“Survivor 49” cast member confused by player 'raw-dogging' for 3 days straight

Survivor is all about putting a bunch of strangers on an island and seeing what happens. Although, they are not actually complete strangers by the time Jeff Probst officially welcomes them to Survivor. By that point, the cast has already spent several days together at Ponderosa in Fiji waiting for the game to begin.

While they only know each others' initials and are not allowed to talk or communicate during that time — and two Survivor 49 players were replaced by alternates for doing just that — impressions are definitely made, and those impressions can end up massively impacting the game to follow.

With that in mind, we spoke to the entire Survivor 49 cast in Fiji before the game began, and got the full scoop on who they were getting good and bad vibes from. Or just confused vibes, such as when one player befuddled another by doing his best Puddy from Seinfeld on a plane impersonation. Read on for all the intel.

Steven Ramm

Right off the bat, I will tell you that the guy with the dreadlocks who looks like he's missing a parrot from his shoulder and looks like he's fallen off of a yacht ship — I love that guy. He just gives me Rupert 2.0 vibes. He's just very polite seems to be thinking of others first in a way that I know everybody's putting on a front, but for him, it just seems very part of who he is and he just seems kind of quirky and I love that.

Another guy I really vibe with based on energy is the tall dude who's the only guy I've ever seen that can pull off a fedora. But he's got a beard, and he is the tallest person on the cast. He's playing this little puzzle game and he seems like he's a little dorky like me. There's usually a lawyer on every season. If I had to pick lawyer or doctor, that dude's one of those two. He is really clean cut.

There’s also a woman who has got so much nervous energy. She's patting her legs and she's a short brunette and I think her initials start with an S. She's got these baggy, flowy green pants. If the Inside Out emoji for anxiety was a person, she kind of seems like that at times. I think she's just very excited. And then there's a woman with long braids and I cannot get a read on her. She's reading a lot of religious texts, which I think is awesome. And she's got a handheld fan, which I'm like, “Damn, that's f---ing smart.” But I can't get a read on her to save my life. She won't smile.

And then, of course, there’s Bazooka Joe. Dude, you know exactly who I'm talking about. I love that guy. But he terrifies me a little bit. He's been raw-dogging it the whole time. No books, no music. He's just been straight raw-dogging the last three days, staring off into space. That dude either has nothing going on up there or a s--- ton going on up there. It's probably something in between, but that is f---ing impressive.

Michelle “MC” Chukwujekwu

I've been looking at the other women and they all look like they work out. There's this girl that's always been wearing a green cap with softball or soccer vibes. There's another girl who was doing yoga one day, stretching on her own, and she kind of gives me hippie vibes. So I'm here with some physical contenders.

There's this one guy, I've nicknamed him Bruce, as in Bruce Banner. There's been some people who have been kind of sneaking conversations here and there, and I've been keeping my eye out on them like, “Okay, they bend the rules. They're not afraid to bend the rules.” There's a guy who has been sneaking conversations to this girl next to him. So I'm like, “Y’all might be trying to form something already, but I'm clocking it. Y'all might be trying to use that to gain some advantage, but it might be your disadvantage because I'm noticing.”

But the girls have all been smiley and friendly. There's another Black girl and Black girls like to stick together, so we've been smiling at each other, I get good vibes from all the girls. Some of the guys I'm worried about, though.

Matt Williams

I don't see any personalities that I immediately feel in conflict with. If I had to single some people out, there's a girl here with the shortest hair, almost shaved on the sides. She reminds me of my best friend back home and I get a good vibe from her. Again, we can't talk to each other. Maybe five minutes into it, she'll think I'm a buffoon, but I'd like to work with her.

There's a girl with pink hair. I really love that. She's just wears it on her sleeve. I love the term “unapologetically yourself.” Like, look at me, I'm 52-years old, white guy with dreads down to my ass, and I don't give a f--- what anybody thinks. And when you have pink hair and weird snake jewelry and you walk into a room, people immediately know, “Oh, she doesn't care. She's being herself and she's cool with it.” The people that are not scared to just wear it on their sleeve, that's the kind of people I seek out in life. And I will on the island, too.

Savannah Louie

I like S.B. a lot. She is the other short, brunette girl. Of course I like someone who looks like me. I feel like we're familiar. There are a couple of guys that I'm a little worried about. Mr. Muscles is a guy I got my eye on. He seems like he wants to be friends with everybody, and in the real world that's great. But in Survivor, if you're trying to befriend everybody and if you're trying to charm the pants off everybody before the game officially starts, that’s a red flag.

Jawan Pitts

I've been making a journal like everybody else, and for me, I'm an nerd. I love comic book heroes and stuff. So I've been kind of nicknaming everybody. So I get good vibes from J.L. He’s the Punisher. That's why I wrote “Tattoo Sleeves.” He seems very intense, but I can tell that maybe there's a softer side inside.

I’m also getting mixed feelings about M.C. I've put Gamora or Michonne from The Walking Dead for her. She's built, she's awesome. I try to give her eyes. She's not giving me nothing. She's locked in, which I respect. We got to be locked in, I understand it, but I'm like, “Give me something, girl!” But I do have a feeling I'll charm her. She just needs some time. She needs some time with Juwan. She'll come around.

Sophi Balerdi

There's a girl with the initials K.M. She has the braids. I think she's amazing. I definitely would want to work with her. And then sizing up the big guys, I want a meat shield. I want a big guy to work with. So I'm praying that the behemoth — he's like the ultimate meat shield, the filet mignon of a meat shield — I would love to have him on my tribe and have him wrapped around my finger, having him do what I want. And if that's the case, then I think he'll be a good ally.

Rizo Velovic

Ponderosa pre-game is a lot longer than I anticipated. They say bring a lot of reading material, but all I brought was a notebook, so all I have is my thoughts. There’s this guy that looks exactly like Conor McGregor, he's some Canadian big buff guy. And looking at him, obviously they always cast a “meathead,” but it was funny to me. I was like, “Holy s---, am I playing Survivor or am I going into the octagon?” That’s with a lot of the guys, to be honest, which is turning me off.

Coming into this, I wanted to align with the women anyways because a lot of the men that come play Survivor kind of have a big ego. Like myself, but I can leave my ego at the door. A lot of guys when they come play Survivor want to be the captain of the ship and I'm seeing that. So honestly, a lot of the guys haven't done nothing to me personally, but game-wise as a strategic player, it's like you're being really messy and I don't know if I want to align with that.

Whereas the women are kind of low key. Like I said, I don't have anything to do but watch these people. Right now, vibes-wise, I'm getting a lot more good vibes from the women than I am from the men.

Nicole Mazullo

K.M. has been giving me a really great vibe. She seems like someone who's very pragmatic and centered, which I'm looking for in a potential alliance member. Someone that can be sort of a soundboard for me because I can give very Tony-esque, and I want someone that can be like a rock. So she's giving me that rock vibe.

And then there’s the gentleman with the hearing aids. I feel like he can either be an enemy or someone I can have as an alliance member. I wore hearing aids as a kid, so I feel like that could be something that we bond over. I just need to get a sense on his personality though.

Jeremiah Ing

A girl that I'm getting along with just by looking at her. I think her name starts with an S, she has blue nails, she's petite, but she's a firecracker and I can just smell the fierceness in her and that's so not me. So I love people like that, and I feel like that's somebody who I'm really scared of, but somebody who I'm going to work with. There's also this Black girl who is beautiful and she has long braids and she has the best smile ever. I would love to work with her too.

So, the bros. There's three bros and they're already looking at each other laughing. It's like, “Guys, you're not going to be on the same tribe. You can't have three of the strongest guys on the same tribe. Are you playing the game or not?” And one of the guys — the built one with the initials J.L. — he snores so loud and it wakes everybody up. If I get stuck on the same tribe with him, I'm going to be hungry and I'm not going to sleep.

Annie Davis

There have been a couple of people where it's like: Oh, you dropped your Chapstick and you get all huffy and pissed off. That's not good. How are you going to do when it's thundering on us in the middle of the night? But I need to work with somebody smart, and there's one girl and she's probably the tiniest one we have on the cast. I've been watching her for a couple of days, and I really think she's smart. She's very observant, she's friendly, she's pretty, she's sweet. She's somebody that people would probably gravitate towards. I like her a lot. She's probably my number one if she ends up on my tribe.

There's also a tall Black girl that looks like she was probably some kind of a track athlete, because I have a company called RunLab and I can spot runner's bodies. So I'm like: That girl is fast or at least very strong. She's cool. She never breaks the rules. She never talks by accident or chats somebody up when she's not supposed to, but she smiles when she needs to and I like her a lot.

And then there are a couple of guys that I would love to have peripherally attach myself to. There's a big beefcake dude. There's always one of those and he's friendly and nice, but something about him tells me I probably can't trust him. There's just something there.

Alex Moore

I've given everyone nicknames and there are two people that stand out as good people who I definitely want to work with. Mama K. I call her because she's just this mother figure who's just so smiley and her initials are K.M. She's just so friendly and sweet and she was dancing at the airport a little, so it was kind of wholesome. I work for an 80-year-old member of Congress. I'm used to older women and looking for that figure. I was friends with my teachers growing up. They'd bring me to parks. So she is definitely someone that I could see myself working with.

Then there's this guy that I'm calling Snooki because he looks like he's straight out of Jersey Shore — like gym, tan, laundry, full effect. Very much fist pumping on the weekends. Usually people don't align with big threats like that, but I go for the crazy outrageous people and he just seems like he's going to be such a fun time, and honestly, a good shield. We've definitely exchanged some looks and smiles and I laugh at his outrageous behavior.

On the other end, there are some people who just will not give an inch. It's like, we're here to have fun, but they're not smiling at all. So there's this really tall guy, bald and beard. His initials are N.M., and he just looks like he's out for blood. He's ready to murder someone. And it's like, I know in an instant my head would be on the chopping block and he probably is looking at me smiling, being like, “What is wrong with this guy? He's not taking it seriously.”

Sage Ahrens-Nichols

The person that I would love to connect with the most is N.M. I hope the vibe is reciprocal. They gave me the rock on sign, so that was reassuring. And then there are a few people where I'm like, “Oh, I can't wait to get to know you after the game. I want to get you out immediately.” I haven't got to see S.S. a whole lot, but she just has this aura about her where I'm like, she’s a total badass.

Jason Treul

I am getting incredibly good vibes from K.M. I think that she just seems like such a wonderful, lovely, nice person. When we're in the line, she'll do extra things that are beyond polite to the wait staff. Everyone is like, “thank you” for when they're taking the food away. Everyone does that. But I saw one time a little piece of meat fall on the ground. Immediately she goes to pick it up, puts it back on her plate. Not everyone would do that. And for her it was an instinct. I think that she seems like somebody who would play very open-heartedly and I'm really into that.

I get this sort of mysteriousness from A.M. I think that he's been kind of following the rules a little more, so he hasn't been talking too much, but when he does and when he smiles, it's like the goofiest smile ever. And I'm like, “What is your story, dude?” I want to get to know him so bad.

And there is this dude that took a wrong turn and ended up on 49 instead of 48. That guy belongs on 48. He's the only guy on our cast that belongs on 48. He's been loud and confident, and I think that if I was on a tribe with him, it's very “You're either with me or you're against me.” And I feel like I don't really operate super well under those confinements. Maybe he has a subtlety to him, but at least what he's communicating at Ponderosa, it's very big and I don't play very big. I like to live in the crevices and that can't work for me.

Kristina Mills

J.I. is my guy. It's something about him. This whole game, they talk about trust your gut and with him I'm like, “Me and you, if we are together, we're going to make some stuff happen and then we're going to be lifelong friends after this.” Same with A.M. Those are my middle initials too, so that feels like some good vibes there. S.B., I feel like she'll be like my little sister. I just get that from her. And then I can't remember her last initial, but it starts with an S and she has just flowy ocean vibes. She's in a sundress and me and her have a lot of the same similarities and I just feel like she'd be like a soul sister or something. Like we were twins in another lifetime.

Jake Latimer

There is a gentleman that I think he's maybe half-Black. He smiles a lot just like me. He kind of reminds me of me in a sense. He's muscular, he looks like he's fit, he looks like he enjoys life. So if I was to have this guy on my tribe, I would 100 percent get involved with that. It's a bromance. And then also I'd like to find a female younger than me to kind of be that big brother kind of model to someone that misses home and someone that they can trust and to protect them and stuff like that. So those are the kind of two alliances I'm kind of looking for right off the bat.

Then there's a tall African-American woman, very quiet, doesn't smile, but she's zoned in all the time. I know she's got a strategy of some sort. It's those quiet ones that under the radar and they're sneaky. But you know what? I've been smiling to everyone. We're not allowed to talk, but I think a smile goes a long way in this game at the start, especially with me just being a bigger guy with tattoos and having that correctional officer look. I'm intimidating to look at, but I'm a big teddy bear at the end of the day. So if I can get those smiles out early, they're going to see that I'm not just this ginormous meathead stereotype kind of guy.

Sophie Segreti

There is a jacked man with a lot of tattoos who just seems like maybe my opposite. I just feel like it's going to turn out that we're from very different life stages. We've got a lot of differences. I am struggling to find something in common with him. I also am an annoying rule follower and they don't want us to talk. And he's really chatty and it's just that teacher's pet in me that I've thought "Don’t ruin this."

There is a Black woman with long braids who just seems very gregarious and seems to be very sweet and social, and I feel like that's a good combination for Survivor — almost in the way that Kamilla is a very bubbly presence. She's kind of flying under the radar but is so socially adept. She's making a lot of moves. Everybody seems to like her, but, nobody has yet been like, “Oh, she's kind of a threat.” That's what I'm getting from this woman.

And then we have a woman with hot pink hair who I just can't get a read on. Today she had the coolest silvery pink eyeshadow on and my instinct when I first saw her was to be like, “Oh, Carolyn 2.0.” Purely off of loud, colorful energy, but she seems really measured and kind of understated.

Nate Moore

There's a gentleman with two hearing aids. His first initial is S. He seems, from an attitude perspective, happy to be here, which is sort of what I am. And I think sees some of the ridiculous rules. We kind of just smile at each other like, “Yeah, this is inherently a little bit insane what they're asking us to do,” but I like that it's not about being serious or being focused. This should be the fun part of the game. It's sort of like, you're not married yet, let's have fun when we're dating.

There's also a very, very boisterous big guy who I think would be fun to play with and also kind of use as a shield. He looks like a big hunk of meat. And I'm not annoyed by him and I think he'd be a target. I'm going to need somebody physically to kind of be like him. So those are two people I'm interested in working with. Everybody honestly seems pretty friendly. There's a couple of people who are a little bit more rule-following, looking down and not smiling. It doesn't mean I don't want to work with them. It's hard to get a read on them because they're a little less rambunctious, and I want to play with rambunctious players.

Shannon Fairweather

I'm so aware that anything anyone brings up in me is a me problem. I think this is a really special cast. The energy is really, really good. I'm a huge fan of the show, and I also listen to the On Fire podcast, and Jeff talks about the tapestry of each season and the tapestry of each tribe. And you can feel that this tapestry has a very beautiful, authentic, deep, creative energy to it that it makes sense that I fit into it.

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