Survivor contestant thought someone was going to die in cyclone

Well, that was fast. That must be what Rachel Ako was thinking after being the first one voted out of Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X. Not only did Rachel only last a few days, but part of that time was spent evacuated with the rest of the cast due to a cyclone that ripped through their tribe beach.

Was Rachel too bossy, as it appeared on TV? Does she regret promoting herself as a puzzle queen for the challenge? And what was the whole evacuation experience like? We asked the ousted contestant that and more when she called into EW Morning Live (EW Radio, channel 105 on SiriusXM) this morning, and you can now hear the entire chat right here on the EW Morning Live Podcast (after our conversations with the Big Brother final 3).

Here are some of the highlights from our conversation:

On being the first one voted out:

“It sucks being first out. I was surprised. The last thing I thought going into it is I would be the first one out.”

On the cyclone:

“The weather was the opposite I ever expected from Fiji. They didn’t really go into it much but the sand during the cyclone hitting me literally felt like bullets — like someone was shooting me with a gun of sand. It hurt so much.”

On being evacuated and housed in a room together at Survivor base camp:

On having to rebuild their entire shelter after the cyclone:

“It was devastating. One of the logs of the shelter fell and was about 600 pounds. So it would not have only crushed us, we would have died. So it was actually very, very scary. There were so many times on that island that I thought someone was going to die and I know I’m not the only one who thought that.”

You can listen to the entire interview and entire podcast —including our chats with the Big Brother final 3 — below. Or, since we’re on iTunes, you can subscribe for free and take the podcast with you. To send a question to the EW Morning Live Podcast team, follow us on Twitter @EWMLPodcast. And to hear more interviews and pop-culture discussion and debate, check out Entertainment Weekly Radio on SiriusXM, channel 105.