Steven Ramm’s Survivor 49 journey came to a rather abrupt end in one of the season’s most chaotic Tribal Councils, featuring his Block-a-Vote advantage, a showdown with Sophi Balerdi over her Knowledge Is Power, and — once again — Rizo Velovic’s memorable idol theatrics. While the 35-year-old rocket scientist knew he had become a perceived threat to win, the numbers were fully on his side with his not-so-secret advantage, making it all the more shocking when allies Sage Ahrens-Nichols and Kristina Mills flipped to vote with the tight trio of Rizo, Sophie, and Savannah Louie going into the final five.
In an exclusive interview with Men’s Journal following the episode, Steven breaks down why he still can’t fully understand Sage and Kristina’s decision to turn on him, reflects on the strategic choices that led to his blindside, and explains why he believes he had a legitimate path to winning the game.
Scroll down to read the full exit interview with Steven.
Men’s Journal: How are you feeling watching everything back now? Obviously you knew it was coming, but it’s a completely different experience seeing it play out on TV.
Steven: I’m generally feeling at peace about everything. Obviously, I knew it was coming, and if I had to go out anyway, I’m glad it was an explosive, banger of a Tribal Council. It was honestly incredibly fun to rewatch because you’re reliving the shock that all of us were feeling — not just from the Knowledge Is Power, but from the Block-a-Vote and from Rizo’s idol play and flex again.
That whole Tribal just seemed like it had it all. It was everything you want as a fan. Sitting there in the moment, I remember how I felt, but watching it back, I didn’t realize how shocked everybody else was when I said “Nope.” I remember looking over at Sage and Kristina, who were my allies, and they were equally shocked. I was expecting them to be smiling the way I was — I was grinning cheek to cheek — and they were just frozen. That’s when I thought, “Oh no.”
Men’s Journal: I’m still trying to understand why Sage and Kristina did this. Have you made any sense of it yet?
Steven: Your guess is as good as mine. I try not to judge too much because it’s such a complicated game. I liken it to going to a museum and looking at a piece of abstract art — two people can look at the same thing and have completely different interpretations. Where I thought it was an opportunity for the three of us to get to the final five, finally have the majority, and break up this powerful trio, I think they maybe saw me as a bigger threat than I realized. Maybe they just didn’t feel comfortable sitting next to me at the end.
I hate when people say, “Oh, it’s because I’m a big threat,” because who knows what they were actually thinking. But I was shocked. I’m still shocked. I was hoping to get more insight rewatching the episode. I do appreciate that Kristina fought for me quite a bit and had my back. I also feel awful about calling her a sloppy player. I was just really frustrated in that moment, and I’m going to honor how I felt then, but I love her to death. When I saw the edit, I realized for every critical thing I said, I probably said 20 nice things. So yeah — it was a wild episode.
Men’s Journal: Do you think if you had made it to the end, you would’ve had a real shot to win?
Steven: Honestly, yes. For the first time, I saw a clear shot to the end. I’d been minimizing my threat level and laying low the entire post-merge game. I actually knew the votes were going on Alex [Moore] — Sage and Jawan [Pitts] told me — but we agreed it made sense for me to vote incorrectly so it wouldn’t expose our alliance. We were trying to hide that relationship and set up a blindside down the line. When I looked at my game as a whole, I felt like I had a strong story. I won advantages when my back was against the wall. I put up when I needed to. I had a really strong pre-merge game, even if people don’t always value that. I wasn’t perfect. I got blindsided. I’d own that. But I felt like my résumé stacked up just as well as anyone else’s. Maybe that’s naive, but that’s how I felt.
Men’s Journal: I know you got to save your advantage for one more week, but I think some fans still questioned your decision to vote Sophie Segreti out last week. Do you still think that was the right call?
Steven: I knew people were going to poke at that, and honestly, if I were watching as a fan, I might have questioned it too. But from my perspective, I needed to keep that Block-a-Vote for another Tribal. If we had gone after Savannah, there was a high likelihood I would’ve had to burn that advantage just to survive — and even then, it wasn’t guaranteed I’d be safe. Yellow Sophie was playing an incredible, fluid game, but she lied straight to my face multiple times — masterfully. That made her really hard to read, and that scared me more than someone whose position I understood.
Men’s Journal: What did you think about the Block-a-Vote advantage as a game mechanic? Especially having to play it before tribal…
Steven: I ran around an entire island and almost died, and all I got was a Block-a-Vote — so I was hoping for something a little more powerful. That said, I understand why production doesn’t want too many massive advantages floating around at final seven. I don’t think it was a bad mechanic. Going forward, players might think twice before trying to steal something like that. It definitely changes the meta.
Men’s Journal: How were Rizo’s idol theatrics landing with the jury?
Steven: I love Rzzo, but honestly, we were kind of annoyed by it. You could see the jury rolling their eyes — like, “Again?” Even so, it did influence our decision-making because we always had to plan for the possibility that he might actually play it.
Men’s Journal: Ideally, who did you want to sit next to at the end?
Steven: Ideally, Kristina and Sage. I wanted to stay loyal to the people who were loyal to me. Kristina played her idol for me, and I would’ve loved to take her to the end. This might sound cocky, but I felt like my résumé stacked up pretty well against anyone. I had a lot of friends on the jury, and people didn’t realize how much I knew.
Men’s Journal: Would you play Survivor again?
Steven: Absolutely. I love the game so much, and it helped me shed a lot of imposter syndrome. If I played again, you’d see a much more confident, aggressive version of me. Even just getting to play once is an honor — anything else would be a cherry on top.
