Matthew Grinstead-Mayle Reveals the Challenge Injury That Actually Led to His 'Survivor 44' Departure

The barbershop owner also gets into the "downright evil" plan he would have used with his idol to make it to the jury.

Survivor 44 is here! Every week, Parade.com's Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the castaway most recently voted off of the island.

In so many ways, Matthew Grinstead-Mayle was the hardest-working castaway of Survivor 44. He hit the ground running (and climbing), hustling to not only show off his nature skills, but also to find, create, and hide idols. His work ethic also came as a result of his anxiety about being perceived as weak, especially after graphically dislocating his shoulder on Day 2. But, ironically enough, that extra effort he was putting in to show he wasn't weak was making him weaker. And nine days after injuring his shoulder, the barbershop owner couldn't shoulder the load any longer, choosing to leave the game due to the excruciating pain he was in.

Matthew's liveliness started with his opening words, as he told Jeff Probst he was doing everything to contain his heart from splattering out of his chest in excitement. And while he didn't have to deal with any displaced organs, he did face a medical malady when, on the second day, he perilously slipped down a rock and injured himself. Now a game he called a "midlife challenge" became even more of one, as he had to now incorporate his new condition into his worry that he was already a target due to being the oldest man on the tribe. Perhaps that's why he pushed himself through some of the challenges, and was able to show that he was an asset most notably when he single-handedly won immunity for his tribe by showing off his skills on a snake maze that he assembled and practiced at home.

But Matthew's zealousness didn't just apply to crab hunting and challenge winning. He used the tools of the new era to his advantage. When told that his close ally Brandon Cottom was being blindsided at the first Tribal Council, Matthew chose to play his Shot in the Dark to purposely remove his vote and keep his true loyalties hidden. After Brandon played his idol, he immediately went on the hunt for a rehidden one, and was successful in his search. But, not stopping there, he made his own fake idol and hid it by the well, which happened to be found by another close ally, Jaime Lynn Ruiz. Even going into his departure, Matthew was working hard on newest tribe member Carson Garrett, making an immediate bond. But all the work he was putting in across all facets of the game couldn't make up for the increasing pain in his shoulder. After another examination revealed that his shoulder was healing slowly due to the malnourishment of the game, Matthew sadly elected to leave, feeling it was too much for him to continue.

Now out of the game, Matthew talks with Parade.com about how it was an injury during a previous challenge that led to him leaving the game, his decision to play the Shot in the Dark during that wild first Tribal Council, and the devious plan he had to make it to jury if he stayed in the game.

Related: Read our Survivor 44 pre-game interview with Matthew Grinstead-Mayle

So I have to start with the way you left the game. From our perspective, we saw you chat with Jeff and Dr. Will right after the challenge, and then we don't see you again until after you've left the game giving your final words. Did you have to make a decision right there after that medical examination on whether or not you had to leave the game?
I had to make a decision right then and there. And we went through a medical examination, which they don't really show. But I could not raise my arm more than my shoulder level. They were very generous in showing my journey. But they don't show the extensiveness of my injuries. Obviously, I dislocated my shoulder on Day 2 in the initial fall. And I was getting better, but I wasn't listening doctor's orders. You saw me in the third episode, in the challenge, crying out about my shoulder. It dislocated during that challenge. And then I put it back into its socket, and then helped Kane finish the challenge, not knowing that I had severely damaged my shoulder.

In that timeframe, that last injury, I fractured my humerus; a piece of that broke off and had to be removed. I fractured my scapula, which had to be reattached, I tore my rotator cuff. I tore my labrum, which is the lining of your shoulder. I shifted the cartilage within the joint, and my subscapularis muscle had to be reattached. So the amount of pain that I was in was the worst I've ever experienced in my life. And so I really feel like Survivor was extremely generous in my edit, because they don't show how bad I was doing. 

Wow, I had no idea that what happened in Episode 3 was to that extent. After that happened, was there any talk with the doctor about pulling you from the game to not risk further injury? Or, because it wasn't life-threatening, it was always about you making the choice to stay or go?
Yeah that was the conversation afterward. Doctor Will was like, "This was what I was concerned with. I didn't want you to further injure yourself." And he didn't have the tools in the field to give me an x-ray, to give me an MRI, to give me a CAT scan. So there was really no way of seeing the extensiveness of my injuries. We can go down the longer list of the things that could happen, and inevitably, they all happened. But there wasn't a way to treat me out there. And so after the second injury, it was very much, "You cannot get in the water. You have to keep your arm in a sling." So that was the countdown of how much can I handle. I'm sitting there with an idol in my pocket. Obviously, no one's gonna see me as a threat. So the conversation in my head was, "Can I make it to the jury and see this game out in a certain fashion? Or do I have to say, 'Matt, you're really, really hurt and you need to bow out?'"

It really came down to the inability to move my arm over my head on its own. The reason you see, in the later episodes, my hair is down, it's because I couldn't put my hair up. I couldn't reach. I couldn't put my hair in a ponytail. So it was a conversation where Dr. Will, at one point, said that he was going to pull me from the game because of my injuries. And I said, "Because I want to control my own story and my own journey, I'm going to take myself out of the game. I'm going to remove myself from the game because I want to be in control of this." I just wasn't gonna let them make the decision for me. I'm like, "Okay, so just doing the right thing and making that decision to say I have stopped."

So I have to ask how your shoulder is doing today, considering the considerable amount of injury it suffered. Is your full range of motion back?
Yes, I had surgery in mid-November last year, I went through an extensive amount of physical therapy; I'm still doing physical therapy. Luckily, I am probably two months ahead of where I should be. My doctors are treating me like a college athlete. I'm dealing with the OSU Sports Medicine network, and they have been phenomenal. They've cleared me to do full body movements and get back to what is my sport, which is Survivor. And so I'm back in full training mode. I'm back in the gym, I've got my arm back, and I couldn't be happier. And I'm back to training for Survivor. I want that second chance. I like my workouts. I like the variety that I bring into my workouts in preparation for Survivor, so I'm back to it.

That's amazing. And I'm not surprised at all that you're overachieving in physical therapy. (Laughs.) Back to your departure, did you have the opportunity to go back to Ratu and say goodbye? And a chance to give your idol to somebody left in the game?
I asked if I got to say goodbye to my tribe. And Jeff said that was not going to happen. And had that happened, I definitely would have exchanged that idol. At that point, I was very much Ratu strong. I loved everybody in my tribe. And I really would have loved to see one of them take it to the end. So I would have tried to get that idol in into somebody else's hands specifically. At that point, Kane and I were very, very close. And so I would have tried my darndest to get it Kane. And if I couldn't get it to Kane in a very silent way, I would have done it in a public way and given it to Carson or Lauren.

So let's go back to the first time you injure your shoulder, all the way back on Day 2. What made you decide to climb that perilous rock in the first place?
There was something that looked amiss up there. And one of the monitors that I had going into Survivor is I'm a nature kid, I love to be outside. So I was like, "I have to look to things that are not nature. That's what's gonna lead me to advantages, idols, all these other things." So I'm looking for things that don't make sense in nature. And you can't really see it, but from one of the drone shots, it looks like there's something weird on top of that rock. And it's not uncommon for me to climb rocks. I mean, I do it all the time. I don't fall often. But that is just something for me. I was like, "Yeah, I see something. I'm going for it." It wasn't just crabs. There were crabs all over that place. But it was something else that looked amiss up there. So that was my motive to go out there. Not great. It was the fall heard 'round the world.

Even before that, you were worried about your perception, given you were the oldest and smallest guy on your tribe. Now you add injury to insult. How much did that affect the way you approached the game?
Well, my saving grace was that I came in with just a slew of knowledge. My tribe even commented on how much knowledge I brought to the tribe and how I helped everyone. And so I think that that portion of my social game was my safety net. In all worlds, at that first Tribal Council, I should have been the target in my opinion. I'm the weak guy. Yes, I'm helpful, but I've already helped do those things. So in my opinion, I should have been the one. But I was not the target. I was never anybody's target. And so talking to everybody, I'm like, "Okay, well, I obviously have a good social game, or other people are just really gunning for other people." And that was the case.

Let's talk about that wild first Tribal Council. You get told by Claire that Lauren is lying about what happened on the journey. Then you find out that your close ally Brandon is being blindsided with an idol in his pocket. And you decide to play your Shot in the Dark so you don't have to vote and show your allegiances. Talk me through everything that happened with you on that day.
So we got back from that challenge. The slide puzzle challenge was literally three hours. And with Brandon going down, it was a massive amount of time. So when we got back to camp, the scramble was real. We only have like half an hour, 45 minutes. So people are talking so quickly, and everything's happening. And so I get all this information. Jaime was originally the target. Her playing the Shot in the Dark totally makes sense. She was the target. She knew it. So Maddy and Kane tell me they're gonna vote for Brandon, and I wanted to vote with them. Because Brandon and I are aligned, but he and Lauren, over the past couple days, are getting so close. And so I'm not feeling like the number two. I'm just feeling on the outskirts. I'm like, "This isn't gonna work for me."

So I thought to myself in the boat driving to Tribal Council, "Okay, if Maddy and Kane are both voting for Brandon, and Brandon is going to play his idol--because I told him to--I know where those votes are going." Lauren is going to bank her vote because she wants to get the extra vote, so she's not going to vote. And Jamie's going to play her Shot in the Dark. There's another no vote. So where do I want to fall? I want Brandon's idol, so I want to vote with Maddy and Kane. But if I do that, then brings Brandon back to camp and he's not going to trust me. That's not good. If I vote for Lauren, then again, Brandon won't trust me. And if I force a one-one tie between Maddy and Lauren, Lauren probably goes home because she has the advantage. If I vote for Jaime, she plays her Shot, why do it?

I wanted to pick up Kane after the vote, knowing that he's going to vote for Brandon and be on the outs because you got no one else to go to. I wanted to pick up Jaime, who's all scared. And I want to keep Brandon very calm, because I want to flush his idol. So I put I decided to play my Shot in the Dark because I didn't really feel like that was a safety net that I wanted to rely on. And so I was like, "How can I use this differently?" So I abstained from voting. I can keep everybody's calmness down and I can pick up the people that I need to. And so that was the process that immediately got Kane on my side.

You talk about Jaime. Were you purposely leading her to the fake idol you made?
I did that because our strategy talk was not happening. We got along so well personally, and there's so much in common. Bbut the strategy talk was not there. So I needed something to do to build trust. And so for me, if she finds an idol in front of me, what do you do? "This is for us, oh my gosh, this is you and me." And it immediately bonded us and gave me the trust that I needed to have three people. That way, if we go into Tribal Council and Lauren's got that extra vote, I have three so we can go to a revote [at worst].

To that point, let's say that Ratu had to go to Tribal Council and you don't pull yourself from the game. We see you working on Carson hard since he comes over. What would have happened?
Well, you see Kane and I both really going for Carson and trying to get information from him, because he was that third person. I had spent days to make that fake. That was not something that happened overnight. It literally took me days. And so I thought I left all this legwork into securing Jaime as a third for me and Kane. And then she goes on a journey, and she goes away. And I'm like, "What? Oh no, Mr. Boat Driver, you're lost. I can't give you directions. But you got to go." And so I had to immediately get to Carson.

So Kane and I both went for Carson in two different ways. I hit him with information and to try and secure him and Kane went in socially to try and get him on that,social level. So it was a very strategic move by both Kane and I to try and get Carson because we needed that third. If we go to Tribal Council and Lauren has the extra vote, she can vote us out. But if we have three, we can force that second vote and get one of them out.

It really seems like you left everything on the table. How do you look back on the 11 days of what you called a "midlife challenge" on Survivor?
I mean, the only regret I have is climbing that rock. You saw my level of gameplay, you saw my level of knowledge of the game. Had I not fallen off that rock, this game would be up for grabs. And I really feel I was playing a game that nobody even really knew. No one knew I was doing things behind the scenes. And so I think that I would have made it far into the game. I really, really do.

To that point, were you already planning on what you would do if you made it to the tribes coming together, as we see next episode?
I mean, the reality is I could have been perceived as an as an easy vote for that premerge jury vote. But also, there's so many people and so many tensions going that I could have easily just sat back and just been a number. Because people would want to use me; I'm not a threat, I'm hurt. Other tribes didn't perceive me, as being really anything. And I had that idol in my pocket. So I had every opportunity to make it to the jury. But the reality and the conversation I had was I have to think about the severity of my injuries. And that was really what led me to leave the game.

But I had a plan. It's kind of crazy, but I had a plan on how to use my idol to secure my spot in the jury. And that was, as we got together, to tell everyone, "Thank you guys so much. I really just want to make the jury, I'm really, really injured. Please vote for me." And then I was going to play my idol and shock everyone and send someone else to the jury first. But I thought that that would be such an epic move, and it would be downright evil, that I was just like, "You know what, I'm not gonna go that route. I didn't want to make a move just to make a move on my way out. I don't want to tarnish my game. I'm really happy with the experience that I had. I'm gonna leave on a good note. And I'm not going to destroy someone else's game just to make a move. I've done my flashy stuff. I've done my moves. You're hurt, bow out. Be gracious, be kind."

Wow. That would have been like falling on your sword, then taking the sword and stabbing someone with it instead.
I mean, your mind's racing. I came out with no plan, but my plan was to be adaptive, and to make a plan on the fly. And so when you're out there, you think, "Well, I could do this, I could do this, I could do this, I could do this." And then what sticks, what has the most meat, what can really work? And that's where you figure out what works, modify this, tweak this. And so it really just came down to really trying to finesse every little move or every decision that I made to make sure that it was fluid and made sense. But again, I didn't want to ruffle any feathers. And I certainly didn't want to make an exit that hurt someone else personally. I love everyone in the cast, amazing group. And I'm glad that I didn't do it, because that would have definitely affected the ability to have a good relationship with other cast members,

Well even if you didn't get to end with that epic move, I hope getting to re-experience your journey, and seeing the fan reactions in turn, has been worth it. I know I was delighted in getting to see everything you got to do.
Well, thank you. I mean, it was the dream of a lifetime. I've been trying to get on the show for many years. I was originally part of the cast of season 41 pre-COVID. And that got recast and I had to come back. And I'm really excited that I wasn't in 41, because that time over the COVID break gave me all this time to really focus and practice and gave me another year and a half of training to be ready for Survivor. Had I been on 41, you would not have seen this experience. I wouldn't have been this player. So I'm glad that I had that extra time I needed to marinate and think about things and add tricks to my tool bag. Falling wasn't something that I could prepare for, but I did prepare for everything else that I could possibly think of.

Next, check out our interview with Sarah Wade, who was voted out in Survivor 44 Episode 4.