Survivor 47's Genevieve explains how 'Operation: Italy' unfolded.

Best to play in Survivor This is often the result of a desperate player finding his way out of a risky situation. In a turbulent season like Survivor 47it was the fans Deal with all time Which became known as “Operation: Italy”.

Now that he's one of the masterminds, Genevieve MushlockOutside of the Game, the 32-year-old contestant sheds light on how the game-changing move came about.

First, the setup: Genevieve finds herself an imminent target after masterminding it Sol yiDeparture of a few previous tribal councils. With no immunity to protect her, she needed some help if she wanted to stay in the game.

This help came via a reward, courtesy Sam Falen and Andy Rueda. When Sam wins the reward of Italian food and letters from home, he chooses Andy and Genevieve to join him at the shelter (“Where Good Things Happen”). With the players remaining at camp aiming to target Sam – which would have left Genevieve exposed – the two went to work on turning Andy to their side.

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That's when the group decided to make a fake immunity statue to give to Genevieve, hoping it would split the votes of those remaining in the camp. This will then restore power to the trio in the sanctuary, enabling them to successfully eliminate Caroline Vidmar.

The plan worked to perfection, resulting in an unforgettable surprise for Tribal Council.

As Genevieve explains, the idea of ​​a fake idol had been creeping into Sam's mind for a few days.

A few days before the operation: Italy, Sam started thinking, “Okay, we need a fake idol.” Our best bet at putting something together is to divide the majority group and get them to split the votes, she explained Entertainment Weekly. “But how do you magically and organically say: ‘Oh yeah, today I have an idol?’” And then there was some discussion about: “Okay, who’s the most likely person to flip?” I thought maybe small, and Sam thought maybe Andy.

With Andy on the reward with them, he was the logical choice.

“I was really nervous about working with Andy, but I had built up so much goodwill with Sam that if he wanted Andy, fine, we would work with Andy. And then he won the bonus. So there was a lot that happened, and from my perspective “Sam set the table for this to happen.” “And then when Andy comes up with this plan and we're sitting there in our beanbags saying, 'Am I wrong?' Why does this all fall into place? This isn't supposed to happen Survivor.' But I think Andy was itching to make a move, so Sam was carefully targeting him as the best person to turn.

While Operation: Italy was a success, Andy was the next person to participate in the first two Tribal Councils on the Wednesday, December 11 episode. Genevieve went into second place, leaving Sam, Tini Chirichello, Rachel Lamont and Sue Smee to Fight it out in the endwill air next Wednesday, December 18 at 8 pm ET on CBS.