Survivor finalist Joe Hunter has dished about his "brutal" Season 48 loss and why he thinks the jury ultimately favored Kyle Fraser and Eva Erickson's gameplay.

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Kyle became the "Sole Survivor" and won Season 48 in a 5-2-1 jury vote on Night 26 of the game over Eva, who finished as the runner-up, and Joe, who claimed third place.

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Eva had received two votes to win from Survivor jury members Star Toomey and Mary Zheng, while Joe only received a single vote from Cedrek McFadden.

"Yeah, it kind of slipped through [my] fingers, and I'm just so competitive that it's brutal. It's brutal," Joe told Entertainment Weekly in a post-show interview.

When asked why he wasn't the $1 million winner following a near record-breaking number of Immunity Challenge wins and a very strong social game, Joe pointed out, "That's a great question."

The 45-year-old fire captain shared, "Let me start with that when it comes to any of the exit press or the way I want to handle this is that I try to look at this as if I'm not sitting in the winner's circle, I've got to reflect back on myself."

Joe explained how past Survivor finalists sometimes got "caught up" in assigning blame to others.

"I think sometimes people might get caught up in, 'It was this person's fault, it was that person's fault, this person, that person, the jury.' I either did or didn't do something," Joe said.

"I may never know all the details, but I didn't get the votes. So instead of making theories, I just think that they didn't see what they wanted or I didn't give them what they wanted, and I've got to take accountability for that."

Joe therefore noted, "So I guess why you're not talking to the winner, it must have been something I did or didn't do."

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Joe admitted he thought he had "a pretty good chance" of winning Survivor walking into that Final Tribal Council. He assumed he had Shauhin Davari and Mitch Guerra's votes to win.

"I still thought I had a good dog in the fight, but you see the eye-rolls, you see the body language -- and I hate to say this part too, but you kind of wonder like, 'Man, how many came in like 60% already loaded? Yeah, they gave us a shot, but how many did?' And you don't know," Joe explained.

As the jury questioning progressed and Kyle revealed shocking truths about his impressive and deceptive gameplay, Joe apparently felt the $1 million slipping through his fingers.

"I just default to: Well, I must have not done what they wanted. I've got to take ownership somehow. That was me," Joe noted.

Joe admitted it was difficult to transition from losing Survivor 48 to putting on a happy face for the aftershow, which filmed in Fiji immediately after Survivor host Jeff Probst had read the jury votes aloud.

"I'll be honest with you. I'm just so competitive. Here's the real deal. You almost feel like you can't say that it hurts because on one hand, you're Top 3. And I mean this, what an honor because of how great every player out there was," Joe reasoned.

"Everybody in my cast, I was impressed with everybody -- literally everybody. And so it's difficult to then, well, how do you complain at three?"

Joe said it's also "an honor" to be able to watch his Survivor season with his kids and have them be "proud" of him.

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"What a blessing this has been to sit with my kids and my wife and just have them be proud of you. And man, if that's not enough, then I don't know," Joe said, adding how he's "absolutely" play Survivor again if given the opportunity.


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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