Reality Stars Malcolm Freberg, Yul Kwon, and Jeff Zausch Break Down the Devious Premiere of 'Snake in the Grass'

The 'Survivor' and 'Naked and Afraid' alumni discuss how the game progressed, as well as the unique strategy the snake used before things even began.

WARNING! The following interview gets into information from the premiere of USA's Snake in the Grass, including the identity of the snake saboteur. Do not read further if you do not want to be spoiled about the final outcome.

The first episode of Snake in the Grass has aired, and the first snake has slithered away undetected! Three-time Survivor player Malcolm Freberg was tasked to avoid being voted the snake in the end by his competition. And in the end, he did just that, outwitting his fellow Survivor alums--and winners--Earl Cole and Yul Kwon, as well as Naked and Afraid mainstay Jeff Zausch. Using small moments of sabotage during the games and pointing the fingers at others via the clues given throughout, he got the guys to point fingers at Yul and Jeff. And he was rewarded handsomely, with $100,000 to take home for his efforts.

Parade.com spoke with Malcolm, Yul, and Jeff about their experience on the show, Malcolm's tactics for being the snake, and one preseason strategy that nearly got him pulled from the show.

Related: Everything to Know About Snake in the Grass (Including the Cast)

Malcolm, I want to start by congratulating you on a fantastic job well done! I'm curious, when were you approached about being the snake? Was that in the initial pitch for you to participate?
Malcolm Freberg: No, I was not told that would be the snake beforehand. What was pitched to me, as I believe was pitched to everybody, was just that there's some sort of survival, there's going to be games evolved. The Mole was thrown around as a comparison, which I loved way back in the day.

But I was only told I would be the snake 24 hours beforehand after I'd already gotten to Costa Rica. I got pulled into one of those awkward conference rooms in hotels where you're not really sure what they're for, but they're too large. I was given 24 hours notice that I was the snake. The rules of the game were explained to me more in-depth. You weren't told anything when we landed on the beach, except I was told how the game would work. And that's when I had a better sense of how the game was going to go.

Jeff and Yul, were you given a similar pitch to Malcolm about Snake in the Grass?
Yul Kwon:  So they didn't tell us exactly what the format would be like. I was told it was going to be a combination of Survivor and an outdoor escape room. So I was like, "Oh, that sounds pretty interesting. I like escape rooms." So I looked up a bunch of stuff on escape rooms. I watched this Mark Rober thing on YouTube with escape rooms. But then I thought there might be more deception involved. And they, at some point, said the term "snake in the grass." So then I found The Mole. And I watched the first two seasons. I really thought Anderson Cooper would pop out on the bush and be the host. (Laughs.) So it was a little bit sad that didn't happen. But Bobby Bones is terrific, of course.
Jeff Zausch: First and foremost, they told me I get clothes! (Laughs.) They told me I could wear boots and a cowboy hat. And I said, "Where do I sign? Let's do this." I knew that I had the survival part down. I knew the survival part was going to be cheesecake for me. But what attracted me to this show was that it was a social game. I've done Naked and Afraid six times. I was the host of Dual Survival on Discovery Channel. These were all very strictly just survival shows.

This was something totally different. And so I was attracted by the idea that, "Okay, the survival part I got. But this new social aspect is new to me. This is an area where I can expand my mind and really kind of branch out and take on a challenge that is unlike anything I've ever done before." So I wanted to challenge myself in other ways.

Let's talk about sizing up the competition. Malcolm, you were a fan of Survivor before you were a player, so I can imagine you felt a certain way about playing against Yul and Earl. And then you have this wildcard in Jeff. How did you figure out how to play, given the other three guys?
Malcolm: Well, it's a new game. When I came into Survivor as a superfan, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. You have this whole plan for it. In this game, even when I got the timing and the challenges explained to me, it wasn't all laid out. So it was very much "play as you go." What I do remember thinking is that I didn't recognize Jeff immediately. I've watched Naked and Afraid. But now I've gone back. I haven't even told you this, Jeff. But I went back and watched some of your stuff, and I was like, "Oh, I remember that. He had a shirt on. I didn't recognize him!" (Laughs.)

But obviously, Yul and Earl aren't just winners; they're legends. The word that went through my head was "cerebral." Those two guys, in particular, are going to think through every aspect of every twist of every detail. These guys going to be very heady about it. And I think you see that in the way that they pick through the details of everything. These clues aren't straightforward; they're riddles. I tried to play into the way they pick through every possible interpretation. If they say, "What if it means X?" I reply, "Oh, it definitely means X! It means Y for me, but let's go with X here." So what popped into my head immediately was that the guys I was playing with were going to be very cerebral about it.
Yul: Clearly, he's massively disappointed. (Laughs.)

Jeff, did you have any knowledge of these guys before Snake in the Grass? And how did that affect your perception of them?
Jeff: I had never seen Survivor, believe it or not. I'm a wilderness survival expert, so the whole game show aspect was never something that I wanted to do one day. So I didn't know any of these guys. They were just a blank slate to me. And so, I came in with no notes, expectations, or experience in a social game. At the time, I thought that it was a disadvantage. But now, looking back, I think probably had an advantage because I didn't know the personalities of any of these guys. It was just basically picking three dudes off the street and asking, "Which one of these guys is lying to you?"

On the other side of that, Yul, it was mentioned on the show that you and Earl have a friendship that goes back over a decade from when you won back-to-back seasons. How did it feel to play with him, knowing you may believe he was the snake and vice versa?
Yul: It was weird. You would think that knowing something about other people and having a relationship outside the game would actually be an advantage. But in some ways, I think it actually made it harder. Earl is such an upfront and honest person; he has a ton of integrity. And I just thought he would like to make the perfect snake. You'd want to have someone like that be the snake. And then I think from his end, he thought because we were friends, I would have engaged with him in a certain way. And I didn't communicate in the way he thought I would communicate, which caused him to suspect it was me. So in some ways, I think having that pre-existing relationship might have actually made things harder for us.

Let's talk about some of Malcolm's sabotage tactics. You mentioned you knew about the games beforehand. Did you have a strategy ahead of time on how to slow these other guys down?
Malcolm: The plan was to make a very fast start in the first challenge and then find a way to screw it up after making a good impression in the early moments. And then Earl screwed up! (Laughs.) And so I was sitting there out in the water swimming. I'm trying to look for these pieces of snake. And then Earl says he lost the piece, and I'm like, "Oh, I don't even have to do my strategy!"

With the second game, I had a bunch of ideas. But I didn't know Yul could swim like that. Yul did his best merman impersonation bringing that key in. I'm sitting there with Jeff on this upturned tower watching. I think I've done enough just to delay this and get the win. But I really did think that it was game over once Yul made it back to Bobby in time on the last challenge. It's just that last clue ended up playing in my favorite because somebody couldn't keep his mouth shut about alligators all night. (Laughs.)

Jeff, you had suspicions of Yul from the get-go that you didn't let up on. That ended up being one of the big things to help take suspicion off of Malcolm and get him the win. What led to you making those initial impressions?
Jeff: I thought, "He's quiet. He's reserved. He's well-spoken and articulate. He's not too flamboyant when it comes to his energy." So I took Yul's personality as being somebody that's trying to hide something. Somebody that's not being all out. But that's just who he is! If I had known Yul going into this, I wouldn't have necessarily made that same judgment early on. But I blew it. I trusted Earl. And then Malcolm was the outlier. So, for me, it was always going to be between Yul and Malcolm. But to choose Malcolm, I would have had to give up all suspicion that I had of Yul, and I never got to that point in the short duration of time that we had.

Related: Everything to Know About Survivor 43 (Including When it Premieres)

On the other side, Yul, how did it feel to be targeted as the snake throughout basically the entire competition?
Yul: It was pretty frustrating. I didn't know what else I could possibly do. I was just praying that if we got that final clue, it would be fairly determinative. And it wasn't. It was about alligators, which points at Jeff. I'm like, "Oh, I don't think it's really Jeff." I didn't really have a high conviction on who it might be. I thought it might be Malcolm towards the end. But I thought I couldn't convince the other guys it was Malcolm.

And by the way, I just want to say Malcolm played a brilliant game. I don't want to take anything away from him. He did a lot of really subtle things. Like, for example, casting doubt on Earl when Earl kind of flubbed the game. He highlighted that in a way that I felt immediately caused suspicion on Earl. When we got the clue about the leafy green walls, he volunteered that he went to Dartmouth. And I was thinking, "If he was the snake, he didn't have to volunteer that information." Of course, he did it because he thought I already knew that.

Another thing he did at the final Snake Pit was, at one point, it was all clear that everyone was going after me. And he said something that could put doubt on somebody else. And I was thinking, "He could have just stood by and let everyone dogpile on me. He didn't have to read this other idea that might actually redirect the vote." So you know, he did a lot of really subtle things. Kudos to Malcolm. Honestly, playing with him and getting blindsided so badly was an honor. It was really fun to play together.
Jeff: I suck at that, Yul! Malcolm showed me at the end what I don't know. I feel like a baby living in an adult's world after this show. (Laughs.) I don't feel like I can trust anybody for the rest of my life. Malcolm took away my innocence. I'm having a mental problem with living in this world now.

(Laughs.) That's intense! I want to talk about the Snake Pit a bit. Malcolm, I noticed that you seemed to take a backseat to all the accusations flying between Yul, Earl, and Jeff, which was one of the things that allowed you to slip through undetected. Was that one of your strategies with that discussion?
Malcolm: Jeff definitely jumped on Yul very early and would not give it up. And Jeff and Earl were very tight. So I did notice that on the first day of the game. Then Yul ran off in the middle of the night for two hours to think about what he would say the next morning. I worked that so hard. I woke up Earl and made him take notice. Then this alligator thing came out, which pointed towards Jeff. Because he really was telling alligator stories for hours last night. So I had this out.

But the thing was, it was clear that they weren't going to shift to Jeff, and Earl wasn't going to shift to me that. It became clear pretty early on in the Snake Pit that they were going to stick with Yul. And, of course, I'm going to vote for Yul. But it went through my head that Yul's not going to sit here and take it. A cornered dog lashes out at somebody; he's not just going to sit and take it. So I need to make sure that when he does take it on somebody, it's not me. And that's when Yul was referencing when I tried to pin it on Jeff. I came up with this little act to pretend I was having doubts. I'm like, "If it's not Yul, then it's got to be Jeff." And so, while Earl and Jeff are over there having a conversation, I spoke to Yul. And I think that was significant.
Yul: I jumped on that as well. I didn't think it was Jeff. But I knew it wasn't me. So I was still trying to go with Jeff. But clearly, you played really, really well.
Malcolm: But the idea was that Yul wouldn't just sit back and take it the entire time. He's going to pick somebody up. I just need to make sure it's not me when he does that.

Was there anything that didn't make the final edit you wish was shown?
Yul: So another thing Malcolm did that I thought was really on point was happening even before the game started.
Malcolm: (Laughs.) Oh, no. I'm going to have to tell people eventually about this, so go ahead.
Yul: So apparently, after Malcolm found out that she was going to be the snake, he had this brilliant idea. From his perspective, you don't want to do well on the challenges, but you don't want people to think you're deliberately throwing a challenge. And so one of the things he did to provide that excuse and that defensibility was he got piss drunk the night before. (Laughs.) Somehow he got alcohol and just got completely wasted. The next morning, when we meet each other for the first time, he's sitting there throwing up sick. His face was all splotchy and bright red.

It looked like he might not even be able to participate. So they were thinking, "Oh, do we bring the alternate on board?" It seemed like a very last-minute thing that he was able to actually participate. He was legitimately sick. I was thinking, "This guy looks pretty [expletive] up." And it worked! So during the challenges, if he was slowing down and not feeling well, no one questioned it. In my case, I actually got sick at one point! And the fact that I got sick just led everyone to believe that I was faking it, so it just caused more suspicion. (Laughs.) So, again, I think Malcolm was thinking way ahead, even before the game started.
Malcolm: (Laughs.) Yeah, that happened.

Wow. That's a hangover that's worth $100,000.
Malcolm: I had to pay off housekeeping and bring me a bottle of rum. And it wasn't fun drinking. It was just making myself sick. I threw up in front of that helicopter before we got on it in front of all the guys. It got so bad that production was running medical checks on me. I wasn't counting on that. They were sitting in the helicopter, waiting to see if I could go. And I'm saying, "I'm okay. I'm familiar with how my body reacts to too much alcohol. It's just a bad hangover. Let me go do this." But it actually really did help. Jeff's first impression of me was that I was immediately not the snake. And that's because I was puking in front of the helicopter. (Laughs.)
Jeff: I felt bad for the guy! (Laughs.) I know what it's like to puke in the wild. I just wanted to put my arm around him and be like, "It's going to be okay. We got this."
Malcolm: I claimed it was food poisoning. We had seafood the day before. And I said it was bad seafood. And so that was my out. But yeah, they bought that. And so I got to live through the challenges, but I really was sick. I couldn't fake being sick. I was actually dying.
Yul: All I had to do was throw up in front of Jeff, and he would have believed me. (Laughs.)

What would each of you say surprised you most about participating in Snake in the Grass?
Yul: You learn a lot about human behavior. It's just natural, once you have a certain confirmation bias, you tend to look at everything through the same lens. In my case, I thought early on it was Earl. And then, from that point on, every time there was information that didn't fit with that, I tend not to put much weight on it. But things that seem to win favor don't feel really anchored to the information. I think it's really interesting to see that happen to all of us.
Jeff: I expected to show up to this competition like playing a backyard football game with some friends. But when I showed up, I realized I had just walked into an NFL practice with these guys. They took this gameplay to a whole new level that I didn't even know existed. I thought, "Oh, okay. We're going to be manipulative to each other, and we're going to lie about some stuff." I didn't even know there was this level of manipulation that could take place. It rocked me. I don't know if I'll be the same after this.
Malcolm: I was talking to a friend about this. If you ask any of these guys, I bet they say if there was one more day, they would have caught me. It was like I was holding on to the very end of a rope. But it's funny Jeff mentioned the NFL. It's like if you get a big lead in the first half of an NFL game, you just hold on to that lead. That's all I was doing by the end of it. I was like, "Come on. Let's just hurry up and get to the Snake Pit."

One thing on more of a wholesome note is that all four of us really got along. We have the group chat. On the morning of the second day, Earl, Yul, and I got to see these sea turtles going back to the ocean. The one thing to bring this home is that Jeff told me the entire time, "If it's you, I'm never going to be friends with you." He said this over eight times at least over the course of six hours. So what I learned is that that's not necessarily true. I think Jeff still likes me. (Laughs.)
Jeff: We're friends! But I meant it when I said it. I wasn't trying to be manipulative. I meant it at the time. I'm a very competitive person. So when I was in this, I was like, "Win at all costs. I don't care about friendships or anything." But of course, we're friends! I respect Malcolm for what he was able to pull off. It was fun as hell. I couldn't have asked for a better group of three dudes to be partnered with. They're just so authentic. I can't say truly authentic, just good, nice, fun dudes. I had a great time. But I meant it at the moment. I'm not going to be friends with a snake! (Laughs.)

Next, here's everything to know about this season of Big Brother 24.