Survivor's Brad Reese Says He Could Have 'Outran That Monster' With A Few More Power Ups

(CBS) - Another week, another flame extinguished. Episode three of the most monstrous Survivor season yet introduced another new game play mechanic and saw the fourth elimination so far - Brad Reese.

CBS' Matt Weiss spoke to Reese about his time on the island, speaking in code and whether or not the Wyoming native would give Survivor another go.

MW- Good morning, Brad! How are you doing?

BR- Hey, very good Matt, considering [laughs].

MW- Glad you're in good spirits! Obviously you're a huge fan of Survivor and I love the quote that, "you're loving all the danger." How did you feel when you finally got to the island?

BR- Yes, so through all the quarantines, through all the pre-game COVID testing, when you got on the island it was just this rush of energy that just bursted out. It was like finally we're here, we're gonna pull this off.

You never knew with all the COVID testing if you were going to be gone. There was just a lot of uncertainty and once I hit the island it was like, 'ah this feels great,' I'm here!

MW- I'm sure you prepared to go on the show but once you're actually there and you're tired and you're hungry, did you feel like you prepared enough or was there a feeling of being in over your head?

BR- Yeah, no, I felt maybe a little bit too comfortable. I love the country, I love the elements being thrown at me. Let me dig and salvage and scrap and eat worms and just go. I felt good.

What I didn't feel prepared for was that first loss in the immunity challenge. I was not prepared for that five hour scramble of passing the boat and that killed me, that was hard on me.

MW- We saw the introduction of the Beware Advantage last night. So I know you felt pretty prepared but when those twists get thrown in how difficult is it to think on the spot and process that new information?

BR- yes, I was a little disappointed in myself. I thought about it and maybe I can blame the lack of food and calories because I didn't quite process how how brutal that was. I knew I was helpless, I knew I had all my power stripped and I was in trouble,  but I was not quite prepared for that. I hadn't seen through that part of it.

MW- One of my favorite moments from last night was you and Xander communicating through codewords. Can you walk me through that?

BR- Oh yeah, I loved it. You know I completely messed up my statement, completely butchered it, so I'm feeling bad. The challenge was and your emotions are high, your energy's high.

Then there's Xander, and it didn't even cross my mind, but he leans over and says 'like what you said about the broccoli.' I was like dude, yes, you and I have this little connection and that's what you're looking for in this game is any little connection. He looked like such a cool dude right there and all of  a sudden he and I have this connection and I was very excited about it at the time.

MW- Now the part I'm sorry to bring up but we get to tribal council, things don't go your way, can you walk me through how things went from your perspective?

BR- It was total slow motion, Matt. I felt like things were in slow motion and I was thinking oh, JD is not nervous, this is not going well for me. Next I was just trying to think what can I do, what can I do, and came up with a blank, I can do nothing.

I had no immunity, no shot in the dark, I've got nothing but Genie. All I had was Genie, and I'm like, can I give her my steal a vote, I don't know if that would help? My mind was just kind of moving too slow.

When you you picture yourself out there and you put yourself in these situations you think I'll go to a tribal and fight for any chance I can get to win. I did not prepare for that situation though, if I have all my power stripped on a five person council, only four votes left; I did not prepare for that. I just couldn't move like I wanted to.

MW- A lot of fans were sorry to see you go, any chance we'll see you out there for another round?

BR- Great question, I feel like I've had my shot, I took my turn. I loved every second of it and if Jeff called me I absolutely would say yes man, sign me up, I'll go tomorrow. I also feel like man, I had my shot, I love Survivor, but I had my chance.

I look at the seven days I had and I feel like I lived a whole season worth of game play. I'm catching some flak from people saying I played too strong, too sloppy but I got no regrets. I had my people in position, I was playing the game I wanted.

I feel like that monster that Jeff keeps talking about, that's what it really was. If I had been powered up I think it would have been a different outcome last night, I could have outran that monster.

MW- It's been a monster for sure. Thank you so much for the time today Brad, great to talk to you and all the best moving forward!

BR- Awesome, thank you Matt pleasure.

Tune in for new episodes of Survivor Wednesdays at 8:00pm ET/PT on CBS and available to stream with Paramount+. Check your local listings for more information.