Sam Phalen reveals whether Andy Rueda was friend or foe throughout ‘Survivor 47’

While they did not have a feud like Sue Smey and Kyle Ostwald — nor Rachel LaMont and Genevieve Mushaluk — it is clear that Sam Phalen and Andy Rueda had a rather tumultuous relationship throughout Survivor 47.

Switching from friend to foe seemingly every episode, their bond was arguably one of the most confusing on the Emmy Award-winning series, but Sam is finally ready to put the rumors to rest in an exclusive interview with Parade.

For those who need a refresher…

Sam and Andy began on the Gata tribe together, where the latter had one of the worst pre-merge games in Survivor history. We all remember when Andy had a physical, mental and emotional breakdown after the first Individual Immunity Challenge of Survivor 47, throwing his bestie boo (AKA Jon Lovett) under the bus… right?

With his reputation in the gutter, Andy found himself at the mercy of allies (and rumored lovers) Sam Phalen and Sierra Wright while on the Gata tribe. He somehow survived Tribal Council after Tribal Council all the way to the post-merge portion of the game. After the merge, Andy regained power as he took part in a blindside against Sierra — naturally beginning a feud with Sam, as well as the rest of the Gata tribe — and the rest is history.

Working together for a few votes here and there (notably “Operation Italy,” one of the most iconic blindsides in Survivor history), it was unclear where exactly Sam and Andy stood with one another as a viewer. Survivor writer and reporter Mike Bloom agreed, asking Sam for the piping hot tea…

It was all an act… Until it wasn’t

Interestingly enough, Sam revealed that heading into the post-merge portion of the game, the remaining members of the Gata tribe (AKA Sam, Andy, Sierra, and Rachel) had plans to give Andy a hard time. From constantly slandering his gameplay to referencing his physical, mental and emotional breakdown from earlier in the season, it was all a part of their strategy to stay #GataStrong. The 24-year-old then admitted that a major mistake “was not checking in regularly with Andy throughout those periods of time, and maybe method acting a little bit too seriously.”

It started to make him be like, ‘Wait a minute. I thought this was a joke. Are we still joking about this, or are you guys actually trying to not play with me anymore?’ but for me, I kind of perceived Andy as somebody who really wanted to be valued and respected by his peers… It was important for me, for both personal and game reasons, to sort of navigate moving forward, keeping that line of communication open with Andy, but letting Andy know that ‘I messed up. That was a mistake.’”

The sports reporter then took total accountability, admitting that while he did want to work with Andy, his acting skills and seemingly harmless jabs actually pushed him away. “I wasn’t the ally or friend to him that I should have been at that stage in the game, and I was very intentional about that, because you never know when you’re going to need Andy to flip from a five-person majority alliance and help you flip the games,” Sam concluded (cheekily referencing “Operation Italy” once again).

Now that Survivor 47 has come to a close, based on some silly social media activity, it appears that Sam and Andy are on great terms, sharing a great deal of Instagram pictures and TikTok videos together post-show. Needless to say, it warms our heart seeing that the beef has been squashed!

Nevertheless, to relive Survivor 47 from start to finish — including Sam and Andy’s “frenemies” relationship — you can stream the entire season now via Paramount Plus.