“In the end, it will be worth it”: Eliminated contestant Jon Lovett talks about taking a “risk” in Survivor season 47

Season 47 of Survivor premiered on CBS on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. In the episode, the Gata tribe voted out one of their teammates, podcaster Jon Lovett. His elimination was a shock to the audience as well as show host Jeff Probst. Before going home, Jon talked about the "risk" he took being in an alliance with Andy Rueda.

During the first immunity challenge of the season, Andy suffered from exhaustion and lost. He told his tribe members about his intention of throwing Jon under the bus. Talking about his alliance, Jon stated that he took a risk and was looking forward to meeting his friends and family who will make light of this situation. The Survivor contestant said:

“This will bring so much joy to my friends and family making fun of me for years. Maybe in the end it will be worth it. First out – let me have it, people. Let me have it. Nobody imagines that they’ll be the first to go. When you take a risk sometimes it doesn’t go the way you want, but that’s why they call it a risk."

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Survivor season 47 contestant Jon Lovett discusses his elimination

In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly on September 19, 2024, Jon shared how he felt being the first one to be eliminated from the show. The Survivor contestant also mentioned that he was surprised that most of the public's reaction to him being voted out wasn't too "harsh." He expressed disappointment that his journey on the CBS show ended so soon, Jon said:

"And so what I feel like now is less like: Oh, I blew the experience, or I let myself down in the experience, but that I didn't really fully get the experience. And that disappointment is the part that's important to me."

The political speechwriter explained that one of his regrets was not forming other alliances, especially with Anika, with who he had a strong connection. When he was asked why he couldn't form connections with other tribe members instead of Andy, Jon explained:

"If I have a regret about it, it is that Anika and I had a really strong connection at the very beginning. I could have maintained that, but it was very hard because people really weren't splitting off. It was just a very tight situation."

The Survivor cast member said that the tribe group had already been split into a pair including Sam and Sierra. Anika and Rachel were "in the middle" which left him and Andy in the end. Jon also mentioned that he and Andy had a conversation where Rueda repeatedly reassured him about not writing his name down. Despite trying to convince him, the Survivor participant didn't trust Andy. Referring to his elimination and making an alliance with Andy, Jon said:

"It wasn't even a choice. I mean, you can even see it in my face. I really do think it was less of a social thing and more of just a strategic challenge in a group of six people where there's nowhere to hide."

The two-hour premiere episode of Survivor season 47 is available to stream on CBS and Paramount Plus. The upcoming episode 2 titled Epic Boss Girl Move is set to be released on September 25, 2024.