Survivor Borneo Castaway Jenna Lewis-Dougherty Is Ready To Hit The Ground Running: 'Survivor 50 Is Not Gen-Pop, This Is Death Row'

The following interview was conducted on location in Fiji before filming began for "Survivor 50."

It wouldn't be a celebration of "Survivor" without throwing it back to "Borneo." 

It's been a few years since we last saw Jenna Lewis-Dougherty tear up our TV screens (22 to be exact, but who's counting?). She last appeared on "Survivor: All-Stars" where she made it all the way to the Final 3 before a lifted foot in the "Hands on a Hard Idol" challenge squashed her dream of becoming a millionaire. 

Now, Jenna is back to hold it down. For her Season 1 cast. For old-school "Survivor." For the early aughts reality TV boom. And she's fired up and ready to head into battle with some of the game's biggest names, former winners, new era all-stars, and more. 

Below, the Season 1 OG talks to TVLine about being the only representative from "Borneo," her legacy in the game, potential ride-or-dies, and what it was like to watch Sue Hawk's bonkers snakes and rats speech in real time. 

TVLINE | Jenna, you're back!
JENNA LEWIS-DOUGHERTY | I'm back! Oh my God.

TVLINE | How are you feeling about Season 50? Are you ready?
I'm feeling ready, man. I'm so excited for this because none of these people know me. I don't even have a blue check next to my name on any media anywhere, so they're like, "Who's Jenna?" They probably think I'm Jenna Morasca. They're like, "I think she looks different now. Was her hair always blonde?" They have no idea who the hell I am, and this could be good and this could be very, very bad.

TVLINE | What have you been up to since we last saw you?
"All-Stars," yeah. My life is so ridiculously beautiful, which is hard because it's good and bad, right? My life is amazing now, but it's harder to leave that to come back out here in a way. I think it's also easy in many ways because previously I've been playing from this point of desperation as this single mom, right? Really just a feral wildcat of, "I need this, or my life cannot continue." Now, I'm playing from this beautiful stability and foundation. I've been married for 15 years, I have a 14-year-old son, Dan, and a 12-year-old daughter, Evie, along with my 29 — can you hear that again? — 29-year-old twins who were the babies when I left them on the very first season of "Survivor," and I cried when I didn't get my videotape. But my life is perfect. Am I going to play better when my back is against the wall and feral and wild and desperate? Or am I going to play better coming from this sense of love and security that will give me that feeling that no matter what I do out there, no matter how cutthroat, how many risks I take, it won't change what actually matters to me, which is my family.

TVLINE | What does it feel like to be the only representative from the OG season out here?
It's a lot of pressure. I mean, there's so many people that could be in my shoes, and I am not unaware of that. You've got some amazing people, but also they never got their second shot, let alone their third. But you watch people like Gervase [Peterson] and Kelly [Wiglesworth], who both played again. Richard [Hatch] did, but Richard had a big target on his back, as he always does. It's always bigger when he has his clothes off, but I think that when Gervase and Kelly came back, they weren't true representatives. I don't think that they came back into the game learning from their mistakes.

I think what I showed Jeff — because he chose me, thank you, Jeff — he saw in me that from "Survivor 1" to "Survivor: All-Stars," I did a heel turn. I was willing to adapt. If you watch my game in "Survivor 1," where we just get Pagong-ed off, and then you watch me in "All-Stars," I come out and I hit the road, and it is game on. It wasn't ever about getting the winners off, or Ethan [Zohn] would have been off right after Tina [Wesson]. It was about getting Tina off because I did not want to deal with her. I knew that she would be conniving and weasel her way in there. I didn't want her connecting with Jerri. Rupert was just so easy to manipulate, so I didn't trust him to have anybody else that could be in his ear. So, that's a little emotionally abusive, right, to Rupert that I'm like, "I'm gonna control you. You can't see anyone else." But that's exactly what I did, and I couldn't have anyone else get in the way of my alliance, and she would have been in the way. But I think I did a great heel turn, so I think it showed them that I can adapt my game. If people think just because this is new school that I can't adapt my game again, that's ridiculous. I've already shown you people that I know how to play. It's the social connections. I don't care what else you throw in there. It's gonna seem like a cake-walk. They're all like, "Oh, it's faster now." I'm like, "Great, I starve less. I have less bug bites, but my game will not change at all." I hit the ground in "All-Stars" and sprinted the entire way, and that's what I'll do again.

TVLINE | What are your thoughts on these two question marks that are here from Season 49?
I think one of the other two is definitely a winner. Savannah and Rizo are big question marks for everybody, but I'm thinking, this is my quote. "Survivor 50" is not gen-pop. This is death row. So to get here, you have to do some serious s–t. So those two, they did some serious s–t. Whatever it is, we don't know, but they did something to get here. They earned their spot here on death row with the rest of us [here for] "Survivor 50," so I'm thinking it's either really good or really bad. And either way, as long as I find out who they are early, I can use that to my advantage.

But as far as winners, regardless of Rizo and Savannah, if they're winners, I would not work with Dee. I don't trust her, and it's nothing to do with her winning. I just don't trust her. I don't like how she flipped alliances on so many people in the last day. Didn't love that. So I wouldn't trust her. However, Kyle. I definitely would play with Kyle, and here's why. What's the most baller move you can do? Take the newest winner who really played the game supremely well, walk with him to the finish line, and then not let him Sandra himself into a double win. That's what I wanna do. I like Kyle. You hear all of this stuff about old school versus new school, right? And you hear how in new school, "They're so willing to cut each other's throats, and oh my god, they change alliances!" Really? Because we just saw Kyle and Kamilla make it to the Final 4 along with Eva and Joe. So you've got two sets of twos. That's exactly like "All-Stars." That is precisely. You have other bigger ones, but you have to have your ride-or-die, and you always then take it down to your Final 2. So they really are just playing an old school game and calling it new school. Package it however you want. I know how to play.

TVLINE | What do you think your legacy on "Survivor" is? How do you want to be remembered?
Legacy, that's a big word. You hear it thrown around all the time. "Oh, the 'Survivor' legends." Now, I don't think I'm a "Survivor" legend. I think right now, I'm an icon. I represent that OG era and the first iteration of them bringing the best of the best back. I represent that, and I represent it well, but until I win, I'm not a legend. And when are most of the legends born? The legends are born on these returnee seasons, so there's no better time for me to secure my legacy of being a legend than right now. How would I want to be remembered? Exactly how I am. I come across as sweet and very dynamic and excitable and energetic, and the entire time I'm just plotting on how I'm going to use you best, how I'm going to make you think that you need me, how I make you think that you can beat me in the Final 3, so that is an excellent reason to take me with you.

My game is all social, but it's all based on using people as the next step, and usually that does take a ride-or-die. I really do think you need a ride-or-die in this game. You even look at Dee. She had to have Austin. You have to have a ride-or-die, somebody that if you go on a reward challenge, you leave them there to make sure that other people aren't plotting. Somebody to be a soundboard for your ideas. But I think that I will be remembered for exactly who I am, which is a socially dynamic player who can be cutthroat when they need to be. I was in the first blindsides. You watch "Survivor," the first one, Ramona comes out and she's like, "Oh my gosh, I think Jenna's my first white friend. Oh, she's so sweet." She has this whole thing of me talking to her and rubbing her back and all this. That night, Ramona, I wrote her name down, and I had no qualms. I sprinted past her. I never had any compassion. I don't have any more now, so I'm going to be super sweet until I cut your legs out from under you.

TVLINE | Any thoughts on who might be your potential ride-or-die?
Yes, I have some thoughts on a ride-or-die. Now, I'd have to see how they are in the game, but I like Kamilla. She proved she can be a ride-or-die. I think she's very savvy. I think she's a very good player, and I think, because she got so close doing that, and she saw the social dynamics of how those two kind of worked to propel them into the Final 4, I think that she'd be willing to do that. I also like Genevieve, but I don't know. Genevieve might be a little too conniving. She might want to make that great big move for her jury speech, which might cut out her ride-or-die. I'd love for it to be an old school player. I'd love for it to be Ozzy. I don't want it to be Cirie. I'm sorry. She is not my ride-or-die. That is the one old school [player] I could tell you is not my ride-or-die. I'd love for it to be Aubry. I think Aubry's a pretty phenomenal old school player. Chrissy would be great, but you can't have the hag alliance in the Final 3, not that she's a hag, I'm calling myself one. Actually, I'm gonna change that. It's not hag, we are crones. Crones sounds like we have f—king wisdom. We are smart and we have wisdom, so we are crones, not hags! Hags have wrinkles and a lot of warts. So I think Chrissy can't be, Genevieve could be, Kamilla could be. I really like Savannah. Possibly Jonathan, but I don't know. He might be another Rupert, just in a bigger package. He might be great to wrap around my finger and convince him of good strategies because I don't see where he had a lot of good strategy. A lot of big muscles and he can reach tall things, but I don't need anybody in my kitchen right now, so unless they change some of the challenges to pickle jar opening, which, you know, we're getting older, so maybe we need this. That would be amazing.

TVLINE | Who are you most excited to see here with you?
There's a lot of people that I was excited to see, but I was really excited to see Kyle. I thought he played a pretty flawless game, him and Kamilla. I really respect the way they played the game. I was excited to see Ozzy, mostly because I'm hoping that I'm on his tribe, so I get to eat. [Laughs] He's like Aquaman in my head, and I'm like, great, want to be on his tribe! He can provide me with some food! Maybe I can give him some tips on strategizing. That's the thing, I don't think, Stephenie, Colby, and Ozzy are really great strategic players. So if I can get an old school alliance, I think [it would] have to be on mine and Cirie's shoulders to kind of put that together. I don't see Coach coming up with much except maybe a new Tai Chi move out here, so I think that it's gonna rely on Cirie and I if it's old school. Maybe Devens? No, not Devens, he had no game. He just bumbled around and fell into some good things. Chrissy had game, but I can't have the crone alliance. So yeah, I think I want it to be old school and I think I want it to be Aubry or Ozzy.

TVLINE | Who do you see as a potential first boot?
Cirie or Coach. I know that's two old school players. That's terrible. It should be someone else. Dee would be a popular choice for my first vote. I think she's athletic, which I think would be a good move to get her out, plus she's a winner, which I can totally go back to the winner killer. Speaking of monikers, I think that I would love Coach out for this reason and this reason alone. I am a 47-year-old woman. I read a lot of romance books, and I would like to say, anyone who calls himself the Dragon Slayer, I am firmly in Camp Dragon. I am all for those dragons. I want the dragons to win.

TVLINE | Who's not here that you were expecting?
I actually thought they might bring back a villain or two, like a real villain. I'm not talking like I am a villain, but I'm gonna be dressed up as this little mom of four villain. I remember when Mark Burnett was like, "Jenna's definitely the first villain." I was like, "Oh, thanks. Shucks. Stop it, Mark." But I thought there would be a villain or two, like a big one, like Jonny Fairplay or Russell Hantz. I thought one of them would spice this s–t up. But I think as a celebration season, I'm gonna have to step in their shoes.

TVLINE | How much of the new era have you been watching?
I missed a large portion of what I can only assume was s–tty television because none of them are here, but I picked it up around Season 30 again, but I really didn't watch much in between. I was having a whole bunch of kids and a new relationship, getting married, getting a job off the ground, but I started watching again and then really got back into it. "Winners at War," because I'm friends with Ethan and I wanted him to win, and then have watched it ever since.

TVLINE | Any new era hot takes you'd like to share?
They always want to paint like us old school people like, "We're not gonna be able to play this new game," and I'm like, dude, it was more physically demanding out there [back then]. It was longer. You used to get to Day 9 and half the people wanted to quit, you could see it in their eyes, which made it great for me. So this game moves quicker, but on the flip side, I think sometimes these new era [players], they move too quickly. You watch a lot of them jump too quickly. They think they gotta make big changes really fast and it bites them in the ass, right? So I think they are used to advantages. We are not. But if you ask me, an advantage really is just something that you can use to manipulate power in the game. Not necessarily do I need the advantage to have the power. I can use the fact that somebody else has that in their possession to paint a huge target on their back. So I don't need to have and use those advantages. I just need to know that I can use it against them.

TVLINE | Overall, do the new era players have an advantage?
No. I'm curious why they think the new era kids have an advantage... because it's less time? Because they have advantages? That's like saying you have more advantages coming out to this desert island if you live in Beverly Hills. I'm used to living in the slums. I'm used to having to scrape and get through this game by the skin of my teeth. They're doing it with all these advantages and Shots in the Dark, and all this stuff that I didn't have, and they're doing it for one-third less time. How exactly...? I don't get the mentality of all these people saying us old schoolers are not gonna be able to keep up. Throw you in a 39-day with no advantages, I wanna see how they do. No, I think we're gonna do just fine.

TVLINE | Who do you keep in touch with from your original season?
From the original season, I keep in touch with Joel [Klug] and Gervase. I still love them. In fact, as I was getting out here and it had been all over the media that I might be, Gervase is like, "Hey, good luck!" and I could not confirm or deny, so I just wrote back, "I love you, brother," because I do. I really do. There's an experience like that, not just the actual game, but the post-"Survivor 1" was unbelievable. They think that they're famous now? [Laughs] Please. You had no idea. Brad Pitt was stopping us and being like, "Who goes off on Thursday?" I'm like, "I don't care that you look like a god. I don't care you're Achilles. I can't tell you." Meet me over there, give me a kiss, and I'll tell you. But seriously, we were celebrities, like as big a celebrity as anyone now. Anybody that you can name. We were bigger. Only for a short period of time! [Laughs] Everybody has their little bit of fame. Ours was huge. I was on the cover of Time Magazine, and I remember walking in New York and they have all those little newsstands, and I remember seeing myself on Time magazine and being like, "Did nobody else have the time? Isn't this for poet laureates and Nobel Prize winners and world leaders or despots?" Somebody else had to have earned a spot on there. But no, there's me in my pink bikini, chopping some bamboo with some creepy binoculars that say, "We like to watch."

TVLINE | One last question about "Borneo." What was it like sitting at Final Tribal Council and experiencing Sue Hawk's snakes and rats speech live in the moment. What was going through your head?
I remember sitting, and she was directly on my right, and I remember Sue Hawk getting up and I'd seen her writing and I never really thought much about writing because I kind of knew who I wanted to vote for. But when she started laying into Kelly about, "If you were dying of thirst on the side of the road, I would not stop to give you a drink of water." I thought, "Jesus, this sounds very biblical." She just was laying into the rat and snake speech and all of that. It seemed... poor sportsmanship? I mean, if that doesn't scream poor sportsmanship, I don't know what does. It was undeserved. She would have definitely made the move to vote Kelly out if she could have or if she had thought of it. She was p*ssed off that she didn't get one step further. Wah, wah, cry me a river all the way to North Dakota or wherever the hell she's from. Doesn't she give complete Marjorie Taylor Greene vibes? Every time I see Marjorie Taylor Greene, I'm like, "Oh man, that's Sue Hawk!" It's just like those people that in "Mission: Impossible," he's gonna take off his mask! And I'm like, "Marjorie Taylor Greene is f—king Sue Hawk!" I know it! [Laughs]