It’s easy to get caught up in the gameplay of Survivor — with advantages and challenges coming and going each and every episode — but superfans of the show often forget that it is a social experiment as well. After all, when else are you going to find a group of entirely different individuals, all living together in the jungle as they fight for a million-dollar prize?
Survivor 47 might have been the most diverse cast to date, with the ages of its castaways ranging from 24 to 59, as well as stemming from states like Texas, California, New York, and more. Genevieve Mushaluk even brought some Canadian representation to the shores of Fiji, stemming from Manitoba. How cool is that?
To top it off, Survivor 47 introduced the first openly non-binary contestant to the show: Teeny Chirichillo. Besides bringing us laughs all season long, Teeny has played quite an impressive game, coasting their way to the finale — alongside Rachel LaMont, Sam Phalen, and Sue Smey — despite losing their closest allies over and over again.
Tonight (Dec. 18), as part two of Survivor’s unprecedented two-part finale is set to air on CBS, the 24-year-old fighting for the million-dollar prize and the title of “Sole Survivor” has also introduced serious internet slang to a place with no online access. The “chronically online” castaway admits to sharing some silly terms and memes with their fellow castaways on the shores of Fiji. Sitting down longtime Survivor writer and reporter Dalton Ross for an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, Teeny had arguably the best answer to the question, “What was your favorite non-game related interaction you had with someone over your first 24 days?” Keep scrolling to see what they had to say.
Referencing the pre-merge portion of the game, Teeny prefaced, “On Lavo beach, I quickly discerned that I was the only ‘chronically online’ one of the bunch and kept myself entertained by teaching the tribe about various aspects of the internet zeitgeist.” The New Jersey native then delved into some of the specific terms and memes they taught their tribemates:
“There was so much coconut talk the first few days. I viscerally remember mansplaining the Kamala Harris ‘You think you just fell out of a coconut tree’ quote to Kishan [Patel] and Aysha [Welch], who had never seen the clip.”
“I gave a vocab lesson to Sol [Yi] about a curse word that rhymes with ‘punt’ and how it’s been reclaimed by the queer community as a compliment, which he adopted into his language instantly and hilariously.”
In the post-merge portion of the game, Teeny’s teaching continued:
“Of course, filling Genevieve in on how she’d be called ‘mother’ by a vast majority of social media, which is the highest possible term of endearment from the most selective and tasteful group of people in the fanbase.”
Needless to say, Teeny made their fellow castaways laugh throughout their Survivor 47 journey, but will it be enough to take home the million-dollar prize and the title of “Sole Survivor” tonight? To see the “tremendous finish to a great season” for yourself, catch part two of Survivor‘s unprecedented two-part finale tonight (Dec. 18) via CBS, with next-day streaming via Paramount Plus as well. Our money is on Rachel bringing home the bacon, but we will just have to wait and see…