‘Survivor 43’: Geo Responds to Cassidy’s ‘Sassy’ Comments and Says ‘Karla Had the Bullets’ Not Her

Survivor 43 showed the cracks in the Coco Tribe. Showbiz Cheat Sheet talked to Geo Bustamante about his time on the show over Zoom on Oct. 20. He revealed why he was at the bottom of his tribe and his conflict with Cassidy Clark.

[SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers ahead for the Survivor 43 Episode 5.] 

Geo thinks he was at the bottom of Coco because he was an alternate for ‘Survivor 43’

Q: First question’s actually from my conversation with Lindsay Carmine last week. One was that she said that you were always at the bottom of the Coco tribe from the beginning, and one reason she decided not to tell. She said it’s not her story to tell. Do you want to talk about your dynamic with the rest of the tribe and maybe the theory of how you fell to the bottom?

Geo: So let me start by saying I was the alternate for the show. So from the very beginning, I felt like maybe I didn’t want people to see me this way. But I was like, maybe people might see me like, ‘You don’t belong. You don’t belong here because you aren’t supposed to be here.’

So that alone, right there on Survivor, anything could be a reason for you to be in the bottom. Or anything could be a reason for you to get voted out.

Also, the second thing I know she has mentioned was that she–that I messed up the first challenge. And it was she kind of had mentioned that I wanted to do the running part, I remember. But I’m tell you how it went down. I was standing right next to James [Jones], and I remember James saying, but when, you know, it had to be two people with a big crate running and getting the big crates, two people doing the boat, and then the other two people doing the square, the puzzle. And I didn’t want to do the running part. But James had said that his knee was hurting and he couldn’t run. And–cause the first thing I did OK, let me look at the strongest guys here. Maybe they can go pick up the box. Then James go, ‘My knee hurts, bro, I can’t do it.’ I was like, ‘Oh, man. OK, then, I guess. I mean, I can run at least my knees not hurting.’ So Jeff [Probst] came and asked us, ‘Who is gonna do what part?’ I say,’ Ryan Medrano and I are gonna do the crates.’

Geo reacts to being a target last week

Q: Were you shocked to find out that last week’s vote was supposed to be you and then switched to Lindsay?

Geo: I knew people were targeting me last week[…]We had a conversation. So we wanted Cassidy to go first. Maybe that was just the whole lie about Cassidy going first. But at the last minute, I remember that Karla has spoken to Ryan and to Ryan to tell me that we should vote out Lindsay instead because Lindsay, for whatever reason, whatever the reasons Karla had.

And then she says something about, you know, like, if I’m going to be working with you guys, I want to you know, I want to be able to do something to not just you guys decide who goes. And that’s fine I mean, it doesn’t matter. It could– as long as it’s not me, you know, that’s fine I just want to stay here. So she–we ended up voting for Lindsay and putting one vote on Cassidy just in case something were to happen, or she played a shot in the dark. Like, at least I won’t be the one going home because I knew I was going to get votes regardless. At least one.

Geo reacts to Cassidy repeatedly calling him ‘sassy’

Q: You were very aware about your relationship with Cassidy being the more awkward one. Watching back, Cassidy describes you as sassy multiple times. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Geo: I mean, listen, so many things were said that I didn’t even know. You know, I feel like if somebody had a problem with me being sassy, that you will come up to me and say, ‘Hey.’ You know, we’re adults, you know?

But at the same time, it’s Survivor, you know, we all have our own agendas. And maybe, maybe she didn’t want to tell me when I was. But I can tell you, like, what happened cause more than what you see is what happened.

So I think everything kind of started when I was chopping yuca for everyone so we can all eat. And Cassidy had come up to me, and she said something about you should chop the yuca in different shapes. So that way we can feel that we’re eating something different today because it feels like we’re eating the same thing every day. And I was like, ‘I’m tired.’ Like, you know, I’m like, I’ve been looking for food. I’m under the sun. I mean, we all are. We’re all doing something. We’re all doing our part. But, you know, like for you to go specifically to someone that’s cooking and tell them you should do it this way instead. So I can I feel like I’m eating, or we can feel like we’re eating something different. Like, ‘I didn’t get a thank you? Like, come on.’

So it made me feel some time of way. So I walked away from that and I was like, I don’t want to show her that I’m mad. So I walked away and spoke to Ryan and Karla about what had happened. And I said, you know, I’m frustrated. And I even called it a tantrum, but I shouldn’t have used the word tantrum because it’s kind of mean. But I was like, she came for me, and she was like eating if you chop it in different shapes and so we can feel like we’re eating something different. I said, ‘Well, maybe, you know, like maybe tomorrow you can cook if you want to cook. So that way like, you know, you can chop the way you want to chop it.’

And then she said something about nobody listens to me. Nobody wants to listen to that, and I feel like when women speak they don’t listen to women and this and that. And I was like, ‘Where did this come from?’ Like, I do like I get it like but I don’t. I didn’t understand where this attitude changed from. So that kind of bothered me, and I walked away. And I was like, this is turning into a tantrum out of nowhere like nobody listens to me this and that. And, and it did upset me a little bit. I mean, I got over it like the next day, but like I shared that with Karla and Ryan.

Then Karla went and told Cassidy everything that I said. And then Cassidy came and told me saying, ‘Somebody told me that you were saying stuff about me.’ And I was like, ‘OK, that’s somebody. You have to be Karla.’ And that’s how I kind of found out that Karla was working with them. They didn’t show this whole entire thing, but I found out and called her out for working–for playing both sides. So I was pretty aware. I was in the bottom. I knew something could happen and knew I could possibly get backstabbed. But you know, sometimes, you know, you’re playing the game. You don’t want to be too paranoid and you know, like you’re hungry and you ignore certain things.

Geo says Karla had the bullets, not Cassidy

Q: My last thing is, what was your reaction Cassidy while voting she said, ‘You think you could play me? But the truth is, I’m the one that put the blanks in your gun. I have the real bullets. What’s your reaction to that line as she was voting?

Geo: Oh, that’s funny. I think…I think Karla had the bullets [laughs]. I think Karla had the bullets, and she’s the one that manipulated a whole bunch of the situations on the show. But hey, you know what? I don’t want to discredit Cassidy either because, like I said, whatever she did worked out for her. Whatever. Yeah, whatever. Cassidy worked out for her, and at the end of the day, she’s playing a good game.

This interview has been condensed for this article.

Other Exit Interviews:

‘Survivor 43’: Lindsay Hates You Think She’s out for ‘Paranoia’ and Not Karla’s Strategy

‘Survivor 43’: Nneka Talks Struggling in That Challenge, Bonding With Cody, and More

‘Survivor 43’: Justine Says ‘Hats off!’ to Cody for Clever Idol Hat, Shares What the Edit Left Out

Morriah on Disappointing the Dad of ‘Survivor 43’ and Not Believing Gabler