Survivor 42’s First Boot Zach Wurtenberger Was ‘Pretty Confident’ He Was Going Home: ‘They Wanted Strength’

usmagazine.com:

Still grateful. Survivor superfan Zach Wurtenberger looks back at his experience “so positively” even after being voted out first during the premiere episode on Wednesday, March 9.The student, 22, “wasn’t one hundred percent sure” he was going home but “felt pretty confident” the tribe was leaning toward keeping Tori Meehan over him.

He was right and he was voted out unanimously as he couldn’t vote since he used his Shot in the Dark.“There was just not enough people fighting for me,” Zach exclusively tells Us Weekly. “You had Romeo [Escobar] fighting for me a little bit, but Romeo himself wasn’t gonna be able to turn the numbers.”After the challenge, the Florida native seemingly took responsibility for the tribe’s loss as he was in charge of the puzzle alongside Swati Goel.

Still, Zach says he doesn’t “feel like I particularly fell on my sword so much as – just in that moment – like, ‘Hey, you know, I’m sorry.

I wish that we had done better on that puzzle.’”The producers “kind of protected” him, he admits. “They edited out me in that challenge being like, ‘I know this puzzle, I know this puzzle.’ And then getting there and not really knowing the puzzle super well.