{"id":1053734,"date":"2026-09-09T21:25:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T21:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1053734\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T21:25:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T21:25:29","slug":"survivor-51-cast-reveals-strategy-for-open-era-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1053734\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Survivor 51’ Cast Reveals Strategy for Open Era Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBreaking news: Survivor<\/a> players are planning to lie.<\/p>\n

\n\tOkay, that\u2019s not exactly breaking news. Deception has been part of the game ever since Richard Hatch convinced Rudy Boesch to form the show\u2019s first alliance 26 years ago. Contestants deceive each other over alliances, advantages, idols and votes so often that \u201ctell a convincing lie\u201d could be item No. 1 on every Survivor player\u2019s to-do list.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut before the first challenge is run or the first name is written down, many of the 21 castaways on Survivor 51\u2018s game-changing \u201cOpen Era\u201d season<\/a> (premiering Sept. 23 on CBS<\/a>) are already planning a different kind of deception: hiding who they really are.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen The Hollywood Reporter visited set and asked each member of the cast, \u201cWhat\u2019s something about you or your game that you\u2019re trying to keep under wraps heading into the season?\u201d a clear pattern emerged. Whether they\u2019re concealing a law degree, downplaying a successful career, disguising their personality or masking parts of their personal lives, nearly everyone is trying to accomplish the same thing: control how they\u2019re perceived before the game even begins.<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAlexis Levine. Robert Voets\/CBS \u00a92026 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe First Lie Is About Themselves\t<\/p>\n

\n\tFor some members of the Survivor 51 cast, the game begins with a simple rule: Don\u2019t tell people what you really do for a living.<\/p>\n

\n\tPatt<\/strong> doesn\u2019t hesitate when asked what she\u2019ll keep under wraps. \u201cI\u2019m an attorney, I got to lie. You have to lie about being an attorney. It\u2019s just the number-one rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe\u2019s far from the only lawyer thinking that way. A criminal defense attorney who argues cases before juries, Alexis<\/strong> also plans to hide her profession. \u201cMy whole job is convincing people of things, so I definitely don\u2019t want anyone on this beach to know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTaking a similar approach is Kristin<\/strong>. \u201cI don\u2019t think that too many people need to know that I\u2019m a lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAngelica \u201cJelly\u201d Loblack. Robert Voets\/CBS \u00a92026 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.<\/p>\n

\t\tDon\u2019t Let Them Know You\u2019re Smart\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNot every player is hiding a profession. Some are simply trying to avoid looking like the smartest person on the beach.<\/p>\n

\n\tHoping nobody discovers she has a Ph.D., Jelly<\/strong> jokes, \u201cI don\u2019t want anyone to know I\u2019m as smart as I am or that I have a PhD or that, by the end of this, they\u2019ll call me Dr. Survivor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Cristian<\/strong>, the strategy is much more straightforward. \u201cI\u2019m definitely going to try and keep my intelligence under wraps.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMultiple degrees are exactly what Ori<\/strong> hopes nobody notices. \u201cI have three college degrees. I have a master\u2019s degree in public administration from one of the best public administration universities in the country. I\u2019m really, really smart and I want to keep that under wraps, because you can\u2019t be strong, smart and social. They\u2019re going to get me out of there right away, so I\u2019m going to try to keep that under wraps until I need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDevin Way. Robert Voets\/CBS \u00a92026 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.<\/p>\n

\t\tControl the Narrative\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBy this point, a bigger theme begins to emerge. The Survivor 51 cast isn\u2019t just trying to hide parts of themselves. They\u2019re trying to control how everyone else sees them.<\/p>\n

\n\tCalling perception \u201cthe law\u201d in Survivor, Devin<\/strong> doesn\u2019t want anyone to know he\u2019s an actor because he believes the label comes with baggage. \u201cI think it will put a massive target on my back and people will come in with all these preconceived ideas and notions about what it means to be an actor. I don\u2019t believe any of them are true, but perception is the law out here, and I\u2019m not trying to be perceived in ways that I don\u2019t want people to perceive me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRather than tell people he\u2019s a therapist, Eric<\/strong> plans to say he\u2019s a case manager because, as he explains, \u201cSome people just assume therapists are always analyzing, always going to twist your words around, always going to manipulate your mind.\u201d While he admits he\u2019ll be doing some manipulating in the game, he\u2019d \u201crather people not just assume the stereotype right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWorking for the New York Yankees is something Mike<\/strong> also plans to downplay. \u201cI\u2019m trying to keep some of my more strategic elements of my life under wraps heading into this season. A huge part of my job working for the Yankees is strategy, but I\u2019m going to try to play that down a little bit and save it for the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA different concern belongs to Linnea<\/strong>. Rather than hide a profession, she plans to keep quiet about where she used to work. \u201cI used to work in Washington D.C. People can assume a lot about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLewis Kelly. Robert Voets\/CBS \u00a92026 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.<\/p>\n

\t\tPlay the Part\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIf hiding a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 is one strategy, hiding your personality is another.<\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps the most revealing answer came from Kilby<\/strong>. He plans to keep quiet about just how difficult his childhood was, explaining that he grew up below the poverty line and sometimes survived on little more than rice. If his tribemates know how badly he needs the money, he worries they\u2019ll assume he\u2019s desperate. That\u2019s only half the secret, though.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m going to try to look like a sweet puppy dog guy, fun gesture clown, good vibes only until it\u2019s too late,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m going to just always be smiling, laughing, so that they don\u2019t realize that I can turn into a Terminator really fricking easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBehind a friendly smile, Ana<\/strong> plans to hide her mischievous side. \u201cI\u2019m going to do all of my evil deeds behind the scenes, but on the outside, I\u2019m going to be super friendly and a princess.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWanting to be underestimated is also part of Jenna<\/strong>\u2018s strategy. \u201cI want to come off as the bubbly artist girly that I am, but I don\u2019t want people to know how much intention and savvy I have underneath that. I want that to be a little bit of a surprise until it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFew players seem as committed to being underestimated as Lewis<\/strong>. He wants everyone to think he\u2019s incompetent. \u201cWhenever I do something stupid, whenever I mess up, it is all going to be highly strategic, highly planned-out. My game is dependent on people thinking I\u2019m an idiot, so the bigger of an idiot I am, the better my game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tUnlike many of her fellow castaways, Sharonda<\/strong> isn\u2019t interested in hiding who she is, only how she\u2019ll play. \u201cThey might see a card or two, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019m going to show my entire hand and lay it out like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRob Antonson. Robert Voets\/CBS \u00a92026 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.<\/p>\n

\t\tKeep Them Guessing\t<\/p>\n

\n\tNot every deception revolves around strategy. A handful of players are simply trying to keep pieces of their personal lives from becoming ammunition.<\/p>\n

\n\tInstead of advertising that she\u2019s a trained chef, Aaliyah<\/strong> plans to downplay her culinary background. \u201cI\u2019d rather just say, \u2018I\u2019m a line cook, I\u2019m a prep cook,\u2019 something more low level. I went to culinary school, so when I start whipping out the coconuts and doing all the things, I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be that sus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDownplaying success is also part of Brady<\/strong>\u2018s plan. \u201cMaybe I pro wrestle, but maybe I\u2019m an indie wrestler on the weekends and I work at an F-45. I think that keeping basically my personal success unknown is going to keep me a little bit more easy to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRather than reveal how many different ventures he has back home, Carter<\/strong> wants everyone to see him as \u201cjust a mover.\u201d \u201cMy plan of attack is to come out here and I\u2019m just a mover. I work for a moving company. How harmless could that be?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOwning the farm she works on is something Maggie<\/strong> intends to keep to herself. \u201cProbably that I own the farm that I work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the more unusual strategies belongs to Rob<\/strong>. Instead of hiding his career, it\u2019s the wedding ring he chose not to wear, a decision he says he thought \u201clong and hard\u201d about before the game began.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSome women won\u2019t, I feel like, approach you because you have a wedding ring on. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a respect thing or they don\u2019t want to cross any boundaries, so I want people to come up to me freely, especially women. I want them to come up and have a conversation with me,\u201d he says. \u201cEveryone thinks I\u2019m this single guy until they come up to me and talk to me. Then I can tell everyone that, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m married with three kids, that\u2019s why I\u2019m here.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThen again, not everyone plans to lie.<\/p>\n

\n\tUnlike the rest of the cast, Thien An<\/strong> isn\u2019t interested in keeping much of anything secret. \u201cI think I live a very open life. I\u2019m a very open book. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be keeping anything under wraps in the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tSurvivor 51 premieres Sept. 23 with a two-hour episode from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on CBS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breaking news: Survivor players are planning to lie. Okay, that\u2019s not exactly breaking news. Deception has been part…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1053735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[30],"tags":[15328,171,133199,318824,12132,4478,173,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1053734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-cbs","tag-entertainment","tag-jeff-probst","tag-mark-burnett","tag-paramount-plus","tag-survivor","tag-tv","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1053734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1053735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1053734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1053734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1053734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}