Survivor’s Stephenie on Dropping USA Community’s ‘Snake within the Grass’

Survivor’s Stephenie Kendrick (née LaGrossa) wasn’t precisely thrilled when she was chosen to be the saboteur on USA Community’s latest competitors sequence Snake within the Grass – and that’s most likely why she misplaced out on the cash.

The three-time participant arrived on the seaside in Costa Rica alongside fellow Survivor alum Cirie Fields and former Massive Brother gamers Janelle Pierzina and Rachel Reilly the place she was tasked with secretly making an attempt to impede the group from incomes clues resulting in her id.

If she succeeded after 36 hours, she would stroll away with $100,000 but when she was outed because the snake, the opposite contestants would cut up the prize cash. And sadly for Stephenie, she was pegged because the snake fairly early on.

“I knew from the start,” Cirie, who performed a season of Survivor with Stephanie, completely tells Us Weekly. In truth, they noticed one another on the airport earlier than filming started.

“I used to be so completely satisfied,” Stephanie remembers. “However then once they advised me the sport, then I used to be like, ‘Oh no, I’m useless.’ Cirie’s gonna know instantly. She’s completely gonna be capable of inform I’m mendacity. And he or she is aware of quite a bit about me. I knew there have been gonna be clues revealed and all this, I knew the entire sport. And I used to be like, ‘Oh, God, she is aware of all the things about me.’ So I actually was like a wreck from day one, even simply when the sport begun.”

It took Janelle slightly longer to catch on to Stephenie. “For Cirie, it was the start. For me, I form of targeted all my consideration on Rachel as a result of she was performing so bizarre,” the Minnesota native explains. “She was asking me the place I lived and, like, we’ve completed The Superb Race collectively, on separate groups, however we nonetheless spent a ton of time collectively. I do know Rachel very well. So she was asking me these bizarre questions and I used to be like, ‘Oh, my God, she might be the snake as a result of she’s asking me issues that she already is aware of.’”

Stephenie efficiently destroyed one of many clues earlier than the group may discover it, and that’s when all eyes had been on Rachel. “I used to be satisfied that Stephanie had thrown the clue someplace in that swamp,” Rachel tells Us. “So I used to be gonna discover the clue. So that they didn’t suppose I used to be the snake, however it completely made me appear like the snake.”

Janelle jokes, “All the things Rachel did made her appear like the snake.”

Nonetheless, Cirie didn’t purchase it. “She was so overzealous in being in that disgusting swamp,” the Survivor legend says. “There’s no approach the snake can be doing all of this to search out the clue about themselves. The swamp was actually gross and he or she would’ve spent the night time in there if we allowed her to.”

Ultimately, Stephenie, who was on the “hero” tribe throughout season 20 of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, couldn’t persuade them she wasn’t the snake – and admits she’s not a pure liar. In truth, she discovered “24 hours earlier than filming started” that she was chosen to be the snake and wished out: “I had a stable 24 to sit down on it and, like, crap my pants about it. I didn’t wanna be the snake. So that they inform me and I’m like, ‘OK, cool. I don’t wanna be it.’ They’re like, ‘Too dangerous.’ I’m like, ‘No, I don’t wanna be it. So now what?’ They’re like, ‘Nothing, we selected you. We advised you the sport. It’s a must to be it.’ In order that was like a complete factor for me.”

She broke down crying at one level throughout filming. “You guys had been on to me. Rachel’s yelling at me. We’re arguing. I’m gaslighting. I used to be making an attempt to argue again and I’m like extra of the peacemaker in my household,” Stephenie explains. “I’m not likely the arguer, until I’m actually backed right into a nook. So I used to be making an attempt to return and never look so defensive on the similar time. After which at one level, I similar to had, I walked away and I misplaced it. It’s so freaking laborious. I’m not likely an excellent liar to start with.”

Snake within the Grass airs on USA Community Mondays at 11 p.m. ET/PT.