If you have been keeping up with Survivor 45, it is no surprise that Katurah Topps simply cannot stand her Belo-turned-Lulu tribemate, Bruce Perreault. After all, a majority of her screen time consists of her complaining about him.
With the “New Era” of Survivor often being criticized for the lack of drama and feuds between its castaways — often being referred to as Kumbaya Survivor — viewers have been loving the beef between Katurah and Bruce throughout this season thus far.
While Survivor fans have been entertained by the feud between Katurah and Bruce, the civil rights attorney is not amused…
In a now-deleted TikTok video — which you can view via Reddit — Katurah addresses “the elephant in the room,” admitting that she is equally as shocked to see so much of her screen time dedicated to complaining about her tribemate.
“Every week I’m watching a new episode being like, ‘Damn! I’m still talking about Bruce. Damn! They still got me talking about Bruce. Damn! I’m still in the confessional talking about Bruce.’ Like, what is happening, because I know me and obviously I know I would never just only be talking about Bruce. Surely that’s not what’s happening,” Katurah shared in said TikTok video, expressing her confusion.
She then put the rumors to rest, explaining that having an annoying tribemate was never an issue for her. In Katurah’s eyes, having a person that is drawing a lot of attention and annoying a lot of people was actually a good thing, because the likelihood of the tribe agreeing to vote that person out was high — meaning that she would live to see another day on the beach.
Instead, the issue was that Katurah felt disrespected by Bruce and his actions.
“I was getting talked down to and barked at and yelled at and ordered and literally being addressed as a child, repeatedly, and that’s just so shocking to me,” she dished. “This is happening to me specifically to a degree that’s different than any other person is getting. Like, this is clearly a Katurah-specific intensity, like there’s a level of rudeness and aggression and harshness towards me specifically that just literally is not being seen with any other person.”
To follow this bold statement, the 35-year-old explained why her annoyance with Bruce was at an all time high throughout her Survivor journey, making its way onto our television screens every Wednesday evening.
“That feeling of being singled out, it intensifies when you don’t feel like there’s anyone around you that you can just be like ‘You also see this is happening, right?’ It’s like if there was just someone who could also see it or notice it or even honestly just acknowledge that it’s happening, like if I’m just gonna be honest, that’s why episode 5 was so hard for me,” she explained passionately.
Within episode 5, Bruce is seen talking down to Katurah, deeming her ideas to be “dumb” and “stupid” on numerous occasions. Also within said episode, Survivor fans see none of the other Lulu tribemates — Jake O’Kane, Kaleb Gebrewold, and Kellie Nalbandian — stand up for her, ultimately causing the New York native to feel singled out.
“This was the first episode where I literally had to step away,” Katurah revealed. “I had to take a few days and just emotionally regulate. It just reminded me of being there and that feeling of just being so like, ‘I’ve been getting beat down by this behavior for freaking 10 days now,’ and episode 5 is showing day 10.”
After explaining Bruce’s power on the Lulu tribe — describing how the control he had over the rest of her tribemates was “literally terrifying” — the Survivor 45 castaway concluded her TikTok video with an overarching statement.
“Basically, I say all that to say, I think I figured out why we have so many Katurah-Bruce confessionals, and that’s because my confessionals were my safe space. Everywhere else, I am like putting on a smile and being like, ‘Yeah, everything’s great. Yay.’ I would go to my confessionals and be like, ‘I can just drop everything finally. I can just be honest and say what I’m feeling and what’s happening,'” she spilled.
She concluded, “I think I ended up using it a little bit more as a venting space than I realized… that’s what happens when your confessionals are the only space for you to be open and honest about what’s really happening. Your confessional is going to be spicy.” With the mistreatment Katurah was facing from Bruce for 10 days straight, we don’t blame her whatsoever!
To see how the rest of Survivor 45 unfolds, catch brand-new episodes of the beloved competition series every Wednesday at 8pm ET/PT on CBS.