Read on for my interview with Sara, 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 Sept. 22 with a special two-hour premiere on CBS. What’s your history with watching Survivor? I’ve been watching Survivor since I was 5 years old. So I’m pretty much as big a superfan as they get. I’ve rewatched every season at least three or four times as well. So, yeah, a lot of experience with Survivor. [Laughs.] Give me one Survivor winner and one non-winner who you identify with the most. I really love the way that Kelley Wentworth played. I think that she went in and gave it everything she had. And I feel like I do that a lot in my own life. I really dig deep and put everything I have into something. So I definitely liked the way she played her game. And a winner that I identify with would be Natalie Anderson for similar reasons as Kelley. She went in and just played an all-out game, and I try to do that in every aspect of my life. What’s one life experience you feel has prepared you most for the game? That’s a tricky question. I feel like I have a lot of experiences. I guess one thing I can pinpoint is that I grew up as a competitive swimmer. I played water polo, and I swam distance races. Distance races are really hard. And so much of it is the mental part of it. Every muscle fiber is telling you to stop because it hurts so badly, but you just have to keep pushing through it. And I think being able to get that into something and push through so much pain will help me in this game. Hopefully, the game won’t be super painful! [Laughs.] But I think the mindset applies. What do you think people will perceive you as? That’s a great question. I think I’m a lot smarter than I look. I don’t think people will anticipate that I went to MIT. And I’m probably not going to tell people I went to MIT; I’d like to keep that hidden. But I do want to go into this game and be myself. So I probably will go in and be a kind person. And hopefully, I will be perceived as someone who is very kind. What do you desire in an alliance partner? I think in an alliance, you need to have opposite qualities. Say two young girls go in; people are gonna automatically assume that you two are aligned and that it’s a strong alliance. So for me, my goal is to align with someone who people don’t expect me to align. And from there, obviously, loyalty is huge in an alliance. But I also understand that even the people you’re closest with, you can’t share every bit of information with. What’s your current game plan for when you touch down on the beach? So my game plan from the get-go is to try to blend in as much as possible and lay low. I just want to do my part, be a good tribe member at camp, and also contribute as much as I can during the challenges. And from there, I will try to make some big moves. But to start out with, I definitely want to try to blend in as much as possible. What will people underestimate in you the most on Survivor? I think I mentioned this previously. I think people don’t realize how smart I am. And my ability to read people, perceive people, and perceive myself. I think that’s going to be hugely underestimated in me. How much authenticity do you plan on bringing into the game? I plan on bringing as much authenticity as possible to the game. But there are some elements of myself that I do want to try to leave out of it. I am a very empathetic person in my day-to-day life. And I understand that empathy can actually be not a great thing to carry all the way through to Survivor at certain points. So I’m going to try to be as authentic as possible, but there are certain things about myself that I know I’m going to have to change or mask a little bit. Which is more important to your game: Strategy or social? I think, for me, strategy is definitely going to be more important to my game. Social is a huge part of Survivor. But social also can be weaved with strategy to a certain extent. And it’s not often you see people win based purely on a social game. So strategy is definitely going to be more important to me. Next, check out our interview with Survivor 41 contestant Naseer Muttalif.
