Read on for my interview with Tiffany, 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 Sept. 22 with a special two-hour premiere on CBS. What’s your history with watching Survivor? So I started watching the show, actually, the first year it came out. I was a first-year teacher in Queens. It was my first New York City school teaching job. And the assistant principal had said, “Hey, are you watching the show Survivor? This is a crazy show! It’s amazing. I can’t stop watching. I’m obsessed.” And that’s when I first tuned in. It really was this very foreign thing on TV; you didn’t see stuff like this. First of all, it was amazing to see these people on an island. All I could think of was Lord of the Flies for some reason because every teacher teaches that book at some point in their life. And it was just this reality of building this society. And it was such a weird thing to see on TV that it piqued my interest. So that’s when I started watching. Then I had my children, and there was a little bit of a crazy time I was raising kids and going through medical things. And I didn’t watch a lot of TV for a little while. And then I met my husband probably 12 years ago now, and we started watching religiously. My ex-husband would take the kids on Wednesday nights, and my current husband now would watch with me. It would be our thing; we’d order Chinese food, sit in front of the TV, and watch Survivor. And one lovely evening with spare rib in hand, I turned to my husband, and he’s got this ring in his hand. And all I could think was, “Oh my god, what is happening? I have spare rib in my mouth. This is not how you picture this happening. And it was just pretty fitting and sort of prophetic. Because here I am on Survivor now. And that’s really for the last 12 years; this is our routine. We sit down, no matter what we’re doing. So I just decided one day, I was going to shoot myself a casting video. I shot a video in my pajamas. That was over four years ago. And here we are. Give me one Survivor winner and one non-winner who you identify with the most. I like Adam a lot. I identified with him. He was losing his mom at the time. He was quite young. I was quite young when I watched my mom die of ovarian cancer. And he was doing it for his mom. And I think my whole life, I’ve done everything to make her proud of me, even though she’s not here on earth with us. But I know she’s with me and her light shines through me constantly. I really identify with him and his need to, you know, have that connection with her because they watch the show together. What’s one life experience that has prepared you most for this game? My life has always been about survival. My mother died of ovarian cancer, which happened to have come from a genetic pattern called the BRCA gene. And I was one of the youngest people in the U.S. to have a prophylactic double mastectomy and oophorectomy, meaning that I chose preemptively to take everything off and out so that I wouldn’t die at the same age as my mom. And when they did do the search, when they were going to do the prophylactic double mastectomy, they found DCIS, which is ductal carcinoma in situ, which meant that it was stage zero breast cancer. Before I went into my actual prophylactic mastectomy, they found it. And here’s the interesting thing. Had I waited until the recommended age they wanted me to start monitoring for breast cancer, I probably would not be sitting here right now. Luckily enough, I was put into contact with a doctor who was doing the BRCA gene test, I was only 32 years old, and I had to make an immediate decision. And the decision was a no-brainer; it was a gift. If my mother had that decision, she’d be here right now with us. Had I not made that decision to do that, had I not met that doctor, I don’t know that my fate would have been the same. So having this genetic disorder was a gift for me. Because it empowered me to do something proactively instead of reactively, which I also think is something that’s gonna help me in this game, to be proactive and not reactive. See things coming instead of reacting to something that is happening. So I took my life into my hands, and thank God I did. My dream was to live past the age of my mother, and I have surpassed her age. I’m what they really call, if you look me up, as a “previvor” because I didn’t have to survive cancer. I “previved” it. So it’s time to be a survivor! What do you think people will perceive you as? That’s a really good question. It can go both ways. I’m very loud; I’m very social. I’m sort of a leader by nature. I could be a threat in that way. However, I can relate to anybody. I have an 18-year-old son, so I relate to college kids. I have a 10th grader, so I relate to high school kids. I’ve just finished teaching third graders; I relate to them. Before teaching third grade, my job was working with children who were suspended from the New York City schools. And they’re very challenging; they come with a host of baggage that needs to be unpacked. You need to really be able to understand what’s going on in order to deal with these children that need so much love and direction. And the only reason I taught third grade remotely this year was because there was no suspension. There was no school, so they deployed me out to third grade, which was also wonderful. I relate to little people; I relate to big people. I was married; I was divorced. I’m a professional; I also own an online boutique. I really find it easy to relate to just about everybody. So I think that that’s going to be a bit evident, and that may also be viewed as a threat. I think that might be something that people see in the game. I’m likable; I’d like to think I’m likable! [Laughs.] But I know that’s a liability. So I’m going to try to read the room and figure out when and how it will be appropriate to be as likable or maybe just take it down a notch and not be so obviously into everybody’s lives. What’s your current game plan for when you touch down on the beach? I cannot wait to just actually meet these people and put names with faces and hear about their professions. I really want to get to know these people because we are thrust into the situation after lots of lockdown and quarantine in Fiji. It was a lot. We’re actually on this very new version of Survivor. We are not just getting on the beach after not knowing each other for a little while. It’s been a long, long time coming. And I just really want to put a name to these faces and get to know everybody. My game plan is to be an observer for a little while. I’m not talking three days; I’m talking one day. Not be the leader right away because I don’t want to put a target on my back and just let other people take control. I’ll take direction for once. I’ll be a fly on the wall for a day or so. And then once I get my bearings and figure out, you know what everybody’s strengths and weaknesses are, then I’ll start to formulate my plan. What do you desire in an alliance partner? Of course, I’m gonna say someone I can trust. But what is trust in this game, right? You can only trust someone as long as they need you. I’m looking for a strong alliance, for once, that sticks together no matter what. So when we swap, we know when we’re coming back together, we’re going to the end. So I really would like to think that’s a possibility. However, it’s so very rare to see in this game. [Laughs.] You know, everyone’s depleted and tired and hungry and hot and mosquito-bitten. And you might create an alliance with someone who you thought could be strong, and then you realize, “Hey, they just don’t have the stuff.” And you have to cut the cord. I think I’m just going to have to move with the tide and create “situationships.” Everyone likes to say relationships. I don’t know; relationship to me is like, “Here’s my boyfriend. I love you today and tomorrow.” A relationship is working together at a school, and you’ve formed relationships with your teachers. These are “situationships,” right? We are all in different situations. All day, every minute, you got to be on 24/7. Which, by the way, being a teacher, I’m on 24/7, so there’s no time for me to have my problems. I can’t bring them into the classroom. I can’t bring them into school. I don’t intend to bring them into the game unless I need them for a little bit of a sympathy vote. Next, check out our interview with Survivor host and executive producer Jeff Probst about what to expect from season 41.
