"I really didn't have a chance to play." 'Survivor' Castoff Katrina: Post Elimination Q&A

CBS Local – 'Survivor: Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers' is back on Wednesday nights for a 35th season (yes, 35 seasons - it's been on the air since 2000) We had the chance to interview the first cast off of the new season, former Olympian Katrina Radke. Here's her unique perspective (as told to CBS Local's Adam Bloom and Samantha Bennet) on being the first one voted out of the new season and what she was hoping to accomplish had she not be voted out on Day 3.

Castoff: Katrina

SB: It must be a little frustrating to be the first person voted off?

K: You know what's funny- I'm fine with it. This is the game of Survivor – you know what you are signing up for. I remember before the game started Jeff saying this to all of us – "Seventeen of you will get voted off and one of you will win" – it's kind of like the reality of the game, right? It's all good.

AB: Did you have any strategy going into the game? How would you have liked to have played if you were able to stay on a little longer?

K: I had a plan: I would do a little quiet time in the mornings, and I'd actually go off on my own and no one knew where I was – and I did actually look for the idol for a few hours but just couldn't find it. I kind of heard later where it might have been - I realized I was two feet away at one point. I definitely wanted to connect and create an alliance. The biggest thing is getting to the merge – I think if I could have gotten to the merge I really could have won this thing. I really didn't have a chance to play. The first couple days we spent so much time building shelters and I think we did a really good job as a tribe and we had some great conversations too. There was a lot of posturing going on – as you saw even with the Al blow up – the only reason why that happened is because Ashley and I had been talking for awhile and he freaked out because we did that. He told me privately later that he ended up using my name to tell them they had the idol. Then they all freaked out at me because of that so nobody trusted me after that (laughing).

SB: Knowing what you know now- are you surprised Christine didn't play the idol for you?

K: No, no- she wanted me gone from the moment she met me and I knew that. She'd be nice to me but I think it annoyed her when I did really well, and it was hard for her to see me do well. She was gunning for me – I tried to talked with her an align with her at one point but she was kind of abrasive.

AB: You were only there for three days – is Survivor at all what you thought it would be?

K: I never thought I was going home first, so I kind of assumed I'd at least be going to day 20. What I really wanted to do which I did do is really try and connect with people on some level and I really wanted to be a team player. The tribes that work together really well – they can make it happen and they go far and our tribe just didn't have that going on for ourselves.

'Survivor: Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers' airs every Wednesday at 8pm ET/7pm CT on CBS.