'Survivor: Nicaragua' Exit Interview: Tyrone Davis

Surprise! If you were shocked that the "Survivor: Nicaragua" cast had things switched up so early in the game, you weren't the only one. Last night's eliminee, Espada's self-appointed new leader Tyrone Davis, didn't see it coming either. But he did get why it spelled the beginning of the end for him. "Anytime you step up as leader, you put a target on your back," says California-based fire captain Davis. But perhaps it was the chicken incident that really had the rest of the team ready to vote him off. We caught up with Tyrone to talk merges, chicken bones, and blindsides. Oh my.

ON BEING SENT PACKING: "That was some bullshit, wasn't it? I wasn't surprised in the end. I think a lot of it had to do with the generation gap. And it had to do with Holly's crazy ass. In my opinion. I don't think I really took the leadership position. I am a leader, it's what I did. I might have stayed a little longer had we not done the switch. But do I think it put a target on my back? Yeah, for sure. Anytime you step up as leader, you put a target on your back. But I couldn't not step up. I'm used to stepping up as a fire captain. Everything that happens you're responsible for, ultimately."

ON THE MERGE: "The only thing I expected was the unexpected. I didn't really have a strategy. I was just going to go in and adapt to whatever was presented to me, and if an opportunity presented itself, I was going to take it. That's what I do at work, I have to change and adapt to a life-threatening situation in a heartbeat. You can be focused on getting the fire out, and all of the sudden the roof caves in, you know? So I knew I'd have to adapt. But the switch was what it was. I was actually excited. Because it was a new challenge, so I just wrapped my brain around it and got to work."

ON THE CHICKEN SITUATION: "It's just the way it was portrayed. These people were doing these little outtakes, you know, and certain questions were asked to present it a certain way. It's Hollywood, it's TV. What they didn't show was that I waited until everyone else had gotten their share before I took any chicken. And I asked, 'Did you get enough, did you eat?' Some people waited until the end because they didn't want to be perceived as I was. But I do this every day at work -- I make sure my crew eats before I eat. Without them, I'm nothing. So they ate and then I ate. But every time I was eating, did you notice I was eating bones? That was what was left. I wasn't like a king eating a big ole turkey leg. It wasn't none of that. I thought it was ironic and interesting that the black man's going to be shown eating the chicken. And being the black man in charge."

ON THE RACIAL TENSION: "Of course there was tension. I saw it. I thought it was more than a coincidence for sure that you've got eight people, two of them happen to be black -- and those are the two on the chopping block. And NaOnka and I are pretty much opposites. I'm more mature and secure, established. Doing things in the community, a really positive person. She's not so much that person. And there was some racist stuff going on. But that part of tribal council never makes it to TV. But the game is a social experiment. So it's cool. I'm sure people could do case studies on this stuff. Because it's like a microcosm of real life. People were certainly making racist comments -- but some people didn't even realize when they were being racist."

Catch "Survivor: Nicaragua" Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. on CBS.