Boyfriend of ‘Survivor 47’ contestant had a ‘challenging time’ watching his girlfriend’s controversial showmance

Watching a loved one on reality TV can be an unearthly rollercoaster ride, especially if they are linked to another guy. And that was particularly an issue with a certain Survivor 47 castaway’s boyfriend. Heads up: spoilers for season 47’s episode from November 6 are incoming!

Players have bobbed and weaved away from host Jeff Probst‘s torch-snuffer through eight episodes. But, sadly for Sierra Wright, she couldn’t join the merged tribe for day 16 as her hopes and dreams of depositing a million-dollar check went up in flames during the most recent Tribal Council. Fueled by the betrayal of her former Gata ally, Andy Rueda, Sierra was ousted in a unanimous re-vote.

She and bestie Sam Phalen were on the receiving end of a split vote. And now that Sierra’s gone, the season’s closest thing to a showmance has been ruptured. But, they weren’t actually together as both contestants had significant others back home. They made that clear on the show while dodging rumors that they were Survivor’s next “Boston Rob” and Amber.

In an interview with the New York Post, Sierra explained that her boyfriend’s (Justin Ammerman) weekly viewing of Survivor 47 wasn’t pleasurable. She brought up the early-game Journey when Rome Cooney and Kyle Ostwald, both players from opposing tribes, shared the consensus thought that Sierra and Sam were more than allied tribemates.

That’s hard. It was really challenging for him to watch each week. Of course, I don’t think the edit made it so, like, kind of take that route. But for Justin to just sit back and have to watch it and hearing the other tribes say it.

Sierra reiterated that there was nothing there romantically between her and Sam, even though her boyfriend’s real-world experience was altered by the CBS show because of their relationship. That would be a pretty isolating experience for the boyfriend, and Sierra said as much in her recent interview.

But then, of course, when you’re watching it on national television and he’s having co-workers be like, ‘Dude, what is this?’ It’s just not something that’s settling to watch. So I get it. But ultimately, Sam was like a brother and a childhood friend to me out there. So, it just is what it is.

With the field dropping from 11 to 10, Sierra has taken the spot as Survivor 47‘s first member of the Jury. That means she’ll pop up on our screens during every Tribal Council until the end when she and the rest of the inevitably broken-hearted Jury cast votes to award one player a million bucks.

Even though I’m sure Sierra’s boyfriend wanted her to win the seven-figure check as much as she did, the reprieve from the showmance storyline might be one comforting factor in her departure from the show. Sierra is the third original Gata tribe member to be sent to Ponderosa, and she finished in eighth place overall. Being linked to Sam as a power duo did her no favors, of course, especially back home. From the show’s edit, it appears that the coalition of Tuku and Lavo decided to take out the sneaky threat, Sierra, rather than the glaringly obvious one, Sam.