From being the most hated castaway of Survivor 45 to being the most beloved, Emily Flippen had a rollercoaster of a journey on the hit competition show, going from nearly being the boot at the first tribal council of the season (with Hannah Rose’s self-elimination being her saving grace), to getting her torch snuffed after a single vote was cast against her in a jaw-dropping tribal council.
In an attempt to blindside Julie Alley, things seemed to be going as planned until one castaway decided to spill the secret. With Austin Li Coon telling Dee Valladares, and Dee Valladares telling Julie Alley herself, the plan was ultimately foiled, with Julie playing her Hidden Immunity Idol at tribal council (which Austin had handed to her a few days beforehand), causing just one vote to determine who would be heading to Ponderosa that fateful night. As we know, that one vote was casted for Emily Flippen, causing her to get her torch snuffed at the end of episode 11.
While Emily was not well liked by Survivor superfans at the start of the season, with dozens of viewers calling out her controversial behavior and accusing her of targeting her Black tribemates, Sabiyah Broderick and Kaleb Gebrewold, the Maryland native grew on them, ultimately causing an uproar via X (formerly known as Twitter) upon her elimination.
“FINANCIAL ANALYST EMILY FLIPPEN 😭😭😭”
“BRING BACK FINANCIAL ANALYST EMILY FLIPPEN.”
“Thank you, Emily Flippen, for an incredible season. My heart is broken.”
Seeing the fan reaction shift from overwhelmingly negative to overwhelmingly positive is something that very few castaways have experienced (with the exception of Chaos Kass from Survivor: Cagayan and Survivor: Cambodia), but Emily Flippen made it happen — you go girl!
Keep scrolling to see what the financial analyst had to say about the fan reaction to her journey on Survivor 45 in an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly…
Dalton Ross at Entertainment Weekly got the conversation going by asking Emily Flippen about the situation, all while inserting some of his own opinions.
“I felt like I was on an island after that first episode because I loved you in that episode. I’m like, ‘This is so refreshing. Someone’s speaking their mind!’ and everyone else was just like ‘No,’ but what was it like getting to watch that fan reaction turn over the past few months?”
After admitting that seeing the fan reaction shift from overwhelmingly negative to overwhelmingly positive was “honestly kind of jarring,” Emily dove into the details.
“I feel like this is perceived to be this new Emily, and I definitely think I changed and I grew through my Survivor experience. I never thought I’d say that I have friends now that I never thought I’d have — everybody is incredible, but at the same time, those qualities are still there in myself, so it’s weird to have somebody come in and praise you for certain aspects and then also hate you for certain aspects at the same time… We all have these qualities, but the whole experience in the complete 180, I would not say it’s been positive. It’s been really, really freaking weird.”
While Emily admitted that her experience has not been positive, she did not say it was negative either, continuing to share some of her fondest moments and memories from Survivor 45 in the same interview. In fact, she might even be getting married as a result of her time on the beloved competition series — how wild is that?
Nonetheless, while Emily Flippen is already greatly missed on our television screens, to see how the rest of Survivor 45 unfolds, catch 90-minute episodes every Wednesday at 8pm ET/PT on CBS.