Read on for my interview with Evvie, and make sure to check in with Parade.com every day for interviews with this season’s contestants and other tidbits. Survivor 41 premieres on September 22 with a special two-hour episode on CBS. What’s your history with watching Survivor? So I only started watching the show when David vs. Goliath was airing. My girlfriend and her roommate were watching it. And I stumbled in, and I was like, “What is this?” and instantly fell in love. The game is just so interesting and complex. I love people, and I love learning about them. So everything about the show drew me in. I instantly became obsessed and started binging like crazy for the past three years. Since then, that roommate and my girlfriend and I started hosting a watch party. It started by just saying, “Okay, you bring your friend who likes Survivor, and I’ll bring my friend who likes Survivor.” And over time, it became this really tight-knit group of friends. We call ourselves the Survivor club. We meet every single week to watch Survivor. Even during COVID, we’ve been doing it over Zoom or dragging my TV in the backyard. And it’s become this amazing group of friends, all through the love of the best game of all time. So it’s a huge, huge honor to get to be a part of it. Give me one Survivor winner and one non-winner who you identify with the most. If I could pick one non-winner I identify with the most, it’s possibly wishful thinking, but it has to be Cirie. Something so amazing about her is how she came into the game so underestimated and not really believing in herself. She’s afraid of leaves! And then she goes on to grow into this extremely powerful, one of the best players of all time. Sometimes in my life, I tend to underestimate myself, and people tend to underestimate me because I’m 5'2", and I come off as kind of goofy. They might not realize that I’m actually really smart, have really good people skills, and have a lot beneath my surface. If viewers agree, they could identify me that way. (Laughs.) That would be thrilling. She’s the best. If I had to pick one winner I identify with, I would have to say Todd Herzog, from Survivor: China. Something about him being small and queer and kind of schemy but trying not to be too schemy and bringing in people that you knew who’d be useful to them, and really rising to the occasion. I really hope that I can play a game like that. What’s one life experience you feel has prepared you most for the game? I think a life experience that prepared me for the game was actually coming out. I really wasn’t able to admit to myself that I was queer until after college. It was something that I was keeping below the surface for a long time. Eventually, I came out, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I spent my whole life thinking, “Will it be okay if I was gay?” And then it turns out that from coming out, my life is so much better than okay. It’s like 1000 million trillion times better than it was before. That really opened my eyes that when you actually let yourself be yourself and go for it and do things that are scary, it can have the most amazing transformative effect. And I try to take that lesson forward into every aspect of my life. And coming into the game of Survivor, it’s all about taking huge risks and things that seem like they’re going to be scary, and hopefully, they have a really amazing outcome. What do you think people will perceive you as? I do have glasses, and I’m going to be rocking a bow tie. So I think they might wonder a little, “Is this person a super nerd? Which obviously I am! (Laughs.) But I think I have an ability that the more you get to know me, I’m really playful, goofy, and silly. And I hope that people let the intellectual part of me fade away. That’s gonna be my goal, to have them just see me as fun, goofy Evvie. Because that really is the part of me that comes out the most when I’m hanging out with people. And I hope that people see me as a friend, as someone they can talk to you. I’m also a very emotional person, and I have no shame in crying when I feel like I have to cry. I will have no problem comforting people and being there for people. I really hope that I can be someone that is that shoulder to lean on. A person that’s gonna make you smile when you’re feeling sad, and hopefully use that to build relationships throughout the game. What do you desire in an alliance partner? I mean, I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to have one person that I can really be a pair with and be able to actually talk about the game in the same way. Someone where our minds are on the same page, and with who I can feel some amount of trust. I want to play the game and, if someone needs to be voted out, I’m going to vote them out. But I don’t take pleasure in hurting people. So I definitely would be drawn to people that are gonna have that mindset of, “We’re gonna play the game hard. But we’re not going to be dicks about it.” (Laughs.) Ruthless but with a heart, I hope I’ll find people who have that same kind of attitude that people are people, but this is also a game. What’s your current game plan for when you touch down on the beach? I really want to be able to have some amount of individual relationship with every single person. That’s really a strength of mine is connecting with people, talking to them, and getting to know them. I think when I am spending time with the person, I hope that they feel actually seen by me, and then I’m actually taking time to get to know them. So I’m going to go out of my way to try to have conversations with every single person. Not necessarily even about the game, just “getting to know them” conversations. And hopefully that way, everyone will see me as a person that they could potentially work with. I want to take that approach of not instantly being like, “Let’s make an alliance right now.” Unless that’s what they want to do! In which case, I’ll always say yes. You always say yes. (Laughs.) What will people underestimate in you the most on Survivor? Probably my physical ability. I’m 5'2”. Full disclosure, I’ve never lifted a weight a day in my life before I found out I was going to be on Survivor. I don’t come across as buff or anything, but I’m scrappy as hell! (Laughs.) I’ll never give up. And I will, perhaps to my detriment, throw my body into things fully and completely. And I’m actually a pretty decent swimmer. I say that now and then you’ll cut that with footage of me being a horrible swimmer, so we’ll see. (Laughs.) But I think I’ll be able not to be a huge drag on a team in a challenge. On the one hand, it’s probably the weakest part of my game. But also, it does lower my threat level. You’re probably not gonna be worried that I’m going on an immunity run anytime soon. How much authenticity do you plan on bringing into the game? I plan on really, really trying to bring my full self to the game. I’m going to slightly distort my actual job, but pretty much keep the pieces the same in every aspect of my life. Because I think that is how you play a successful Survivor game. Actually building good real relationships with people in the game and having them feel that they know you. I know myself; lying doesn’t come that easily to me. It’s something I certainly can do. But I’ll be so much better able to connect with people if I’m bringing my full self into it. I really plan on being as authentic as possible. Because that is what makes people feel safe and want to work with you. And ultimately, in a game that’s all about trusting people that you’re not supposed to trust, at least having some sort of personal connection with me, I think will make me a more trustworthy person to play with. Which is more important to your game: Strategy or social? I want to take a hedging thing that it’s all about social strategy! But I really do think the social, for me, is the most important. With strategy, there have been hours and hours of podcasts and hundreds of hours of audiobooks about the evolution of Survivor strategy, most of which I’ve listened to. And as complex as it is, it’s also not that complex. All it comes down to is having people want to work with, want to keep you in the game, and keep more of those people around than there are people trying to get you out. My whole strategy will rely on that social piece. I think being able to build real genuine relationships with people is something that I excel in, and I think that would be the most crucial part of my game. Next, check out our interview with Survivor 41 contestant David Voce.
