Survivor 51's [Spoiler] On Whether He Would've Flipped The Coin Had He Stayed: 'I Had A Whole Plan…'

Spoilers from Wednesday’s “Survivor” below!

In Wednesday’s episode of “Survivor,” a Season 50 twist came back to wreak havoc on the Open Era — or at least the cast of “51.”

After the castaways were instructed to pair up to compete, Kristin and Kilby found themselves tethered together (but not by an idol!), only to lose the first stage of the three-part immunity challenge. As the strategy scramble began, eyes fell on Devin and Jelly, Christian and Carter, and Kristin and Kilby — though not many in the group knew about Jelly’s immunity idol. And play it, she did, saving both herself and her partner Devin from elimination. Unfortunately for Kristin and Kilby, Christian’s Shot in the Dark earned safety for him and Carter, leaving one lonely vote to seal their fate and send them to the jury. (Read our full recap here, then check out our exit interview withKristin.)

Below, Danny Kilby talks toTVLine about navigating the duos twist, his (nonexistent?) relationship with Eric, whether he would’ve flipped the coin, and so much more!

TVLINE | When you were first paired up with Kristin, how did that come about and what did you think about it? Were you worried at all that her threat level was rising?
DANNY KILBY | Yeah, people were threatened by her, but who cares, honestly? She said something along the lines like, “No one’s gonna want to be my partner cause my foot hurts,” and like, “I’m not gonna do well in the challenge.” And I was like, “Girl, I don’t want you to feel left out, I’ll be your partner.” It was a kind thing, but also I was like, girl definitely got something from Exile, so hey, that could be able to save us. And then I’m like, I don’t think you could get seven votes on me and Kristin. I think you could get seven votes if things really got dicey with me and Eric or something. I thought there’s different configurations where that could happen, but for me and Kristin, we had different friends, so I was like, that’s gonna help us there. But the real answer is it was so fast. This was not a 30-minute, figure it out. This is like two minutes maybe, of like, pick a partner. So a lot of people picked who they were beside, if you look, it was very fast.

TVLINE | What did you think your chances were heading into that Tribal Council?
Pretty good. I mean, going into Tribal, it was actually pretty interesting because things started going crazy right before Tribal, and I got spooked. I really was. I could see some of these people voting me and even Thien An comes up to me and she’s like, “I don’t know, it’s not looking good. People might be voting you, or Christian/Carter.” That was a very serious thing happening. Pretty shortly before Tribal, I start whipping votes. I’m like, we need to get the votes in Devin/Jelly. So, I was hustling harder than I ever have at that vote. And I had a plan to throw a vote on Mike and Maggie, but because of this last-minute scramble nonsense, I was like, I could really end up with egg on my face if it’s a 6-5-1 vote and I leave, you know? I thought that was actually on the table. Once Christian gave that extra vote to Eric, I was like, “Oh, I can no longer count on Christian to be voting with me,” and I got pretty spooked, and he’s saying he’s gonna play a Shot in the Dark. I’m like, oh my God, that might be the end of my game right here. I was worried. Even in Tribal, you hear me say Salt of the Earth. I mentioned the alliance name. I’m trying to remind people that this is where I stand, like six people, we need to stand strong. I was really, at that Tribal, worried about me getting the votes. So I was hustling and I think that changed it. I think that got votes on Devin/Jelly, but then, hey. Sometimes you still get struck by lightning, bro.

TVLINE | Jelly plays her idol. What were your thoughts immediately after that?
I was like, “Oh well, Carter and Christian are going home.” But then the shot… but also it was so annoying because, dude, I stayed up all night, many nights on Dina. I’m sad I didn’t even make a secret scene, but I’d literally not sleep at all, crawling the entire jungle in the middle of the night for idols. There was no Dina idol. I looked, I ripped that island to shreds, to the point where I went, “Maybe there are no idols.” That’s what I’m thinking, I’m like, “Oh, maybe it’s an Open Era thing. There’s no idols this season.” So when she pulls it out, I’m like, “Dang, like why wasn’t there an idol on Dina?” I crawled all over the merge beach too. I was supposed to be an idol guy, and there’s like two, and Jelly found it. Jelly and I were idol hunting together when she found it, and I just went a different way. It’s one of those “what if” horrible back things, you know?