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Gabby Pascuzzi's 'Survivor' Reward: 'A Lot Of Confidence'

Gabby Pascuzzi's flame has been snuffed out and now there are seven. Once again an idol was played in tribal council as a fellow member of the David Tribe, Christian Hubicki, made a timely play leading to Gabby's elimination from Survivor.

CBS Local's Matt Weiss spoke to Gabby earlier today to get her thoughts on being eliminated, the games greatest struggles and her new found sense of self.

MW- Good morning Gabby!

GP- Good morning Matt!

MW- This has been such a strong season of Survivor and I really enjoyed watching the way you played the game in particular so I'm sorry things got cut short but I'm very excited to speak with you today!

GP- Thank you so much!

MW- Can you walk me through what was going on in your mind when your elimination tribal unfolded?

GP- Seeing Christian get up to play his idol was pretty terrifying and I had a feeling that things were not going to go my way after that. It was a total bummer to go out that way but I am proud of myself for trying to make a move that I thought could win me the game potentially, even if it ended up backfiring on me.

MW- You came in on the David tribe and true to form the Goliaths absolutely dominated the game early on only to have the Davids come back and square things up in the last few episodes which was one of the most interesting story lines of the season for me. Can you talk about all the shifting of power that went on and what your experience was like when the Goliaths had control?

GP- Yea I agree with you it was so interesting! The power shifted so quickly and it was hard being an underdog and I was really worried that the Goliaths would literally pick us off one by one because they were so "Goliath Strong." They would walk up and down the beach like they owned the place and we as Davids felt like there was nothing we could do.

When we found all the advantages and managed to turn the numbers to our side, for me, that was a great feeling to know that we were not on the bottom. I also didn't necessarily want it to just be the Davids picking off the Goliaths either. I don't think that would have benefited my game. I think the power shifts were really interesting and it's a very hard game to play because you never know which way the power is going to shift.

MW- What was the hardest part about being on the island for you? You had all the shifting power, tribe politics and several of your cast mates have said just being on the island in the elements was the greatest challenge in and of itself.

GP- The beginning of the game was rough man. Thirteen straight days of rain, nothing can prepare you for that. Physically, it was extremely hard. Then after the merge, strategically, it was very intense. I think I was on a very intense season with really good players and so you never knew which way the votes were going to go because everyone was playing their best game and their hardest game.

It was so different from when I would watch it at home when I thought I knew all the strategies and I knew exactly what I would do. Once you get out there you don't know what to do because you have such limited information.

MW- You touched on this earlier but the weather you all had to deal with in the beginning was insane. On top of that you were all stranded on an island for all intents and purposes where you can't just go get pizza whenever you want it or turn on the heat if you're cold. How do you feel you changed as a person going through that experience?

GP- I think I learned how resilient I am. When you're in the comfort of your own home you can give up on things very easily. My example is when I go to the gym I run on the treadmill for maybe a maximum of 30 minutes and I can stop when I'm tired. On the island there is no escape. When I'm in an endurance challenge and I'm hanging on for dear life it's because I'm on freaking Survivor! When else do you get a change to push yourself to the limit physically and mentally like that? I learned that I'm a lot tougher than I thought I was.

MW- Was that the most rewarding part for you, finding that inner resiliency?

GP- The most rewarding part for me was getting to live a dream and getting to play my heart out. I think I gained a lot mentally, I gained a lot of confidence, my self compassion, my ability to now go forward and make decisions more boldly without needing someone to hold my hand the whole way through.

MW- It seems like I know the answer to this, but if CBS offers you the chance to come back on, would you give Survivor another go?

GP- Yea, for sure!

MW- I'm happy to hear it! Thanks for the time today Gabby and hope to see you back out there sometime soon!

GP- Thank you so much!

Survivor returns with an all-new episode next Wednesday at 8:00PM ET/PT, only on CBS. Check your local listings for more information.

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