by Gina Scarpa

On last night's episode of Survivor: One World, the Manono tribe lost the immunity challenge and Colton found himself in a position of influence and power. He targeted Bill, hoping to get him out first, but Troyzan had another plan in mind and went after Matt, the San Francisco personal injury lawyer. Matt tried to save himself from elimination by attempting to team up with Troyzan but it was all in vain. Today, we talked to Matt in an exclusive interview about what went wrong for him in the game of Survivor.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you want to be a part of Survivor: One World?
A. Matt: I was a fan and now, I am more than ever! A superfan, I was not but I certainly know the game and have followed it for the last 12 years. I just wanted the challenge of it all. It seemed like a really cool opportunity to try to be a part of. I just decided to throw my hat in the ring.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Initially, what did you think of being on a tribe with all men? Was being close with a woman in the game any part of your strategy going in?
A. Matt: For sure! I really liked the guys on my tribe. I do like the whole locker room thing and we laughed a lot. I really had a fun time while I was there. But I definitely hoped and anticipated playing with women. I wish, looking back, that I would've been mentally prepared for a men vs. women format. It would've changed things a lot if I had been on a mixed tribe. It would've been a lot more difficult to get rid of me first. I think I would've been a valued member and I was wanting that protection because of the format of the game. I wanted to dig my hooks into the game in a poised, fun-loving way so that I could be prepared when I started to feel vulnerable. Unfortunately, I felt vulnerable from the very first day. It made me play the game very defensively to the point where I got super offensive to combat that. A good strategy is to fly under the radar and I get that but, given the position I was in, that was my only way to try and save myself.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: There were clear separations by age on both tribes. Do you think the younger players contributed to that separation, or was it the older ones?
A. Matt: In the men's tribe, it may have looked like it turned out like that but honestly, age was not an issue with us guys. I would've played with Tarzan as fast as I would've played with Colton. It just wasn't an issue.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Do you think that the only reason that Colton is influential right now in the game is because he has an idol?
A. Matt: That certainly helped and changed his attitude a lot. The first few days, I was playing with Colton. I'm not saying I loved him but we needed each other. He was much more demure before he got that idol, then full blown diva Colton came out. He got really comfortable and really demanding and wanted to be wooed. He went from "Save me!" to "What can you do for me?" real fast. I viewed Colton at the beginning of the game as a vote. Once he got that idol and got cocky and forged all those relationships, it didn't take me long to realize I had underestimated him. He was the biggest threat out there, he was working with the girls... he should've been the number one enemy and for some reason, the guys got hung up with trying to vote me out. They left the dragon in the game and that was Colton and his idol. I was a pretty loyal player and I think everybody knew that and got that. I was like, "Why are you guys so worried about me?"

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: After you talk with Troyzan, did you feel like the two of you were really going to align and work together?
A. Matt: Yes, I did. At the beginning, I was working with "the frat four", I've seen them called that before. The four most athletic guys, with all due respect to Troy. When he got the idol, Colton went into this limbo phase, nobody knew where he was going. I had my four still and Colton slipped away. There was all this uncertainty about the numbers. It honestly did not come together until you saw it on tv last night. I think that was the moment when the misfits came together officially. Before that, there were power struggles galore out there. I realized out there at that moment that was I screwed and I was going to lose. I wasn't going to go out for the cause. I was going to do what I could. You heard the chicken and the rooster analogy. That was, "Who's out there, playing hard, and putting their necks on the line?" It was either going to be me or Troy. I told him, "I'm a good player, you're a good player. Why are we working so hard and there are all these floaters who are going any way the wind blows and where the weather is nicest?" I thought I could sell that to Troy. I had to work on Jonas still and there's a clip on CBS.com that shows that conversation.

Survivor: One World airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

Follow Gina @ginascarpa and "Like" her on Facebook!