Why didn’t J. Maya use her ‘Shot in the Dark’ on ‘Survivor 45?’

This episode contains spoilers for Survivor 45 episode 6, which aired on Nov. 1 via CBS and Paramount Plus.

Since Survivor 41, every castaway has had a one-and-done advantage in their back pocket ready to use when their game appeared on the line. But, most of them never pull the trigger with the “Shot in the Dark,” which includes the most recent boot from Survivor 45, Janani Krishnan-Jha, best known as “J. Maya.”

J. Maya was voted out of the game at the end of episode 6, marking the sixth contestant eliminated and sent to Ponderosa through 13 days of play. A Shot in the Dark was played at the Tribal Council and served as the 24-year-old singer’s swan song. But it wasn’t hers — it turned out to be Kaleb Gebrewold’s.

Every player receives a Shot in the Dark at the start of Survivor 45, and it can be played until seven remain in the $1 million adventure. By sacrificing their vote at Tribal Council, the contestant picks one of six rolled-up parchments and they play it before host Jeff Probst reads the votes. Figuring he was the target, Kaleb used his and ultimately saved himself by nullifying all 11 votes against him.

After some scrambling, the players revoted and J. Maya was taken out unanimously.

Parade’s Mike Bloom caught up with J. Maya after the episode premiered on Wednesday night. And he asked her why she didn’t use her Shot in the Dark.

If a player wasn’t saying Kaleb’s name as a possible target during episode 6, they were likely saying J. Maya’s.

J. Maya said she knew she was at the bottom of the 13-person “mergatory.” But, she also had picked up that Kaleb was even lower than her. The Indian-American said she played the odds knowing Kaleb had a five-in-six chance of his Shot in the Dark failing — if he even used it at all. Further, J. Maya said she didn’t want to sacrifice her vote that night thinking it had the potential of being close.

“I thought about it,” J. Maya said about playing her Shot in the Dark. “I think it really did come down to I was paranoid that it was going to not be as close as I thought. I had gotten this kind of unanimous feedback from people that the majority of votes were going to be Kaleb. But I was like, ‘It takes one!’ So I need to have my vote in the case that it’s a little bit closer than I thought, or that he was able to sway people at the Tribal Council. Because, as you see, he calls me out! He’s very persuasive. I don’t know how that’s gonna pan out. I don’t know if people are going to be convinced by that and they’re gonna vote for me. So I think that was also part of the decision-making. If this is close, I don’t want to regret losing my vote and having the majority not work. So it’s definitely something I thought about.”

Even if J. Maya wanted to use her Shot in the Dark before the revote, she couldn’t. As per the advantage’s rules, it can only be played during the initial vote.

J. Maya regrets not voting for another person during the first round of Tribal

Using the Shot in the Dark wasn’t the only thing that could’ve saved J. Maya. Kaleb’s name was written down on every piece of parchment during the first round of votes. Once his name became nullified, the next person with the highest number of votes would’ve gone out. But, because no one else received a vote, there was a revote called instead, which led to her demise.

J. Maya told the outlet that she had considered voting for someone else knowing it was likely that everybody was casting theirs on the Canadian. But, being “a little bit too scared to rock the boat,” J. Maya chose to go with everyone else knowing it could help garner much-needed trust with the others.

She knew if she wrote down another name and Kaleb’s Shot in the Dark failed, she’d create an even bigger target on her back if the others sussed her out.

“It’s a big regret that I have,” J. Maya said. “Of course, the thought did occur to me in the moment. And it’s just one of those things.”

She didn’t want to play “paranoid” considering the high odds Kaleb was leaving, which kept her in the majority and the domino piece of her downfall. Regardless, J. Maya shared how happy she was to be a part of an epic Survivor moment. Kaleb’s success with the Shot in the Dark is a series first, and although she was on the receiving end of his luck, she’s made peace with losing at the “historic, exciting, wonderful Tribal Council.”

Unfotunately for J. Maya, she missed out on the merge. Episode 7 marks the first round of play in the individual-based phase of Survivor 45. That episode will drop on Nov. 8 via CBS and Paramount Plus.