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Survivor 49 players<\/a> Michelle \u201cMC\u201d Chukwujekwu and Jason Treul already have a noteworthy story of how they got onto the show. Both players were cast as the season\u2019s 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<\/a>. But that\u2019s not where their interesting\u00a0Survivor<\/a> stories end. MC had only started watching the show less than a year before she found herself in Fiji. Jeff Probst<\/a> tells TV Insider what stood out about her audition.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> when the\u00a0Survivor\u00a049 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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Probst says that MC\u2019s short Survivor history isn\u2019t what stood out in her application process.<\/p>\n \u201cMC is a great reminder to future applicants: You don\u2019t have to have been watching Survivor for 25 years [to be cast],\u201d Probst says. \u201cWe don\u2019t 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\u2019s an athlete, and growing up, she was made to feel that she was too athletic, that her body was too muscular.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have this young woman coming into this new show she\u2019s just discovered that\u2019s going to challenge her, not just physically, but also socially and integrating with different people where you are judged every day for your differences,\u201d Probst explains. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the fundamental hallmarks of\u00a0Survivor. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Probst says that MC\u2019s a breath of fresh air. \u201cShe brings this fresh approach to Survivor because she\u2019s shoved 25 years and 48 seasons into a year, so she\u2019s 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].\u201d At 25, Rizo is Season 49\u2019s youngest contestant.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been contemplating and imagining how he\u2019d play his entire life,\u201d Probst says. \u201cTo see those two now playing the same game is fun. And it\u2019s also an example of [how] \u2018different people from different walks of life\u2019 can also include [their] relationship with Survivor.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n