【Eng Sub】

The Eng Submerge is now behind us, but the next Survivor castaway didn't have much time to enjoy it.

Former Millennial tribe member Michelle Schubert was the latest casualty of this week's Tribal Council vote. While it wasn't a surprise to see the vote turn in the favor of the Gen-X squad -- too many ruffled feathers among the Millennials -- it wasa surprise to see Michelle go.

A quietly strategic player who was part of the original Vanua tribe's power alliance from day one, Michelle fell in what amounted to a numbers vote. Will had immunity, there was some suspicion that Jay had an Idol and Gen-Xers believe -- perhaps correctly -- that Jay would have burned his theoretical Idol to save his buddy.

However you think the vote should havegone, Michelle was the odd one out. Mashablecaught up to chat with her the morning after the episode aired, and here's her hindsight perspective on everything that went down.

Survivor last night ... such a weird episode. I walked out of the room for 30 seconds, came back, the episode had ended. What was going on that we didn't necessarily see on TV last night?

Well, it was kind of subtle, even as it happened. It was as subtle as silence, and that was my downfall in the game.

Come the merge, I knew that people were seeing me as a strategic threat. And at the behest of my alliance, the people I really did trust -- that would be Jay and Will -- came to me and said, 'Hey, what if you just kind of lie low for this first vote? That way, Gen-Xers aren't expecting it when you rise back up and come out swinging.'

At the time that sounded like a great idea. So I laid low and just didn't do any strategizing whatsoever. The detriment of that, which is clear now, was that everybody that I had been talking with and strategizing with -- all of a sudden I go dark and they're thinking, 'Well, if she's not strategizing with me anymore it means she's strategizing with somebody else.'

And so when my name got brought up, enough people around said, 'Yeah, I think that's who we've got to go for.'

Did you have any sense going into Tribal that this was going to be the thing?

Well, I was not comfortable going to Tribal. As I said in my Ponderosa video, this is the first and only vote that I was not the one to be doing the relational aspect of the strategy. I wasn't the one walking up to somebody, making a plan, looking them in the eye and deciding whether to trust them or not. I left all the strategy to my alliance and I just put down the name they said.

As you might recall, I thought it was stupid. I thought it was a terrible move, I don't know why the guys were making an emotional move rather than a strategic one. But at the end of the day, fine. I'll write down the name you tell me.

So there was a definite uncertainty as I went to Tribal. But I tried to relax myself and say, 'You know what, Michelle? There's 13 people. What are the chances that it fell on you. And apparently, [it was] pretty good.

We've seen merges at this early point in the game before, but it seemed really early. 13 people is a lot to merge. How much do you think those original Millennial versus Gen-X tribal lines still exist?

To an extent they do. I think there are still pods on both Gen-X and Millennials that really trusted and loved each other in that first bit. I can tell you that was absolutely the case with me. I liked a lot of the Gen-Xers but I loved the Millennials.

We would have so much fun together. You didn't get to see it but we would have safe Tribal Councils around the campfire at night, or we would make a big bonfire, huge bonfire, on the beach and play charades. There were just funny things that the Millennials would do together that of course never would have taken place with certain Gen-X personalities that were there.

Did you feel that generational difference?

It really was there. Whether or not that was a correct representation of the generations, I don't quite [know]. It might be a good stereotype of each one, but I don't know how good of a complete survey you got there with these particular people.

But with the particular people on the island, yes. You could absolutely feel the differences. Open-mindedness and ingenuity versus structure. That played into every single thing. That played into decision-making; that played into 'how do we hang out at camp?'; that played into who do we vote out next; that played into 'how are we gonna face these challenges?' So it was ... definitely there.

What was your post-merge game going to look like? How were you planning to play it moving forward?

Like I said, I had decided -- in poor judgment -- to sit back for the first vote. And then I was gonna start going after, I guess, whoever I felt wasn't aligned with me.

I wasn't even worried about threats. I was confident enough in my game that I felt like I could sit at the end with just about anybody and win. Because they've seen my gameplay, I'm friends with all of them (just about) -- like really. I really enjoyed and connected well with most of the people on the island, minus my previous [post-switch] Vanua tribe. Really, [CeCe, Chris and David] -- those were the only three on the island that I didn't feel close with. Or that I didn't feel like I could be very close friends with.

Yeah, so I felt confident enough to sit next to just about anyone at the end. So my gameplan moving forward getting closer to the people I felt would not vote against me.

At the moment, that was Jay, it was helpful that he had an Idol; at the moment, that was Will, though I didn't completely trust Will until the end; at the moment, that was Hannah. Of course, I ... miscalculated her alliance to me. But yeah, it was pulling close the people I thought wouldn't vote against me and getting rid of the rest.

Adam obviously made that big move when he voted out Figgy, and that changed the dynamic. Figgy was part of your original alliance with Taylor and Jay. Do you see Adam as the destroyer of your game? I feel like if that flip had gone the other way and Figgy stayed, your situation would have been very different.

That could be true, but I actually see myself as the destroyer of my game. I feel like I should have absolutely been able to squirm my way out of this. But my sleep-deprived mind said, 'No, you're all right. Just sit back for now,' when my gut was saying something different.

So, yes, lots of things could have gone better, but I don't feel like that should have been the downfall of my game. The downfall of my game was my choice.

The last thing I've been asking everyone: would you do it again?

I would. I would do it again and I wouldn't sit back for even one vote.