For the season premiere of “Survivor: Guatemala” in September, 21-year-old Brianna Varela had a huge party at her house in Edmonds.
More than 60 friends and relatives showed up to watch her kick off her quest for $1 million as one of the popular reality show’s 18 contestants.
“Tiki torches lined the driveway, we had two big-screen TVs going, there was tons of food and drinks, and everyone was just partying,” Varela said in a telephone interview on Friday.
For the second episode, there was another huge party at her mother’s house in Bothell, with more friends and family.
But when the third episode rolled around Thursday night, Varela found herself watching it in a lonely hotel room in New York City, with a looming 6:30 a.m. wake-up call to get ready for an appearance on CBS’ “The Early Show.”
That could mean only one thing: The tribe had spoken.
After eight days in the Guatemalan jungle, Varela was out.
“It was hard to watch (Thursday) night, because you totally relive every emotion you experienced when you were voted off,” Varela said from the media relations office at CBS headquarters in New York.
A poor showing in a Mayan game that sort of resembled basketball did her in. Varela said the challenge, which was edited for television, actually lasted about two hours in 114-degree heat, leaving her virtually motionless and unable to help her teammates. Her Yaxha tribe eventually lost.
Varela said she knew during that challenge that her day had come.
“There was no question about it,” she said. “That challenge was grueling, so physically challenging. I was out of the game.”
A fan of the show since the first season, Varela said even she misjudged how difficult it would be.
“I underestimated Guatemala, big time,” she said. “The heat, the humidity, the bugs, the fatigue that sets in and just, emotionally, missing your family.
“That’s one of the hardest things. You’re stuck out there with 17 other people. If you’re going to have a breakdown, people are going to view you as weak.”
One of those was Jamie, a water-skiing instructor from California who had the harshest words for Varela, calling her a “girlie girl” and saying she should “go back to the shopping mall and leave the jungle.”
“I think Jamie’s comments are a direct reflection of his maturity,” said Varela, who, by the way, doesn’t work at Nordstrom at Alderwood mall anymore. “For him to take a stab at me like that, you know, it’s like, have some respect. If he doesn’t think I can hack it out there, do I really care about that?
“But it’s ironic that he was complaining about me being a girlie girl, because he was sick out there for a whole week and he was complaining about everything,” Varela said. “And he was scared of bugs.”
Varela, who now works as a bartender at Joey’s Grill on Lake Union in Seattle, said she’s looking forward to returning to New York for the season finale to help decide who will be the winner.
She’s pulling for Gary, the 46-year-old former NFL quarterback who didn’t tell his teammates about his pro sports career.
“I’ll be interested to see how they portray the rest of the people,” Varela said. “It’ll be interesting to see how it all unfolds.”
For her part, Varela is delighted to walk away from the experience knowing a little more about herself.
“Just knowing that I have the endurance to actually do something like that,” she said. “I was picked for ‘Survivor’ out of thousands of people, and I made it eight days.
“That’s eight days more than anyone else that I know. I’m proud of myself, even though it was short-lived. I am proud.”
Reporter Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.
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