out. I realize it’s me going home. I was too confident in my alliance members. I felt really, really solid…We had multiple conversations locking it in. It’s not that I didn’t have those conversations. They got me before I got them.

John Powell: Who did you feel most betrayed by? Was it the entire group? Was there specific people that you felt really led to your demise?

Anika Dhar: It was definitely Sam. The way he shot his hand up so quickly and you see me immediately cry. It was definitely because I saw Sam smile and his hand shoot up so quickly when I confront them. He was one I asked the question to because I was so confused. How did this happen? Who was a part of it?

It really is because of Sam’s and my relationship out there. I thought it was so solid. As I got to know him more I felt that he was someone who I could really trust and get to know and we were building our relationship together. A he got to know me it seems like he was more threatened by me and who I was as a person. I think that’s a really interesting dynamic to now watch it back.

Watching it back I think I feel the most betrayed by Sierra because I didn’t know that she had known since episode two that my name was on the chopping block. I got no warning. Unlike we see on the other tribes everyone’s talking to everyone. Rachel and I had no idea, literally none. There was so much talk about how much they didn’t like Andy that was not put on the show. We felt so solidified and Andy being the next vote based on how much Sam was frustrated with Andy as well, based on how much Sierra was like: ‘I can’t work with him.’ If you’re telling me you can’t work with him I feel pretty solid, right?

John Powell: You’ve told us a little bit about some of your relationship with Sam that we didn’t necessarily see. What was your relationship with him like on the island?

Anika Dhar: As you saw, we run every single challenge together. We find the idol together. We are in every single conversation. I’m the one sitting next to him hyping up the next battle. I’m the one asking about his favorite fruits and vegetables.

In my mind, it was very brother and sisterly. When you’re ‘hangry’ out there, when you’re frustrated, when you can’t sleep, it just happens naturally. When you’re trying to cope, like live and camp. It started on the second challenge…It wasn’t shown how much he was yelling at us and talking down to us in the challenge…That rubbed me the wrong way a little bit. I started getting frustrated saying: I just don’t like being spoken down to like that. He did apologize. Again, that wasn’t shown.

I took that very genuinely. I can understand and empathize that people, you know, he wanted to win. We get angry out there. We get angry and I get it…We had a lot of moments that we were set with each other but in Sam’s mind, basically he is already considering me a threat. Any of these little moments he’s using as more ammo versus me…So it was two completely different perceptions of what was happening and in the edit we do see it from Sam’s perspective and not mine.

John Powell: Watching everything back now what most surprised you about the things you weren’t aware of or didn’t see that were going on?

Anika Dhar: Mainly it was Sierra. I didn’t know that my name was thrown out so early. I didn’t know that Sierra was in the know. I didn’t know she played the middle as much as she did because the way she came to me and Rachel was like: Please tell me we’re okay. It was a little bit…more…tear jerky and had emotion behind it. It almost seemed like she was so scared for her game and we were the ones prompted to reassure her that we’re solid. It wasn’t like: Ae we down to work together? It wasn’t as more strategic. It was strategic. It was very emotional. I do think most of it was genuine, though. I think she was in-between working with the women and working with Sam. I think it came down to the fact that I didn’t have my vote so there was not much that she could do. I didn’t have my vote. I don’t think it plays a huge part but I think she thinks it plays a part, that Sam had an idol. I think at the end of the day she could have fought harder if she believed that I was better for her game but Sam won that conversation, similarly to how Sam won the conversation of us taking John out.

John Powell: There is a lot of talk about the chickens. Why you guys didn’t kill them? Let us in on what happened.

Anika Dhar: I wasn’t anti killing the chicken but I’m aware that Sam and Andy are going to kill the chicken and they’re going to hand it to me to be to cut with my dull machete. I don’t have a cutting board. I’m going to get salmonella with all the blood on chicken, blood on my hands. I don’t have soap and water. Our fire is not strong enough…I’m thinking through all of this and I’m like: I do not know if we can accomplish this in the time that is needed and we CANNOT be the first tribe to kill a chicken and not cook it successfully. That was what was going through my head. I’m happy we didn’t kill it and I’m the one who suggested to them to do a negotiation. Sierra loved that idea and ran with it.

John Powell: Now I ask this of all the survivors, so we only get to see like a small portion of your journey out there, is there anything, whether it was a particular strategic moment or a bond, or was there anything that you wish people would have saw about your journey?

Anika Dhar: Obviously all of my relationships. Like the relationship between me and John. Obviously, I would have loved to see how tight me and Rachel were. I don’t think for once we ever see me have the conversation with Rachel saying we’re locking in number ones. We don’t get to see me have one-on-one conversations with Sierra and getting really tight with her. We don’t get to see me consoling Sam and saying: Hey, we are solid! It does not matter that you’re one guy in a group of girls. We are solid. Obviously he doesn’t believe me and I probably could have done more to reassure him but I felt so solid about it. In terms of going on the journey, it was originally Rachel who was supposed to go on the journey. We discussed that but because of what we’re calling Ricegate, she Rachel asked me: Can you go instead because I’m a little bit worried about my perception? She’s my number one, so I don’t want her to have that perception either so I go and I run it by Sierra and Sam. It seems like I volunteer but it’s actually a long discussion of us preparing.

John Powell: Do you regret going on the journey?

Anika Dhar: I do. I do regret going because I would have had my vote. I think that would have changed the dynamics. We see how the Survivor game of telephone really bites me in my butt.  I shoot my own foot…I don’t know if we’ve seen this before where it circles all the way back around to have an input into someone going home from a journey. I just can’t believe that it traveled from my journey back to the Tuku camp, back to Sam to get me out. Watching that was crazy because when I left the island I had no idea that had even happened. I had to hear it and watch it back.

Survivor 47 Fantasy Tribe