THIS JUST IN! Survivor is hard. It’s hard physically. It’s hard mentally. And it’s hard emotionally. (Remember Lisa Whelchel’s #SurvivorBreakdown?) So as excited as new contestants are to take part in the adventure of a lifetime — and get paid for it! — they usually have something about the experience they are dreading (or at least very concerned about).
With that in mind, we went out to Fiji for filming of Survivor: Edge of Extinction — premiering Feb. 20 on CBS — and asked the 14 new players (who will be joined by returnees Joe Anglim, Aubry Bracco, Kelley Wentworth, and David Wright) what their biggest worry was heading into the game. They bared their souls and revealed their biggest fears to us… just so we could share said fears with you.
Ron Clark
“I think my biggest worry is the unknown. You watch it on TV and you think, ‘I could do that,’ but then once you’re here, you don’t really realize what it feels like to be hungry for 30 days. And then the elements and the bug bites and there’s so many things that you think you can handle, but until you’re really in it, you’re not sure what it’s going to be like. Also, I’m concerned because I’ve looked around and there’s only 16 contestants here, so there’s four that must be returnees and so I’m concerned about that because whenever you have a fans versus returnees season, the favorite is the returnees, so that is a concern I have at this point.”
Aurora McCreary
“As a Florida girl, I’m definitely most worried about the rain. I don’t do cold weather. I don’t do not being 80 degrees, getting a tan, so it will definitely be a shock sitting in the rain, wet, not being able to get out of it. There was a storm last night and it was horrible. It felt like I was back in Florida going through a hurricane, except for instead of at home having a hurricane party it was in a tent.”
Dan DaSilva (a.k.a. The Wardog)
“My biggest concern, I think my Achilles heel, is personalities that are passive-aggressive. I don’t know the person personally, but an example is Chrissy from Season 35. I can’t get along with that personality, but I’m going in knowing that, so what I need to do is be able to kind of take that in and just let that person be that person, and maybe use confessional times or a walk or something to either vent to myself or vent to the camera about how I feel about a situation or a certain person, and to be able to get that off my chest and get that negative energy out, because I’m a big believer of that negative and positive energy, so I want to always have that positive energy around me and find a way to discharge negative energy into a good place where I don’t discharge into another person.”
Wendy Diaz
“Okay, here’s one thing that I am worried about. I’m a bit … I don’t do well around people touching me and stuff. I guess the whole hygiene thing and everybody after we compete and stuff, they hug each other and all the body contact. I can’t. I’m just like the tiniest bit OCD about that. . It won’t sit well with people if I’m like, ‘Get away from me.’ But I guess I’ll play it by ear.
Rick Devens
“Taking a crap. I know about the aqua dump, but it’s just awkward being like, ‘Hey guys, I’m going to go out into the water to poop. Nobody come with me.’ That’s literally the thing I probably worry about the most is pooping in paradise.”
Victoria Baamonde
“I mean, the bugs are gonna suck. The rain is gonna suck. A lot of that’s gonna suck, but honestly, my biggest worry is myself. Anything that’s in my control, — like the making a shelter — If I work hard on it, it can get better. Challenges, if I put in my all, I might do well. But I’m just worried that my own mind will betray me. I’ve seen people break down out there, lose their ability to talk or remember simple sequences, and so I’m just mostly worried about my own mind.”
Chris Underwood
“My biggest worry, to be honest, it’s having a target on my back right from the get-go. Food, it’s not a big deal. I’m a sales manager, but before that I instructed people on scuba diving. I’m like a fish out of water. So getting food, building the shelter, being a team player, those come naturally to me.
“My fear, one, is going out early. Obviously. That’s everyone’s fear is being the first one. You don’t wanna be the first one voted off. You don’t wanna be that guy. You really don’t. But it happens and it’s starting to happen as the players get better and better. They start realizing and picking up on what’s gonna threaten their game. And someone like me, it’s how it is back home, it’s how it is here. People call me the, “Golden Boy,” and I’ve gotta figure out a way to bring it down a few notches and be a seven, you know? I don’t wanna be a super star. I’m trying to just be a seven and have people trust me right off the get-go.”
Julia Carter
“I’m actually not worried. I have a really deep, personal connection with the game of Survivor. When I was young, 7 years old, I lost my Dad to heart disease. And Survivor was there for me. It ironically aired the spring after his passing. And it helped me get through that experience. It was my escape growing up watching these competitors go through these mental, physical and emotional challenges and overcome them. And now being an adult, and being able to actually be here and play this game that means so much to me, is a once in a life time experience. So I’m not afraid. If anything, I’m just afraid that I don’t reach or accomplish what I’m here to do. So the bugs and stuff don’t worry me.”
Gavin Whitson
“The thing that worries me the most, I know the hunger and all those things you said, and that’s gonna suck, but I just don’t wanna be voted out first. That is my biggest fear. I wanna be here for the long haul. I’ve been trying for so many years, it would just devastate me to be sent home first. Another concern is I’m a super-fan, you’re a super-fan, you don’t see many 16-player casts anymore. There’s 16 of us, that worries me because I believe with all the twists that have been coming up here lately, I think something big is around the corner.”
Lauren O’Connell
“The fact there’s no food. There’s no food, where we’re going to sleep, all the bugs. Pretty much the essence of Survivor. But it’s funny because that’s how the game has changed. It’s like no one is really talking about, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s so hard not to eat.’ Or, ‘Oh my gosh, sleeping here sucks.’ It’s about playing the game, and I think that’s what excites me about it is being able to come out here and play the most amazing game ever created.”
Keith Sowell
“The elements. Because I’m not a person who camps. Never been camping, never slept outside. I don’t do the whole outside thing. That’s why people say, when they hear me say that this is my favorite show and I would love to be on here someday, they’re just like, ‘You?’ Because they know this is not my forte. So, definitely the elements.”
Julie Rosenberg
“I mean, I can’t say that I’m actually worried about anything. I’m pretty excited at this point to be thinking anything else, but being from New York City, I have zero outdoor experience and no survival skills whatsoever. I really don’t think there’s anything that I could do to prepare. I’m not going to go start sleeping outside. I just feel like mentally I knew what I was getting myself into. The last night I left home, I laid in my bed and thought ‘Wow, this is really cozy and I’m sure I’ll be very grateful for it when I get back.’ But I just think it’s more mental than anything else. I know that if I can mentally wrap my brain around being out here and knowing that it’s going to be tough, then physically, I’m not going to have a hard time.”
Eric Hafemann
“Man, if I’m really honest, my biggest concern is for the things that I’ve left behind to come do this. It’s my family. I’m married, I have two boys, a 4-year-old and a 14-month-old. I just worry about them. I worry about my wife. I worry about it being hard on my sons, especially my 4-year-old.”
Reem Daly
“What I’m really most concerned about out on this island are snakes. I don’t like snakes. And my family thinks it’s the funniest thing, because I will legitimately run as fast and as far away as I can from any snakes. So that is the one thing that will set me off, is if I run into any snakes. I mean, I’ve accidentally thrown someone else in the way of the snake in past experience.”
For more Survivor scoop, follow Dalton on Twitter @DaltonRoss.
Related posts:
- Meet the cast of Survivor: Edge of Extinction
- Survivor host Jeff Probst explains Edge of Extinction twist
- Ranking every season of Survivor
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