Interview with Justine from Survivor 43
Why are you here on Survivor?I am here on Survivor, fulfilling a childhood dream of mine. I was seven years old when the first season came out. And I remember, being a kid, that was the one night I was able to stay up late in the week. And so my entire family would just park it in front of our small TV in our living room, and it was a family thing for us every single week. And so it has a sentimental value to it. And I just never thought it was in the realm of possibilities for me to actually apply and then make it on Survivor. So I’m here pursuing my childhood dream that I never even thought could be a reality.What’s your history with watching Survivor?So I grew up watching Survivor in the early seasons. I probably watched the first 15 seasons with my family. And then I kind of lost touch with it, I’m not gonna lie. I’m not going to stand here and say, “Oh, I’m just a raging super fan.” But I still have seen probably half the seasons. It played a big part, obviously, in my childhood. I didn’t really keep up when I was in high school in college. But then the lockdown happened. And my roommate April–she’s one of my best friends from college–and I had nothing else to do. So we actually blew up an air mattress and just put it in our living room in our apartment in LA, And we kind of had sleepovers every night, even though we were in our early to late 20s. But it was fun, just having sleepovers with your best friend again. And we would just binge-watch Survivor and try to act out some of the challenges in our living room. So I kind of fell in love with it again. And I have mutual friends with Adam Klein, actually. He went to Stanford with one of my really good friends. And I remember when his season came out, she was like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re having watch parties for Adam." And I was like, “Hold on. Normal people can go on Survivor?” And that’s what sparked the fire in me. And then, obviously, the pandemic happened, and it encouraged me to apply and just see what happens. So that’s why I’m here.Give me one Survivor winner and one non-winner you identify with the most.For winner, I think the obvious one would be Erika. I think, aside from Gabby Pascuzzi, she was one of the first Filipinas to be on the show. And obviously, she won. So her story resonated with me about how her family moved to Canada from the Philippines, and her parents worked their asses off to give her and her siblings everything they could. Her story resonated with me. But in a different way, Parvati also resonates with me. And not really the flirtatious side of her because I’m totally not that type of girl at all. But she was able to really connect with other people in her seasons. And even with other females, she was really able to gain their trust and just be a soundboard for them. So there are a few different winners that I identify with in different ways.For non-winner, I’d probably have to say Mike White. I thought he was just hilarious. Obviously, I’m not out there on the beach struggling to survive yet. But I personally am a very sarcastic person. I like making witty comments. I like to make people laugh and throw out punchy one-liners. And I felt like Mike had such a dry sense of humor that was kind of overlooked. And I really appreciated that. So I really liked him even though he didn’t win.What’s your favorite moment in Survivor history?I would have to say probably in one of the early seasons, I think it was Micronesia, when Natalie convinced Erik to give his immunity to her. And they obviously had built this all-women’s alliance, the Black Widows Brigade. And she was like, “That’s absolutely never gonna happen.” I think it was Amanda that pitched her the idea. She was like, “If you want to stay in this game, you’re obviously on the outs; you need to convince Erik to give his immunity.” And she’s like, “That’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s not going to happen. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” And she’s like, “Whatever; it’s worth a shot.” And she ended up convincing him to do that. And obviously, he got kicked out. And it’s probably known as one of the stupidest moves that anyone’s ever made on Survivor. But that honestly was just such a funny and cool moment because, obviously, I’m always rooting for the girls.What’s one life experience you feel has prepared you most for the game?So I wouldn’t really pin it on one specific life experience that has happened, but on my overall upbringing. So with my parents, neither of them really came from even middle-class households. My dad came from probably slightly below middle class, and my mom was poor and from the Philippines. And so when my parents met at work, and they got married and had two kids, they still didn’t have anything to their names. They didn’t have anything that was passed to them from their families. So I really learned the value of, if you want to accomplish something, if you want something, you’re gonna have to work for it. And so I think that that can really apply to a bunch of different things in Survivor. If people are being complacent and lazy and not really helping build shelters, if I want to sleep at night and be protected from the rain, I’m going to have to do that. And also, just me even making it on Survivor, if I want to accomplish a dream of mine, the first step is applying. And then you never know; you might actually end up on Survivor. And that’s what happened! So it’s really that value of just hard work that was instilled in me by my parents at a young age that I think will really help with all things here.What excites you the most about the new era of Survivor?What excites me the most is just really not knowing what to expect. In seasons 41 and 42, there have been all these new twists and turns introduced. But I would be shocked if they repeated any of those for our season, because now we’re going to be specifically listening out for weird phrases people are saying. We know what happens on Shipwheel Island when people get sent away on a journey. There is a new era that has been shown in the last two seasons. But I think for our season, they’re definitely going to be switching it up a bit. Because now we know what to expect, which is really exciting because we don’t know what’s gonna be thrown at us. And it’s really cool that now, with these seasons, there are little kids who are what I once was at seven years old watching these seasons. To them, this is Survivor. So it’s really cool that I get to be part of this new era. But for little kids out there, I probably am like the Boston Rob or the Amber or the Rudy to them. That might be giving myself too much credit. But let’s see! (Laughs.)What do you think people will perceive you as? I don’t know what people will perceive me as. I mean, I’m just gonna go there. When I first found out that I got to come onto Survivor, and I got that phone call, I was dissecting every part of my being. I was like, “How do I want to act? What do I want my persona to be?” And then that honestly made me lose sleep at night. I was really overthinking it. And I ended up coming to the decision that I’m just gonna go on there, and I’m just gonna completely be myself. I mean, I’m typically pretty good at making friends. I’m pretty happy with who I am as a human. So I hope that other people that see me don’t hate me! (Laughs.) I have no idea how they’re going to perceive me. But my entire storyline of coming onto this show is that I’m more than what meets the eye. I think people see me, and I usually have my hair done, my nails done, my makeup done, and I’m in a cute outfit. But when it comes down to it on the inside, I actually am kind of a tomboy and a kind of no [expletive], very athletic person. So I don’t know how people are gonna perceive me, but I hope it’s not a negative thing. (Laughs.) Next, check out our interview with Survivor 43 contestant Jesse Lopez.
