"I wasn't all that surprised" — Survivor season 47 star Rome reflects on his elimination

Survivor season 47 star Rome Cooney became the sixth player to be eliminated from the competition series. In Wednesday's episode, aired October 23, 2024, Rome found himself in a difficult position as his pre-merge tribe turned on him, sabotaging his attempt to throw Kyle Ostwald under the bus.

He tried to convince the former Tuku tribe to believe Kyle had been speaking negatively about them without their knowledge. However, Rome was accused of spreading false information after the castaways fact-checked his claims. As a result, they campaigned against him behind his back, while Rome was convinced his strategy had worked.

However, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, published on October 24, 2024, the Survivor evictee confessed the outcome did not surprise him.

"I wasn't all that surprised that it ended up being me. I was more shocked that the people that voted me out wanted to vote me out. That's what I was more shocked by, because I felt like I was more of an asset to people than a hindrance at the time," Rome said.

He admitted he knew it would be him or Sol since no other names were "being floated around." As he walked into the tribal council, he claimed there was a 25% chance he was the castaways' target.

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Survivor 47 star Rome states everything he said about Kyle was true

After Kyle won immunity from elimination, Rome shifted his target to Sol. He campaigned for his eviction, certain everyone was falling for his words. However, no one did and the consensus revealed their primary target was Rome. The Survivor evictee stated, "Everyone got in that same mindset where nobody wanted to rock the boat."

Rome revealed that the conversation he had with Kyle the night before the immunity challenge included things that made him want to turn on Kyle.

"He [Kyle] said something about Caroline and Sue that was a little bit outside of the game. It didn't make the cut for probably obvious reasons, but I wasn't going to work with somebody like that. If I would've repeated that, I'd get canceled. I'd never say any of those things ever again and never host anything ever again," Rome said.

The Survivor alum stated that Kyle deceived the others by convincing them of his innocence when everything Rome said about him was true. Rome revealed that "he wanted to target those people. They were his number one and number two targets."

Nonetheless, he agreed to follow in his footsteps, targeting Caroline and Sue until Kyle commented on some "personal stuff" that made Rome want to sever their alliance.

Rome confessed he thought Kyle was a "genuinely good guy" but his remarks compelled him to change his mind. The Survivor star added that "everyone in the game" knew what Kyle had said, even Caroline and Sue.

While reflecting on his exit, Rome admitted he was glad he got the opportunity to be a part of a show he was unaware of 18 months ago.

"I'd never heard of Survivor 18 months ago. So the fact that I'm sitting here doing an exit interview with you now, I just got the chance to play the most awesome game in the world. So honestly, I couldn't be happier just for the opportunity," Rome stated.

The Survivor star explained that anything was possible in the competition series, from being the first evictee to winning the million dollar prize money. He claimed he approached the game with that mindset, hoping it worked in his favor. Rome was thrilled by the experience, saying, "Those 12 days were absolutely jam packed for me. So I had a blast." He revealed he walked away from the show with no regrets as he had "a ton of fun" and a "great time."

At the same time, he admitted it was not a nice feeling to know there were people out there "doing an immunity challenge right now" while he sat at home playing with his dogs. However, he did not want to sit and say what-ifs and blame others.

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Survivor airs every Wednesday at 8 pm ET only on CBS.