Reality TV competition shows changed the industry forever upon their inception, in no small part thanks to CBS’ megahit Survivor. The show is still going strong, with Survivor even picking up an Emmy nomination for last season. Fans are gearing up for the show’s whopping 45th season on the air, which will arrive next week. Survivor 45 hasn’t even premiered yet, and the cast is planning on keeping secrets from the rest of their tribe.
In the days before the new season of Survivor premieres, some pre-game interviews and press have been released, offering some clues about the castaways we’ll see fighting for the title of Sole Survivor. EW spoke with the cast before they got on the island, with newcomer Kaleb Gebrewold revealing that he’s keeping his occupation a secret. Namely because of the stigma put on salespeople from Season 43’s Cody Assenmacher. As Kaleb put it:
This is all Cody's fault, but I'm not telling anybody that I'm in sales. I mean, after Brian Heidik in season 5 as a used car salesman, I thought we were going to be fine. I didn't know if I'd have to lie about it. But him throwing Justine as hard as he did under the bus, the submarine, the plane, whatever you want to call it, I knew that I had to come up with something else.
And just like that, a new Survivor urban legend has been created. Specifically the narrative about salespeople not being trustworthy in the game. This was perpetuated by Cody two seasons ago, who was suspicious of fellow castaways in sales. Funny enough, he was a salesman himself.
And Kaleb isn’t even the only contestant on Survivor 45 who is having these concerns. Dee Valladares explained to EW that she’s hiding what she says about her career in sales. In her words:
I don't want them to know that I've been in sales for my entire life because every time someone hears the word sales, they just obviously close up and they'll think that you're multiple people in one. That's definitely something I don't want them to know.
Lying about one’s job is far from a new concept in Survivor. For instance, Professional athletes and celebrities have tried to keep their identity under wraps. Two-time winner Tony Vlachos also originally hid that he was a police officer, fearing his fellow castaways wouldn’t want to sit next to him at The Final Tribal Council.
Another newbie making their debut on Survivor’s 45th season is Brandon Donlon. He’s not another person in sales, but he’s got his own secret. Specifically how much of a giant fan of the show he is. As he shared with EW:
I don't want the other players to know that I am very serious Survivor super fan. I'm trying to downplay it as much as possible. I have a lot of fun in these interviews because I can spit facts and do this whole thing, but once I'm on the island, I just need to dumb it down. I need to play it cool. I'm not going to be rattling boot lists off like I do when I can't sleep at night to put me to sleep. I'm going to just be mellow, cool Brandon, and hopefully that works out for me.
Survivor fans are known to be passionate, as we saw when Jeff Probst recently asked the fandom what they want to see from the new season. Brandon is in that category, and wants to keep away just how much knowledge he has about the game from his fellow castaways. Only time will tell how successful these efforts are, but it should make for a fun audience experience.
Survivor 45 will premiere on September 27th. In the meantime, check out the TV premiere list to plan your next binge watch.
