"It’s hard to watch:" Survivor 49's eliminated contestant Jawan Pitts reveals going to therapy

Jawan Pitts was still processing his time on Survivor 49, and he says the emotional weight of the season didn’t hit him until long after he left Fiji.

In an exclusive interview with the New York Post, he opened up about going to therapy to understand what happened, especially after four Black players, including himself, were eliminated one after another.

The 28-year-old video editor, who finished in eighth place, says the experience took a deeper emotional toll than he expected.

“I think as a viewer, it’s hard to watch,” he admitted, explaining that the string of back-to-back eliminations of Black players weighed heavily on him, so much so that he has been going to therapy since filming ended to process it all.

His exit from Survivor 49, which aired on November 26, 2025, left him dealing with the same uncomfortable questions many viewers had, which were so difficult to process that he is still taking therapy, as he explained:

“But I think in the game it was so hard to put a pin on it. And even experiencing it, I’m going to therapy to truly kind of process. I’m like, ‘Why? Why did that happen?”

Jawan Pitts also addressed his own votes against the Black players on Survivor 49

Pitts said the pattern of eliminations was something players were actively noticing on the island, as he explained:

“First off, it was a topic of discussion out there.” Pitts said he and Kristina Mills had “a back and forth about it,” trying to make sense of what was happening as the numbers declined.

Watching the episodes now brings the emotions back, making it hard to as a viewer, as he expressed, saying,

"When it happened on [Season] 42… You know, I’m a part of the community too, so I definitely felt it.”

Despite the emotional weight of the pattern, Pitts made it clear that he does not believe people were voting with racial intent.

“I don’t think there were any alternative motives,” he said. “I think the game was so fluid and there were so many things — advantages, variables. So I think that’s how I feel personally.”

Addressing the fact that he himself voted out Black players by writing down the names of Nate Moore, Michelle “MC” Chukwujekwu, and Alex Moore, he said he wanted to confront that “elephant in the room” because he knows how the jury composition looked.

“I just want to step back and look at the optics of the jury and just hold space for that for a moment,” he said. “And maybe anybody that’s watching it and feeling uncomfortable, I want their feelings to feel validated.”

Acknowledging MC’s emotional reaction, Pitts further told the New York Post exclusively that:

“I want to hold space for her hurt feelings. But I also want to use this time to share some insight into why I made those decisions.”

Pitts described a moment when MC approached him privately at camp to talk, recalling:

“When MC comes to me and talks, she really confides in me like, ‘Hey, I do not want to see another black person on the jury.’ And I was like, ‘Hey, thank you so much. I appreciate you.’” He said he genuinely tried to keep her safe, “I took matters in my own hands not to target MC. I wanted to make sure me and her see another day.”

Lastly, the Survivor 49 former contestant said that everything he did in the game, every alliance, every flip, and every vote, came from a place of financial pressure and responsibility, as he explained his unstable life:

“Every decision I made out there was about my family. I’m a broke dude from South Jersey. I live in L.A. My bills do not stop. But I just thought this was my one opportunity that have a safety net for my siblings. So every decision I made moving forward, I put that to that scale.”

Stay tuned for more updates.