'Survivor 43's' Sami Layadi Explains Why He Never Went After Cody and Jesse

The pet cremator also breaks down his Shot in the Dark play and why Karla was a relative to him in the game.

At long last, Survivor 43 has arrived! Every week, Parade.com's Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the castaway most recently voted off of the island.

Sami Layadi played Survivor like he made fire. He took meticulous care to stockpile supplies, making quick social bonds across all ages. But he made sure to diversify his supplies, setting himself up in multiple plans. That way, when he wanted to make a move, he had enough inventory to do it as easy as the strike of a flint. Unfortunately for Sami, if those supplies burn up quickly, it can cause a lot of smoke. And after Sami's two-timing was outed, the pet cremator's game went up in flames, as he went from having many allies to none in an instant.

Nineteen-year-old Sami immediately proved that age was just a number (one that he was lying about to his competition). On the first day, he showed his worth by solving a brain teaser and making fire for his Baka tribe. And that got him in with the power couple of Elie Scott and Jeanine Zheng, who brought him in on a plan to blindside Mike Gabler with idol rules. Little did they know, though, that the youngest person in the game had built something with the oldest. So the premerge was peppered with moments of Elie and Jeanine bringing information to Sami, only for him to then pass it on to Gabler. Once the tribes came together, Gabler and Sami struck to take out Elie immediately and draw Baka blood. And while Sami cast away old bonds, he soon forged new ones, which brought him into a new cross-tribal alliance of seven that was taking hold.

But, true to his youthful energy, Sami was already ready to move. Looking to break up the seven less than a day after it was formed, he started plotting against the group in power. He was part of a massive plan to blindside James Jones. But, to keep his relationship with Karla Cruz Godoy, he tipped her off right before Tribal Council about it. Sami's biggest move, then, served as the beginning of the end of his game. Everyone began to get wise to the fact that Sami was playing all sides and constantly flipping, leading to him being left out of the vote for the first time all game. When an unprecedented challenge finish and a "Choose Your Champion" advantage left only four people vulnerable, Sami felt the seat heat underneath him, and he started to swing. He lied to Karla that Cassidy Clark had told him about her idol, and was successfully able to turn her against her closest ally. And at Tribal Council, he openly said he would be playing his Shot in the Dark, saying his vote wouldn't be needed. That proved to be more true than he knew. Jesse Lopez saw Sami as someone who could slip through to the end, where he'd be one fire away from the finals. So he turned the tables once again, sending Sami out unanimously after his Shot failed.

Now out of the game, Sami talks with Parade.com about what triggered his Shot in the Dark play, the various important relationships that built and sunk his game, and how Survivor has shaped his life at such a formative age.

Related: Read our Survivor 43 pre-game interview with Sami Layadi

Let's start with your Shot in the Dark play. We saw in a confessional after the challenge you said you would play it. But was there something you noticed either at camp or Tribal Council that really made you feel like you were in enough danger to play it?
Yeah, so for most of the day, the vote was Cassidy. People were telling me, "It's Cass." And I had a conversation with Gabler and Cody specifically. Because me and Cody were very close out there, actually. We painted the boat and stuff. You don't see a lot of the close bonds like that you really build. But I had Gabler and Cody, and they're like, "Listen to me. It should be going your way. But if something goes wrong, we'll signal to you." And in my head, I'm like, "If something goes wrong?! What's gonna go wrong? Let's do what you guys say we're gonna do."

And at Tribal, you can see me in the back corner. I'm tapping Gabler. I'm leaning over to Cody, I'm whispering to Cody. And all I get is nothing. Nothing! And this is uncharacteristic of not necessarily Cody, but for sure Gabler. Gabler would talk to me and would at least tell me something. And in my head, I'm like, "Okay, well, he's probably not looking at me because he doesn't want me to be nervous like I am right now. What am I going to do?" And Jeff's like, "Sami." And I'm like, "Uh...I'm gonna play my Shot in the Dark." And then I saw Gabler. He kind of smiled. And I was like, "Dang, bro, okay. This is really happening right now."

You mention the reaction from Gabler. We saw that Karla called your decision "unfortunate." And my assumption is that she ended up changing her vote from Cassidy to you because of what you did. What was the general temperature of everyone else when you said you'd play your Shot in the Dark?
 So I was I was actually really happy that I said it. Because I look over and everybody's just mad. Except for Owen and Cody, who I couldn't see. But everybody's mad. Cassidy was obviously rightfully upset. Jesse was pissed. Karla was disappointed, unfortunately. They were not happy because this plan was supposed to go a specific way. And it's just like you said with Karla. At this time, I thought everybody was against me. I come to find out Karla was supposed to write Cass' name down and decided to change it at that moment. Because why not? And for me, I was fine with saying that. Because what's the sense of going home 5-2? I don't want to go home 5-2. Let's go home 6-0 with a chance of staying in this game!

Let's talk about some of your relationships, and we'll stick with Karla. Your bond came a bit out of nowhere, but we see things like you tip her off about the James vote, and bonding over her parents' divorce in a secret scene. Talk to me about what seemed to be one of your most important relationships out there before your boot.
Oh, it totally was. And I totally don't knock any of what they showed in the show because there's a storyline that the show has to fit in. I totally respect that. With Karla, she was just so easy to talk to you. From the moment that she hit the sand and we're talking about San Diego, how much we love San Diego. She just really reminded me of --and she's gonna hate this--an aunt. She's not that old! It's just because I'm younger. But she's like a really cool aunt, like I had a big sister. And I felt like I connected with her instantaneously. She was somebody that I wanted to go with in this game until I didn't, because I thought her idol was too much of a threat to have around. She was just so good at this game, and I knew that I couldn't keep going that route. That's why I ended up voting for her. But Karla's relationship was very important to me in the game.

You mention Karla's idol. When you tell her that Cassidy had mentioned her idol to you, were you aware that she had one? How much of that was based in truth?
Yeah, so that was interesting. That was kind of a shot in the dark too. I had heard rumblings. I didn't know that she told Cass about the idol. And so it worked out for me in the long run, because it kind of fed off of a little bit of paranoia that Karla was already having with Cassidy

And I want to clear it here. I know a lot of people are like, "Dude, why? What is wrong with you, Sami? Cass is there, but Jesse and Cody are right there." And I guess maybe we could get into that a little bit more. Can I go into this?

Absolutely! I'd love to hear about your thinking.
So I'm looking at that group of five of us who supposedly voted the right way, but didn't, because I was the one that didn't. The next morning was a really hard day for me because I was like, "Dang, dude. I felt like I was playing this strong game and it just kind of tanked all of a sudden." And the only people that gave me the time of day at any point in time were Cody and Karla. They gave me some hope. karla sat down and talked me and said, "Listen, I'm not cutting ties with you. Let's make something happen." And Cody told me, in Cody fashion, "I haven't played with you, but I haven't played against you." And I was like, "What does that mean, dude?!" But they gave me the time of day.

And at this point, Jesse, in the last vote, by doing what he said he was going to do in voting Noelle, gained the trust of not only Cassidy but also Karla even more than they already had before. And so my theory in the seven vote was, first of all, Cody found the advantage and Cody was safe. I couldn't believe I walked past the advantage. And I didn't want to bring up Jesse's name because I was like, "Listen, man, I gotta make it past seven." Once I make it past seven, and then I'm on the side with Gabler and Owen, and I have some numbers here, then we can make something happen. But at this point, I didn't feel comfortable saying Jesse's name. It's like a mafia boss. You say his name, he slits your throat. Cass is a mafia boss too. You say Cass' name, she slits your throat. It was crazy.

Let's talk about the Gabler side of things. You were one of his tightest allies when he was an outcast on Baka, constantly feeding him information. Then at the merge, it almost seemed like the monster you created was let loose on the town when he decides to immediately go after Elie. Talk to me about your relationship, because I imagine he's definitely a different relative than an aunt.
Yeah, he's definitely not an older brother, I'll say that. (Laughs.) With Gabler, I wanted to take on that challenge. Nobody wants to work with this guy. Nobody really trusts this guy. He kind of gets on our nerves. This guy has this cool beard, he's 6'3", he's got these tattoos. I was like, "There's something more to him that I'm not finding." So that was a really good relationship. In a way, I didn't create a monster, but a butterfly. I helped him get in his cocoon. And then he got to this point in his game on his own without me.

That was one of my biggest flaws in the game. I stopped paying attention to Gabler. Even on the day where they flipped him to vote for Noelle. Well, the reason that that happened was because I was kind of like, "Listen, Gabler, we're going Karla. All right, appreciate it, bro. Fist bumps, later, dude." And I didn't really give attention to that relationship like Cody and Jesse did. So Gabler was somebody that you've got to keep them in the loop. He wants to be in the know, he wants to know what's going on. He doesn't want to be left out of things. Who does, right? And so it was a very interesting relationship. Because I would find myself in the early days of Baka being like, "Well, this doesn't really make any sense." Because Elie's such a cool person, Jeanine's such a cool person, Owen's such a cool person. And yet here I am kind of throwing him under the bus with this guy that's a cool person, but he drives me nuts sometimes. But it was fun, though.

Your game really hit its stride in the middle of the season. You're brought into the new alliance of seven on this Dwight vote, but immediately you're ready to leave it and take out Ryan. Why were you so quick to jump ship, and how much do you think that reflected on people saying you were "sketchy" and wishy-washy and getting caught red-handed?
I totally did. And all props to everybody that caught me on that. You don't get second chances in this game very often at all. I said that a couple of times while I was out there. I didn't want to play a game that, that look that that was built upon other people, that was built upon me coasting through other people. And I just have so much respect for not only the producers, but all the film crew and everybody that puts so much work into this show, I felt like there's no possible way that I can sit and let this final seven just pick people off one by one.

And the turning point was when Jeanine was voted off. I didn't want that to happen at all, not even a little bit. And it looked a lot like, "Oh, Sami's all talk and no show." But obviously, I would have done it if the numbers were there. The numbers that looked like they were there were really not there. Gabler didn't want to vote Ryan off. Gabler thought Ryan was really strong. Noelle positioned herself in a good position going forward in the game and didn't want to vote off Ryan to piss off the majority. And so that was the turning point for me where I was like, "Dude, I'm not doing this. I'm not going with this ebb and flow of, 'Let's do seven. Hey, bro, we freakin' made it to seven.'"

What caught up to me at the end of it, I think, was I seemed to think everybody else was blind. I thought they couldn't see that I was going this way and that way and then this way and back that way. And that was on me. That was a total misstep on my part. But I wouldn't have wanted to play it any other way. Because I truly feel like to get when I get to the end of this game, I have relationships with every person. I think I can talk my way out of any of it. You want to have relationships with people, rather than have people be like, "Well, he didn't really talk to me while I was out there." I arguably think it's a lot better to give somebody that kind of hope, give somebody a little bit of hope that you're there with them, than to just be like, "Listen, we're just not gonna work out." That's not the way I wanted to play the game.

Everyone who plays Survivor says it's a transformative experience. I can imagine that applies doubly who is playing at such a transformative age like yourself. What did you take away from the show that you brought back to Vegas when you're not hosting pool parties with your 43 cast members?
It's been such an amazing experience. At a young age, I've been able to learn from so many amazing people, so many creative people, so many innovative minds. I have so much love for every single person that I got to do this thing with, and so much love for the people that believed in me and gave me this opportunity. To quickly sum up what this meant to me, it meant more to me than I can sum up! (Laughs.) I can't put into words, how much this experience meant to me and for me to be able to go out and share my story with people. Yes, I have a lot of vulnerabilities. I have a lot of things that I don't like about myself. And to go out there and to see that things that I don't like about myself are things that people like about me, these that people care about me, it was so meaningful to me. This is the greatest thing I've ever gotten to do. And I'm so grateful for all the people that made it happen.

Did anyone have any big reactions when you eventually revealed you were 19 instead of 22?
People actually were surprised. I know, people were clowning on me for that. But people actually were surprised. Then Noelle told me she's a Paralympian and I was like, "Well, my lie was just garbo. That was terrible. Noelle, you're a beast!"

Next, read our interview with Noelle Lambert, who was also voted out in Survivor 43 Episode 11.