Survivor's Emily Flippen Wants 'Maximum Suffering' In Season 50

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

Emily Flippen didn't need an immunity idol to secure a new life in "Survivor." Instead, she lucked out thanks to a quitter and instead of being a first boot, she went on to become one of Season 45's most memorable storytellers. Now, she's back for "Survivor 50," and she doesn't plan on losing to Dee Valladares twice! ("I know what I'm working with this time, so I won't underestimate her.")

When I originally spoke with Emily following her elimination from "45," it didn't seem like the fan-favorite had any inkling or want to return to the show for another round of starvation, strategy, and cutthroat gameplay. "I'm flattered if anybody wants me back, but realistically, I think I'm happy with the experience that I had and I'm ready to move forward with my life," she said at the time. But Fiji beckoned once again and Emily answered the call, becoming one of the lucky 24 players invited back to play the milestone season, which begins airing on CBS Wednesday, February 25 at 8/7c. 

In the candid interview below, Emily explains why she changed her tune about returning, and details what it was like to watch her underdog story unfold in front of millions of people. (Plus, her reasoning of why the "way too normal" Kyle is the player she's most worried about is quite entertaining!)

TVLINE | Emily! It's great to see you back. What have you been up to since you played in Season 45?
EMILY FLIPPEN | Since "45" wrapped, I do have one bigger life announcement, and that's that I got married! So I obviously had the realization on Season 45 that I was maybe more open to that than I initially thought I was and so when I got off the show, one of the first things that I did, have a conversation with my now husband, and yeah, we eventually went to the courthouse and tied the knot. He is a saint for going through [this] process not just once, but being willing to go through it twice. So I'm really hoping that I don't come out here and decide I want to get a divorce, but I guess you never know! [Laughs]

TVLINE | There are so many people here! Who are you most excited to see?
Oh, I am most excited to see Coach, actually. It's somebody that I grew up watching. I never imagined in a million years that I'd have the opportunity to play with him, and I actually think considering all of our differences, we probably have a lot of similarities underneath the surface. So I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to play with him.

TVLINE | Who is the first person you want to see get his or her torch snuffed?
I wouldn't be upset if any of the winners were sent packing. I mean, I don't need to lose to the same person twice, but to be honest, anybody that isn't me, I'm fine with.

TVLINE | Were you surprised to see your fellow Season 45 castmate Dee here? How do you think your relationship will manage?
I'm not surprised at all to see Dee here. She's one of the most dominant social [and] strategic players of the new era. If anything, I'm surprised to be included along with her. I am excited though. I'm excited to both redeem myself in terms of my strategy, my gameplay against Dee, but also the opportunity to potentially work with her. I know what I'm working with this time, so I won't underestimate her.

TVLINE | When we last spoke after you were eliminated from "45," it didn't seem like you would ever want to come back. What changed?
I've asked myself the question a lot about why I'd be willing to come back, especially because when I left Season 45, I was so content with my journey and my story. I didn't really feel the need to come back again. But the longer I had to sit with the, I think, the lesson that I sent people, the more uncomfortable I was with that. And one of my last confessionals on the show, right before I got voted off, I said I learned to be a softer person, and that's bulls–t. I don't think I learned to be a softer person. I'm still loud, aggressive. I learned to be tactful. I learned to be flexible. I learned to be open-minded, but I didn't learn to be soft, and I don't think I want to leave people with the lesson that you have to change who you are in order to do well in the game. So I wanted a second chance to come back and say, "I'm still me. I'm still here. I've learned some lessons, but you don't have to be an entirely different person to do well in the game of 'Survivor.'"

TVLINE | I love that. Piggybacking on that, what's a flaw or misstep you made the first time out that you want to correct this time?
My entire game was full of flaws and missteps! In fact, I have a harder time pointing out what I did right as opposed to what I did wrong in Season 45. I just got incredibly lucky. So when I came into the game, I was very loud-mouthed and aggressive, and while I still have those qualities, I hope that this time I can be a bit more tactful with it. And at the same time, by the time I left the game, I was insecure. I was doubtful. I felt like I lacked agency and I was letting other people control my decisions for me. So I'm really hoping that I can find the middle ground between that for Season 50, of still being who I am as a genuine, outspoken person, while also being understanding that I want to have agency and control my game and not just jump when other people tell me to jump.

TVLINE | How are you feeling now? Nervous, excited, anxious... ?
I'm feeling weirdly calm and relaxed, almost happy to be here, and that's totally different than I was during Season 45. I was anxious. I was nervous. I was really intense and uptight, and I think that's partly because I know what I'm walking into this time. I've seen all these people before. I've been on these islands before, so I have some sense of clarity, but I'm also just ready to actually have fun and enjoy myself. What is the point of coming and doing this if you're not going to be able to look back fondly on the experience and say, "That was cool. I had fun. I'd do it again."

TVLINE | Let's talk about the fan vote. Did you vote? And what are you hoping the tribes get from the fans?
While I didn't necessarily watch all of Season 48, and that's really gonna come back and bite me in the butt, I did still vote on all of the different elements for Season 50. In particular, I'm really hoping that the fans did not give people rice and did not give people the pots and the pans. Look, if I had to suffer on Lulu, everybody has to suffer on Lulu. I don't want anybody coming out of this experience being like, "Oh, it wasn't that bad," because they got all the s—t handed to them. So yeah, I'm really looking forward to it, hoping, praying that everybody agrees with me and thinks maximum suffering is the right answer for Season 50.

TVLINE | Do you take any solace that it can't really be any worse than your first experience on Lulu?
Yeah, there's an element of my experience on Lulu being so incredibly bad, you can make the argument that surely there's only up to go from here. But I would challenge that assumption. I should have been the first person voted out of Lulu and I wasn't. So in my opinion, there is down to go from here, and going down from here would be solidifying and cementing the fact that I always should have been a first boot.

TVLINE | There is a lot of "Survivor" royalty here. Will that change your approach to the game at all?
Anybody who self-refers to themselves as a "Survivor" legend, it makes me want to gag. That's just so self-involved. I don't care what season you played on if you're out here on Season 50. I don't care if it was Season 49. I don't care if it was Season 1. To me, I play with people. I don't play with seasons. So if we get along and we have a similar strategy and I think we're going in the same direction, that's great. I want to play with you. I couldn't care less if I think that you're so self-important to consider yourself a legend or if you're somebody so new that you're shocked to be out here in the first place. For me, it's all about how do I get myself one step further in the game.

TVLINE | Who are you most shocked to see out here?
Oh, I'm a little shocked to see Cirie here, to be honest with you. Not because I didn't necessarily expect it, but I'm just a little surprised that she was willing to come back. Cirie has done so many other reality TV shows, she doesn't need to come back for "Survivor 50," and to be frank with you, watching her on the island, I don't even think she wants to be here. The vibes are totally off, so I don't really know what to think about it. So I was surprised to see that Cirie was included, and I'll be interested to see how far she makes it, I guess.

TVLINE | Is there anyone not here that you were 100% expecting?
There's so many new era legends that I really am shocked not to see here on "Survivor 50." I can call out the obvious in Carolyn [Wiger] and Jesse [Lopez], Omar [Zaheer], and people I played with like Kaleb [Gebrewold], I was really hoping to see out here. A bunch of people who I'm really convinced would kill it in their second chance. So, as surprised as I am to see as many new era players as there are, I am equally surprised about the choices amongst those new era players because I think if I was given the opportunity, I maybe would have made slightly different distinctions. But then again, I'm not a producer. I'm here to play.

TVLINE | Let's talk about vibes a bit! You're on lockdown and no talking is allowed yet, but tell me a bit about your perceptions of some of the others around you?
Yeah, well, we can't talk, but we can certainly look at each other as we're sitting here waiting for the game to begin. And in general, I think the vibes are relatively positive, which is to say everybody's looking around. We know each other's names. You kind of know what people are approaching with in terms of their strategy and their styles, but there are certain people who are very tense, and I think I'm getting a sense of that tenseness. I won't say bad vibes. It's not bad, but it is anxious vibes from the Season 49ers, and I can understand because they were out here only a few weeks ago playing the full game of "Survivor." But Rizo, in particular, I'm getting this very jaded feeling from him, which I love. I love a jaded person, so I'm really excited about that. But there's tension there. There's anxiety, and I get the sense that he has something to prove coming out here.

TVLINE | As a new era player, do you feel you have an advantage compared to others who may not have played in years?
I think the new school players are more prepared to play the game quickly, and that's going to be extremely important because not only is the game shorter than it was in previous eras, but there's also 24 people out here. That's an insane number of people. We're gonna be dropping like flies, and that's not to say that the old school era players can't come and play a quick game, but I do think that in some sense, the new era players have already played a relatively quicker game in comparison, and that could arguably make them more prepared.

TVLINE | Hit me with a hot take about the new era, overall.
My biggest hot take on the new era is that when it comes to food, I think it is harder than the old era. And I know that sounds counterintuitive because the old school era was much longer, but I could feel the difference myself on Season 45. I went about just over two weeks without eating anything before we earned rice. And the moment we earned rice, and I was having just a handful of rice a day, I felt my brain jump back into gear. I felt like I could think again. I could remember people's names. I could form strategies. And I think a lot of people take it for granted that when you're playing in the older era, you were at least eating something. It wasn't much, but you got rice, you had a handful of rice a day, and that kept your brain functioning. Out here in the new era without rice, genuinely, your body starts to shut down. And if you're on a losing tribe like I was, where you don't earn any rewards or food, you can go weeks without consuming much of anything at all, and that really shuts down your body, and more importantly, your brain.

TVLINE | Talk to me about big threats. Who will you be keeping an eye on?
In the game of "Survivor," I can typically tell why a person was put on the cast. There's something off about them. There's always something a little bit like, "Yeah, you're a little weird," or "You have this going for you, that going for you, or you have an interesting story." Kyle is the person that I'm most worried about because when I look at him and when I talk to him, as I have in the past, and when I get to know him, I'm like, "You're way too normal." You're way too normal, way too well-adjusted, and that is so dangerous because somebody who is normal, smart, well-adjusted, sociable, and strategic, similarly to Dee for my season, that is just a powerhouse because all the rest of us, we have something wrong with us. Kyle doesn't. That's bothersome, isn't it?

TVLINE | What are the hardest parts of being out here for you?
The physicality of it, I actually found easier than I expected coming into the game of "Survivor." As somebody who was basically plucked out of suburban Maryland with very little experience and training, I applied for "Survivor," three months later, I was on the show from the day I sent the application in. So that is about as unprepared as you can get for this experience. And I was surprised by how much your body adapts. I was the type of person who couldn't sleep without my eye mask on and my earphones in and never really gone a day without eating before. But when you don't have any other options, when you're forced to in a situation like that, it comes relatively naturally. In fact, the hardest part about the survival experience, in my opinion, is not the physicality of it, it's the mentality and the emotion of it. And the hardest part for me was jumping on Season 45 on a tribe like Lulu. I immediately could tell that I just was not clicking with the people that I was playing with, and you have to live and be around them for 24 hours a day while watching yourself become on the social outs. That plays a mental and emotional game on you that you can never expect until you experience it yourself. It'd probably help if I'd shut up, you know, that would have ingratiated me more with them, but I can't, clearly.

TVLINE | That's why you were chosen for reality TV!
Yeah, apparently, which is so concerning, by the way. Getting a call once, it's a red flag, but twice, oh man. It's like glaring red flags. Something's wrong with you. Except for Kyle. Freaking Kyle! He's a great guy, but it's so annoying. [Laughs]

TVLINE | You said you didn't watch Season 48, but are you caught up on other new era seasons? Yeah, I know. About to reveal myself here... I know what happens in the new era seasons, but my active participation in watching them was maybe less than that of other contestants. I had a hard time coming out of Season 45. It drains you a little bit and you need to take a little bit of a mental break from the game.

TVLINE | Not everyone talks about mentally decompressing after the game. How was that process for you?
Yeah, to be honest, I still don't feel normal after Season 45. I felt normal enough to be willing to come out here and play it again. If you had asked me the same question last year, because it's been two years since I played, I probably wouldn't have been willing to come out for Season 50. It takes a toll on you. Just a lot of self-reflection. It's really impossible to put yourself out there, go on TV, and see a side of yourself and a perspective on yourself that you would otherwise never get to see. And I think that requires you to take some time to yourself and think about what that means for you, changes you can make, but also just understanding yourself as a person. So all of that was really quite the emotional journey coming out of Season 45. That being said, I had the best possible experience I could have. I mean, look, I was given a hero's edit. I came out with some of the best friends that I'll ever have, people I'll know and keep in contact with for the rest of my life. I played with the best people in the world, and CBS already background checked them for me, so, you know, they're only so bad. Anyway, the experience was just incredible, and it still messed me up. So that tells you a lot.

TVLINE | You had an arc in one season that some players have over three or four seasons. From the fan reaction and, like you said, your hero's edit by the end, did that at least help make things easier when the show aired?
When you come off the game of "Survivor," you never know what is going to be shown and what isn't going to be shown. And part of the reason why Season 45 was so challenging for me was because as the episodes were airing, I was realizing, "You are getting the Emily story." I didn't expect to have the edit that I had. I knew that it would start off really bad, and I was hopeful that by the end it would get better. I wasn't expecting the entire season to basically run from my point of view, and that was a really weird and jarring experience, but I don't think it was an inaccurate reflection of who I was. I did come into the game [with] anxiety and my insecurities, incredibly aggressive, and I was so incredibly lucky to play with a group of people who were willing to let me have a second shot at a first impression. That is incredibly rare in life. And I'm so thankful and lucky again that somebody quit to prevent me from being the first boot so that I could have the opportunity to both show my tribemates, but as well as the people watching the show, that there's more to me than what you initially saw, But it is also just challenging because it is a genuine reflection of who you are and not every aspect about who you are as a person is going to be loved. And I think if you're the type of person who thinks everybody's going to love me, then you're either lying to yourself or you're lying to them, and I'm incapable of lying. I'm terrible at it, clearly. So it was just a journey that I don't think I was expecting, but I'm happy I went on it, but, yeah, it'll stay with me for the rest of my life.