In the preseason of Survivor 41, Ricard Foyé told us he was someone who thrived outside of his comfort zone. And given this was a season produced to push its castaways out of its comfort zone as much as possible, it makes sense why Ricard was able to thrive the way he did. Despite starting on a constantly-losing tribe, he was consistently in a position of power. And when the tides began to turn against him, the flight attendant took off, building an impressive resume of challenge wins and strategic maneuvers. Unfortunately, that just enlarged his target, so when he was not immune at the final five, friend and foe alike came together to vote him out unanimously. According to his fellow Ua tribe members, Ricard may not have made the best first impression with everyone. But he did with the person who mattered most: Shan Smith. The duo dictated every one of the many Tribal Councils they went to, skirting past advantages with some delicate maneuvers. The partnership wasn’t without tension, though, as an Extra Vote created extra drama between the two. And there was another edge to the sword of two prominent strategists working together: They knew they couldn’t take each other to the end. Ricard and Shan continued to work together at the merge, now part of a new majority. When the alliance decided to turn on Ricard to handicap Shan, he put a stop to the plotting when he won immunity. But he used this safety as momentum to make one of the biggest moves of the season, pulling together nearly everyone in the tribe to blindside his number one ally. Ricard was able to replace her with a few close relationships, most importantly Xander Hastings and Erika Casupanan, who kept him around as a shield even when he was vulnerable. Unfortunately for him, that shield’s usability wore thin as the battle reached its conclusion. With Ricard not immune at the final five, he hoped Deshawn Radden had ticked off too many people, or Xander would play his idol on him. Unfortunately, his pleas were not heard. But in a surprisingly candid Tribal Council, he walked out with his head held high, ready to bring this new experience to his growing family. After the Survivor 41 finale, Ricard talks with Parade.com about his ups and downs with Shan, when and why he chose to turn on her, and how he transitioned from becoming a Survivor player to a new father of two. You were one of the most outspoken jurors at the final Tribal Council, both pumping up your relationship with Erika while also claiming Deshawn had told you things at the merge to slander the other Luvus. Was that your plan going into Day 26? I knew exactly what I wanted to do going in. I knew that I wanted Erika to win, and I was going to do anything in my power to ensure she won. I just felt that Erika and Heather played the best game of the four remaining. And depending on which of the two of them were to outlast, that’s who I was going to be rooting for. And so I knew that I was going to make the speech I made like, “I wish the jury knew this about Erika, blah, blah, blah.” It was more spontaneous with Deshawn, where I felt I just had to say something. Because he said his biggest move was keeping the Luvus together for the first vote at the merge. And I just couldn’t let that sit. You could see it in my eyes. I got crazy. I got too angry, and I had to calm down. Let’s move back a couple of days to when you were voted out. Considering how open the Tribal Council discussion was, and the possibility that Xander would play his idol on you, how confident were you that you would be going? Realistically, I never anticipated my gambit actually working. But I did have a moment. I had a hope that Xander would listen to my advice. He trusted me throughout the postmerge, and I really thought he might hear my advice that the only way he could possibly win was by saving me. And I know it sounds really silly. It’s like, “How am I going to get this 20-year-old to actually believe what the hell I’m saying?” It sounds like I’m lying. I wouldn’t believe me! But truly, what were his moves up until that point? He was brought into this alliance that other people had created. And he had an idol. And we just didn’t view him as a threat for whatever reason. We didn’t find him authentic out there. And I tried to explain that to him, and he was hurt. They had lost all trust in him. We’ve heard all the words in exit press; they found him performative. They were bothered. He wouldn’t play his idol on his allies, and he turned on them. So I was under the impression that if he had played his idol on me, it would show Yase that he was willing to do it. It just wasn’t for the right person. It was because it didn’t really benefit his game. And then if he had kept me in the game, and then personally taken me out with fire, or whatever means necessary to get me out of the game, that could be his move. And that would have been an amazing move for him. But instead, we had the person with immunity in Erika, her ride-or-die Heather, and her minion Deshawn. It was their move. And he just kind of followed along. And they get the credit for that. It’s not his move. So I thought maybe he would believe me because it was genuinely the truth. But I didn’t really anticipate him saving me. I want to go to the beginning of the game. The edit showed that you were on the outs of the first vote when you and Sara attempted to turn the vote onto Brad at Tribal Council. What happened that night, and how did that play into your relationship with Shan? With the entire first Tribal Council, the perception that people have is not at all what it was. I wanted to work with Sara; I absolutely adore her. She and I had a really great relationship. And I saw that Shan was not the biggest fan of that. The power dynamic with Shan and I was we both wanted power; we wanted to be in charge. But I knew that she had a much better personality than me and was much more loved. She would win in the emotional connection category; I’m just not warm like that. So I knew going into Tribal that Sara was always going to be the one going home, because that’s what Shan wanted. And I had to validate that I was going to always be by Shan’s side and willing to make the necessary moves to further our game as a duo. So I was willing to let Sarah go, as much as it broke my heart. Sara was always the plan. It was never Brad; it was never JD; it was never anyone else. But Sara turned the Shan in the middle of that trial and said, “I’m scared. Who are you voting for?” And she started to cry. Shan looked at me and said, “I feel bad. Who are you voting for?” She randomly asked me, and I’m like, “Girl, why are you saying this in front of Sara? You know I’m voting for Sara!” But it was just a way of trying to deflect from Sara; it was all fake. I didn’t actually think Brad, and it was never Brad. That was never a thing that is not in any narrative except for the edit. I was willing to do anything to show my allegiance to Shan. If she wanted to switch to Brad, fine, whatever, we’ll take our Brad. He didn’t like me anyway! So then we switch back to Sara. And that was always the plan. I was not duped in any capacity in that Tribal. Well, that leads nicely to the Shan of it all. To say it was a complicated relationship would be an understatement. When I talked with Shan, she compared your dynamic to a married couple, where you would bicker but still have love and loyalty to each other. What’s your take? A pretty heartbreaking part for me is the fact that they didn’t show how and why we bonded. They just show us in an episode saying we’re each other’s number one out of the blue. But when we got to the beach. We were smiling at each other; we loved each other. I was with her. And then I told everyone I was hard of hearing. And she just gave me this look. And we went down to the beach. And she shared something with me about her health. She didn’t say she was living with MS at the time. But she said she was living with autoimmune diseases and had just gotten chemo. We bonded over the fact that I had had surgery to have something removed from my neck. We just bonded over medical stuff. And we were inseparable. She was my absolute best friend. And even if we bickered, we instantly were better. Like we would hug and kiss it out. We had a great time. But the perception was just like, “Oh, there they are fighting again. Oh, it never ends.” It’s always these little blips because we really had a power struggle. But I knew I could always trust her. And I knew she could always trust me. So that being said, was there a particular moment when you decided you had to turn on her? Or was that building throughout the game? You know, there are two main things. The first was that I knew she was in the “Campout” Black alliance. And I knew I was on the outs from them, though Shan and I still had a relationship. This wasn’t in the edit, but when she wanted to go for Deshawn, she told me it was not the time to go after each other. And I’m shocked that she told me the truth. She said, “Let’s just get through this vote, and we can go for each other next round.” I’m like, “What? At seven? So you’re telling me at seven, when you will still have a majority because you want Erika out, and you have an idol. You want me to wait until then where I will never be able to catch back up?” The rest of that alliance crumbled because there was a mounting minority. So why would I ever put myself in that position where you have an idol? Now, the second big piece of this is the fact that she was so down to get out Deshawn when he was gunning for me. And I think her biggest mistake is that she told me before the Immunity Challenge. It was a huge mistake. Then I won immunity, and she’s like, “Okay, you know what, let’s keep the person that hates you and wants you out of the game in the game a little bit longer. It’s fine.” If you really were with me, you would still want to carry through with the Deshawn vote. But you’re not with me fully. You’re not. You’re prioritizing them. And I’m still this outside element. You would continue with this plan if you really wanted to go to the finals with me. And so, with that backpedaling, I knew it just had to be the time. It had to be that moment. Though you got rid of a close ally in Shan, you were able to gain some other tight allies, particularly in Xander and Erika. Talk to me about how you built those relationships after spending half the game on separate tribe mats. I always wanted to work with Xander the second I met him. He was so odd. When I met him at the merge, I loved him. The way he talks is so funny. I just was obsessed with him. And then when Erika came back from Exile, everybody wanted her gone, which I was fine with. But then I kind of realized I was in this power position. She had smashed the hourglass; she was saved; I had immunity. I could very easily be frustrated with her. She’s now turned back time, and I have to fight my ass off a second time, which is ridiculous. But if I show her when neither of us are in danger that I want to get to know her, and she’ll know it’s real. I feel like fake relationships are created when you’re desperate. And you’re like, “Oh, you’re the one in charge now. And we’ve always been friends, right?” I took advantage of when both of us were at our safest. They actually include a very small scene of us walking to the water well and chatting. It’s so out of place. And I think they put it in there on purpose to show that we were just randomly talking when it made no sense, and it wasn’t necessary. That really gave me all I needed for when we split up and we’re back at Ua beach. She trusted me because I had already formed relationships. She had already called me her Todd for this season. And Todd is her favorite player from China. And so I just took advantage of all these relationships in the best case scenario timing, so that I could use them later when I need them. Something you revealed to everyone in the finale was that your second child was due the week after the season ended. And you were playing knowing you may be missing out on a momentous life occasion. People who follow you on social media know you were able to make it home in time for the birth of your son. But what was it like to decompress from the stress of Survivor into this big life change? I really struggled when I got home. And I think I think I did well in the game because I embraced it in its entirety. There were days when we had that little bit of rice, and I truly didn’t care. I embraced every single element of it. There was one day when it was pouring rain, and nobody wants to sleep. I’m just lying on the bamboo facing the sky with the rain pouring on my face being waterboarded, and I slept through the whole night totally fine. I cried out there. It was awesome. So when I was coming home, the first thing I did was text [my partner] Andy. I didn’t even say hi; I was like, “Is the baby here?” (Laughs.) I didn’t care about anything else. It was really hard for me to re-acclimate to real life. I struggled with eating normal junk food and the way I usually eat, because I just wanted to eat right. I didn’t want to sleep on my bed anymore. It was too soft. I had such a great experience out there that it was hard to re-acclimate to looking at my phone. And dealing with all these little great things that we’ve invented over time that aren’t really necessary in our everyday lives. And then a baby came into the picture before I was even healed. Embracing my normal life again, I was like, “Oh my God, this is too much.” But it was awesome. And I’m so proud that I was able to thrive in my real life with a new baby. Plus, I already had a two-year-old. When I left that she couldn’t talk, and when I came back, she could. That was weird as hell! You spoke on the show about being deaf in one ear, and we got a scene several weeks back that highlighted your experience and day-to-day life. What was your reaction to how you handled the show as someone who is hard of hearing? It’s kind of a mixed bag; there’s a lot going on with that. I think I did a really great job out there. It made for a lot of fun GIFs of my face. Because I’m always looking crazy, trying to read everybody’s lips. But I had such a good time. And I was having such a good time that it didn’t really faze me how hard it was out there. It definitely sucks that I didn’t know what was going on at night. I don’t know half the conversations that were happening in the bamboo when it was pouring rain. I just couldn’t see or hear; it was really difficult. But I somehow thrived out there. What was the response to that scene from the hard-of-hearing community?</strong: The response from the hard-of-hearing community is awesome. I have been hit up by so many people that are so proud. Tonight, a woman came up to me with her daughter, and she’s deaf in the opposite ear as me. It’s funny; we were both craning our heads. (Laughs.) We have these little physical tics that just exist. It’s just part of your life, and you get used to it. It’s really cool that people get to see that I was able to do it, and most people weren’t bothered by it on the island. It wasn’t detrimental to anybody else’s game. They didn’t try to whisper to me, “Vote out this person,” and I missed it. (Laughs.) It didn’t really faze the game for me. I was fortunate in that capacity. And I’m really, really proud of myself. I think I might be the furthest I might have made it further than any hard of hearing contestant. I mean, there are only three of us! But you know, it’s really cool. I’m so proud of myself. Next, check out our exit interview with Heather Aldret, who was eliminated in fourth place in the Survivor 41 finale.
