Survivor 50's Q Burdette Admits His Chaos Cost Him Last Time — and Warns 'All Bets Are Off' (Exclusive)

Q Burdette knows exactly how he’s remembered from his first time playing Survivor. Chaotic. Unpredictable. Loud. A problem — for everyone else. And he's not running from that reputation.

When Burdette, 31, steps onto the beaches of Fiji for Survivor 50, he’s very much aware that his biggest obstacle isn’t strength, strategy, or even experience — it’s perception. He dominated the early stretch of Survivor 46, only to watch his own game spiral into a self-inflicted downfall. This time, he’s determined to do something different: slow down.

Well, at least to start.

“I was in control for 17 days,” he says. “You can’t win the game in 17 days — but you can lose it.”

When Men’s Journal spoke with the Tennessee native on location ahead of the milestone season, he was equal parts self-aware and unapologetic. He openly owned the chaos that defined his previous run, while laying out a more deliberate approach and letting the game come to him rather than forcing it. He also spoke candidly about how becoming a father has reshaped the way he thinks about control.

Burdette still believes unpredictability can be a weapon. The difference now, he insists, is timing. For the first time, he’s trying to keep the switch off as long as he can. (Until boredom gets the best of him.)

In the interview below, Burdette breaks down why he believes his chaos cost him last time, how he plans to manage his reputation heading into Survivor 50 — which premieres on CBS Wednesday, Feb. 25 — and what he’s learned about patience and control since his first run. He also discusses navigating old-school legends and new era winners, the role boredom plays in his game, and why this time around, he’s playing with far less impulse — and far more intention.

Men’s Journal: Was it an easy yes to do this again, or did you have to think about it?

Q Burdette: It was a hard yes. It was a hard yes. It was an easy hell yes.

Men’s Journal: As soon as Season 46 ended, were you like, “If they call, I’m doing this again?”

Q Burdette: What’s crazy is all of my castmates were like, “If anybody will get called back for another season, it’s Q.” And I’m thinking, “Well, we’ll see.” But then I started to watch, and I’m like, I’m the main character. Maybe they’re right. They saw something that I didn’t see when I first left the island. But it was so fun just to rewatch it back and learn from my mistakes. And I’m ready.

Men’s Journal: Did you have some distance to process everything and think about what you’d do differently?

Q Burdette: Yes, I’ve had time to think. I’ve had time to watch some of the players that are out here now. I didn’t have time to watch a full season, but I would watch the first four or five days — how folks like to connect, how they start their alliances. I have a good sense of that. But my film study could be wrong. These people could have changed too. Season 46 was, “Drop Q off on an island. He don’t know anything, so he’s going to do what he knows best — be cute, unapologetic.” This time, I have knowledge. I have experience. I have some tweaking that needed to be done. I realized this: I was in control of Season 46 for 17 days in a row. You can’t win the game in 17 days, but you can lose it in 17 days. And this season, I have to start a little slower.

Men’s Journal: What do you think people’s perception of you is going into this?

Q Burdette: I think they think I’m unpredictable. They think I’m chaotic. I didn’t ask for these labels. I guess Jeff [Probst] put them on me. But maybe they’re also thinking, “This is a guy that demands the camera. He’s going to steal our thunder.” So it’s two sides to the coin. I don’t know which way they’ll flip it, but we’ll find out.

Men’s Journal: How do you respond to people who think you're unpredictable?

Q Burdette: What they have to understand about me is this — I’m loyal. Look back at 46. They say, “Q, you flipped on Tiff [Ervin].” I flipped only after Tiff forced my hand because she was targeting Maria [Shrime Gonzalez], who was in a protected class. I told everybody, if anybody comes after someone in this six, they’re done. If I don’t do something about that, what does that make me?

Let me just say I'm just not out here, just being chaotic and crazy for no reason. Once it starts, it’s hard to stop. And I think that’s what some of these folks might be scared of. Where will it start, and how do we stop it? Because if I get momentum behind me, as we’ve seen, I’m hard to get rid of.

Men’s Journal: Even when you said you wanted to go home, people didn’t take the shot.

Q Burdette: So it's one of those things. You don't think you just gonna land on the sand, jump off the boat, get in the camp and call my name and I'm gonna go home. You're gonna have to come a little clever than that, you know? But it's one of those things. Now for Season 46, it's done. It's over. And my goal is hopefully to convince everybody it doesn't matter what we did in the previous seasons. Let's put that in the past. This is me now, and this is what I'm gonna show you. I'm gonna show you that I'm loyal. I'm gonna show up. I'm supportive. I'm positive. I'm gonna do my part around camp. I'm gonna do my part in the challenges, and if they're silly enough to fall for that at the first five to 10 days, they're in trouble.

Men’s Journal: What version of Q are we going to see this time?

Q Burdette: Okay, so think about the Q skirt. Now I have the Q skirt with the hood open, and you can kind of see what's under it, just a little bit more, but at any given time, I can just flip it around. You see what I'm saying? I have an off switch. They won't know when I'm on because I'm gonna have the same face. And then when I'm off, they won't know neither, because it's gonna sit around the shelter and do nothing. But that's what I have to do the first five days. If I jump off that boat and do one cute thing, I’m done. I can cancel Season 50 Christmas. I can cancel that little vacation I was gonna take my wife on when I got back. I can cancel it all, because they don't get rid of me. But again, you can't just spray bug spray on me. You gonna have to stomp on me, flush me down the toilet, wrap me up in some toilet paper, because if I can find a way out, I'm gonna find a way out.

Men’s Journal: How are you and TIff these days?

Q Burdette: I think me and Tiff are good, yeah. As good as it can get, but people lose their mind when they come out here on this island, including me. I'm not excluded from that. So me and Tiff, we're good. Here's what I want. I want Tiff and I to play day one all the way to day 26 together. Let's show the world that, yeah, we can fight, we can spat, but when push comes to shove, we gonna come together and make things happen. We didn't have that opportunity in 46. It was already done. But we kind of understand each other a lot more. Now she kind of see things my way a little clearer. I was doing things to protect us, and you was trying to tear this house down. Why? Let's just keep it steady. People ain't even talking about us. You go to throwing out names now they talking about you.

Men's Journal: So you won't be throwing out names?

Q Burdette: Oh, I'm gonna throw names now. I don't mind throwing Kool-Aid.

Men's Journal: Whose names are you are looking at right now? Even in Ponderosa, who are you not vibing with?

Q Burdette: I'm not vibing with Emily Flippen. I just can't get over this. Emily Flippen eats pork, drinks Coke and writes left-handed. She eats pork, drinks coke, and writes left-handed. Anybody who eats pork and drinks Coke, they don't care about nothing. They don't even care what goes down their mouth and out their ass, in a sense. I know they don't care about me. And then she writes left-handed. That's three strikes and you out. It's just odd. No, I can't do that. I can't do it. So she's out. Aubrey [Bracco], I have to assess the situation. Because the video was floating around on Twitter...

Men's Journal: I mean, I'm sure everyone's seen it.

Q Burdette: I hope she deleted her Twitter before it started to float, but I think she still has it. Maybe she hadn't seen that video of me. That's bad business for me. I mean, if I can send Moriah [Gaynor] home for for liking Aubrey, I have to send Aubrey home for being Aubrey. I mean, it's only fair to my fellow castmate, Moriah, okay? I'm doing you a justice, baby. But other folks, I just don't jam with Chrissy [Hofbeck]. Don't jam with Angelina [Keeley]. Don't ask for no jacket this season. Let me just tell you, I ain't got nothing but a Q skirt. Let me just tell you, baby, that Q skirt is one of one, nobody else. So if you ask for that, I'll send it to you in the mail on your way home. But now you might think, well, Q, you've only named girl names. Let me tell you some guys.

Men's Journal: What's your relationship with Charlie these days?

Q Burdette: I don't know, and that's scary. It's an unknown. Because I know Charlie's gonna play the middle. Charlie could be best of books. He's gonna play the middle. I know that Rick Devens is scary to me. Rick Devens is like the Boogeyman. Listen, I don't want nothing to do with the Boogeyman. I don't like boogers, you know. If I sense a booger, I'm blowing my nose, and I can't do so. Rick Devens, to me, is just one of the most dangerous players in this game because he's smart. He's good at these challenges, somehow, some way. My guy is made up like a trash can, but he will do me in in a challenge. I don't understand that. It's just one of those things you can't control. So for me to control that, gotta wipe my hands with him and send him packing.

Some of these other players. It's just get in, get to know them and figure them out. And when they show you their true colors, believe it, note it. But don't react so quickly. That was part of my problem. I reacted too quick in 46. [David] Jelinsky should have never went home first, never. But he did because of my reaction. I have to do a better job, which I will do a better job this season of that, because I've trained my mind of patience. I sat in 35 degree water for eight minutes every single day to the neck. For the last five months. Going in a sauna at 180 degrees for 25 minutes, sweating. Just sit there, think. Standing on a bed of nails. I swear. I got a board. You order these boards, for your feet. They're sharp nails you stand on, and it's very painful, and it hits the pressure points in your foot, but it teaches your brain how to deal with pain. Pain management, but it also teaches me to be patient and breathe and not react to the pain.

I did something different. I can't show up for 50 with a 46 attitude and a 46 mind. I gotta show up for 50 in prime. Prime Q. And let me just say all these old dogs in the fight, they're new to this beach. They're new to this game. So maybe, just maybe, this new dog can teach the old dogs a new trick.

Men's Journal: I was gonna ask about old school players, are you going to alienate them or try to work with them?

Q Burdette: I need to try to work with them, because my plan is this right here. Let me give it to you straight. If you've ever sat at the end of the game in any capacity and talked to the jury. First, second, third, you're not going to sit there in 50 if I have something to do with it. There's a bunch of them, so I have to work with some of them until I don't have to. And hopefully I can convince enough people who've never sat at the end, it's in our best interest to get rid of the people who have. There's something about experience that people underestimate a lot. When somebody does something for the first time, it's a whole lot different. They've done it two or three times. Same thing with playing the game. We're gonna play different. You think if they make it to the end now they don't know what they did wrong to not get the votes? And they're not going to try to correct that? Yeah, I think so. But if it's three individuals who have never sat before a jury, you got to think about this most. Most folks in life has never sat before a group of individuals judging them, period. And I've done it a lot.

Men's Journal: So who do you want next to you?

Q Burdette: In an ideal scenario, Tiffany and Genevieve [Mushaluk]. Because I know Genevieve sucks at public speaking. She was in Milwaukee with me and there was a crowd, and she was trembling talking. But Genevieve is somebody that I truly want to work with. Genevieve will poison your coffee and bring it to you in the morning and watch you drink it. And actually, it is good. And I need that with me. Let's go poison somebody, baby. Just don't poison me. But I need her. I need her. I need her. But then I want to take her all the way to the end, because I know for a fact I can out-talk her with confidence. TIff, I know for a fact I can out-talk her with confidence when it comes to move-making, because I'm gonna be making the moves. And if I can execute my plan of putting everybody who sat at the end on the jury and have a final three with me in it, and two other people. It doesn't matter who I sit next to because I can then explain how everybody played my game that I wanted to play from the start. And I can go move by move, person by person, and conversation by conversation, how I set it up and how I'm sitting here today. How do you not vote for that?

Men's Journal: There's not a part of you that's like, wouldn't it be funny if I worked with Aubrey?

Q Burdette: It would be. I want to approach Aubrey, and I want to tell Aubrey, listen, babygirl, it was just Q being Q. Don't listen to what you see on TV. This is me right here, telling you I want to work with you. And here's the thing. Aubrey, everybody thinks we on opposite ends. So if we can somehow dance in the middle, just a tad bit, we can get all the information to do everything that we need to do. But now, if my memory serves me best, I think Aubrey has sat at the end, so she would serve my purpose until she don't serve it anymore. I'm gonna serve her some of that coffee that Genevieve made. Make sure she drinks it.

Men's Journal: You were born for television. Survivor was your first time on TV?

Q Burdette: Yeah. But see, here's the thing. People think, like, oh, this is Q on TV. Once this goes off, I'm the same person. I get bored easily, so I'm always turning. I go crazy when I'm bored. All those down days when we're out there on the island, I used to go absolutely bananas. But I always have an opposite side of the coin. Everyone in the Survivor community should thank the boring days. You know why? Because when I get bored, that's when you get hide and seek. That's when you get the Q skirt. That's when you get me doing all kind of craziness. Because I'm bored, I'm trying to think of something I need to do, but that's just me.

I specialize in going to Tribal because y'all know, sucked. We want to Tribal more than anybody. So it's one of those things. Going to tribal don't bother me. You almost have to go to Tribal to start playing the game and to get a footing. If you don't go, you come in like Nami did, and they go, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Because they don't know how to handle the moments of Tribal. And I'm not afraid of going to Tribal, but I would love to not go at least once. I've had enough of it. Don't you think?

Men's Journal: What do you think about the Survivor 49 people?

Q Burdette: So here's what I think about the 49ers. I don't care if it's true or false, one of them won. 100 percent. I can feel it. But also, when you're talking about a game of trios, okay? It's three from three different seasons. It has to be three winners if it's three tribes. Which of them won? I'm not clear yet. I would think, just the way the girl Savannah [Louie] kind of carries herself, almost as if she feels like she has some more to say and do, because she's someone of importance. But she speaks up a little bit. The guy [Rizo Velovic], he says nothing. I mean, he looks 13. He might be a little older, but he looks 13. I don't think he could have won it, but I could be wrong. But let me just say this, what's going to tell me everything is when they break those tribes up. I see Kyle [Fraser] go one way. Dee [Valladares] go the other way. The 49er who goes opposite of them, that's the winner. I doubt they're going to put people from same seasons together. If they do, okay, it kind of throws a wrinkle in it. But here's the thing, if she's on my tribe, or he's on my tribe, and the other one isn't? I'm going straight up to them. What was the outcome of your season? And before you lie, before you lie, think about it.

Men's Journal: They could lie.

Q Burdette: Well, they started on the same tribe. They both had red on. They're both on the cast for a reason. So either they went deep together and something happened sort of like maybe me and Tiff, or they played all the way to the end together. And he beat her, or she beat him. But the problem is going to be, if I can get one of them and then get to the other one, all I have to do is go up and say, "Congratulations." And they'll be like, "What do you mean?" [And I would respond, "He told me, but he told me to keep it on the low. So congrats." She might come out and tell me, or go to do the same thing to to him. "Hey, congratulations. He told me."

Men's Journal: Could you lie about that as well?

Q Burdette: 100 percent. Oh, it's gonna be a lie. I intend for it to be a lie, but it's just one of those things that you have to do. Or I can just say, tou know what, if they don't want to tell me what's going on in their season, and they're going to be closed books, just get them out of here. That's almost like going on an interview with a company and you get a call. "Hey, I want you to come interview with us." And you're like, "Hey, what's your name? What company, what field?" And they hang up. Then you go on the interview, and they know everything about you, everything. You know nothing about them. Is that an interview? Or is that a plot? I think they are going to box you up and send you off somewhere that you would never return from. That would be my thought. My thinking with these 49ers is real simple. If they're not going to be an open book, they're not going to share–and I don't want to hear about your life–you know about my Survivor journey, I want to know about yours. And if you're so hesitant to share, what are you hiding? Winner. So it's in our best interest, depending on how the tribes are broken, for no reason possible do I want the old era to ever have numbers. So maybe send an old era person home first, and then right after them, the 49ers out the door.

Men's Journal: What about the winners here. Do you plan on working with the winners?

Q Burdette: They're part of my plan. They're actually the key. I need them to trust me. Because then, while we're making moves to protect them–remember, I'm gonna make it all about them–hey, we need to this to protect you. "They said they don't want a winner, we have to go after then, let's go." Right when they're least expecting it, I might throw Tiff under the bus, being fake though. I might go to Dee and say, "Look, I don't need another 46er at the end. Let's go after Tiff." Have Dee sold on that plan, but the whole time, the plan is to vote Dee out the game. Tiff would be okay with it, once you understand the logic behind it and what I'm doing and why we doing it. If she's not okay, then, baby girl, we're gonna have to talk it out. We've been through worse. I ain't gonna tell anybody you have an idol. I'm just gonna fake like I don't want another 46er at the end. They'll buy that coming from me. So it's just one of those things, I need the winners, but I don't need the 49 winner.

Men's Journal: What do you think about the Cirie's and the Ozzy's and the Colby's and the Coach's?

Q Burdette: They don't scare me at all. Their names, they're part of my plan. I need those big names there because people think about them more, but I don't want any of them at the end. I want new school at the end. This is our game. There's no way in the world I'm going to let these people who need naps come into this new era game and make it to the end after sitting on the couch for all these years, and win. That's a disgrace. That's that's almost like, you know, the NFL letting Jerry Rice come back into the NFL and lead the lead in receiving. A slap in the face.

Men's Journal: I mean, he would get injured immediately.

Q Burdette: That's what I'm saying. And I think some of these will because listen, the last time they played, 39 days, they have two or three days in between challenges. We go day after day after day. We like that little pill that people take. Back to back to back to back. We're almost like a mini Viagra, in a sense. They're not used to that. See what I'm saying? So they have to get used to it. And to get used to you have to play it. But when the days are moving so fast. It'll be day 10 and they'll look up and say, ""Good gracious, we hadn't had a break yet." But we're prepared for that. We also know this island. They've never been here. We know the lay of the land. So it's almost like, do I teach a old dog a new trick? Or do I trick them into a trap and just watch them close the chapter of their Survivor journey?

Men's Journal: When are you going to turn it on, Q? Is it day one, or are you feeling it out?

Q Burdette: If I hear my name, I gotta turn it on. But, up until then, I need to make it to around day 17, filling out everybody else's plans within my own plan now, but not causing much of a ruckus. It's gonna be very hard. I'm telling you, it only takes one down day, one day of boredom, all bets are off. Like seriously, all bets are off. So I'm telling myself, when that day comes, stay patient, go talk to somebody. But what I can't do is, I can't be the one early on throwing out the names. You get caught throwing out names, you're in trouble. But I can receive the names, and I can help people assist in plans that need to be made, and I can show that I am a trustworthy vote to a point to where if my name was to come up, they're like, Q's not doing anything. And hopefully, just hopefully, day 17 will roll around, it's on game time. Listen, when this season airs, and you look up, and I'm still in the game at day 17, that next episode that's gonna come up, get your popcorn.

Men's Journal: If you don't win, what do you want to get out of this experience?

Q Burdette: So I told myself–I wrote a note to self–and I have a lot of okays, but then I have a lot of it's not okay. So for instance, one of them is it's okay to win the game. It's not okay to lose myself trying. It's okay to lose the game, but it's not okay to not have fun. It's okay to care about folks, but it's not okay to care about their game more than I care about mine. It's okay to be competitive, but it's not okay to be a sore winner. So it's these things I want this to be about–a change. I'm a dad now. I got a baby boy, 10 months old. Boy big, Ace is his name, strong name, Ace. He's the one. But being a dad has taught me it's not about control. I can't control when Ace poops in the tub. All I can do is try to learn his cues and predict when he might poop in the tub. He's taught me that. So it's no longer about having the control. It's about having the ability to predict what might happen and just be right. Just be right about your prediction and react on that moment. So this, this right here, this Season 50, for me, is an opportunity for me to pick up where I left off, but to actually play every single day. Because my biggest regret in 46–a lot of folks say, Q, why didn't you play the idol?–I was never going to play the idol. My biggest regret is I stopped playing for one day. I got comfortable, I got calm. I made myself as small as possible for one day without actually paying attention to what's going on around me. And I went home. I should have used my idol, not play it, use it in the most Q way possible. I should have pulled it out and I said, "You suckers and you fools, I'm playing this idol tonight for myself. You can vote for me if you want. I don't care." I would have spooked them to death. Charlie wouldn't have voted for me. Kenzie [Petty], Liz [Wilcox], they were terrified of going home. I didn't care if I went home or not.

Men's Journal: Last question, because you brought up being a dad now. Is there a way that you can use that?

Q Burdette: Yes. And it started well before I even got here. It started with me putting Ace out there a little more and seeing who's liking the Ace pictures. Who's commenting on the Ace pictures? I can see now when I'm having a tough day, well, if I'm having a fake tough day, I can go to some of those folks and just say, "You know what, I'm missing my son." And they understand that because they've actually seen them. They've interacted with him on social media, and if they have kids, maybe we can relate. So I think just being a dad now, it's going to help me a lot with just my ability to connect with some of these folks, because if I didn't have a kid, I couldn't connect with somebody like Angelina who has kids, or Joe [Hunter] or Chrissy [Hofbeck and all these folks, you know?

The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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