Read on for my interview with Liana, 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? I’ve been watching it ever since I was a little girl. My mom was a part of this “Mocha Moms” group, and one of the moms was like, “Oh, you should watch the show with your kids.” And so one time after bath time, my mom and dad sat us in front of the TV, my two older brothers and me. And it just stuck, and we loved it, so much so that my older brother would try to imitate the game. We would light candles, and he had a little candle snuffer. And he’d always snuff out my other brothers’ candle, never mine. (Laughs.) Thank God. But yeah, I’ve loved this show since I was little. Give me one Survivor winner and one non-winner who you identify with the most. I absolutely loved Cirie. I think she’s incredible, the way she plays the game. Survivor is this real game, but somehow she makes it graceful. (Laughs.) She’s the mastermind, and she’s incredible. And for winner, Sandra plays with confidence. Even if she’s not 100%, she leans on that confidence. And I think that’s something that’s really important and hard to do in the game. I really admire that about her. What’s one life experience you feel has prepared you most for the game? I think my hard work ethic. I’m the youngest of two older brothers. So I’ve always kind of been rough and tough, chasing after them. School and education have always been really important to my family. My parents worked really hard just to make sure that we could have the best education possible. So to pay it back to my family, I’ve always worked super, super hard. Even to get to Georgetown, I put so much work into what I did in high school. Having that voice in my head say, “You can do this,” that’s gonna really be a driving force as I take on the game. What do you think people will perceive you as? I don’t know. I’m hoping that they underestimate me in the beginning. And I’m hoping that my social game throws off the sense of those super strategic games that I really want to play. I hope that they perceive me as physically strong because I do think I’ll be able to provide that to my tribe. But not as overly threatening. So I hope that they underestimate me in the beginning so that they don’t see my tricks come in. What do you desire in an alliance partner? I think what everyone desires is loyalty, right? Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. If someone proves that they want to put your name down and are gunning for you, you believe them when they show you their true colors. And so I think loyalty is a really big thing. I mean, if someone writes down my name, I’m gonna play it cool after Tribal Council. But I’ll definitely be gunning for them. (Laughs.) What’s your current game plan for when you touch down on the beach? So my game plan right now is just not to throw any names initially. If someone comes up to me and is like, “Hey, what are you thinking?” I’m like, “Oh, what are you thinking? What are the options?” I think you get on the beach a lot of times, and someone throws out a name. And then the story becomes, “Oh, Liana said this person should go home.” And I’m like, “No, I didn’t say that! I just threw out a name.” So I’m going to try just to let other people do the talking and get messy with it in the beginning. I really think Survivor is a marathon, not a sprint. So I’m going to try to just stay in as long as I can while also playing really hard and strategically. What’s the best advice you received before coming out to play? I think it was from my grandpa. He was telling me to basically take everything with a grain of salt with two people’s businesses and three people’s businesses. I think so many times in Survivor I’ve seen a plan come into fruition between two people. Then one person goes and tells one very specific person that’s not really with them. And that plan gets spewed out, and everybody knows about it. And then the plan changes. So I think I’m only really going to divulge my plans to people that I trust. I’m going to be very careful about who and where I’m talking. What will people underestimate in you the most on Survivor? I think they might underestimate my smarts and my ability to kind of read people. I think I might come off as really social and bubbly and not really thinking that intensely about things. How much authenticity do you plan on bringing into the game? I plan to bring full authenticity into the game. I mean, if people will ask how old I am. I’m gonna say I’m 20. If people ask where I go to school, I’ll say Georgetown. Because I think for me, you want to tell a lie that is believable that you’re not going to forget that can’t be proven false. This game already moves at super speed. And the more things I have to remember, it’s just gonna make me flustered and not be able to play to the fullest. So I don’t think there’s anything with who I am right now that’s gonna set up any red flags immediately. So I plan on being authentic and real in terms of who I am. Which is more important to your game: Strategy or social? Well, I don’t think you can have one without the other. But if I had to choose, I think strategy is the most important. I mean, I’ve seen players with poor social games get really far because they have a strategic sense. And I think the strategy really comes in with the “Outwit” part of the game. If you have a good enough strategy, you can get by if you lack the social game. Whereas the other way around, I think it’s could be a little more tricky. You’re more seen as someone that’s just dragged along. And that’s fine if you’re dragged along. But you’re not going to be able to make it to the end and win. Next, check out our interview with Survivor 41 contestant Jairus Robinson.
