Genevieve Mushaluk and Sam Phalen Robert Voets/CBS (2)
The best gameplay in Survivor is often the result of a desperate player, finding their way out of a precarious back-against-the-wall situation. In a turbulent season like Survivor 47, fans were treated to an all-timer that came to be known as “Operation: Italy.”
Now that one of the masterminds, Genevieve Mushaluk, is out of the game, the 32-year-old contestant is shedding light on how the game-changing move happened.
First, the set-up: Genevieve found herself as a looming target after she masterminded Sol Yi’s departure a few Tribal Councils prior. With no immunity to protect her, she needed some help if she wanted to remain in the game.
That help came via a reward, courtesy of Sam Phalen and Andy Rueda. When Sam won the reward of Italian food and letters from home, he picked Andy and Genevieve to join him at the sanctuary (“Where good things happen”). With the players remaining at camp intending to target Sam — which would have left Genevieve exposed — the two went to work on flipping Andy to their side.
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That’s when the group decided to craft a fake immunity idol to give to Genevieve, hoping it would cause those left at camp to split their votes. That would then return power back to the trio at the sanctuary, enabling them to successfully eliminate Caroline Vidmar.
Caroline Vidmar CBS
The plan worked to perfection, leading to a memorable Tribal Council blindside.
As Genevieve explains, the idea of a fake idol was actually percolating in Sam’s head for a few days.
“A few days before Operation: Italy, Sam was starting to think, ‘Okay, we need a fake idol. Our best bet at pulling something together is we fracture the majority group and get them to split votes,’” she explained to Entertainment Weekly. “But how do you magically and organically say, ‘Oh yeah, now today I’ve got an idol?’ And then there was some discussion of, ‘Well, which is the likeliest person to flip?’ I thought maybe Teeny, Sam thought maybe Andy.”
With Andy on the reward with them, he was the logical pick.
Genevieve Mushaluk Robert Voets/CBS
“I was really nervous about working with Andy, but had built up so much goodwill with Sam that if he wanted Andy, fine, we’ll do Andy. And then he won the reward. So there was a lot that went into it, and from my perspective Sam sort of laid the table for that to happen,” she continued. “And then when Andy’s pitching this plan and we’re sitting there in our beanbags and just like, ‘Am I being punked? Why is this all falling into place? This is not supposed to happen on Survivor.’ But I think Andy was itching to make a move, and so Sam was accurately targeting him as the best person to flip.”
While Operation: Italy was a success, Andy was the next one to go in the first of two Tribal Councils on the Wednesday, December 11 episode. Genevieve went second, leaving Sam, Teeny Chirichillo, Rachel Lamont and Sue Smey to battle it out in the finale, airing next Wednesday, December 18 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
