Survivor 41 was said to be one of the most difficult seasons in the show’s 20+ year history. But you wouldn’t believe it if you looked at the smile that seemed never to leave Xander Hastings’ face during his 26 days in the game. As a cross-country athlete, Xander persisted to keep running, no matter what or who was thrown his way. And after spending nearly half the game on the bottom, he was able to write an underdog narrative that got him to the final day. Unfortunately for the app developer, his castaway coding was not up to snuff in the end. Xander got a dose of how dangerous the “new era” of Survivor was incredibly early on. He was the first person to find an advantage this season, discovering an idol that could only be unlocked by being found on the other two beaches, removing his right to vote until then. His game took another hit when he soon lost close ally David Voce thereafter. But as Yase became the little tribe that could, they didn’t visit Tribal Council for the rest of the premerge. That gave Xander some much-needed safety as he continued to solidify bonds with people like Evvie Jagoda, confident the turtles will stick together. Little did he know that Liana Wallace was eagerly waiting to catch a Xander butterfly in her “Knowledge is Power” net. Xander’s game hit a new phase in what he would call “mergeatory.” Though he was safe, he discovered that Liana intended to use her advantage to steal his idol from him. So he and the other Yases concocted a plan to get one up on her and the new majority with a fake idol swap. Despite the nifty trick, Xander was still in the crosshairs. Though protected by his idol, he watched as his closest allies left, leaving him a lone soldier. Luckily for him, war was about to break out, as a shot against power player Shan Smith put Xander in the majority for the first time in the postmerge. He used this opportunity to cement becoming Ricard Foyé’s new number one, keeping the biggest threat around as a shield. This new trajectory got Xander all the way to the final four, where he suddenly held immense power in winning immunity. He confidently took Erika Casupanan to Day 26, going off a read he made on the jury. But as he was about to find out, his read proved incorrect. Though his underdog story was impressive, his decisions failed to land with his players, shutting him out in the final vote. Right after the Survivor 41 finale, Xander talks with Parade.com about his reaction to the jury at the final Tribal Council, why he decided to move forward as a free agent at the merge, and how struggled to make decisions with an “open-door” policy. By the end of the final Tribal Council, did you think you still had a chance to win? Or at least some jury votes? No. The moment I knew I lost was at the final four firemaking. Right at the beginning, I looked over at Ricard and smiled. And he gave me the coldest glare. I knew that I was really done for. I thought Ricard and I were so close. We had the closest relationship; I let him in on all the calculated things I was thinking and how my mind actually works. I wasn’t using any of my “micro strategies” of trying to dumb myself down, play naive and lean into the curly hair. So Ricard knew 100% how I was playing. He was the person that I wanted to do a “half-Murphy” for me! And I guess that really backfired because he did the opposite. It was more of an Erik Cardona. (Laughs.) I like what you said about Erik Cardona. Well, all that being said, considering what was being thrown your way, how would you rate your performance in that final Tribal Council? I’m just glad that I got to get my game out there. There wasn’t an intro speech or an outro speech. So using the questions that we were given, it’s really hard to try and fit all the little things you want to say. If nobody asks about it, then you really can’t talk about it. Like the secret scene with Liana and me from a few weeks back, that was actually a fake idol hunt. I planted some fake idols around the beach. And it’s like, I can’t say that because I’m the only castaway that actually knows that happened. It’s really hard, but I’m glad that I got as much of my game as I wanted to talk about through confessionals and final Tribal. I felt like I handled myself pretty well. I was very calm, not letting any of it get to me. I smiled and took some time to think, “Wow, I’m really here. I’m really at final Tribal.” You’re the only contestant to actually use an idol this season. The past few weeks, many fans wondered why nobody would try to get you out like they did Naseer and Shan. But recently, it’s come out that maybe the reason was you were easy to beat in the end. Was that what you perceived while you were in the game? Retroactively, any person who played with someone half their age and got beaten by them isn’t going to say that outright. So I’m sure everybody’s trying to justify their own game. And they’re all great people. I would say that, given what we were shown with other people’s confessionals, there was a lot of talk of that being like, “Oh, it’s a fair shot with Xander.” I feel like it doesn’t matter, honestly, how people perceive you. It doesn’t matter what game you play. If you can get to final Tribal and articulate what you did, that makes the difference. I felt like I was constantly minimizing myself, lowering myself, and feeding people’s egos. And I guess it worked to the extent where people did actually believe that nothing was going on upstairs. (Laughs.) Because I was certainly playing my ass off! And I thought getting to final Tribal, I’d be able to explain that I had been playing this game of trying to minimize my threat level. Talk to me more about that strategy. You told me preseason you were trying to play up that “hollow-headed tool” perception of you to not come across as threatening. How did that end up playing out? With any person of my perceived archetype, you always say, “Wow, why aren’t they trying to lower the threat level?” And they’re just saying, “I’m so good at challenges. I’ve got this idol.” But I was always like, “No, it’s you. You’re great. We’re great.” If you watched specifically when we walked into Tribal or in the pregame press, I was always in the back. I always wanted to lower myself and just hunker down and try and hide. So I felt like it was funny that one of the biggest arguments for Erika is that her game was under the radar. Danny was saying, “You played the game that I wanted to play.” And I’m sitting here thinking, “I had an idol that everybody knew about it, and I bluffed the [expletive] out of it. And I’m still playing an under-the-radar game where people think maybe they have a fighting chance against me. I felt it was like a bull and a mouse running through a china shop and neither breaking anything. And I was like, “Well, I mean, I’m a bull!” Early on, you’re hit with many curveballs, losing your vote and your Voce. How much did that change up your game? My game really changed. It actually changed the moment we were at the marooning. I didn’t get to speak, but I heard Abraham and Tiffany speak. And I was like, “Wow, these are two big personalities, they’re going to clash. I want to try and put people in front of me.” And maybe it’s alright if we lose a couple of challenges because that might mean that maybe they need me a little more. You want to be on an underdog tribe, like Matsing, where people were underestimating you post-merge. So I immediately knew once we got to the question of “Sweat or Savvy,” if I could isolate myself with Voce, I knew I could beat Voce out socially with the women. And Abraham and Tiffany already a huge, contentious thing with the shelter building. So I knew it would be one of them to go first. And then it was just a matter of beating Voce to the punch and getting close with the girls. So I knew I had two people in front of me, and then eventually, that would run out. I figured I could find an idol. I did not figure it would cost me my vote for the entire premerge. But you work with what you’ve got. And you weave, you adapt, you try and find new goals and new outcomes based on what you have.At the merge, the Yase members were at the bottom. And we were surprised to see you move forward as a lone soldier instead of playing your advantages on Tiffany and Evvie. What made you decide to move forward without them? The best part about leaning into the surfer guy stereotype is that people let their guard down. They let a lot more slip. And one of the biggest things that happened on Yase was that the girls would always go off together. They would say, “Oh, we’re gonna go wash clothes.” Twice a day, they’d go off for an hour or two. Then they’d come back, and I’d be like, “Did you guys talk any strategy?” And they’d be like, “Oh no, not at all.” I know clearly where I stood. That’s why I made the fake idol. And Tiffany talked about it in her exit interview. She’s like, “Oh, he’s probably trying to turn on me.” No, I just knew that you guys weren’t actually planning on keeping me along unless I was offering up things. I was always trying to be Kris Kringle. “I’ve got this bag of goodies for us. This idol’s for us; this advantage’s for us.” So when they talk about how I didn’t play it for them, and that was a selfish move, it hurts because I knew they really didn’t care to keep me around that much. I shouldn’t play an advantage for someone that will probably turn on me in a dime. I knew that if I kept Evvie around with the idol at that vote, sure, that guarantees that I send someone else home. But it raises my target, and Evvie’s not a guaranteed number for me. I’m positive she turns on me if it means her life in the game, because she said so in confessionals. And she’s a lovely person. I love her as a person. But she had her own interest in mind, which is so smart. And when you play a game with so many smart people, they’ve all got their own interests in mind. You can’t have a game where you get to the end, and you also play a game for the jury. Sometimes getting to the end means pissing off the jury. I understand where Tiffany and Evvie are coming from. But with the idol, honestly, not having my vote wasn’t that bad compared to the fact that people knowing that I have an idol means they feel entitled to me playing the idol for them. I can write someone else’s name down and be complicit in them going home. But because I didn’t play my idol, I basically wrote their name down and sent them home. I get why there are hard feelings with that. And honestly, I really wish that I could have had a secret idol. It’s tough to maneuver around. But I feel like I played the game that got me to the end, and that just wasn’t the game that the jury felt very fondly of.In the finale in particular, you seemed very open about entertaining multiple options. But were you worried that when you tell Ricard you may play your idol on him, as an example, it sets up an expectation that can disappoint them if you don’t meet it? I think you said it perfectly. That’s the only problem with an open door policy, always hearing people and being kind. I don’t close any doors; I don’t want to burn any bridges. That’s great in terms of getting me further. But when people know that you were entertaining the idea of keeping them around, but you didn’t follow through with it, and it was just a choice for you, well, they feel like a choice. And then, of course, they’re going to hate you for it. So it’s really hard to grapple with a strategy of keeping an open-door policy that is definitely going to get you further because you’ve got your options, like Kim Spradlin. But if they know if they can tell that you’re feeling out those options and that you went back on it, then they’re going to be rightfully pissed. On that note, you declared to the others at the final four that you would be taking Erika to the end. But after you see her struggle to make fire, did you ever debate going back on that and bringing Heather instead? It’s weird. I thought at that moment that at least with every other decision of pivoting, having my options open, and burning someone, it was justifiable because it got me further. But I felt like if I sent Erika into fire, then she’s just rightfully pissed. Because I told her straight up, “I’m taking you.” And yeah, it pulled at my heartstrings. Because I’m like, “Man, it feels like this is a message. I’m getting a sign. Erika is practicing right in front of me.” And you saw what I would do with fire. I’d strike it, and it would just blow up in flames. And I’m dragging my hand down my face. It’s hard because you get so emotionally fried towards the end of the game. It’s like, “Oh, man, I’ve been dealing with these people that I truly care about. But they don’t even know if I care about them because I’m trying to get myself further.” It’s hard to play a game where you care about people. You think about yourself strategically, and you know what’s going to get you further. Because then they’re going to question whether or not it was genuine, whether or not it was real. And I think that was my narrative. It was like, “Well, does he actually care about anyone?” And that hurts because I felt like in that last moment, I really did show that I didn’t want to hurt anybody. And it’s like, I know that stepping in the fire with Erika, it could be a done deal. But is it just one more time I cut someone off? And then I’ve screwed everyone. But I was certainly considering. And Erika is fantastic. She’s phenomenal. So I’m really happy that she won. The thing that I came into the season concerned about the most was that it was going to be a memorable season. I have loved the show ever since I was a kid. And now, as an adult, like you appreciate it in such a different light, because it’s so reminiscent of life. It’s just beautiful. And I was like, “It’s been a year without Survivor. This better be a great season. So I’m going to do anything I can to make it be a great season.” And I think Erika is a great winner. So I’m really happy.I can’t imagine playing in such a formative game at such a formative age like you. Considering everything you went through over 26 days, who was the Xander who came out on the other side of Survivor 41? I’d say it was a Xander who found closure. I felt like an end to a chapter of my life. I talked about it a bit in the finale, but I was so insecure as a teenager, and I didn’t really think anything of myself. I watched Survivor as a kid and pointed at Ozzy and was like, “Wow, I’ll never be like that.” And now to be that guy who brought himself to the end, did crazy things, and checked every box on my Survivor bucket list.” It’s so nice to know that when you really want something and try your hardest, it’s important not to think about what other people are thinking of you. Just focus on yourself, listen to what you want, and try and accomplish it. If you fail as I did, then you get back up; you try again. The only time you’re ever going to lose out on something is when you’re not trying.Next, check out our exit interview with Survivor 41 second-placer Deshawn Radden.
