'Survivor 46's Soda Thompson Breaks Down Her Complicated Relationship with Venus

Soda Thompson

Survivor 46 is here! Every week, Parade.com's Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the castaway most recently voted off of the island.

Soda Thompson's time on Survivor 46 is synonymous with song. The special education teacher quickly established herself as the "queen of morale," providing camp tunes to keep the spirit of her Nami tribe up through an incredibly dominant premerge. But the background music was discordant, as under the "Sodar," her closest allies were plotting her demise. It all came to a climax at the split Tribal Council. Soda tried to use the opportunity to take a shot at her friend-turned-enemy Venus Vafa. But there was another long-held plan enacted, as her fellow Namis landed the shot on her instead, sending her out on a low note.

Among the quirky Nami tribe, Soda was immediately one of the most visible personalities. She took flight as the social butterfly of her tribe, vibing at the outset with Tevin Davis and bringing in Hunter McKnight as a third. She made an early bond with Venus, telling her when Randen Montalvo was throwing her under the bus. But as the Canadian became more of an outcast on the tribe, Soda decided to distance herself from her. Little did she know, though, that her number one in Tevin was doing the exact same thing. As the premerge went along and Nami continued its incredible winning streak, Tevin was looking ahead to the next stage, and the threat that Soda would become as someone to make social inroads quickly. And thus the actor delivered his Act 1 closing speech: "Soda gotta go-da."

As the individual portion of the game hit, a split Tribal Council put four Namis up against two Sigas. And while it seemed easy on paper for the former oranges to continue their dominance, the Namis were all eager to draw blood. Soda wanted to keep Charlie Davis around over Venus, as the two had several spats over the past few days (culminating in Venus outright accusing her of voting against her). Meanwhile, Tevin and Liz Wilcox put the wheels in motion to finally spill about Soda, seeing her as a bigger endgame threat than Venus. Somehow, it came down to the Siga duo to figure out who would be the first Nami voted out of the game. Ultimately, they blindsided Soda at Tribal Council, snatching her chances of winning out of her hands like an immunity idol. But Soda's last words were for Venus, who shared a hug after she admitted that she was the one to bring their complicated dynamic to an end.

Now out of the game, Soda talks with Parade.com about her up-and-down relationship with Venus, finding out Tevin lost her trust, and how she balanced being the "queen of morale" with becoming a threat.

Related: Read our Survivor 46 pre-game interview with Soda Thompson

How are you doing right now? I know that you threw a viewing party last night to watch your own Survivor funeral. What was that experience like?
It was the way I would have gone out. I thought to myself back and forth, back and forth, "Should I do something? Should I not do something? How will I feel if it's just me sitting in my living room?" I sacrificed a lot for this whole journey, time with my family, challenging myself mentally. I'm like, "You know what? I don't have the biggest ego on the block. But I want some flowers! I want to be surrounded by people who really were down for me, who weren't trolling me, but who were really supportive. So let me go just randomly throw a party." It was packed. I was so happy that everybody came out. And it was the best time, honestly.

So speaking of getting flowers, let's talk about how you went out. When I talk with people who get blindsided, they say a lot of it is a blur in the moment. So do you remember what exactly was going through your head that made you ask Venus if she was the one behind the vote, then embrace her?
I just let it come. One thing about me being myself is emotions are my friends. They helped me figure out the world. So when they come, I just let them. I was very shocked. I keep saying this, but it's like taking a pill and getting out of the Matrix. You're all of a sudden awake, like you've been on this ride. And now, "Bloop!" It's out. And you're like, "Wait, wait, wait, what? Okay, back to the real world. Oh my god, this is so sad. It's over. But oh my god, I'm so happy. Oh, my god, Jeff's here. And the cast and the crew I've gotten to know."

And also, everyone's gonna ask me about this. The thing with Venus is, they did not show our relationship from the beginning. Like we were number ones from Day One. I was the only one really who gave her the time of day and actually talk to her. You can see that with the dynamics of her and Tevin, of her and Hunter, even her and Randen. They were not kiking like this; they were not. Randen warned me several times not to be close to her. So I spent a lot of time running in between her and Randen, running in between her and Tevin. You can see, Tevin and her have a talk in a deleted scene. They're talking because I said, "Tevin, give it a chance."

Venus would come to me and say, "Nobody likes me. Nobody wants to talk to me." I'm like, "You have to go out and try to change that." But I would also try to help bridge those connections. And by the end of Day Two, that was making Tevin sus of me and Hunter sus of me. And I was like, "I'm going down with a sinking ship. I can't do this anymore." And I did my best, it was so complicated. And that's why people are confused about the hug at the end, because they didn't know all of this. They didn't know the establishment. They didn't know how much I was actually trying to help her, how much I was there just listening, even when she was like snapping at me. So that's why that happened.

Were you trying to read the room on the way out and figure out who were the people to turn on you?
No. Honestly, I was in the vote. Like if you're my parchment right now, I was like this. [Leans in very close.] And as I kept seeing my name, I was like, "Wait, why?" Just confusion, looking at all of them as a group. And then it was over. But the only one I thought who could have led the vote was Venus, because she was spreading my name all over the island. Once she felt like I wasn't her friend anymore, like I wasn't being her one person, my name was all over the place. And I was like, "Oh, I was probably you." And respect because, once we couldn't trust each other, which was natural, we were going for each other. One had to get out the other. You or me first, boo. Respect if she had been the one to lead the vote. That's why I hugged her. Because I was like, "Yeah, we had a crazy ride."

On that note, we saw you get in a few spats over the past couple of episodes, most notably when she accused you of being the one vote against her at Mergatory. In a relationship-based game, how tough was it to try to manage that dynamic amidst a lot of conflict?
It wasn't necessarily spats. I never brought things to the table. I was really just on the receiving end of a lot of things. Like her toe getting run over was apparently my fault. When, in the clip, you could clearly see I'm pushing and she's alongside of it and I have to keep pushing. And I literally say, "She's gonna get smashed," like I said it out loud. And so I did move around her. That was my fault. Or just not talking to her anymore is the worst thing in the world. And she's like, "You don't have to do that." It's a lot of me going, "Your feelings are valid. I understand," and just kind of absorbing this. Like you said, it's a relationship based game. I cannot meet that with aggression or anything like that. I mean, I'm gonna hold my own and set boundaries, like don't talk to me any kind of way. But I have to be very delicate with it.

And, again, it also ties back to the fact that like, at the beginning, I was pretty much the only one who would talk to her and have a relationship with her. By the end of Day Two, they don't show this. But it's night out, and she asks to talk to me by the boats. And she was like, "I can see you're not talking anymore. It's very obvious. No one's talking to me, no one's working with me. Hunter gets to go off into the woods no problem. But I do it and everybody like has a problem." And I'm like, "Listen to me, you're not Hunter. You're you. You have to figure out how you are going to move and adjust. If people are not messing with you and wanting to live with you, you need to figure that out. I can't do that for you. You're going off into the woods. That's not helping anybody. You need to be here." She would do that. And that wasn't shown either. So I really, really did put my best foot forward to try to help in any way possible. But again, I'm not going down with a sinking ship, point blank and period.

So let's talk about some of your other relationships, since arguably the reason why you're sitting with me today is because of all these bonds you made. What's interesting is, as you talk about distancing yourself from Venus, Tevin was doing the same to you, as he saw you as a threat. Did you get that sense in the game?
I definitely noticed it. Here's the thing. I was talking to Tevin Day One, Day Two as well. But as things became clearer about the position where Venus was, I was like, "I need to attach myself to Tevin." I vibe him so hard. We just had some sense of humor. So by Day Two, Day Three was where I really started to kind of make that shift. So it's almost like a triangle. There's me, there's Tevin, and there's Venus. And there's Venus moving towards me and me moving away, and me moving towards Tevin. And then Tevin's not going towards Venus. He's going all the way off somewhere else. So it's like it was almost too little too late. But we still had so much fun together. We laughed. That man is funny. So funny, so charismatic. Our personalities gelled really well.

But, later on, right before we all merged, there came a time where I would move into a space to talk to the group that he was talking to, and he would move away really quickly. That started happening a lot. And I was like, "What the heck is even going on?" And then we had a whole conversation, a 40-minute conversation in the middle of the woods under the moonlight with the night cameras and the night team. They even showed us. I was crying. I was like, "What is going on? You are my number one in this game. I've told people this out of my mouth. And we need to trust each other. What's happening? I can feel you pulling away." He's like, "I don't trust you. You and Venus." He just was on us. Tat was it; it was done. The seed had been sown. The sunflower grew and he didn't like it.

Interesting. So if you knew that, did you debate doing what Venus tried to do and turn the Sigas against Tevin in that last vote? I imagine he's also someone you didn't want to bring to the end.
In my mind, I couldn't bring him to the end. But in my mind, I didn't think to blindside him at that point, because he was a number for me. We had worked on our relationship, even though he was obviously very suspicious of me for several different reasons. In my mind, I was loyal. We had bonded over different things. I am a loyal person when it comes to having to making an alliance and making a relationship that makes sense. We just never got to test that. That was my downfall. We never got to draw tribal lines until my ass was sent home. So I just think he never really solidified that trust. And if I was him, I definitely would have used me as a shield. He said it in his confessionals, "She's got a big personality, she's a social butterfly." And I know in his head he thought like, "Well, there's not room for two." But honestly, he could hide behind me for a while is what I was thinking. But I digress.

One Nami dynamic we didn't really see was you and Liz. But last week, Hunter tells Q, "Liz hates Soda." And this week, we see Liz say that she had been waiting to lose to get rid of you. What was your relationship like?
Honestly, Liz wasn't really doing much. She was just at camp and talking. From Jump Street, we would talk a lot just about our lives. We have very similar backgrounds in terms of our origins and our like upbringing and stuff like that. And I would try to talk strategy with her Day One, Day Two. She wasn't really giving much at all. She was very chill and very low. And that was pretty much it. Honestly, I didn't know she had this general disdain for me. But yeah, I honestly was like, "Hmm, this interesting."

I would imagine you had used those social skills immediately when the merge happened. We even see a bit of it in this episode, where you talk about wanting to keep Charlie over Venus. What were some of the connections you had made outside of Nami?
Charlie was number one. I was like, "We need to talk." He had this really calm energy. Even across challenges, in the first couple days, you don't see it, but I'm like, [Makes eyes.]. And, coincidentally, Maria, as well. I would make eyes at her, and I would be like, "Listen, you're pretty strong. We should talk." From people who are not here anymore, Jem was somebody I wanted to work with, too. Tim, Tiffany, Maria and Charlie definitely.

So you declared yourself the "queen of morale" at one point. That's something that you and I spoke about when we were out there, wanting to bring morale over leadership. And everything can be weaponized in Survivor. While that helped beat the drum of Nami, that could arguably be a reason why people were, "Wow, Soda is out there. She has given a good vibe to everybody. She could be dangerous." How much did you weigh that in your head as you were playing the game?
That's totally valid. I'm a lot. And this is what I told Jeff. Because he mentioned on the podcast, "Somebody who's as you as you is not somebody I would want in the game for long." And I was like, "Listen, I'm gonna feel the vibe out. I'm gonna see how it goes. And I'll take the Soda dial, and I'll maybe dial it down if I need to." Most of the time it goes up. But it's whatever I feel is there. The thing about the new era of Survivor is they take real people and they say, "Let's see what happens when you're all together." In a different group, maybe things would have worked out differently. But I said, "As long as I'm true to myself, that's all I want to be. If it shoots me in the foot, it shoots me in the foot. Somebody might want to use me as cover for a while, and I could pick things up and maybe make some adjustments later on in the game." But I have no regrets.

Speaking of later in the game, did you have an endgame plan in mind if you survived that Tribal Council. Would you have stayed with Nami, or were you eyeing some of those other people you mentioned?
Not really. I just knew that I wanted to stick with Hunter and Tevin. Because I felt like Hunter and Tevin,were never going to break up. It was very clear. They have so many things that are similar. They're both from the South. They're both very religious. They both work hard. They're very strong. That's it. You could see it. You just can't hide on Survivor. I was like, "I need to attach myself to this," because the three is powerful. But I just didn't have a chance to prove my loyalty to them. So yeah, that was fully my next step in my brain.

Last thing. It was briefly mentioned, but I saw Ben said something about how Soda and Q needed to start a talk show after the challenge last night. We didn't see a lot of your banter, but were there any highlights you wanted to provide from that very funny challenge while you were on the bench?
[Laughs.] No highlights. We were kiking over there, though. We were cracking up at Tim talking, we were dying. I do remember though, there was something I whispered to myself, and I guess it was loud enough to be heard. Because Maria's foot started to dip and almost touch the thing. And I said, "She's gotta lift up that back foot." And her back foot sprung up like this [Mimes a foot straightening.]. And I was like, [Whispering.] "Alright!" [Laughs.]

Next, check out our interview with Tim Spicer, who was also voted out in Survivor 46 Episode 7.