Yahoo Movies Cody Assenmacher says Jesse's Survivor idol play was 'the maddest I've ever been'
Elevator salesman Cody Assenmacher didn't want any salespeople (besides himself) in the game of Survivor 43. But he was sold out anyway, and by his biggest ally in the game. Cody made the fatal flaw of allowing partner-in-crime Jesse Lopez to hold on to his immunity idol, and then Jesse used it to orchestrate a brilliant move that not only took out Cody, but also caused Karla Cruz Godoy to mistakenly use her idol as well.
Cody looked absolutely shocked as the scene unfolded at Tribal Council, and called himself "crushed" in his final words, while also acknowledging that it was a good play before flipping double birds at his former-ally-turned-adversary. But how does Cody feel now after watching everything unfold on TV? And why did he keep giving Jesse his idol anyway? We asked the island wild child all that and more when we caught up with him the day after his televised ouster, and it turns out he was not too happy about what went down. (You can watch the entire interview above or read it below.)
Robert Voets/CBS Cody Assenmacher on 'Survivor 43'
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, Cody, let's start with a big question everyone's been asking: How do you spell preposterous?
CODY ASSENMACHER: P-R-O… [Laughs]
Of course, the real question everyone is asking is: Why give Jesse the idol back after showing it to Karla?
You know, I got hit with the perfect storm there. That will be in my head for a long time. But the situation that played out was Karla had said, "Hey, let's show our idols at Tribal." And I said, "Okay." So I grab it from Jesse, and I have it in my hand. And Jesse, did a great job. He said, "Hey, man, I think she may have a Knowledge is Power."
And I sat there, and I processed it. It ran in my head throughout the day leading up to Tribal Council. And as I was showing Karla, I was like, "I don't trust this girl." And Jesse never asked for the idol back, so right before Tribal Council, I was like, "Hey, man, we played this game for 21 days together. We're ride-or-dies. He wouldn't steer me wrong." And I gave it back last minute. So he played a good game, man. And he spooked me there last minute with that comment. An him not asking for it back is what ultimately made me give it back. Because that was our token of trust.
What was your initial reaction when Jesse stood up and played your idol for Owen? What are you thinking at that point?
I knew I was gone. I knew that was it. And that was probably the maddest I've ever been, because when he gave the idol to Jeff, my idol, he came back and he fist-bumps Owen. And they both smile and laugh, and I'm just like, "Dude, that's dirty, bro. Don't do that." I have never been that mad in my life. I just got betrayed. That was tough. So I knew I was gone, but the part of the fist bump and smiling, and I'm like, "Did the last 21 days of building a relationship mean nothing to you?"
CBS Cody Assenmacher and Jesse Lopez on 'Survivor 43'
Jesse put his hand out as you started to walk by him to go get your torch snuffed, and it looked like you didn't quite know how to react for a second. It looked like you were deliberating "Do I shake this guy's hand? Do I keep walking. Or do I give him a piece of my mind?" So what were you thinking in that moment?
Or do I push him into fire? [Laughs] I was numb, bro. At that point I literally was like, "You sank both our ships, because you are next. You have no protection, I'm not here to help you, and you just burned our idol. You're done. You're gone at five. You sank both our ships." So I just turned into who I am as a man and shook his hand, gave him a hug, and that's what I resorted to — took the high road.
Jesse said he did it because this was a big move you were making on Karla and that you would get credit for it and you were a bigger personality than him and he was worried how he would do if you two were sitting next to each other at the end. So how do you think you do if you make it to the end?
I've played this through my head a thousand times and talked to some of the other contestants. I think if I just play that idol as a conservative Survivor player would, or maybe as an astute Survivor player would, and all three of us play idols — Jesse comes out and shows that he has one. Now he becomes a threat. He's gone at five. I think I got a really good shot at winning that million dollars. I think my profession and my charisma would have had the jury voting for me.
Beware of the salespeople, right?
For real.
Whom did you want to sit next to at the end? What was your ideal final three?
From the very first day when we carried the boxes on the beach on the first challenge — I remember I went back and helped Jesse with his box and we looked at each other and said, "We start this game and we finish this game together." So Jesse was one of them. I wanted to go with Gabler and then, honestly, I was fine with anybody else. I really, really thought about Owen. I wanted maybe Owen. So yeah, Jesse, Gabler, and Owen. I guess that's three additional and plus me. But it's 7 a.m. here, so cut me some slack, bro. [Laughs]
CBS Cody Assenmacher on 'Survivor 43'
Like you said, you took the high road with the handshake, but how were you once you got back to Ponderosa, once the cameras turned off? How were you dealing with the whole situation?
Once I walked out of there when my torch was snuffed, you get put in a tent prior to your final interview, and I damn near ripped it down. I had a scene in there as if I was in a gang fight in a tent by myself just kicking and screaming and going crazy. So I had that moment, then went back to Ponderosa.
The rest of the gang's there and they're there to support, and I'm not the only one. Believe it or not, everybody in that show is blindsided outta there. I'm not the only one that experienced it. So it was good to have some drinks. It was good to have some talks, had a good cry. I stayed up all night. And it slowly wore off. The next Tribal was a day or two away and there's so much action going on that you don't get a lot of time really for the woe-is-me mentality.
We saw you pretty hopped up on coffee and Danishes after that trip to the Survivor Sanctuary? Was there a caffeine and sugar crash later that we didn't see?
Bro, so I've thought about this, and watching that show last night made me really kind of confirm it. I was smashing coffee and Danishes like they were going out of style, and that day they didn't show this, but I was gathering firewood everywhere. You couldn't imagine. I was buzzing. And that night, I couldn't sleep. I was up all night. I literally was up all night just freaking miserable, just wide awake. And the next day I was like, "The crash is coming. You did it, you knucklehead. You f---ing did it." What did you need to eat all that and drink all that coffee for?"
We get electrolyte packs, and you get one a day out there. I don't know if I'm supposed to disclose that, but I stole everybody else's while I was out there because I was like, "I need this sugar." Because you get a little bit of an oomph when you have it. And I'll never forget one of the challenges I had stolen everybody else's because I'm like, "I need this, this is crunch time." And I was chugging them, right, drinking them. And I don't know how many, but I had too many. And I remember after the challenge, normally I go back and I strategize and I talk and I listen, but I was so jacked up that I'm like, "Hey, I got a plan. Let's go do this, let's do that."
And I've had those days and meetings at work where I drink too much coffee in the morning, and we've all been there where you can't quite digest and process your thoughts. And watching that episode — dancing around, having a good time — really made me think that that was part of my decision-making process to try to make a move without any protection. And I guess I'll never know for sure, but I got a pretty good idea that it didn't help.
Robert Voets/CBS Cody Assenmacher on 'Survivor' 43
What's something that happened out there that did not make it to TV that you wish we could have seen?
I mean there's a lot, right? I wish they would've showed a little bit more of the sleeping arrangements and the nighttime of what was going on, because it is dark out. You can't see anything. Eventually, we didn't have a fire for eight days. Getting up to go to the bathroom is the worst. You're tripping over things. And even sleeping at night, we had what we called bush babies. Nneka made a nickname for 'em. They were these birds that would cry all night like in a murder scene and then they would crawl on top of you. These birds are like the size of pigeons and are walking over you. So I wish we would've seen more of the evenings because they were lighthearted and I think maybe people wonder how we got by in the night.
How much did it rip you up to vote Nneka out, and does that still gnaw at you?
I was so gutted that night. I told myself: I don't want to do that again. And it played a big part of my later portion of my game to why I couldn't turn on Jesse. I didn't have it in me, because after the Nneka vote, I was gutted so bad that I was like, I'm not going through that again. And it was my Achilles heel at the end of the day.
Would you go back and play again if they invited you?
Yeah, man, I got some redemption, bro. Those goddamn Danishes and coffee cost me a million bucks. Those were million-dollar Danishes.
Finally, after everything you went through on this show, are you still living to get radical?
Automatic, dude! After the game, a lot of people went right back to work, and I was like, "Wow." I traveled for about four to five months. I got my radical shirt on right now with Patrick Swayze. Funny thing is, I actually made these shirts for the watch parties and I put my own face on there. Those were a lot of fun. I'll be that way forever. It's the only way to live, and I think I played it in a game like that too and I really enjoyed that experience because of that reasoning.
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