Survivor’s Stephanie Valenica Was ‘Hoping for Worse Conditions’

People.com
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The last pillar of “Team Russell” fell this week on Survivor as spitfire Stephanie Valencia was sent home from Redemption Island.

The 25-year-old waitress had been deemed “Little Parvati” by super-villain Russell Hantz, but unlike Parvati, Valencia did not make it to the finals with her mentor. Instead was sent packing after losing a match-game duel against “golden boy” Matt.

Now home in Long Beach, Calif., Valencia tells PEOPLE why she chose to align with a known target, what if felt like to burn her buff, and how she wishes the conditions in Nicaragua had been tougher!

Did you know aligning with Russell would put you on the wrong side of the numbers?
I had no idea the sheer panic that his presence brought to the other tribe mates. I didn’t understand it. I mean, I know he had this reputation, but if we had kept winning we wouldn’t have had to worry about it. Then we get to the merge and you can get rid of him if you really can’t stand him.

So why align with such a threat?
I thought, “How can this person benefit me? No one likes him so I’ll get the votes.” That’s a positive to having him as an ally – he can get to the top but no one will vote for him.

But why not try to get more people on your side?
We tried everything under the sun to align with everyone. We had David in the beginning – it was me, Russell, David, and Krista – and a couple hours later something went wrong with him and he backed out.