“We’re all long-distance runners with blindfolds on. We don’t know who’s in the front, and they very well may trip up, and we’re just waiting to overtake them.” That was how Hai Giang explained the mood of the postmerge in Survivor 42. Indeed, the data scientist had been running with the fearlessness in that metaphor, going from nearly drawing rocks to one of the top positions in the game. But, to his point, when you fall, you fall hard. And over a 42-minute episode, Hai went from one of the leaders of the pack to on the ground and blindsided, watching his competitors pass him by with the finish line in sight. Hai’s time on Survivor started incredibly eventfully. He was found on the outs of his Vati tribe going into his first Tribal Council. But due to some fortunate missing votes, he found himself in a deadlock with his closest ally Lydia Meredith on the chopping block. But Hai always credited himself as a driver, even instructing others to get a seatbelt. And he took the wheel in this moment, declaring to Daniel Strunk that he was willing to possibly go out via random chance for Lydia. It was enough to keep her in the game another day. And Hai used the chaos left in the wake of that mess to get to the top of Vati, making a particularly tight connection with Mike Turner. And when the tribes came together, Hai was ready to build off that momentum to take the game by storm. Hai immediately reconnected with Drea Wheeler and Lindsay Dolashewich, with whom he shared the mysterious “Advantage Amulet” from Day 1. From there, he helped build a supermajority of players and a comfortable position at the top. Unfortunately, that position came at the cost of some of his former tribemates, including Lydia. Despite losing those relationships, Hai felt confident at the final eight that Jonathan Young was primed to go and, unlike his Immunity Challenge performances, would not make a recovery. What he didn’t see, though, was the groundswell movement building towards Hai, as everyone saw the power he had in the game. In the end, Hai realized that the plan he was told was as fake as the blood he rubbed so vigorously on himself eighteen days ago. A near-unanimous vote sent him out reeling, but smiling wide at what his competition was able to pull off. Now out of the game, Hai talks with Parade.com about what surprised him most about everyone planning to take him out, the relationships he built at Vati and how they changed over time, and the messages he’s received about the representation he brought this season. So I have to start with a question that’s been ten episodes in the making. How did your tribemates react to the fake blood you covered yourself in with the opening challenge, and how did that affect their first impression of you? (Laughs.) First of all, the fan reception to that was so polarizing. Enjoy it, guys. It’s camp! It’s funny. Second of all, everyone pretty much was just like, “Where did the blood come from?” And I was like, “It was part of the challenge. I had to crawl through blood. But don’t worry, it’s fake because I’m vegan.” (Laughs.) And the only person to really give me a hard time about it was Jenny. She asked me twice. And I will say I did not have a story for them as I was running back. They’re like, “You’re bleeding.” I was like, “Oh damn, I am bleeding. What’s my story?” But Jenny did ask me twice what it was. And I feel like my story changed both times. So immediately because of that, I was like, “Jenny is a threat. She’s too perceptive.” The episode made it obvious that essentially everybody left wanted you out. It was clear you were surprised by the vote. But what surprised you the most watching it back last night and getting to see how it all came together? Watching the episode back ten months later, I was shocked to see how bad the lie to get me out actually was. Omar’s quote was, “Tell a good lie, not a stupid lie.” But in hindsight, how did Mike not realize that I don’t speak like that? You lived with me for 19 days, longer than anyone else. Do you think I’m going around telling people, “I’m a puppet master. Mike’s my puppet. I control this vote.” I don’t speak like that! That’s a terrible thing to believe. It would have been so easy to corroborate after the fact. But I think Mike is a very emotional player, and he feels justified eliminating people that he doesn’t like. I think he used that as justification for targeting me at that point in the game. And props to him! He would have had to turn on me eventually. The other thing I was shocked by was that everybody was on board to get me out. Usually, there are one or two people that have a different strategy. But it made sense. I was visibly the biggest threat at that point in the game. It made sense for everyone to take me out. I can’t even be mad at it. If I was in their position, and I saw the way I was playing, I would have taken me out too. So from that perspective, when you get blindsided, was there anyone who was at top of mind, either shocked at them voting for you or you suspected they were the ones to lead the charge against you? I will liken it to when people have near-death experiences, and they’re like, “It was the white light. It was like my life flashing before my eyes.” Just as the votes were being read and my name kept coming up, I had flashbacks of every conversation I had that afternoon. I was able to read subtext for the first time. I was able to read between the lines when Lindsay said, “We’re going to even the playing field tonight and make sure that everyone has an equal chance of getting to the end.” It made sense. I thought she was talking about Jonathan’s physicality. She was talking about me as a strategic player, and how I was overdomineering a lot of the strategy. So my reaction was genuine. I was proud that I was going out blindsided as a big threat and not as someone who was unlikeable or as a personal attack. I was really proud that I went out because of strategy. Let’s go back to the beginning with that absolute mess of a Vati Tribal Council. You and Lydia were on the bottom of the tribe going into that vote. How did that end up happening? Lydia and I were seen as a very tight two, and I was very perceptive of that. I would tell Lydia, “You can’t be seen with me at all times. I’m collecting firewood, maybe go do something else.” And she just did not get it. (Laughs.) Honestly, that’s why I loved her at early Vati. Because we’re two peas in the same pod. We’re both young queer people; literally our brand is just dumb and young. I was instantly drawn to her. And I think the opposite is true of Mike and Jenny. I couldn’t have conversations with them because we didn’t have a lot to connect on, and they didn’t want to talk strategy. So immediately, you had two pairs. And then in the middle are Daniel and Chanelle, who had relationships with everyone. Y’all didn’t see it, but Chanelle and I were tight. I actually considered us tighter than myself and Lydia. So Chanelle and Daniel had a conversation about which twosome they were going to go with, and they decided to go with Mike and Jenny because they perceived them to be less strategic players than Lydia and myself. And look how that turned out for them. Because while Lydia and I were more strategic at that point, we were also more loyal to Daniel and Chanelle than I think Mike and Jenny were to them. You end up voting Jenny, which ends up causing this deadlock and saving Lydia in the process. You say that you were able to read Chanelle and figure out something was up. She said to me that you had wanted to vote for Jenny because you wanted a “perfect game” and didn’t want to vote for Mike. What’s your side of the story? There were a few factors that led me to switch my vote. So I think it’s a little bit dismissive of my decision-making to say, “He just wanted to play a perfect game.” Obviously, we all come in wanting to play the perfect game, including myself. So I’ll own up to that. But there were a lot of red flags for me that afternoon. First of all, the plan, if we were to go to our first Tribal, was always boys on Jenny, girls on Mike. So when Chanelle came back that afternoon and flipped it, I’m very astute. I noticed changes in people’s behaviors, speaking patterns, or plans. And for me, that was red flag number one. Red flag number two was that afternoon, Lydia and I did try to flip the vote onto Daniel. We kind of tried to lay some seeds to see if Jenny would bite. At that point, I didn’t want to get rid of Jenny. She wasn’t a liability as much as Daniel was with his shoulder. So Lydia had that conversation with Jenny. Lydia comes back to me and goes, “Jenny’s in. She wants to go for Daniel.” And in my head, I was like, “Jenny hasn’t talked strategy with me in seven days. This is a little too good to be true.” So when I went to corroborate with Jenny, she was like, “No, absolutely not. It’s Lydia. We have to keep the tribe strong.” And at that point, I knew Miss Jenny was playing us. What really sealed Jenny’s fate was that 10 minutes before we went to Tribal, Daniel was being typically chaotic. He runs up to me and goes, “Hai, I heard you’re trying to vote me out.” Well, I wonder who could have told you that, Daniel! Though, at that point for me, I was like, “Okay, Daniel’s nervous. He’s a little squirrely. There’s a very high possibility that he’s going to change his vote to Lydia.” So I made an executive decision to change my vote to Jenny, just in case we had to tie it up 3-3. And fortunately for Lydia, because I changed my vote, and due to a variety of factors, she was spared. But I will say we were all blindsided at that Tribal. I was blindsided. The other five were blindsided. Jeff was blindsided. Do you know how long it took him to read the vote the first time? Well over 45 minutes! All six of us are sitting there in lockdown like, “Does it normally take this long?” It was incredible. You said in the preseason that you wouldn’t necessarily be loyal to your tribe first and foremost. And indeed, the first two votes after the merge, you end up voting for your fellow Vati tribe members, including one of your closest allies in Lydia. Was that a representation of that ideology, or were there other factors at play? What I said preseason, I stand by. My allegiances aren’t necessarily dictated by arbitrarily starting lines. I play with a lot of empathy and emotion. It didn’t show on screen, but I really did. I played with people that I connected with. As soon as I got to merge Omar and I had an amazing hour-long conversation about our lives. I learned that he’s a veterinarian, a huge animal lover. So am I. So immediately, there’s something that we’re bonding over. Drea had me at the amulet. She was fearless. When it was time to decide whether or not we were taking the amulet, Lindsay did not want to take it. Drea very much from the beginning was like, “Let’s take it,” and that was someone that I gravitated towards. Then I learned more about her life in Canada and her family. I was so infatuated with both Omar and Drea. They were my Final Three! We had a Final Three agreement. I was going to take the Canadians to the end. And if they would have beaten me, okay, cool. But that was my Final Three plan. So unfortunately for Lydia, her vote out was due to the fact that Omar is a master strategist. One of his best strategic moves is to make things time-sensitive. He didn’t tell me about the Lydia plan until 30 minutes before we went to Tribal. He didn’t leave me with an opportunity to scramble and save Lydia. So at that point, I had to get on the train as it was leaving, or I would potentially be one of five people eligible for a vote. I will say there’s something about playing the game with agency when you are one of twelve people being eligible for a vote and then trying to play the game from a position of not trying to receive any votes as one of five. It’s a very different mindset. So speaking of that empathy, let’s talk about your complicated relationship with Romeo. You have an incredibly emotional conversation when you first meet about his difficulties coming out to his family. Then a couple of days later, he ends up voting for you. A day after that, you vote with him to take out Rocksroy. Talk me through that up and down dynamic. The edit was really interesting to see that breakdown because they didn’t show why we fractured. So Romeo wasn’t paranoid because he was at the bottom. He was at the bottom because he was paranoid. Right after he came out to me, I was like, “Romeo, I want to work with you. The person you should vote for,” because he’s vulnerable at this point, “is Chanelle.” He took that information to Tori, who then told Chanelle. Then Chanelle came back to corroborate with me and say, “Hey, I heard that you’re throwing my name out there?” So I’m like, “Absolutely not! Why would I do that?” At that point, I knew that Romeo could not be trusted. And that wasn’t the only incident. I think when Romeo got to merge, he was just a very squirrely person. He would try to have strategy talks with everyone, and they would all come back out and point to him. So as a result, no one wanted to play with him, including myself. At the merge, you said, “I’m a driver. I can’t take the backseat.” And it’s safe to say that’s a large reason you’re talking with me today. Is there a moment or time in retrospect you felt you should have taken that backseat, or is that just not something you could do as a player? I knew I was going to be pedal to the medal as soon as I hit the game. It’s something that my family and friends were like, “Yo, just watch out. You’re a very overdomineering aggressive personality.” Yes, I am. And I’m proud of that. But for me, it was really hard at a certain point to sit back and not be involved in conversations. I would try to sit there and blend in. But people would still approach me and be like, “Hai, you want to go to the water well? Do you want to go on a walk with me?” At that point, unfortunately, I feel as though I was too much. I was perceived too much as a ringleader, either subconsciously or not. And people were too hyper-aware of the way in which I was playing an aggressive game. And that did me in. Your experience on Survivor is littered with these personal moments, whether it’s you having to negotiate your veganism when eating the crab, bonding with Romeo at the merge over coming out, or this most recent episode when you talked about growing up in a poor household. What has it been like for you to both watch that story back and hear from people who have undergone similar experiences? Watching myself represented, and watching myself represent all of the different communities in which I encompass, was really powerful. I really did receive a lot of supportive messages from people whose identities I intersect with. I’m so grateful for that. If there’s one thing I wanted to get out of this experience, it was to be representation, positive or not. I think the thing about representation is people feel burdened by it. And they feel as though they have to fit a certain positive archetype. But for me, I wanted to go out there and be myself. Show all these people who look like me, talk like me, think like me, that you can be like me, or you could be someone else, and it’s okay. You don’t have to be an exact carbon copy just because I am this way. Next, check out our interview with Tori Meehan, who was voted out in Survivor 42 Episode 9.
