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The Survivor season 48 finale was released on May 21, 2025. Kyle was crowned the winner after he had competed for the jury's votes against Joe and Eva. The latter two paved their way straight to the finale by sticking together throughout the game and strategizing around themselves. The same was true for Kyle and Kamilla, whose alliance didn't fail them till the end.
After the Survivor finale, Eva appeared in a Parade interview, published on May 22, 2025. She opened up about her experiences, alliances, and strategies throughout the season. Sharing one such strategy she used to conquer the game of trust and deceit, Eva said:
"I'm a lot smarter than I was putting on."
She said she did this because she wanted people to see her as a "dumb jock," who wasn't a threat to them, so she could fly under the radar.
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"I wanted people to see me as just the dumb jock."
Other things she kept private included her status as a PhD student and her autism diagnosis, which she only revealed to Joe before a massive moment coaxed her to share it with the rest of the cast.
What Eva said about her strategies on Survivor season 48
Eva mentioned that she knew it would be hard for her to win the Final Tribal Council because she portrayed herself as "stupid" the entire season. She added that if someone wasn't a part of her alliance, she would just tell them that she was doing what Joe was doing. She even added numbers incorrectly to show that she was "dumb."
"I knew that I was coming to this game as a physical threat, I can't hide my muscles. And [as] a social threat. I cannot turn down my personality; I am who I am. And so I was like, 'I have to limit my threat level in some way,'" she said.
She said it was a big lie because she was "very strategic" throughout, just under the radar. Eva added that in the Survivor Final Tribal Council, she suddenly had to convince the jurors to give her the million dollars by making them believe that she indeed was smart.
She thought that while the jury was convinced she was smart, they weren't convinced enough to give her the prize money. She stated that she thought she could bag at least four votes when she went into the Council because she knew those four jurors. However, when she ended up getting two out of those four, she still felt proud of herself.
Eva secured the second place with Mary and Star voting for her. When she was asked who the other two people she thought would be voting for her were, Eva named David and Cedrek.
She said she felt like David was a strong alliance member, but she started distancing herself from him after he got "aggressive" towards the end of his journey on Survivor.
"[He was] kind of becoming a bit of a bully. I love this man, but he got very aggressive out there. And so I had to shut him out, get him out of this game," she added.
As for Cedrek, Eva thought he was an emotional voter, and she thought with her Final Tribal Council speech, she could sway him. But he felt more for Joe, so he voted for him. Eva thought Joe deserved "a million votes" and was glad he got one. She also revealed that Joe thought it was going to be a tie and had told her he would give her his million dollars if he won.
For more updates on Eva, Survivor fans can follow her on her official Instagram page, @eva.erickson.
