Survivor’s Sue Smey Says She ‘Knows’ Her Face Is ‘Dirty’ After Backlash: ‘Thanks for the Reminders’

Sue Smey has seen all the comments about how much dirt she has on her face in season 47 of Survivor. Ahead of the Wednesday, December 4, episode, she addressed the backlash she’s received for not washing up.

Sue, 59, shared photos from the episode and teased what was coming, then concluded her caption, “PS – I know my face is dirty. Thanks for the reminders.”

For the past several episodes, Survivor viewers have flooded social media with comments about the dirt on Sue’s face. However, the chatter was taken up a notch this week after a scene featured Sue telling Caroline Vidmar, “You gotta wipe – you got dirt,” and pointing to her face.

“Did Sue seriously just say something to Caroline about a little speck of dirt on her face when her face needs a whole wet washcloth?!” one person wrote on X, while another commented, “WAIT. Did Sue just point out dirt on Caroline’s face? Can’t someone point out to Sue that she looks like she took a dirt bath?” Another person added, “the irony of sue, whose face is always dirty, telling caroline to wipe her face off is not lost on me lol.”

This wasn’t the first time that Sue addressed the comments about her face, though. In her Instagram post teasing the November 26 episode, she wrote, “Is my face clean enough for you in this picture ? tune in tomorrow 8pm to see how long the dirt stays off my face.”

The week before, she joked, “Don’t mind the dirt on my face .. just recovering from the #MotherQuake. this is what the aftermath of a #SueNami looks like. Also, I was learning how to contour with the dirt.”

Sue made it to the top 6 after surviving this week’s tribal council, but Caroline, 28, her closest ally, was not spared. The women went into the final 7 thinking they were in a good position, as they were in the majority alliance with Andy Rueda, Teeny Chirichillo and Rachel LaMont. However, Andy, 31, had other plans. After going on the reward with Sam Phalen and Genevieve Mushaluk, he orchestrated a plan to flip the game on its head.

Andy urged Genevieve, 33, to make the others think she had a hidden immunity idol so they’d want to split the votes between her and Sam, 24, at tribal council. Then, the three of them could vote for Rachel, 34, and she would be sent home. He went to work himself, insisting to his “allies” that they needed to flush Genevieve’s idol and get Sam out all at once.

Unfortunately, there was a bit of a hiccup in the plan when Rachel won immunity, which led Andy to switch the vote to Caroline. Despite Sue having an immunity idol and Rachel holding onto an idol and “block a vote,” the blindside worked. None of the advantages were used and Caroline was sent packing.

Survivor continues with part one of its finale on CBS on December 11 at 8 p.m. ET.