The girls are fighting.
“Survivor 49” stars Kristina Mills and Savannah Louie’s feud came to a head during Wednesday’s season finale, when Mills, 36, asked Louie, 32, if she could name one family member or partner of each member of the jury.
Louie failed the task, and she didn’t get Mills’ jury vote — but five other jury members still voted for the former TV news anchor to win the season.
During an exclusive interview with The Post, Mills explained the reasoning behind her pointed jury question to her season-long rival.
“So if you look at different challenges that we had during the season, you will hear people screaming, ‘Do it for this person. Do it for this one. Do it for your daughter. Do it for your mom.’ And so that was kind of like our thing,” Mills said. “And I was like, ‘Okay, if you are even remotely paying attention, then you will know at least one person from everybody’s family.’”
“Also,” the MBA career coach added, “my favorite move in Survivor history is when Kelly [Wiglesworth], back in Season 1, was on the chopping block to go home and won immunity because she knew things about her castmates. And so I really actually wanted Savannah to prove me wrong. I really did.”
“Because I value a social game. I want to see if you can do this and if you can prove me wrong, I really will consider voting for you,” Mills added. “I just wanted to see if she could do it. And it was an ode to one of my favorite moves that’s been played in Survivor.”
Despite their feud, Mills claimed that she would’ve voted for Louie — had she given the right answer.
“I think if she could go through and actually really prove me wrong, then I would have said, okay, your social was way better than I’m giving you credit for. And then you obviously have the physical threat and I would have very much considered it, and I think I probably could have voted for her,” Mills said.
The season’s fifth-place finisher also addressed stating that Louie had “mean girl energy” on the show.
“I think Savannah was just maybe misunderstood,” Mills said. “And I think we just played the game so differently. Like she came out there like business, business. Like, I don’t need to make friends, I’m here to win, that kind of stuff. Where me, I just very much valued the social component. One of my favorite players is Cirie [Fields]. I feel like that is the beauty of navigating the game and that’s something that I value. So I think we just were opposing.”
“And there were some things that happened that I just wasn’t a fan of that just wasn’t shown,” Mills continued. “So, I feel validated about how I felt then, but I also know that Savannah is the sweetest person. Plot twist — we’re actually good friends. We are great friends. I think she’s a great person. I just think she’s a competitor. That was her focus out there, and my focus was something else.”
As for her job as a juror, Mills explained why she voted for Sophi Balerdi over Louie and third-place finisher Sage Ahrens-Nichols.
“Me and Sophi were really close, and I don’t think it was shown at all, but since that split tribal me and her had gotten very close,” Mills revealed. “And we did play a very similar game. And so I had already kind of recognized her threat level and kind of how she played the game. And for me, Sage didn’t really own the moves that she made. I think as the jury, we were kind of confused about the giving up the majority. And I feel like she was kind of the person that drove a lot of those decisions and we just don’t really understand it and we wanted her to own it and she didn’t that well.”
Mills added, “I wish they would’ve shown it, but Soph made a comment in final tribal and said, ‘I didn’t need to take Rizo’s idol because I controlled that idol.’ And I was like, ‘That’s my girl! You are owning all of it. You’re owning everything. I love the way the social game you played.’ And so that’s why she ultimately got my vote at the end.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
