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‘Survivor 48' Runner-Up Eva Erickson Reveals Her Firemaking Autism ‘Episode' Was Actually ‘Much, Much Worse' (Exclusive)

Survivor 48 is here! Every week, Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the castaway most recently voted off of the things Eva Erickson kept private on Survivor 48 were few and far between. There was her academic career, as the PhD student chose to keep her degree hidden to the biggest degree. And, of course, there was her autism diagnosis, only telling Joe Hunter until a massive moment where having an overwhelming post-challenge "episode" caused her to reveal her secret to the entire cast. But, by and large, Eva played an incredibly open and public game. She was considered the heart of her alliance, and that heart was worn on her sleeve as she unabashedly trusted her "team." Unfortunately, Eva suffered from the downside of being too trusted on Survivor, as the hockey player scored a few "own goals" by booting her allies. And, despite an impassioned performance on Day 26, the jury did not award her the Stanley Cup of Sole Survivor. Considering a doctor said Eva would be unable to be independent later in life, she has done an immense amount in her life to earn all the accomplishments she has. But she also knew she couldn't be independent in this game, especially when she struggled as a human lie detector. And so she quickly found a partner in Joe, opening up to him about her autism on Day 1, and how to help her during an "episode." So, even when Star Toomey was targeting Eva throughout her time on Lagi, she felt protected in her fellow jocks, whether it was Joe or David Kinne. Everything changed, though, on Day 11. The challenge overwhelmed Eva to the point of having an "episode." Filling his role, Joe jumped into the line of fire, helping calm her down from her heightened state. Eva decided to follow up her incredibly public display by revealing her autism, a moment that got even Jeff Probst misty-eyed. And Eva's low soon turned into an immediate high, as her biggest rival in the game Star offered her idol to Eva after she helped unlock the merge hit, Eva had all the momentum (and "Joe-mentum"). She was able to get together with a group of fellow physical players who were looking to stay loyal until the end. And indeed, from Eva's perspective, that's exactly what they did. While Joe and Eva were certainly talked about as a powerful duo, her idol was never flushed. And she acquired a second secret advantage in "Safety Without Power," which she didn't even use to maintain the status quo. Even when Eva was falsely led to believe that David and Shauhin Davari were coming after her, she was still confident in her and Joe moving forward to Day 26. That confidence hit a wall, though, one day prior. Being thrown into Final Four firemaking overwhelmed Eva, to the point where she had another "episode" that afternoon while attempting to practice. In spite of her emotional struggles, she handily burned her competition Kamilla Karthigesu, living to see the Final Three. And she brought that fire into Tribal Council the next day, as she pitched why her unconventional game was the perfect match for this unconventional day after the finale, Eva talks with Parade about her reaction to how the jury votes shook out, how revealing her autism changed her approach to the game, and where her relationship with Joe currently Read our Survivor 48 pre-game interview with Eva Erickson I have to start by issuing a massive congratulations! I know that first-place was the goal, but being on the podium is an accomplishment in and of itself. What was your sense as to where the jury was as they were casting their votes?So I knew that I had the biggest uphill battle in this final Tribal. And that was of my own doing, because my strategy in this game was to make people think that I was stupid. If somebody was not part of my alliance, I would just say, "Oh, I'm just doing what Joe's doing." Or I would purposely add numbers together wrong. I wanted people to see me as just the dumb jock. I knew that I was coming to this game as a physical threat; I can't hide my muscles. And [as] a social threat. I cannot turn down my personality; I am who I am. And so I was like, "I have to limit my threat level in some way." So that was to make myself seem like I was not strategic at all. And that was a big lie. I am very, very strategic. I'm a lot smarter than I was I was putting on. So, in this final Tribal, not only do I have to convince them to give me a million dollars, but I also just have to convince them that I'm smart. And so that I had two things, and both Joe and Kyle only had one thing they had to convince the jury o. And I successfully convinced them that I was smart. I did not convince all of them that I deserved the money. And that's my downfall there. But I think going in, it was going to be a hard battle. And I had jury votes. I had I expected that I could win four. There are four people that I thought that I could win. And I won two of those four, and so I'm very proud of that. But no, I wanted that win, and can't be happy with second who were the other two jury votes you thought you had?So David had said from the start he wanted to have an honest and loyal game. And apart from having to turn on David due to the way that he was attacking people. It was not due to his paranoia; it was due to his behavior. [He was] kind of becoming a bit of a bully. I love this man, but he got very aggressive out there. And so I had to shut him out, get him out of this game. I felt that I had played this very loyal game, that he idolized, that he said that's what he wanted to do. I thought that he would respect that I fulfilled his dream, but he did not. He he had his own ideas out there. And then the other person I thought that I could get that I didn't was Cedrek. I knew that he was going to be an emotional voter, and I thought that I could get that emotion swayed towards me with my story, with speaking from the heart. And unfortunately, his emotions were swayed towards Joe, who also deserves a million votes. So I'm glad that he got one. I'm very glad of that. But I thought that I was going to get four, and that that would be enough; that could tie it. And Joe had told me that he would vote for me. He said he was expecting it to tie and that he was going to give me the million. So I let myself down in not getting those two hear that the reason Star voted for you was because of what happened at firemaking the previous day. And we see you really struggle and get overwhelmed, both at Tribal Council and especially the afternoon prior. Talk me through what it was like to be able to prevail through was not that I didn't want to be in fire building because I couldn't build a fire. Like I said on the show, I built fires every single day in my backyard. It was because, for days and days I was letting myself down. I was failing in these challenges. In Episode 12, we saw I got disqualified from one challenge. And I would have won the second challenge if I could just throw a ball straight up in the air. And so I was already tearing myself to shreds in my head. And with my autism, I get stuck in a cycle, and things build and build. In Episode 5, we saw a very quick build and come down. This was a slow burn over days and days where I just was building this cycle in my head that, "I am a failure. I'm a failure. I can't do anything." And what we saw in the episode of me having this autism episode was actually a very toned-down version of what really happened out there. It was much, much worse. When they showed Kyle and Joe talking, you hear me screaming in the woods. I was screaming and shaking. I was stimming on the ground, scratching myself. I was very in the thralls of this. And Joe comes to help me. But he can't pull me out of this; I have to pull myself out. And it was a very, very intense situation that I'm disappointed they didn't show. Because people like me who have autism. I wanted them to see at my absolute lowest, that I still was able to come back. Because that is something that is so important, that I battled through what I was going through in my head, and I was able to then get myself righted with the help of an amazing ally, Joe, him helping show me the way that I could do it and believe in myself again. And I pushed through in dramatic fashion. I'm very, very proud of seemed like you were ready to talk through the Shauhin boot as one of your big moves, only for the wind to be taken out of your sails when Kyle and Kamilla reveal not only that they were working together, but that they had gotten you and Joe to vote him out. What was your reaction to those revelations?I will say that anyone who claims they knew Kyle and Kamilla were as close as they they actually were, they're lying. I know in exit press, everyone's been like, "Oh, I had an idea. I knew that they were really close. Just didn't care to do whatever." It was a shock to everybody. Because I spent more time with Kyle than anybody. We were very close. He was like a brother to me. He is very similar to my hockey teammates back home. So we were always shooting the (obscenity). being very close, great friends. He never talked to Kamilla. The times you see on TV of them talking together are the only times that they interacted. And the audience just perceives this as all the time that they're strategizing together. No, no, no. He was hanging out with me and he would go walk one direction and run back to go meet up with Kamilla, because he didn't want anyone to see them together. He did a great job hiding this. So that was the bomb. I know they made it look like that it was like, "Oh, Shauhin had a fake idol." That was not what swayed me. Kyle didn't tell me Shauhin had a fake idol; Kamilla did. Why would I believe Kamilla? She's not my ally. Kyle told me the truth, which is that Shauhin was coming for Joe and I. He had brought this up at the reward that Shauhin was going to vote for Mitch to make it seem like he was with us, but that it would tie 3-3, and he would swap and then get me out. This was the plan. So Shauhin voting for Mitch was was still part of his plan with Kyle and Kamilla to come after me. But Kyle told me the truth. This little added idol thing was more to make sure that Joe would not go straight to Shauhin and be like, "Is this true? "That was for Joe. That was Kamilla's role in this. I didn't believe that. I didn't care. I had an idol. It was really the fact that Shauhin was coming for me and Joe. I don't care what he has in his pocket. I had a million things in my pocket. So that was not a bomb. The bomb was definitely just that Kyle and Kamilla were so tight. And they did a great job of that. I was so impressed with both of their acting the most complicated relationship you had was with Star. You start the game targeting one another. Then, after you reveal your autism, she gives you the idol. Then, you proceed to target her at the merge. And, in the end, she votes for you to win. Talk me through your is the most unexpected person in that I've ever met. Before the game, she stared at a table for five days straight and did not make a peep. I was not expecting this girl's personality when she gets out there. I'm wowed by her. So first off, love Star. But in the beginning of the game, I did not like Star. Because on those first key three days where we're building our shelter, we're meeting each other's group, Star was already going and looking for idols. I am a very hard worker. That is my biggest principle is work ethic. I am carrying the whole forest of bamboo, and Star is nowhere to be found. [Laughs.] She'd be gone for an hour, come back with two sticks. So automatically, I was frustrated. Because I'm like, "I'm working my ass off here, and you're not doing anything!" So this kind of put us at odds from the start, because she did not care about making relationships with our tribe. She wanted that Beware Advantage, and she found it. And so I wanted her out super early on, and she wanted me out for sure, too. When we go to the swap, and then I have this big moment where I share about my life, about autism, Star also understood me better. Because Star also had not liked my direct way of speaking. I had said that Star should sit out from this one challenge because she can't swim, just very logical, straightforward. And I was not very delicate with that, because I'm very bad at that. That's one of the things I struggle with with my autism is I'm too blun. But now star understood I was not trying to be rude. I was not trying to be mean to her. That is just who I am. That's how I communicate. She recognized these things, and there was understanding. And this allowed us to connect and have this amazing exchange where she gave me this idol. Which was also a great move for her to get this target off of her back, because everyone knew she had it! That was very smart of her. But we did work together for a while. Those handful of first votes at the merge, I told Star, "Hey, I already have a very public alliance with Joe. Let's keep this under the radar. I'll tell you who we're voting for. You give me information from the bottom." So we were talking to each other about stuff. But then Star started lying to me. And I'm a very black and white thinker; it's like, "You're with me or you're against me." And when Star started making stuff up, she I felt that she was trying to take advantage of the fact that I that I'm not good at reading lies. And I felt she was taking advantage of me here. So I started being like, "Yeah, I want Star out." Because she was feeding me direct lies all the time. And she was doing this to everybody, not just me. But I took it a little personally. And additionally, she, at one point, was going around asking every single person what their Final Three was. She went to everybody on the island, very direct, like, "Who's your Final Three?" She did not come to me, and I was like, "She does not value what my future in this game is. She is lying to me. I cannot trust Star anymore. I know she gave me this idol, but I don't owe her anything, because she does not see me as a player she wants to play with in this game." So I then took moves to get her out of the game. And she respects me for that, and I respect her for her own game. And so I'm glad that she was able to see who I am and still vote for me in the about that "episode" in the premerge, how much did revealing your autism change the way that you approached the game, or your relationships with any of the other players?So in the moment I was shown so much support by everybody, not just Joe. Joe was obviously my biggest supporter. I love him so much. Bbut every person out there, they connected with my story in their own personal way. They were nodding along. They showed me that they it did not matter to them that I had autism, that they were proud of me and that they saw me as a competitor still. That they were not they did not look at me any differently because of my autism. And I laid it out in the open that I had this and that I did struggle with social cues, that I did struggle with reading when people are lying. And so this just even more pushed me into my method of being extremely open and honest with my alliance. I was like, "If I am honest and give my whole heart and they recognize that this is who I am, then they will reflect honesty back at me." And that absolutely happened, and I was very lucky that these people did not take advantage of these things that I struggle with. Because they connected with me; I had these social relationships. So people like Shauhin, Joe and Kyle, I was honest [and] they were honest back. And I'm very grateful for that. So it did kind of push me more into being who I am in this game, and not trying to play the skeevy lying game. Because I knew that the thing that I had been kind of hiding was out there, and I was free to be myself was a season all about making relationships that seemingly went beyond the game. So what have your relationships with your "team" like Joe and Kyle been since this life-changing experience on the island together?Joe and I, I that is a relationship that I will have forever. I finally was able to meet his amazing wife, Katie, and I am dying to meet his kids soon. And I know that we will always be together. We live on opposite ends of the country. I'm in Providence, he's in Sacramento. But we call all the time, and I know that he's always there for me, and I will always be there for him. This is a very strong relationship, like nothing else in my life. And then the other relationship, Kyle as well. He was a member of this team, too. I have this relationship with Joe that is very almost father daughter, right? Kyle is like a brother to me. I'm his little sister. I'm always annoying him and being there for him. I'm making sure the world knows that he peed his pants and that first individual Immunity Challenge. Yup, he did! He did, and they didn't show it. And that's why I was chirping him about it in that next one, because Kyle peed his pants, and as his sister, I must tell everybody that. But Kyle is someone that I am even almost even closer with than Joe, because we're closer in age. We have this more peer, sister/brother bond. And so the two of them in my life now are these two supports that I could not imagine my life without. And I am so grateful for both of them. It is a relationship that I will have forever. Related: 'Survivor 48's Shauhin Davari Explains Why He Could Have Beaten Joe in the End (Exclusive) Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved