This week’s episode of “Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers” kicked off with a tribal shuffle, with castaways instructed to take off their buffs and scramble into three new tribes: Levu, Soko and Yawa, with the latter tribe finding themselves at Tribal Council.
Things take a crazy turn, however, when Joe plays a hidden immunity idol that effectively blocks all the votes for him, and when the dust settled it was former NFL cornerback Alan Ball who found himself going home.
ET Canada caught up with Alan to get his feelings on being the fourth contestant to be voted off of “Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers”.
Why do you think it was you that went home?
“I think for Joe, who was kind of calling the shots for him and Desi, I think I was the bigger threat. I think life at camp for him would have been much smoother, and will be much smoother, trying to bully Ashley and figure out a way to work with that as opposed to bully me and figure out the right way to work with Devon. So I think if anything happened he had to take a shot at me and get me out of there. I was a bigger threat to him.”
How justified do you feel your idol paranoia was?
“I kind of want to leave that unanswered. [Laughs] I feel like we’re yet to see exactly where I was at with that. I still believe Ashley and J.P. had something between them, even though I’m off the show. It got me nowhere doing that, but I still believe there was something between them that’s gonna come out eventually”
How much did the hunger and the elements affect your mood and your rationale?
“Not that much. You get hungry, but at times, when things are going on, you forget you’re hungry. I think the hardest thing to do is sleep when you’re hungry out there. I think, you know, you lay down and those growls in your stomach don’t let you fall asleep. And then you wake up a little earlier than you would like to because you’re hungry. But as far as it came to game play, yeah, I think everybody would have been a little bit stronger, a little bit faster when it came to challenges on a full stomach. But I think when the game gets going it’s one of those things, you forget about the elements and you’re there for a reason and you go through with it.”
What attributes from the NFL do you feel you brought to “Survivor”?
“I think, competitiveness. A little bit of aggression. I think confidence. And I think you have to have a little bit of cockiness and arrogance about you to step out there on Sunday and play the game you want to play. You might not be a cocky, arrogant person, but at times you gotta play with a little bit of swag, and I think I added a little bit of that, a little bit of flair to my game.”
Looking back, how would you have trained for “Survivor” differently?
“Wow, I don’t know. That’s a good question. I think I was pretty well trained. I think I would learn how to throw a lasso around a sled, I think I would practice that. But other than that I think I was pretty well trained. Those challenges that pop up, there’s no way to train for them, so I think you just gotta be in the best shape possible, expect the unexpected and be ready to do whatever you can to try to get a win.”
Were you finally able to master the coconut?
“I was finally able to master the coconut. Now I feel like I’m a coconut pro, I am accepting the coconut challenge. You can find me on my Instagram, it’ll soon be up, @alan18ball, the coconut challenge will start soon.”
What was it like being at home watching the episode?
“It was fun. It was definitely entertaining. I had a good time out of it, I had some good laughs, it was fun to watch it with the family. Everyone enjoyed it. The people that really know me know what I’m about and really enjoy watching me because they know me and they know I’m just having a good time. So it was fun.”
Would you ever play again?
“Absolutely. No question.”
“Survivor” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Global.
