‘Survivor 44’: Sarah Wade Planned to Have a ‘Boomerang’ Idol With Her Inheritance Advantage
The twists keep coming on Survivor 44. This time one person from each tribe was moved to a new one, and they were given an idol. Showbiz Cheat Sheet talked to Sarah Wade over Zoom on March 23, 2023. She addresses the Tika women being voted out, finding out about her fake out, and her plan for the inheritance advantage.
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from Survivor 44 Episode 4, “I’m Felicia.”]
Sarah Wade explains Tika’s ‘Survivor 44’ female boot order
Q: What’s your perspective on the boot order, specifically with Tika?
Sarah: So with Tika specifically, I think with the Helen [Li] vote, a lot of it was guided by Carson [Garrett], who told all of us that he thought Helen had an idol. So I think that was a huge piece of it. And people also thought me and Helen were close. And I think Helen and I communicate in a way that’s less similar to the way Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho and Carolyn [Wiger] communicate.
So I think it was like this uniqueness of how they saw our relationship. And, you know, we’re both more like game bots in the way that, like, you know, we’re not like…as I don’t know. Just in the way that we are more straight-faced.
We’re kind of like…and I think on my vote, it was probably that when Josh [Wilder] came in, I called him on the surgeon thing. I was calling out some other stuff. He was saying to us that we didn’t think was truthful. But it wasn’t calling him out. I was just like, ‘Oh, I thought you were a surgeon.’
I also pulled him aside, and I was like, ‘There’s no way they’d send you here without an idol. Like, do you have to have a crazy advantage or an idol like, otherwise that’s so unfair.’
And he’s like, ‘I know. But they didn’t.’ So I think that I was, like, too transparent in what I like you can’t show that. Like, you don’t need to show that you’re smart. You can just keep that inside. So I think that was potentially a downfall of mine.
Sarah found out about her fake idol at home
Q: When did you find out that idol was fake?
Sarah: I found out when everyone was back home. So it was like the biggest relief. Like, obviously, it makes me look a little silly for thinking it was real. But it’s just such a relief to know you didn’t have the exact tool to stay and you messed it up.
I think it’s also like…I do look silly, but it’s also like if something looks like an idol, reads like an idol. Like, what can you do but think it’s an idol?
So it does bring up a good question for future players. How do you vet if something’s actually real? And then maybe it does force more communication about idols to lay that out, what other people think of it. I don’t know.
It’ll be interesting to see how it plays now that there’s so many fake idols in the game. And like idols that are made out of things that we don’t have access to. Like there was this big glass bead on the idol that I got, which I was like, I know we don’t have these big glass beads on the island. Therefore this is something that’s come from the game, but it’ll be cool to see how it all plays out.
Q: I think there is a lot of conversations about what this whole fake idol twist given by production means for the future of the show. I mean, like, does it lessen the importance of idol now if it’s always like, well, it might not even be real so?
Sarah: Totally it like, I think there’s two things. There’s this new method of delivery of the idol, like in the cage, and how that might unfold moving forward. But also, in us having the three fake idols, one per camp, then like what can be trusted then?
And it’s like if you’re playing poker and you have a two of clubs, and it looks like a two of clubs, and it reads like a two of clubs and play it, and they’re like, ‘That’s not a full house.’ Right? That makes poker pretty confusing.
So it’ll be very cool to see what future players do with that and what production does with that moving forward because now they have developed this baseline that idols can’t be trusted. So how does that change how players play in the future? And it might make them rely less on idols, which good or bad? I don’t know. But it might make them less likely.
Like in the future, I think I have an idol. I know it might not be real because of the precedent that’s been set in 44. Then you might be less likely to say try to go like people voting for you. You play an idol, and then you have one vote to get someone out. That scenario doesn’t work if you can’t trust idols.
How Sarah would’ve boomeranged her idol with the inheritance advantage
Q: Did you have a game plan for that inheritance advantage?
Sarah: Well, as soon as I found what I thought was an idol, it becomes the coolest thing ever right? Because you basically have a boomerang idol. You can use it with the inheritance advantage at a tribal, and you’ll come home with it.
So, I mean, that’s the most exciting thing ever. So at that point, then if the idol is real…obviously not. But if that was true, then it’s like, I know I have at least two tribal councils in me if I play this correctly because you get the idol back, and no one knows about it. So having those two together, what I thought was together, was like, so, so, so exciting.
This interview has been condensed for this article.
Other Survivor 44 Exit Interviews:
‘Survivor 44’: Maddy Pomilla Knew Her Exit Would Be a ‘Crazy History-Making Thing’
‘Survivor 44’: Helen Wants ‘More Original Puzzles’ and Talks Accessibility for Pregaming
‘Survivor 44’: Did Claire Try to Break Up Frannie and Matt? ‘I Loved It, I Do Hate PDA’
