Survivor 47 star Anika Dhar was flabbergasted by brutal elimination

“You’re kidding me, you guys.” That was the beginning of Anika Dhar’s stunned reaction after learning she had just been voted out of Survivor 47. Anika was on the receiving end of a brutal blindside after her alleged Breadwinners ally Sierra Wright joined with the men in the tribe, Sam Phalen and Andy Rueda, to take her out. Making matters even worse, Anika did not even get to fight to save her Survivor life in the immunity challenge, sitting on the bench as her tribe lost by mere seconds.

Anika broke down after her torch snuffing, crying on her walk out of Tribal Council and during her final words as she talked about how devastated she was. How is Anika feeling now about her elimination? We caught up with the 26-year-old marketing manager to find out what really happened on the island, as well as once the cameras turned off.

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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let’s relive one of the worst moments of your life, shall we? Take me through the feeling and what’s going through your head when you see your name keep coming up at Tribal Council?

ANIKA DHAR: So walking back to the very first Tribal Council that we go to where Jon goes home, I actually knew that my name was getting called out. What was not shown was that Sam actually came to me and was kind of solidifying our alliance, which is another reason why I think I trusted him so much throughout this whole entire process. He said, "Hey, Anika, by the way, Andy's throwing your name out. He's saying, you're the weakest on the tribe." Sam reassures me there's nothing to worry about. Sierra reassures me there's nothing to worry about. We have this solid four. We're all good. I end up trusting my alliance. It works out for the first vote.

Unfortunately, it does not work out for the second time that we're at Tribal Council. So you'll see it on my face on the Tribal Council last night — the first vote where I see my name, I'm not that surprised. I'm like, “Oh man, Andy's writing my name down again. Bummer.” The second time I see my name and I know how the votes are usually read, I'm shocked. You see it on my face and the rest of my reaction. It was very genuine. I was not expecting that in the slightest.

What's it like being told your game's over? But also — and we see this also on your face, trying to piece it all together at the same time — explain what that situation is like where you kind of almost forget what to do and where you're supposed to go and all that stuff.

The one word for it, it was blindsided. I am truly blindsided. I black out a little bit too immediately after seeing my name. I don't even think I remember the exact details. So watching it back last night, , it was pretty much the first time I was also experiencing it. The moment where I'm staring at them, I don't even remember doing that in my head.

But when I think back now watching myself, I was processing so much, that's how much I was shocked. I was flabbergasted at everyone. And I know a lot of things were going through my head, but nothing could come out of my mouth. And there was a lot that I wanted to say, and I didn't know if I should say it. There was so much going on, but truly I just needed to know immediately, specifically. The first question I asked is to Rachel, right? I'm like, “Did you know about this?” Because I needed to know if everyone was against me immediately.

And so when you found out it was the three of them, Sam kind of tries to take the credit for it, then Andy sort of awkwardly says, it was all three of them. Whom were you most mad at or did you feel the most betrayed by?

That's a great question. In the moment, it was definitely Sam. And you see me crying immediately after, I think it was seeing his smile. And that's something I want to talk about too, is it hurt the most in the moment because of my relationship with Sam on the island. You see us running every single challenge together. You see us finding the idol together. Anytime we're having any discussions, whether it's him rapping and I'm right next to him, supporting him, or whether it's me asking him about the fruit. Even the rope cutting situation, it really felt brother and sister out there and I got to know him so well.

There were moments that obviously weren't shown where after we had the little debate with cutting the rope, we'd talk to each other and kind of level set. Or after he would yell at me in the challenge, we'd level set with each other. And it's very interesting to me because the more that I got to know him and the closer I got with him and the connection grew, I was able to trust him more, see him as someone who I wanted to collaborate with in the game. I was appreciating his intelligence as someone who I could work with.

But, on the flip side, it seems that as closer he got to me, and the more he got to know my intelligence and who I am as a person, the more he seemed threatened by me. And I did not know that. I didn't feel that out there. So that's why I think when he was so happy to shoot up that, “Hey, I'm working against you” — that's the one that stung the most. And then obviously watching it back now, it stings with Sierra because we had that girl alliance. I didn't know that she was in the know from episode 2. I at least assumed maybe it was just like a last minute, Sam was trying to grab her. But it does hurt to know this whole entire time that she was working behind the scenes against us because out there it felt so different to me.

How hard was it filming your final words there after being voted out?

Dalton, I forgot that there were final words! You walk off immediately, right? And in that moment, I'm thinking about “What the heck just happened?” I am not remembering that I have to sit and do another last interview for final words. And so it was hard. I'm sitting there, I'm taking my buff, I'm dabbing the tears out of my eyes, and it was a very unique experience to watch it back, to see myself be so vulnerable in that moment where I cared so much.

Well, that's what I want to see. I mean, your pain was my gain. As a viewer, you want players that care enough about the game, that it means something to them when it's ripped away from them. So what was the rest of the night for you at Ponderosa like once the cameras did shut off.

Obviously, I have the rest of my crew waiting for me at a table, and immediately they see me walk down. I am bawling, crying to them. And all of them were so welcoming with open arms. Jon Lovett, who's sitting at the far end of the table, moves his chair up. He's like, “You're the last person I expected to see here,” and we are able to have a long conversation. And I'm giving them all the tea that they missed. I was like, “Let me tell you everything!” But yeah, I joined a really awesome group at Ponderosa.

What has it been like for the past five months knowing this episode was coming?

Honestly, full of anxiety and nerves. And it is been a lot of processing for me. Obviously, I thought my game was going to be so much different than it actually was, as you guys saw by my reaction. So it's sitting with the outcome. It's sitting with people blindsiding you. I had my full faith and trust. Sierra's telling me out there that she can't wait for me to meet her mom and her family. And I'm thinking: I just made friends for life, and then we're going to go to the end. It's going to be so great.

And then obviously dealing with those emotions and relationships coming back from the game, realizing a lot about myself and things that were triggering after getting voted out, and then as well as watching yourself back. What was my edit going to be? I don't know. So I honestly thank you editors. I'm pleased by it. I know some people don't feel the same way, but I think there were a lot of ways that they could have twisted me. And I think for the most part, we got to see who I was. I wish there was more of my strategy that was shown and a little bit more of my relationships that were shown, but you don’t have enough time.

I always say everything before the puzzle in a challenge is just window dressing. It's exciting, awesome window dressing, but it really just always comes down to the puzzle, and whoever is going to win the puzzle is going to win the challenge. So saying that, how is it that you ended up sitting out of that last immunity challenge? There was a puzzle and you've proved yourself to be very adept at them.

Dalton, it kills me because not only have I proven myself that I know how to cut a rope on the island, but I also love a puzzle. So I did not want to sit out. The conversation that happens behind the scenes in strategy was that they all saw the coconuts. Sam looks at me and says, “We need to keep the tribe strong,” and he means by physical arm strength. Unfortunately, the two spots were the puzzle and cutting the rope. And I also do think that I would be able to hold the coconuts.

So it's unfortunate that I don't really felt like I had a choice to fight and to be able to play. I would've loved to. I didn't want to sit out. And then having my vote-out have to be on the challenge that I wasn't able to even control my fate in, it sucks. It sucks so hard, and that sits with me a lot. What if I fought a little bit harder to have someone else sit out instead of me? What would be the outcome?

As the big alpha, is Sam making these decisions for the tribe?

In that moment, he was. And a lot of our strategy talks, he was owning them. And, as you know, the strategy time is a minute, maybe a bit more. I don't know if there's a misconception on how much time we get. It's very quick. And so it's not like we can have these long discussions on what we think is best or who's going to be the right person for it. They go by so quickly. So in that moment, it's just Jeff asks the question and we have to quickly make a decision like who's sitting out. We don't get to a lot of time to have a full discussion about it.

How was it that Sierra was able to fool you and Rachel into thinking she was with you all in the Breadwinners, and why wasn't she with you all? Why did she go with Sam?

It's a good question, and I know that she will have the exact right answer for how she wants to play her game. But to answer how she and Sam were able to fool us, the Breadwinners was talked about a lot. But we also had what we called a core four, and it was Sam Sierra, me, and Rachel. It was formed on literally day one when we got back from the island. And from that moment, Sam and Sierra reassured me and Rachel so much. There's a moment that wasn't shown either, where within those first three days, me and Rachel are talking to each other and saying, “Oh my gosh, we are dead set in the middle. We can either go with Andy or John or we can go with Sam and Sierra."

And that was a defining point, I think, for the rest of my game, obviously, because of what Andy did on the mat in the first day, and we were hearing some conflicting information from Jon. One day, he wants to work with me, the other day, he wants to work with someone else. And because Rachel was my number one, she was able to feed me that information. It seemed a little bit sketchier at the same time, where Sam and Sierra are saying, “We're solid, we're good.” And me and Rachel were like, “Okay, well, they seem like a solid two alliance members to work with.”

And Sierra also emotionally out there would come to me and Rachel and be like “Are we good? Please tell me we're good.” It was very emotionally heavy to where we were almost prompted to reassure her that we're good and we're solid. So again, that's another thing I'm really shocked to watch back Sierra playing this middle game.

Sam made it seem like you were being too bossy out there. Was that the case? Were you being too bossy?

I personally do not think I was being too bossy. I understand that I do serve as this leader role, but I tried so hard to not take that position again. What was not shown is how much time had elapsed before I was able to say anything. In the very beginning, you'll see clips of everyone building the shelter where Rachel's pointing to me. It got to a point where everyone started asking me questions, being like, “Well, Anika, what do you think about this?” And “Anika, what do you think about that? And what about this?” And it almost prompted me to take this leadership position.

Dalton, I tried so hard out there to be like, “Guys, what does everyone think?” I tried so hard because I was aware of that perception. I was aware going out there, but it was hard for me when you're starving, right? And I do want a good shelter to sleep on, and I do want food, and it's just hard to sit there and either do nothing, or lie to say "I don't know how to build something" or "I don't know how to cut a coconut." What would that serve? So it's this really tricky position in which I'm trying so hard to be tame about it and just be kind of calm about it. And I don't think necessarily the bossiness or the leadership role is what sent me home. I don't think that's why Sam was gunning for me.

What’s something interesting that happened out there that didn’t make it to TV?

Well, the bigger moment is that obviously I wish all my relationships were shown, but that's everyone in the game, right? The second thing is that there is a very funny moment that we all joke about on the cast regarding the chickens. When we finally get the eggs, they lay one egg, one beautiful egg. Sierra catches the egg, she gives it to me. I'm like the chef of the group. I'm going to make the egg, and I tell everyone, “I'm putting this white egg on this black pot, so no one steps on it. No one breaks it at all.”

Andy comes over, lifts up the pot lid, and I'm yelling “The egg! The egg! The egg! The egg!” from around the camp and he slams it down and the egg shatters and all of us are flabbergasted. We all watch like, “Oh my God, the one source of food.” And this was on the day that Rachel and Sam went to the reward challenge and had their hot dog. And so me, Sierra, and Andy were looking at our broken egg being like, “Oh man, that sucks.”

And that goes into something else: Returning the chickens was my idea. I suggested that because there was a lot of chicken content. I personally couldn't stand having them there. What I'm thinking is, if we kill them, I know that I'm going to be handed a bloody chicken in which I'm going to have to be the one on my tribe to pluck it with a dull machete. I have no soap and water. I have no cutting board, and we cannot be the first tribe that doesn't successfully cook a chicken. Our fire wasn't strong enough. And so it's not that I was anti-killing them because the protein would've been awesome. It was thinking about the process in order to get to that protein that really concerned me.

Last one for you: Did you or did you not cheer for Andy when he opened the coconut?

It's funny, because the first couple of days I thought I was cheering for everyone! So I'm sorry, Andy, I did not cheer for you. All I know is that it wasn't on purpose, and we did a lot afterwards to make Andy feel loved and included.