'Survivor 44's Frannie Marin Reveals She Almost Took Her Pants off at Tribal Council

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.

"Of course, I wanted Jeff wanted to put the immunity necklace around me for the third time. But there's kind of a sense of renegade excitement in me that I don't have that security tonight. I have had some sort of security every single Tribal Council I've gone to. So I kind of haven't had a chance yet in this game to put my social strategy to the test. And I love tests!"

Be careful what you wish for, Frannie Marin. Of course, that security was far from perfect, as she helplessly watched her closest ally Matt Blankinship go, then narrowly avoided elimination when Danny Massa played his idol on her. But Frannie took the challenge on headfirst, hoping she would prevail with this one like she had so many literal challenges this season. But for someone who vowed to "not shrink herself" in the preseason to me, she immediately saw the consequences of that promise. Despite the postmerge being tribal warfare up to this point, her threat level was the rare unifier for the castaways to come together and blindside her.

Frannie was ready to take on a number of surprises that Survivor had to offer. But perhaps the biggest was not a twist or an advantage, but her relationship with Matt. The two "dorky magnets" hit it off immediately, and despite their trepidation to show their closeness, soon became an incredibly visible power couple (and soon-to-be real-life couple). Unfortunately, their place in the game was as delicate as Ernest the stick bug. When a twist at the Final 11 separated Frannie and Matt, she prevailed, winning the first individual challenge of the season. But, ironically, in doing so, she doomed Matt, and she could only watch through tear-stricken eyes as he walked out of Tribal Council without a torch or a bag, but plenty of love in his heart for her.

Frannie just watched her closest ally walk out of the game. And if the Ratus had their way, she would be next. Luckily, her fellow Soka member Danny decided to use his idol on her, shocking the opposition and culminating in Frannie beating Brandon Cottom for the second time in two days. But despite the gesture of goodwill between the two former tribe members, it was short-lived. When Frannie won the first individual Reward Challenge of the season, three proved to be a not-so-magic number for her. Danny started gathering numbers against her, while at the Sanctuary, she was trying to do the same against him. When Frannie lost immunity, it seemed like everyone was on the same page that she had to go. But that book got thrown into the fire during an afternoon of scrambling. Frannie and Carolyn Wiger proposed a last-minute shift onto Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt after she relayed a vague and suspicious comment that Danny made But it seemed to ultimately be Frannie's belt-sharing closeness with Carolyn that did her in. Carson Garrett and Yam Yam Arocho were yet again in the middle, and they decided to split up the two before Frannie had a chance to form another twosome.

Now out of the game, Frannie talks with Parade.com about being labeled the biggest threat in the game, her up-and-down relationship with Danny, and developing feelings for Matt on the island (as well as their reunion at Ponderosa).

Related: Read our Survivor 44 pre-game interview with Frannie Marin

First off, how are you doing? What was it like watching back a very up-and-down episode for you, going from winning the Reward Challenge and getting to read letters from home to getting booted?
Oh, it was delicious. I mean, if you're gonna watch your funeral episode, what more could you ask for than everyone being like, "Well, we can't have Frannie because she's just too good." It was fun. And those last two or three days were really, really meaningful to me. I mean, getting to bring those three on the reward, getting to read their letters, hear about their stories, that was really important. Bonds were built in this whole experience. And I felt like I went out at this culmination point for me. It felt so perfect, honestly.

When you saw the first vote come in for you last night, you seemed to nod like you expected it. But when more were read, you let out a curse. Was it a curse because you were surprised it was you, or because the worst-case scenario you expected had come to fruition?
First of all, I would like to say I completely blacked out as the votes are being read. So I was seeing for the first time what my reaction was. I was very glad that I did anything. I thought I just sat there like (Mimicks staring blankly.) So that conversation that you see between me, Carolyn, Lauren, and Jaime, that was like 10 minutes before Tribal. We're standing around and we're like, "Why is everybody so confused? Why can't we just vote Danny? Wait a minute, let's just make it Heidi." So I think because that conversation was so late, it felt very important. I was like, "Yeah, last conversation. This is the last thought in everybody's head." I was confident that people were going to go through with this last-minute plan to vote out Heidi.

But, I mean, a part of me knew. I knew when we were on the reward that people back at camp were going to be talking about me. Danny was being weird to me all day, and I knew that he was going to vote for me. So I think I expected to see my name a couple of times. But it was a little bit of a shock to see it quite that many. And you see you see in the episode, a testament to the fact that I did not quite know I was going home. I walked out wearing Bruce's pants that Carolyn used to wear, Bruce's shoes, and Carolyn's belt. And then I go ,and I'm like, "Oh, this woman just burned her pants. She needs a belt." As the votes are going, I'm like, "Should I take my pants off at Tribal and walk out in my underwear? I can't take these woman's pants. She needs them! I decided that was a bad idea."

(Laughs.) I can think of one person at Tribal Council who would have loved that.
(Laughs.) Matt would be like, "I'm here for the show!"

(Laughs.) Well you speak about Carolyn. How much did your relationship go past sharing clothes. We see you talk about how much you admire her, and one of the reasons Carson and Yam Yam seemed to target you was because you were getting closer with her. Was that a legitimate read on their part?
So let me be clear, I loved Carolyn from the moment I met her at the merge. (Laughs.) And we've been slowly building this relationship. But I do think it really accelerated in my last couple of days. And you see it last episode, I am identifying, "I think these Tika three are playing the middle. Let's vote one of them out." Nobody listens to me. And then I'm like, "Well forget about that. Don't work against them, work with them." So I went, and I said, "Can I be the Tika fourth, please?" And part of that for me was trying to get really close with Carolyn. I knew that she liked me. I knew that we got along. We're both from Minnesota; we have this connection. And, like I said, she's so amazing. She's so inspirational, and those are the people I want to surround myself with. But I understand from Carson and Yam Yam's perspective why they would want me out. Carolyn was talking to me more than she was talking to them that last day, and I can see why that was a threat to this strong three that they're trying to move through the game.

You talk about wanting to be the vestigial Soka on this Tika trio. And we hear Danny say last episode that nobody wanted to go to the Final Three with you. Did you have a sense of that perception, and who were you planning to go to the end with at the point you were voted out?
So you see it in the episode. I mean, I was really destabilized after Matt left. (Laughs.) I was like, "Oh, what am I doing now?" Didn't quiet recover that well from that. And I think after Matt left, I really felt like, "I have no one. Who am I working with?" So my perception of myself was that I was not a threat. I was shocked when they voted for me at the next Tribal. I was like, "Why me? Who do you think I have right now?" In terms of going to the end, I did want to go to the end with Carolyn, because I liked her a lot and I felt like we were working well together. But I also felt like there was a world in which I could beat her at the end. And I was working closely with Carson as well as with Kane. It all started to fall apart, frankly, after Matt left, and after I started getting this big target on my back. I was in recovery mode. So I honestly was not even really thinking, "Oh, what's my ideal Final Three?" Because I was just like, "Please, will somebody be my friend?" So that's where my head was at.

Let's talk about your relationship with Danny. We went from him saving you with his idol two episodes ago to you two gunning for each other now. How up and down was your dynamic throughout the season?
So it was very interesting with Danny. You don't see this in the episode. But when he comes up to me, and he tells me that he's gonna play the idol on me, he actually starts that conversation by saying, "You and I have had some problems recently." Because he knew that I had been trying to vote him out. So I mean, I was shocked that he played the idol on me. I was like, "You know that I've been like actively trying to get you out. And you're gonna save me? Thank you, but what are you doing?" (Laughs.) I think with Danny, we had this plan going into the merge of the Soka four. And the idea was, Matt and I are a unit, and Danny and Heidi are a unit. We will operate separately and form new bonds and then come back together. And people won't really realize that these two units are four. But as soon as Matt went out, that whole thing kind of dissolved, and I started to feel more and more disconnected from Danny and Heidi.

I started to feel like I was forming better relationships with other people on the beach than I had with them. And it's alluring! There are new people in this game, who I feel like I have a better strategic rapport with, and I want to gravitate towards that. And let me tell you, in getting Danny out, part of me thought, "People thought that Soka was really strong together and wanted to work together. And in my mind, I think it kind of behooves me if Danny goes home because then people think that that's one of my numbers, even though I don't really feel like he is." So, in a way, if Danny had gone home, I think that it could have been could have helped with threat management. It's like, "Oh, one more person, that Frannie was working with is gone." That's kind of where I was pushing for that. And even though he played the idol on me, I don't think we got back on the same page. I mean, I said, "Thank you," when we got back to camp. But he didn't tell me to vote for Kane. And we just never got back on the same page. So I was grateful for the idol play, but it was a weird situation.

So now I can see why you didn't pick Danny for the Sanctuary reward. What about your other choices? How much was it the heart decision of wanting to get these three moms to hear from their families versus the head decision of bringing people you can strategically connect with?
I mean, it was half and half. So I knew I wanted to pick Carolyn because, actually, that morning, she had said, "What if today's the family letters?" We were like, "No way." Then when Jeff said that, I was like, "Okay, I have to pick her." And as I said, I wanted to form a relationship with her. The pick for Lauren was also a little more strategic in mind. I had not been on the same page as Lauren. We had not been working together. And I found it hard to get Lauren alone at camp. She and Jaime were often together. They spent a lot of time in groups hanging out with Yam Yam, Carson, and everyone. And I just felt like I had a hard time pulling her to the side to try to start a conversation with her. So I thought if I can bring her on this reward, finally, in an isolated environment, we can start to work strategically together.

And then, when Jeff says one more, I was like, "Okay, while we're on the mom train, it's gotta be Heidi. This is happening." (Laughs.) But also, let me just say, I was like, "Moms, moms, moms." But I also liked my choice! Because I'm trying to build something with Carolyn. I have not had much with Lauren, so I'm trying to start something with her. And then Heidi, somebody who I've worked with previously, we're a little rocky, and I'm trying to maintain something with her. So I kind of felt like this is a good solid grip for me. Clearly, I was not accurate. (Laughs.)

Well, let's get to the Matt of it all, which is such an important part of your story. We got his perspective on this, but it does seem like, by comparison, your confessionals were more about seeing your relationship from a game angle rather than an emotional angle. But you do say at one point, "I don't not like Matt." How difficult was it for you to balance these surprising feelings with playing the game?
It was hard. And you can see it in the way that I talked about Matt in confessionals. Everything that I say, I'm like, "After this game. We could go on a date outside of this game." I was fighting it, fighting it, fighting it. Because you can see in my eyes! If you do a screen grab of when I'm talking to Matt versus when I'm talking to anyone else, it's different. I tried to have this facade of like, "I'm playing this game. I'm strategic." But I would start talking to Matt and everything would just break open. Because he and I, we just connect so well, it was immediately clear that there was something very special between us. But I wanted to fight it. I was like, "Not here! Not now!" It was very, very difficult to navigate. And then we start holding hands at night, and I'm like, "This has gotten very complicated." (Laughs.) But let me tell you, I loved every minute of it.

Well, maybe not one particular minute. Because we have to get to his tragic boot. People have been saying online for weeks at this point that you should have thrown the challenge that episode when it came down to you and Brandon so you could save him in the process. Did that cross your mind at the time, and how much did you blame yourself for Matt's boot?
Yeah, we were up there for 45 minutes. I mean, I had time to think about it. And I was standing there considering every possible outcome. But I think something that's important to remember is that this ultimately leads to him becoming the target. But Matt was doing very, very well, socially at the moment. He was making a lot of really good connections. We had just worked well with Brandon in the previous vote. I kind of felt like we were building something with me, Matt, Brandon, and Kane. So I was not that concerned for him. I think I really had faith that he would pull it out. (Pauses.) Oh my god, that was such a dirty joke. (Laughs.)

But I had hoped that he would be able to make something happen with Brandon. But I think that, in that situation, the Ratu folks are very "Ratu, Ratu, Ratu." And with three of them together, he just did not have an end. And he said it himself in his exit press, he went a little loopy towards the end. I mean, he was going around saying all kinds of lies, all kinds of things. To the point where when we got back to camp after that Tribal Council, I'm sobbing, I'm exhausted. The Ratu people stood around me in a circle and yelled at me! They were like, "Matt had the real idol. Why have you been lying to us and saying it was fake?" And I was like, "What? Why are you yelling at me right now?!" It was very overwhelming. And honestly, I love Matt, but he kind of opened a can of worms that I was struggling to close for the next four days. (Laughs.)

Let's talk about that can of worms being reopened, namely you joining the jury. We don't get Ponderosa videos anymore, so paint me a picture. What was it like to reunite with him and begin the honeymoon phase of your relationship as jury members?
Yeah, the honeymoon phase is right. I'm like, "This is a nice little vacation for us to hang out." (Laughs.) It was incredible. As soon as I get voted out, at first, I'm devastated the journey is over. But then I'm filled with this sick excitement. Like, "Hang on, I get a free vacation with this really cute boy. This is very exciting." And coming into Ponderosa, I think that Brandon and Kane and Matt didn't really know how I was feeling. They didn't know if I'd be exhausted, devastated, whatever. But I ran up the boardwalk, and I was like, like, "(Screams.) Let's all hug!" And I literally jumped into Matt's arms and just gave him the biggest, most beautiful hug of all time. And then we stayed up that night talking until the wee hours of the morning. It was so beautiful.
Next, check out our interview with Kane Fritzler, who was voted out in Survivor 44 Episode 9.