Read on for my interview with David, 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? So my history of watching Survivor is more recent than most people. I began with season 37. I had a break in neurosurgery training where I was doing mostly research and a lot more exercise. I ran out of shows to watch, and I saw Survivor, and I instantly got addicted. What addicted me was watching this group of dysfunctional people from dysfunctional backgrounds all come together and have a crazy story, watching horrible personalities try to blend together. The reason why that appealed to me and sucked me in is because that’s what I deal with on a day-to-day basis. Being a physician and being a surgeon is about dealing with pathology. You have two types of pathology: Pathology of disease and pathology of people. And you have to be able to manage both perfectly to be an effective surgeon. One of the most challenging parts is that no one teaches you how to manage people’s pathology. But when you’re dealing with devastating, life-altering, life-ending diseases, you have to be able to communicate, bond, establish trust, to convey confidence to people in a very brief amount of time. Give me one Survivor winner and one non-winner who you identify with the most. The Survivor winner that I identify the most with would be Todd because of his ability to form relationships and to always have a finger on the pulse of his tribe, and the threats. The non-winner I identify with would be a blend of Russell and Kass. Because of their ability to just analytically look at the facts and say this is what needs to be done. They didn’t let their emotions cloud their judgment. What’s one life experience you feel has prepared you most for the game? By far what’s prepared me most from the game beyond neurosurgery, which has been just an intense pressure cooker that has taught me how to be calm under pressure, is how I have been successful in life. And when it comes down to it, it’s been mentorship. Mentorship in college created a love for the scientific method. Mentorship in medical school created my admiration for neurosurgery. Mentorship in neurosurgery training is how I have learned surgical techniques and learned proper management of patients. And it’s mentorship in this game that has prepared me to where I am today. Mentorship from people like Rob Cesternino, who have broken down people’s games. Mentorship from David Bloomberg, who looks at why players lost. And it’s listening to these greats who have been looking at this game for the past 20 years and learning, sitting under their instruction, to understand how I need to play this game. What do you think people will perceive you as? I think people will perceive me as someone just that tells it as it is. I am very blunt. The key here, though, is I will keep that bluntness to my confessionals. That bluntness will not translate into my gameplay. One of the great things about being a neurosurgeon that gives me a great leg up is that you have to learn how to block your emotions. You have to learn how to put up a wall so that when you are losing patients, when patients come in, and they’re 23 years old, and they’re on their deathbed, you have to find a way to be able to deal with it. In the middle of the night, when you are 20 hours into an operation, you’re hungry, you haven’t peed, you’re sick, your mind has to be completely focused, and you have to be able to suppress those emotions. At the same time, when you walk out of the operating room, after 20 hours, it’s 3:00 a.m., you’re tired, you’re hungry, you want to pee, the last thing you want to do is go and talk to a family and to be empathetic with them. But you have to be able to turn it on. So it’s that balancing of emotions that is so critical in this game, being able to remove emotion from the decision-making process so that you make logical, precise decisions while still implementing emotion in the core foundation of relationship building with your tribemates. What do you desire in an alliance partner? What I desire in an alliance partner is complete loyalty. And there are certain individuals throughout the history of this game that have given that. People like Ken from Millennials vs. Gen X that have this idea that loyalty is so important in this game. And I 100% disagree with that. I am not going to be loyal. I am not going to have that type of trust. When it comes time for it, I will backstab those people. But I want those people on my side so that they will not be the ones backstabbing me; I want to make sure that I am one step ahead. What’s your current game plan for when you touch down on the beach? When I touch down on the beach, my game plan is to be nondescript. Do not stick out. When you stick out, you get voted out, especially in those early days. I could build a shelter; I have ideas about getting food and division of labor. I will be silent. If people ask me a question, I’ll respond. I will help out. I will not be lazy; I will be present. I will have conversations; I will form bonds. I will earn trust; I will convey confidence. But I will not be front and center. Those are the people that get voted out. Early on from day one–from second one–, you have to build relationships. You have to find a common thread. And that’s what I do as a neurosurgeon. When I walk into a room, whether the patient is a homeless man under a bridge or a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, I have to develop a bond through that common thread, however obscure it may be, that binds us together. If people are originally from California, if people drive a beat-up Civic, I don’t care what it is. I will bond over that so that we show that we have common similarities so that they have this sense of trust with me so that I’m not on the outs. What will people underestimate in you the most on Survivor? I believe people will underestimate my ability to really develop actual strong bonds with other people. I think people will believe that I have this professional relationship that I established with people. But underneath this perception of a neurosurgeon, I come from a background where I had a lower-class family that worked hard. Their idea was just to work hard and take pride in whatever you do. I didn’t have the pressure to go and do something that the world considers great. Along the way, my family was just proud of whatever I did, as long as I was doing it to the best of my ability. But unlike many of my colleagues, when I’m in the hospital, it’s just not other physicians that are my friends. I’m friends with the nursing staff, with the janitors, with the technicians, with everyone. Because nothing makes you better as a person, just because you have a title. You have to be a human; you have to connect with people. And it’s that ability to connect with people, no matter who they are, no matter their backgrounds, no matter how messed up they are, no matter how annoying they are, no matter how quirky they are, no matter how much they pissed me off by their inefficiency. I still have that ability to set all that aside, and at the end of the day, connect with them on a human level and listen, which is what everyone wants. Which is more important to your game: Strategy or social? I would say both! They are inseparable. Because connecting with people on that human level, being that listening ear, is a strategy. You have to have those two together. You have to be intentional, every single second in this game, even when you’re tired, even when you’re hungry. Because that’s when you’re most vulnerable to bark at someone, to react to someone. Your social game has to be on par; you cannot for a second give in. And so those two together, social and strategy, have to be married to do well in this game. Next, check out our interview with Survivor 41 contestant Genie Chen.
