Meet the 'Survivor 47' Cast! Flight School Owner Sue Smey Calls Herself the "Female Tony"

The game of Survivor is all about managing a balance between group and individual mindset. Perhaps nobody on the Season 47 cast represents that more than Sue Smey. Coming from humble beginnings with a desire to help, she made a major shift late in life when she decided to become a pilot, eventually opening her own flight school. As the oldest castaway this season, the 59-year-old is hoping to be perceived as "ditzy" and out on the island for yet another life experience. But Sue is playing like this could all end tomorrow, and so she's channeling courage and ferocity, even calling herself the female Tony Vlachos. 

Read on for my interview with Sue, 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 Sue from Survivor 47

To start, give me your name, age, and occupation.
My name is Sue Smey. I'm 58 years old, and by the end of filming, I will be 59. I'm a pilot, and I own my own flight school.

Interesting! How did that end up coming about?
I'm someone who is bored easily. I am always looking for adventure and something exciting to do. So in my 50s, I said, "You know what? I'm going to just become a pilot." And with that, once I became a pilot, I just bought a few airplanes and I just opened my own flight school. All by myself, nothing from anybody else, no handouts. It's 100% mine, and I'm so damn proud of it.

Congratulations! And I imagine that's taught you so much about not only independence but also relationship management.
Well, the independence was probably the most important thing. Because I felt like, my whole life, I've always been a people pleaser. I allowed [someone] to make decisions for me, and I sort of went with the flow, kept the peace. I kept saying, "I need my own identity. I need to make my decisions, make my mistakes, even." But I needed to do something for me. And it's just been a world of difference of who I am and the person I am. And the aviation industry is very male-dominated. So it has been difficult. I've had a lot of pushback with a lot of the males in the industry. But now I'm to the point where I do have a lot of respect, and it feels really good.

Well, let's talk about what brought you from pilot school to the world of "pilots and passengers." What's your history with Survivor, and what made you decide to go from fan to player?
So I fell in love with Survivor the very first episode that was aired. This was definitely something that is totally me. I love a challenge. I love the thought of having to figure out how to survive. And even back then, I knew I would be on the show one day. And at that time, my daughter, who was seven years old, helped me make a video. I just never sent it in. And then she started getting sick. We didn't know what was wrong with her. It was a very difficult time in our lives. She ended up being diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.

Our world was turned upside down. The only thing that really helped us and the good things through that time period was literally Jeff freaking coming into our living room and just taking us away from our horrifying reality, just for one hour a week. And that's something that was always so true to my heart. Fast forward to Season 45. My daughter, now she's 30 years old. Every time an episode would air, she would text me, "Mom, you should do this. Oh my god, Mom, you'd be so good at this." And it was almost like a reminder of that's who I was, that's who I always wanted to be. So her and I made my second video, but this time I mailed it in. And here I am. I'm here! So she definitely was my motivation to remind me to be who I was all these years.

I love how much that came full circle for you and your daughter. As someone who has been watching Survivor since the beginning, give me one winner and one non-winner who you identify with the most.
You're gonna think I'm weird, but Tony. I freaking love Tony, and I feel like maybe I'm the female Tony. I'm very creative. I'm someone that would know they're all scheming, and if I can figure out a way to listen to their conversations, find some way to figure out what everyone's saying and doing, I think it would help me in the game. And I believe Cirie is a mastermind. She's someone that her thought process blows my mind, and she's definitely someone that I love to death.

What is one life experience you feel has prepared you most for the game? Is it starting your flight school, as you mentioned before?
No, [when] I grew up, my family had a generational island, and we all spent our summers there. My grandmother was born on the island. We were very poor. We didn't have hot water, so when we needed to shower, we'd pour the shampoo in our hair, soap in our hand, run down to the water, wash up, come back. We didn't have drinkable water, so we would have to schlep a mile up the island with empty jugs, fill the water jugs.

That sounds like the Sweat challenge.
[Laughs.] It was. My grandparents had an outhouse. We lived rough. But that was just our norm. So, to me, I know it's going to be tough on the island. But I'm not going to be so shocked as I think a lot of the other people are. But I've roughed it. I've lived a rough–in a good way–childhood and upbringing. So I feel I'm very experienced, and I'll be pretty comfortable, better than most.

Related: Everything to Know About Survivor 47

What's your biggest superpower and piece of kryptonite that you're bringing into the game?
So my superpower is that I have the ability to stay within myself. And when I do, I can move mountains. For example, I wake up every day and I think to myself, "Be where your feet are." So I'm not thinking about what happened yesterday. I'm not thinking about what's going to happen in another hour from now. I'm here with you, Mike Bloom, feeling honored and so blessed that I'm being interviewed by you in Fiji for the greatest show ever created. So to me, that's my superpower. I can be right here right now, and I'm in love with what's happening at this very moment.

My kryptonite is my emotions. That's my favorite thing about myself, and I feel it shows how much I truly love and feel for everything. Every time in my life that I've made a decision based on my emotions, and not my inner being, just breaking off my emotions, they've always been 100% incorrect. So I'm going to always need to figure out how to get a hold of my emotions. I know when I'm tired, I know when stuff happens, I have to check my emotions and make the decision based on what I feel is best, not how I'm really feeling.

How do you think you're going to be perceived in this game? Because you talk about being a woman in a male-dominated field, where I'm sure you're used to thinking about how you're coming across.
I'm the older lady. And they're not going to know what my real age is. But obviously, they're already looking, saying, "Okay, this is the older lady." I'm bubbly; they're going to think I'm ditzy, that I'm just here for the fun of it or whatever. Little do they know I aced the boards in the medical industry. I've aced the FAA exams in the aviation industry. And my greatest schooling is my street smarts, school of hard knocks. I grew up in a difficult time, different era, and I feel like I'm very rounded in all of the aspects.

Now let's turn the judgments back onto your competition. Who are you picking up good vibes from in the preseason?
Well, I'm definitely looking at the strong. Obviously, we need strength. And there's two gentlemen here. One is a little bit older, but he looks like a powerhouse. He looks like he's very controlled, a methodical thinker. I think he'd be a hard worker, and he's someone that I definitely would love to have on my tribe. And then there's another tall gentleman with long dreads. He reminds me of an MMA fighter or a boxer. He seems really badass. I think he's going to be really good in the challenges. And I'm sure everyone has brought him up because he's just big and strong and looks like he'd be very good. There's also another girl, she's got a big, whole bunch of hair, very pretty. She's got a beautiful smile. Seems very kind. But I feel like she's real badass. And I think that she's someone that I would love to be teamed up with, too, because I think we could work well together.

What about on the other side? Is there anyone on your "no-fly list" in terms of allies?
There's a few that don't even look at you. I feel like they look scared and I can't read them at all. And so, when I can't read someone, it's something that, like, I would want to stay away from. I don't know if they're the type that would open up and want to be with me. it's hard to read these people. But any of them that aren't smiling and are just  stone-faced, not my cup of tea.

You spoke about being a female Tony. Does that mean you'll be as hungry for idols and advantages as he is?
I'm all in. This could end tomorrow. So why would I hold back? I'm a challenger. I love competition. I'm not going to sit back and be afraid. I have never lived afraid; I'm not going to start now. So I'm going to go for it all. And whatever happens, I'll be proud of myself for what I've accomplished.

What is your hottest Survivor take?
The one thing that I really don't, and it's more just my own personal feeling, is that the challenge where you're all under the water, and your face is just up through the cage, [Last Gasp]. I feel I could do that part. But being in the cold water for hours, I don't think I could handle it. I always run cold to begin with, and that's because I'm a scuba diver. And when I'm underwater for too long, my whole body gets too cold. And I have a wetsuit on, so I can't imagine. If it didn't last too long, I feel like I could do it. But if it's hours, there's no way that my body would be able to take it.

What’s your biggest takeaway from the past two seasons of Survivor that you plan to bring into your game?
Well, I feel, if I get an idol, I believe that we are going to have our alliances. I don't trust anybody. I understand that your number one is going to screw you over before everybody else does. So, depending on where we are in the game, I will play my idol, because I don't want to go home with an idol. And any challenges and everything we do, I'm going to push for all of us to be united and work together. But I'm not trusting one person. We're all going to be liars here, right? So I'm not taking any chances, and I don't want to go home with an idol.

What celebrity or fictional character would you want to come out for a loved ones visit?
So I would bring Esther Hicks, who channels Abraham Hicks. I don't know if you're familiar with them. It's the same thing with Daryl Anka and Bashar. I'm big into channelers, people [that] basically channel you to just be yourself. Know you have the strength, believe in yourself. And that's probably what I would be wishing I had when we're tired and run down and ready to just fall to the ground, that inspiration of just like, "There's a part of me that can do this."

Next, check out our interview with Survivor 47 contestant Kyle Ostwald.