Shannon told Entertainment Weekly<\/a> she was \u201cheartbroken\u201d and \u201cconfused\u201d in the moment by Sage\u2019s decision, but also revealed the two have talked extensively since leaving the island and indeed engaged in that hug. However, Sage has been unable to share her perspective and reasoning behind the decision\u2026 until now.\n<\/p>\n In an exclusive mid-game interview leading into tonight\u2019s anticipated merge episode, Sage reveals to EW that the hug denial was not an in-the-moment decision and explains how, when, and why she came to that conclusion. She also talks about the original Uli tribe dynamics, why the vibes with Shannon started turning sour, and how sharing intimate details about herself had a strategic benefit. Read on for all the insight and intel straight from the source.\n<\/p>\n
Sage Ahrens-Nichols on ‘Survivor 49’.<\/p>\n
Robert Voets\/CBS<\/p>\n
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let\u2019s start with the merge coming up on tonight\u2019s episode. What was the feeling like of learning that you had made it to that second stage of the game?\n<\/p>\n
SAGE AHRENS-NICHOLS: Honestly, I didn\u2019t experience a grand emotion in response to that milestone. Cognitively, I understood it was an \u201cexciting\u201d moment. Emotionally, I felt detached from it, aware we still had half the game left. For me, it was like, \u201cCool, we still have a long way to go.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s talk about original Uli. Because you all never had to go Tribal Council, we never got to see the full tribe dynamics at play. Where did you see your place in the tribe while you were over there, and were there any alliances that we didn\u2019t see?\n<\/p>\n
My first-half strategy was to stay low, observe, and collect data before deciding who to invest in long-term. In therapy work, strategic timing is everything: You listen first, then speak once you understand the person through their own lens. Otherwise, you ruin rapport before it\u2019s built, and in Survivor, that can be fatal.\n<\/p>\n
Much data was collected starting day 1. While Rizo was on the supply challenge, I found myself between Jawan and Nate laughing together on one side, and Savannah and Shannon staring deeply into each other\u2019s eyes on the other. I\u2019m nervously looking back and forth at both pairs, already aware that the social side of the game would be harder for me. Small talk makes me anxious, and losing the marooning puzzle plus experiencing migraine-induced vomiting the entire first night meant I missed crucial bonding time. I knew I\u2019d be in trouble if we ever went to Tribal.\n<\/p>\n
We have seen you in this game being very open when talking about everything from aqua-dumps to your jar of blackheads. What sort of reaction did you feel from others as you told these stories and shared the quirkier side of your personality?\n<\/p>\n
Exactly the reaction I was hoping for. People often assume I\u2019m mean (probably the mix of my height and atypical affect). When I let people see my weirder side, one of two things happens: they either think, \u201cWTF is wrong with you?\u201d or they love it because it frees them to be weird, too. I knew either reaction could benefit me in the game.\n<\/p>\n
For the first group, it helps them underestimate me. Talking about poop and blackheads might seem socially inept, but it\u2019s calculated. People often confuse quirkiness with stupidity. If people think I\u2019m impulsive or dumb, they won\u2019t see me as a strategic threat. When Nate said, \u201cSage says whatever\u2019s on her mind,\u201d that was perfect. Yes, that\u2019s true;\u00a0and\u00a0I\u2019ve got 50 tabs open in my brain at any given time, and I\u2019m very intentional about which tab I choose to share.\n<\/p>\n
As for the second group, it makes emotional connection easier. I can\u2019t do small talk, but if you want to tell me about your passions or the things you\u2019re ashamed to admit, I\u2019m your person. Those connections are real for me, but they don\u2019t necessarily dictate my gameplay. It makes people think I\u2019m easier to sway by appealing to my emotions (Exhibit A: Shannon). I\u00a0am\u00a0an emotional person, but contrary to what society suggests, being emotional doesn\u2019t mean being void of logic. I leaned into that perception intentionally to find my fellow weirdos, and to let me play the slow burn I wanted, letting people underestimate my ability to have, and keep secret, a strategic thought.\n<\/p>\n
Sage Ahrens-Nichols on ‘Survivor 49’.<\/p>\n
CBS<\/p>\n
While playing, you only see the game through your eyes, but when watching it back on TV, you see what other players are thinking and doing. What has surprised you most watching the show play back on TV?\n<\/p>\n
Surprisingly, nothing so far. I would\u2019ve been surprised by Nate being a part of the majority alliance on the original Uli tribe, but during Shannon\u2019s final day in the game she told me and Jawan about the majority alliance on original Uli, and that Nate revealed my military theory to Savannah. So really, nothing has been shown that I didn\u2019t have some level of intel on. Even yellow Sophie had told me about early Hina dynamics. I was technically surprised to find out that what she told me was true (namely, about her being on the outs). I had assumed she was probably lying about that to make it seem like original Hina wasn\u2019t as cohesive as they appeared.\n<\/p>\n
Sage Ahrens-Nichols on ‘Survivor 49’.<\/p>\n
Robert Voets\/CBS<\/p>\n
When did the vibes turn sour between you and Shannon, and what do you think it was that caused that rift?\n<\/p>\n
This is a complicated question for me. By the first tribe swap, I knew I couldn\u2019t trust Shannon as much as I wanted to. When we got to the new Kele beach, we had a brief conversation acknowledging the need to foster relationships in the new tribe. Given the numbers, though, I knew we would have to turn on each other.\n<\/p>\n
Shannon immediately started curating bonds with others, which is fine, but increased her social threat on my radar. When she noticed people respond to mentions of \u201cJesus,\u201d her conversations started leaning more heavily on Jesus than I noticed on original Uli. On Uli, she referenced multiple deities and kept her spirituality broad, which I genuinely appreciated. Seeing this shift felt like a moral line had been crossed, and on a personal level, it didn\u2019t feel like the Shannon I thought I knew.\n<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t want to judge her personal character, but I felt frustrated because I couldn\u2019t tell if she was intentionally using religion strategically. In my personal life, that\u2019s something I would immediately address, but in the game, it felt too risky. Since original Hina wasn\u2019t buying it, if I addressed it with Shannon, she could have self-corrected and found her way back in as she\u2019s far better at connecting socially than I am.\n<\/p>\n
Prioritizing my game over my instinct to speak up felt at odds with how I operate outside the game and left me feeling icky. I was frustrated because I tried to keep personal feelings separate from the game, but with Shannon, that became increasingly difficult. And that tension was potentially harmful to my game.\n<\/p>\n
My expressions were partly directed at her, but much of it reflected frustration with the moral conflicts I was navigating (paired with next question). I tried to release those frustrated expressions privately. I didn\u2019t want others to see and laugh. As conflicted as I felt, I didn\u2019t want to hurt her feelings. But I needed some form of release so that I didn\u2019t become dysregulated and lose access to my frontal lobe.\n<\/p>\n
Sage Ahrens-Nichols on ‘Survivor 49’.<\/p>\n
Robert Voets\/CBS\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tell me about how you came to the decision to not hug her at Tribal Council, and was that something that was planned out or just happened in the moment?\n<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not naturally physically affectionate, and being socialized as a woman, I wasn\u2019t taught to honor boundaries around touch. Even today, there\u2019s a default expectation to hug someone when meeting them, which I\u2019ve been reprogramming because it\u2019s uncomfortable for both me and potentially the other person. If I feel emotionally connected to someone, I may be more physically affectionate, but even then, I have limits. On original Uli beach, I felt emotionally close enough to Shannon that I could tolerate hugs. From a strategic perspective, she was my best ally at that point, so I couldn\u2019t risk coming off standoffish.\n<\/p>\n
After the first tribe swap to Kele, I felt increasingly uncomfortable with the hugs as I felt less connected to her emotionally. By the second swap, when I knew she would be my target, any change in affection could tip her off. I remember her going for a hug and thinking,\u00a0\u201cCrap. I\u2019m going to have to make her feel comfortable so she doesn\u2019t expect anything. And for Shannon, that means physical affection.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
My expressions of disgust weren\u2019t about her personally, but rather about having to give physical affection when I didn\u2019t want to. It felt morally gross\/conflicting. I also admittedly felt annoyed that she thought she could still win me over with emotional connection.\n<\/p>\n
All that said, I knew that Shannon would likely go for hugs upon her exit, so I did put a lot of thought into how I would respond. I\u2019m a recovering people pleaser, and I\u2019m also at a point in my life where I take self-advocacy very seriously, especially when it comes to boundaries around my body. I could either give another fake hug, knowing it would likely hurt her more later when she watched everything back, or be real in that moment, respecting both her dignity and mine.\n<\/p>\n
I chose the latter. She was out of the game; it was the first moment I got to be 100 percent real with her. Faking things doesn\u2019t align with the way I try to show up in this world, but you\u2019re going to have to get uncomfortable if you want the chance at winning.\n<\/p>\n
Despite what it may look like, this wasn\u2019t meant to be cutthroat. It was about self-respect, boundaries, and honesty. If I were in her shoes and someone hugged me on the way out, and I later watched everything back only to find they\u2019d been fake to me almost the entire time, I probably would never be able to fully trust that person outside of the game \u2014 because why did you continue to be fake when you didn\u2019t have to, especially since she wasn\u2019t going to be on the jury?\n<\/p>\n
Want to be kept up with all things Survivor? Dig deep and sign up for Entertainment Weekly’s free Survivor Weekly newsletter<\/a> to have all the latest news, interviews, and commentary sent right to your inbox.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sage Ahrens-Nichols is about as real as it gets. In a world of individuals trying desperately hard to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-119510","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}