Jairus "JD" Robinson Shares Why He Kept Giving Shan His Extra 'Survivor' Vote: 'My Only Play Was To Suck Up To The People In Power'

(CBS) - The monster that is Survivor 41 claimed another victim last night as Jairus "JD" Robinson was sent home after another tribal council blindside.

CBS' Matt Weiss spoke with JD about his time on the island, getting to go on reward and his sudden blindside at tribal council.

MW- JD, excited to talk to you today man, hope all's going well. We'll get into everything that went down during your time in the game but before that, as a fan of Survivor, take me back to that moment when you first stepped foot on the island.

JR- Yeah, so as soon as I hit the big boat, your heart is pounding. It's so real and I'm like 'oh my gosh, like, this is what I dreamed of.' Like Adam said this is what dreams are made of. I'm standing here and then getting to touch the sand and to see our tribe flag, everything was so cool. I was just so happy to be there.

MW- That's awesome. Now once the game begins your tribe just starts getting picked off one by one. There's always a healthy amount of paranoia that you need to play Survivor but as you see more and more of your tribe leaving what's going through your head?

JR- Well, I saw most of my tribe leaving but I was also a target who could have gone home. So in that way it was really scary. Like yes, my tribe was getting picked off, but all these people getting picked off were voting for me to go home. It was terrifying, you know.

MW- So how did that change the way you went about playing the game?

JR- I saw that we were losing and that people were going home. I knew that I wanted to flip the game but I was in the bottom rung of the whole tribe with Shan and Ricard. There are so many times that I wanted to flip the game on its head. I wanted to work with Brad and Genie and I wanted to vote out Ricard.

But Brad wanted to vote out me for some reason, even though I saved him at tribal council. They wanted to work with the people who want to vote Brad out and to this day I don't understand it. I wanted to put myself in a position of power. The problem was I didn't have people who wanted to do it with me.

My only play was to suck up to the people in power and try to get in good with them so that they'll take me with them. That's why I gave Shan my extra vote and not Ricard. That's why I gained Shan my extra vote again because I'm trying to find a space. There were no other options I only had two votes and so, yeah, there was really nothing else I could do.

MW- It seemed like the tension was really building for Ua but then when you all got reward it seemed like things started to ease up a little bit. I know the game ended quicker than you would have liked but you did get to go on a reward and have that experience at least. What was that like?

JR- Reward was awesome, shout out to Nathan he was my bro! He taught me so much stuff out there. There's so many different types of coconuts and he's trying to teach me climbing techniques. I was always climbing trees trying to get coconuts.

He's an amazing man, like the dude is not human. He swims like a fish, he climbs like a spider, he could just crack a coconut in half like it's nothing. He's awesome.

MW- The reward challenge went great for you, immunity did not. What went wrong for Ua?

JR- You know, I think a lot of people will blame me for the fact that we didn't win that immunity challenge but I was the only one who landed it! I don't know why they didn't show that we switched but we switched other people in. The only thing I'd change is maybe saying money and actually making it. That's the only thing I'd change.

MW- I feel bad bringing this up, but was there any extra salt in the wound afterwards knowing that Deshawn and Danny were trying to lose?

JR- That hurts so bad. I was like I landed two rings, like that wasn't that bad, right? Then it's like dude is re-tying knots and both Ua and Yase are not even close to done. They were throwing the challenge and we weren't even close. That just goes to show how much of a beast Naseer. He was basically going against Deshawn and Danny and still won.

MW- Now at tribal council, obviously you got blindsided. As you said you were trying to build trust with Shan so you have up your extra vote. Walk me through everything that unfolded there.

JR- As tribal council unfolds I couldn't make it live and try to make a move because I didn't have my extra vote. That was a mistake that I already made and I was like, dang. So the best thing that I can do at tribal council is show them that Genie is not with them and that I am just in case they haven't made up their minds.

That's why I'm said Genie don't play your shot in the dark and then I wink at Ricard and Shan to say I'm with you guys, she's not, she doesn't even believe you right now. That's what I was trying to do at tribal and it didn't work but I went for it, made a bad move.

MW- That's what Survivor is all about, taking your shot. Although it didn't work for you this time, would you take another shot down the road at Survivor?

JR- 110,000,000%, I would do anything to be back out there. The biggest thing for me going back out there is that in pregame a lot of people were high on me. People were saying how this dude did Toastmasters and he's athletic and he talks to all these different people and he works with kids; everyone thought I would do well.

I feel like I didn't show what kind of player I can really be. So I would love to go back and I just want to prove to them that it's in me. I promise it's in me to be that great survivor player. I couldn't execute, I fumbled a lot but now I know a little more about the game and how it's actually truly played. That's my biggest thing I want to go back so bad.

MW- Hopefully we see you with that second chance but for now congrats on getting on the show at least and thank you for the time today JD!

JR- Thanks bro!

Tune in for new episodes of Survivor 41, Wednesdays at 8:00PM ET/PT on CBS or available to stream with Paramount+. Check your local listings for more information.