Survivor 49 players Michelle “MC” Chukwujekwu and Jason Treul already have a noteworthy story of how they got onto the show. Both players were cast as the season’s alternates, and in a series first, they were both put into the game less than 12 hours before filming began after two players were cut over rules violations. But that’s not where their interesting Survivor stories end. MC had only started watching the show less than a year before she found herself in Fiji. Jeff Probst tells TV Insider what stood out about her audition.
MC is a 29-year-old personal trainer from Texas. She currently lives in California and has a degree in psychology. In her introduction video when the Survivor 49 cast was announced, MC revealed that she had never seen a single episode of the show before Season 47 (and had no plans to tell any of her competitors that fact). She told Parade that Season 47 Episode 3 was the first episode she ever watched, and she fell in love from there. The physical challenges were the main appeal at first, but then the social politics really drew her in.
Probst says that MC’s short Survivor history isn’t what stood out in her application process.
“MC is a great reminder to future applicants: You don’t have to have been watching Survivor for 25 years [to be cast],” Probst says. “We don’t care. We only care that you understand the game. What stood out with MC is two things. One, just her overall essence is a really bright, fun, engaging person. And two, she had this really interesting backstory of feeling judged about her body, but in a way that was different from how most of us feel judged about our body. In the case of MC, she’s an athlete, and growing up, she was made to feel that she was too athletic, that her body was too muscular.”
MC had to work hard to overcome judgments about her appearance throughout her life, Probst explains of what she shared with production. Probst thinks that the personal social struggles she overcame gave her an interesting social challenge in the competition.
“You have this young woman coming into this new show she’s just discovered that’s going to challenge her, not just physically, but also socially and integrating with different people where you are judged every day for your differences,” Probst explains. “It’s one of the fundamental hallmarks of Survivor. We put people from very different walks of life [together], and you have to find a way to work together. And so I saw in MC a really bright light of fun and energy.”
Probst says that MC’s a breath of fresh air. “She brings this fresh approach to Survivor because she’s shoved 25 years and 48 seasons into a year, so she’s bursting at the seams with wanting to play versus a different approach as somebody who maybe grew up watching from when they were a kid like Rizo [Velovic].” At 25, Rizo is Season 49’s youngest contestant.
“He’s been contemplating and imagining how he’d play his entire life,” Probst says. “To see those two now playing the same game is fun. And it’s also an example of [how] ‘different people from different walks of life’ can also include [their] relationship with Survivor.”
MC, Rizo, and 16 other players will face off for the $1 million prize and the title of Sole Survivor when the series returns on September 24.
Survivor, Season 49 Premiere, Wednesday, September 24, 8/7c, CBS
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