Natalia Azoqa was sent home on Wednesday's Survivor: David vs Goliath episode for her bossy behavior and inability to be trusted, so her new alliance members implied. When the David and Goliath tribes split into three new sections, Azoqa ended up in the Vuku tribe with her closest ally, Kara Kay, and Alec Merlino, both from her Goliath tribe. David members Davie Rickenbacker and Elizabeth Olson joined Vuku as well.
Azoqa tried to hide her bossy side where it counted, she told Newsweek, but in the end, the transition to Vuku changed her gameplay and her lighthearted facade.
"In the beginning, I was playing just how I wanted to play. I was very talkative. I was very social," she said. "You don't get to see that, but I was working the room. I really just wanted to have good connections with people because I think to win the game, people have to have a good feeling about you. I was very genuine and I was very honest."
Her demise fell in the hands of Merlino, who spearheaded the movement to eliminate Azoqa with the two, new David tribe members. Azoqa saw his decision to vote her out as a result of her personality.
"I hid that side from Alex the whole time we were on Goliath," she explained. "He only saw the lighthearted, fun side of me. He never saw that bossy, confrontational side. With Kara and Angelina, I could act that way and that's how I knew that they could be in my alliance. I could speak to them in any way that I wanted and they knew it wasn't personal. Alec took it personally."
And her dismissal became obvious to Azoqa as she sat at the Tribal Council with her once allies and two new teammates. When Merlino whispered in Olson's ear, someone who was not a part of the original Goliath alliance, Azoqa knew the goal was to eliminate her, and she began to ask questions.
"I asked Kara what he whispered to her because she whispered to me. Kara tells me that Alec is just confirming with Elizabeth the vote," she said. "At that moment I was like 'either she doesn't know what's happening for real, or she's kind of on Alec's side but is pretending like she's not.' That's why I started asking a lot of questions and wanting confirmation."
As for what she learned in the game, Azoqa joked about her bossy demeanor. "I learned that I can be a mean girl. Actually, I already knew that. So that's a lie. Let's just be real."
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