12 Things We Learned After Jeremy Collins Won Survivor Cambodia

$1 million win.
When Jeremy, the Second Chance Sole Survivor, sat down with former Survivor castaway Malcolm to answer fan questions, nothing was off limits, so find out all the juicy details behind his impressive gameplay, his final speech to the jury, and if he'd ever compete again on the show.

 

Jeremy explained that taking the win in this season's final Individual Immunity Challenge was the best feeling in the world. In fact, the out-of-body experience hit him even harder than hearing his name called as Sole Survivor in the Live Reunion show. 

"The first thing I thought was, 'Val, we did it,'" Jeremy told Malcolm. 
 

Jeremy was more than impressed with Kelley's game play this season and admitted to not having a clue that she was playing as hard as she did. 

"She was the puppet master behind everything," said Jeremy. "We thought Ciera was running the show but [Kelley] was."

He went on to say that once she played her first Hidden Immunity Idol, everyone treated her like "the mayor" back at camp and each took turns talking to her privately. 

When Kelly asked the Final 3 to pick a number between one and 10, Jeremy had no idea what she was thinking, so he called out his favorite number, "2", and hoped for the best.

Later, Jeremy found out from Kelly herself that it didn't matter what number he picked, because whatever Jeremy chose was the number she would choose. Once part of the Bayon Tribe, always part of the Bayon Tribe.

Jeremy's emotional speech to the jury at the end of the season finale episode wasn't something he did in hopes for sympathy votes. Instead, he hoped the pre-meditated monologue would tug on their heart strings and, if they happened to be on the fence with their vote, get them to jump over to his side.

With this season's new element of hiding Idols within challenges, Jeremy found himself under immense pressure to find one—and then get away with keeping it a secret. 

"I didn’t care where it was, I was getting it," Jeremy said, confidently. "If everyone saw me get it, I would have played it that night."

Jeremy noticed an indescribable comfort that came to whichever castaway won Immunity. For example, once Spencer won Immunity, Jeremy later found him away from the group, napping at camp. 

"When I won the last one, I fell asleep, too," Jeremy said, commenting on how the necklace finally gave him some peace of mind. 
 

When asked to give advice to future castaways on how to best play the game, Jeremy said to focus on voting blocs that became infamous this season. 

"There aren't alliances anymore," he explained. "These new blocs, I think this is good and it's going to change the game [because] everyone has an equal chance of winning."

However, he didn't think this strategy would've worked during his first stint on Survivor: Blood vs. Water (Season 29) because "no one would have jumped around like that." 

Jeremy, who typically weighs around 190 pounds, stepped into Second Chance at 180 because he trained his body to live off less food before Survivor Cambodia. However, he finished the game down at 150 pounds and said this season was much tougher on him, physically, than his first run.

Though Jeremy was very close with Tasha in the game and now IRL, he didn't feel her game résumé was strong enough to be in the Final 3.

"She had a tough time at Angkor and fought through the numbers there, but she didn't have any flashy moves," he said of his fellow castaway. 

Since the show, Jeremy has remained close with just about everybody from Second Chance and credited the common bond between many of the castaways to their strong family ties, since so many of them are parents like him. 

Jeremy used what he called "meat shields" to camouflage his way to the top of the game. From Day 1, he understood Stephen's quirky and nervous nature so, over time, their relationship grew closer and Jeremy was able to use his new friend as said buffer.

All that aside, using his Hidden Idol to save Stephen's game is still something Jeremy is proud of. 

Jeremy's played Survivor twice now and, for him, that's enough.

"This thing punched me in my face," he said and, before he left for Cambodia, he told his wife, Val, that this was his last time competing in the game.

In case you missed it, check out Jeremy's sit down with Malcolm.