Meet the 'Survivor 47' Cast! Andy Rueda Says Idols Are Overrated

Andy Rueda is a grad student studying for his Master's in AI through machine learning. But in talking with the 31-year-old, it's clear his intelligence about the game is far from artificial. Andy has a clear love of reality TV and social strategy, and he hopes to "charm and disarm" like some of his favorite players across multiple shows and countries. His superfandom has even gotten him involved with the ever-growing Survivor podcast community, which led to him seeing a familiar face in the pregame, and perhaps his first ally of the season.

Read on for my interview with Andy, and check in with Parade.com daily for interviews with this season's contestants and other tidbits. Survivor 47 premieres on September 18 with a two-hour premiere on CBS.

Related: Meet the Full Cast of Survivor 47

Interview with Andy from Survivor 47

Hey! How are you doing right now?
Oh my God. I'm so, so excited. I am so unbelievably happy to be here. I feel like it's been a long time coming. I was a finalist last year, so to go through that and to not know if you're ever going to get contacted again, it brings up a lot of emotions, but things have fallen into place so well for me. I've given myself back to my life in the year between. I am so much more ready to go. And I just want to get started. Like, right now, dude!

Well, let's get started on our end, then! Give me your name, age, and occupation.
Hi, I'm Andy. I'm 31 years old. I live in Boston, originally from the great Buffalo, New York. [I'm] currently a master's student in computational linguistics, which focuses on machine learning, specifically natural language processing.

So basically, you're about to dive into something that's the opposite of your studies, only relying on nature. Are you excited to detox from tech for a bit?
Oh my God, I'm so happy. Just to not have my phone. I don't miss the scrolling. Doom-scrolling Twitter, I don't miss it at all. Only just being able to contact my loved ones is the only thing I miss about it. But I mean, this is so, so freaking cool. We just did "safety school" the day before, talking about how we're actually going to be living outside with nothing but just our clothes. And I'm just ready to go, dude. [Laughs.]

Let's talk about what brought you from grad school to safety school. Talk to me about your history with Survivor and what made you decide to jump from fan to contestant.
I grew up watching a ton of reality TV. I was more into The Real World and The Challenge, a lot of MTV stuff. Survivor caught my eye a little bit. I remember I watched some of All-Stars, the postmerge. I didn't see our guy Rob Cesternino, but I did love Boston Rob when I was a kid. But I really became a superfan about a decade ago out of college. And the first season I watched was Tocantins, episode one, Carolina left. Got me hooked, dude! And so whenever I get into something, I have a very, very obsessive personality. I have to be an expert on it. So, I just immediately dove into everything available.

At the time, I got into Rob Has a Podcast pretty early on, as I was watching all the seasons in chronological order. And RHAP was the coolest resource there. So, I really wanted to get involved. I became an RHAP patron, got to know Rob just by calling in. If you're a $10 patron, you can just call in and talk to him. So it's been a huge, huge sort of north star for my life. It's just been incorporated into everything. Because as I fell in love with the show, I just knew I wanted to play. I think Gabby Pascuzzi said something really wise once. She said, "Not every superfan needs to play. You don't have to get off the couch just because you love Survivor, because it's going to change your relationship." Those are very wise words. But as soon as I heard that, I knew I was the one that did need to play. This is just burning inside of me. It's the biggest scratch that I cannot wait to itch.

Well, let's talk about some players that have already scratched that itch. Give me one Survivor winner and one non-winner who you identify with the most.
Okay, so winner, give me Yul and give me Todd. Yul, I love, dude. He has a really big reputation for being a super intelligent guy. He really is. But I think that it was his emotional intelligence that won him Cook Islands. The way he talked to Penner was so different than the way he talked to Becky, to Ozzy. Even cooking up a little jury deal with Adam that got him the win. I think that was ahead of its time. I think people should do more of that. But it was really his EQ that I really was drawn to the most from him. Todd, dude, he just knows the game. He loves the game. That's how you got to come in, like Todd. Just savage, just ready to do anything.

And then non-winner, I think the new era player I want to play most like is Omar. He didn't win; he got really close. But I think he laid a really good, repeatable blueprint on how to do well in the new era. He did not touch advantages, which we'll get to. But his game was based off of social capital, information, and options. And he did it in a way that there was a path for him to do it while sustaining his threat level. Maryanne came in the last second, got him out. But I want to play like him. I watch Australian Survivor, so…

Okay, we can go international!
If I can play a Feras game, oh my God, I would live for that. I would love that. Transporting that to the U.S. meta might be a little bit difficult, but he's an absolute star. And then Hayley Leake, creme de la creme. People are like, "Oh, she got voted out." I don't give a f–k. Look at the material. She is the most amazing, polished player, innovative, a challenge beast. She's definitely aspirational.

And actually, I'm just saying this off the top of my head. But, like you, I watch a lot of reality TV, dude. A lot of reality TV. [Laughs.] Of all the people who've come and gone, who've played in the past, I think the one person I actually felt like I related to the most was Kevin Martin, the winner of Big Brother Canada 5. Just in his energy that he brought, his competitiveness, the way he looked at competition, his level of preparation, I feel like is probably the best template for what I'm trying to bring. And this isn't even game-related, but for me, very recently, coming to an understanding of my own bisexuality. Watching him, it wasn't like a one-for-one. But looking back, I just feel like I relate to him more than anyone I've ever watched.

Let's talk about your preparation. Obviously, you're well-studied in Survivor. So, how comprehensive was your prep process when you found out you'd be coming out here?
I tried to do everything under the sun. Obviously, what's become very popularized is Carson and 3D printing all the puzzles and studying it. I did a lot of that. I did a lot of the puzzles. But there's more to that. He lost the firemaking challenge, so I became sick at fire. That was the number one thing I needed to do. Because, honestly, you can't call yourself a prepared Survivor player in the new era if you're not really, really confident in making fire. Obviously, you want to win the Final Four challenge. But you want to have those options. You want to play an endgame confident in your firemaking ability. And then just challenges at large. I watched Peridiam's four-hour challenge hacks video. I wrote them all in my notebook, and I have it here. And so I take the level of preparation really seriously. I did start working on my grip strength before Charlie told me to a few weeks before. My forearms aren't special, but I think I've improved there. So, any edge you can get, especially when you're just sitting there, getting ready to play Survivor, you have to do. So I try to maximize that.

Related: Everything to Know About Survivor 47

Besides a latent surge in grip strength, give me your biggest superpower and biggest piece of kryptonite that you plan to bring into the game.
I think I have two superpowers. I think that one of my superpowers is I just have the ability to charm and disarm. When people meet me, they vibe with me really, really quickly, especially at this stage of my life where I'm confident just to be myself. I have my little quirks, I have my high energy, and I just let it shine. And I haven't met anyone in my adult life who's disliked that or disliked me. My other superpower is, I feel what really, really started to draw me into Survivor and Survivor strategy was, like number crunching. So, I work in AI. I was a data analyst in big tech before. I'm really, really good with numbers on the fly. And I feel like I'm very, very confident no matter what situation I'm thrown into, I'm always going to know the optimal, whether it's a vote split or some plurality option, I'm going to be able to see that, and I feel really confident to have that plan and have the bonds to, execute on that.

Kryptonite, dude… I'm a huge overthinker. On the surface, I'm laid back; I know that. But underneath, I'm constantly, constantly thinking. I was overthinking how to tie my own shoes yesterday. I'm like, "Oh, because I'm gonna be at the airport, I don't want people to know I'm bad at untying knots. So I gotta tie it really loose." So, my brain, it's like a whirligig, really. So what I have to do is really know that about myself and just be conscious to take deep breaths while I'm making decisions out there and trust my instincts.

You talk about the fear of being judged for something as small as how you tie your shoelaces. In turn, I'm sure you have some judgments about your competition. Among the people around you, is there anyone you currently see as someone you will/won't work with?
This is the best question you ask, and no one ever gives you a satisfying answer. Let's break it down. So, at the top, I'm an RHAP patron. I'm heavily involved. It goes without saying, I know who Aysha Welch is. I could give you ten fun facts about Aysha Welch. We have the same birthday. She loves her dogs. I know a lot about her, and I feel like we're gonna click really, really well. And if I ever get a chance to link up with her, I'm definitely down to work with her deep into the game. So, let's put her at the top.

What's your biggest takeaway from the past two seasons of Survivor that you plan to bring into your game?
Here's my big thing. It's my Survivor hot take, too. There is nothing more overrated in Survivor history than the hidden immunity idol. These things are not worth the parchment that their notes are printed on. I mean just think about it. Let's talk about the new era specifically. Maryanne is the only winner in the new era to ever touch a full-fledged hidden immunity idol, one without a quick expiration date like Gabler. And she used hers to her advantage in certain ways, but she never had to play one for game reasons. None of them did. That goes to show that holding an idol is orthogonal to your winning, right? And you see so many times people get the idol, they get so excited because they think it's their ticket to the end. And, more often than not, it blows up. In 46, how many people are leaving with idols in their pockets because of the idea, the myth of the idol?

It is so clear to me that the real advantage is knowing where the advantages are. If you are someone who knows where they are on your tribe, but you're not holding it, you have all the power, and you know you could do exactly what you want without having the target on your back. So that's where I want to be. Brandon picked up the Beware Advantage and handing it to Sabiyah right away. But I think if I get the chance, I will be the first one to leave it, cook up an idea of how to use it to my advantage, and definitely get someone else to take it.

Finally, if you could bring a celebrity or fictional character out for a Loved Ones visit, who are you picking and why?
I don't know, Mike. Because people always say, "Oh, Beyonce." Beyonce doesn't watch Survivor. She doesn't know who you are. What is that? It's like a meet and greet. What is Goku gonna tell me on Day 18 of Survivor? I'm like, "Dude, I just want to see my girlfriend." Okay, I'll answer your question. I feel like I'll just pick celebrities I want to meet, regardless of the context. So give me Josh Allen. I'm a big Josh Allen guy. I would love to be friends with him. I'm a massive K-pop stan. So I'm going to bring in my favorite group, aespa. That's Karina, that's Ningning, that's Winter, and that's Giselle–which is my bias order, for those who are curious. My favorite author, he's this guy named Thomas Pynchon. He's a total recluse; no one's ever met him. People don't even know where he is. So bring him here. Bring them all. Bring them all to me at the same time. I don't know what we'd talk about.

You'd be having some great conversations at Applebee's! I'm so excited for you. I know this moment has been a bit of a long time coming, and maybe, unlike the Bills currently, you're able to bring home that title.
Thanks so much, man. The Mike Bloom interview is close to the top of the bucket list. Every little piece of this has been a dream come true. I've been waiting for this one, man. So thank you so much. We'll see what happens. This could be the RHAPpiest season of all time! [Laughs.]

Next, check out the Season 47 cast's hottest Survivor takes.