TVLINE | Let’s talk about vibes a bit! You’re on lockdown and no talking is allowed yet, but tell me a bit about your perceptions of some of the others around you?
Yeah, well, we can’t talk, but we can certainly look at each other as we’re sitting here waiting for the game to begin. And in general, I think the vibes are relatively positive, which is to say everybody’s looking around. We know each other’s names. You kind of know what people are approaching with in terms of their strategy and their styles, but there are certain people who are very tense, and I think I’m getting a sense of that tenseness. I won’t say bad vibes. It’s not bad, but it is anxious vibes from the Season 49ers, and I can understand because they were out here only a few weeks ago playing the full game of “Survivor.” But Rizo, in particular, I’m getting this very jaded feeling from him, which I love. I love a jaded person, so I’m really excited about that. But there’s tension there. There’s anxiety, and I get the sense that he has something to prove coming out here.
TVLINE | As a new era player, do you feel you have an advantage compared to others who may not have played in years?
I think the new school players are more prepared to play the game quickly, and that’s going to be extremely important because not only is the game shorter than it was in previous eras, but there’s also 24 people out here. That’s an insane number of people. We’re gonna be dropping like flies, and that’s not to say that the old school era players can’t come and play a quick game, but I do think that in some sense, the new era players have already played a relatively quicker game in comparison, and that could arguably make them more prepared.
TVLINE | Hit me with a hot take about the new era, overall.
My biggest hot take on the new era is that when it comes to food, I think it is harder than the old era. And I know that sounds counterintuitive because the old school era was much longer, but I could feel the difference myself on Season 45. I went about just over two weeks without eating anything before we earned rice. And the moment we earned rice, and I was having just a handful of rice a day, I felt my brain jump back into gear. I felt like I could think again. I could remember people’s names. I could form strategies. And I think a lot of people take it for granted that when you’re playing in the older era, you were at least eating something. It wasn’t much, but you got rice, you had a handful of rice a day, and that kept your brain functioning. Out here in the new era without rice, genuinely, your body starts to shut down. And if you’re on a losing tribe like I was, where you don’t earn any rewards or food, you can go weeks without consuming much of anything at all, and that really shuts down your body, and more importantly, your brain.
TVLINE | Talk to me about big threats. Who will you be keeping an eye on?
In the game of “Survivor,” I can typically tell why a person was put on the cast. There’s something off about them. There’s always something a little bit like, “Yeah, you’re a little weird,” or “You have this going for you, that going for you, or you have an interesting story.” Kyle is the person that I’m most worried about because when I look at him and when I talk to him, as I have in the past, and when I get to know him, I’m like, “You’re way too normal.” You’re way too normal, way too well-adjusted, and that is so dangerous because somebody who is normal, smart, well-adjusted, sociable, and strategic, similarly to Dee for my season, that is just a powerhouse because all the rest of us, we have something wrong with us. Kyle doesn’t. That’s bothersome, isn’t it?
TVLINE | What are the hardest parts of being out here for you?
The physicality of it, I actually found easier than I expected coming into the game of “Survivor.” As somebody who was basically plucked out of suburban Maryland with very little experience and training, I applied for “Survivor,” three months later, I was on the show from the day I sent the application in. So that is about as unprepared as you can get for this experience. And I was surprised by how much your body adapts. I was the type of person who couldn’t sleep without my eye mask on and my earphones in and never really gone a day without eating before. But when you don’t have any other options, when you’re forced to in a situation like that, it comes relatively naturally. In fact, the hardest part about the survival experience, in my opinion, is not the physicality of it, it’s the mentality and the emotion of it. And the hardest part for me was jumping on Season 45 on a tribe like Lulu. I immediately could tell that I just was not clicking with the people that I was playing with, and you have to live and be around them for 24 hours a day while watching yourself become on the social outs. That plays a mental and emotional game on you that you can never expect until you experience it yourself. It’d probably help if I’d shut up, you know, that would have ingratiated me more with them, but I can’t, clearly.
TVLINE | That’s why you were chosen for reality TV!
Yeah, apparently, which is so concerning, by the way. Getting a call once, it’s a red flag, but twice, oh man. It’s like glaring red flags. Something’s wrong with you. Except for Kyle. Freaking Kyle! He’s a great guy, but it’s so annoying. [Laughs]