RHAP: We Know Survivor - Survivor 49 Preseason Interview: Sophi Balerdi

Episode Date: September 2, 2025

Mike Bloom interviews Survivor 49 contestant Sophi Balerdi in this preseason deep dive. Sophi, a 27-year-old cell phone repair business owner from Miami, shares her unique connection to Survivor through her late grandmother, who learned English by watching the show.

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Protein without all the work at participating restaurants in Canada. Hi everybody and welcome back to our Survivor 49 pre-season interviews on Rob has a podcast. My name is Mike Bloom and we have come yet again to the end of another tribe, another batch of six contestants as today, you get to hear my interview with the final member of the Kella tribe, Sophie Belairdi. If you missed any of my chats with the other five members that Sophie will be both working with and swearing off against, you know what to do to make sure you don't miss out on any more interviews moving forward. We know survivor.com to check out all of our Survivor podcast, as well as if you want the video versions, go to watchRHAP.com or search Rob has a

podcast in YouTube. Let's talk a bit about Sophie here. First Sophie of the season that we are discussing. Sophie Bellarity, Sophie B, is 27 years old, born, raised, and currently lives in Miami, Florida, though her parents immigrated here from Cuba, and she is an entrepreneur. So Sophie actually runs a cell phone repair business, and she's hoping that she's sending out good signals on the island to hopefully get a lot of people to work with her. Sophie came into Survivor by way of her grandmother, who always loved the show, actually learned English through watching Jeff Probst and his various Jeff Isms. She tragically lost her grandmother a few years back, and so she not only is playing for her. herself, but on behalf of the person that got her on this very fruitful jungle-laden path in the first place. Coming up tomorrow, we will be stopping down once again from the interviews

to bring you another tribe preview where Rob and myself will get together, talk through some of the highlights from the interviews that I did with the Keller tribe, and try to prognosticate how these people are going to work together. What are the natural alliances that might occur? Who's going to be in trouble early on? Who's got that winner potential? We'll get into it all tomorrow before we move into my third and final batch

of interviews from Survivor 49. Right now, though, I've got one more Kella interview to bring your way. So, without further ado, enjoy my interview with Sophie B. My name is Sophie. I'm 27 and I was born and raised in Miami and I'm a business owner. What business do you own? It's a little random when I tell people they're like, what?

But it's a cell phone repair franchise so I own three different ones. And coming out of business school, I just found my niche and I went into that. So yeah. Interesting. Yeah. So how did you find that niche exactly? We're just people's phones break it all the time and you're like, I can probably monetize that. Yeah, I mean, my dad has, like, worked in tech before, and so when I went to business school, they taught us, like, find an industry that isn't super sexy and, you know, that a lot of people are in because it's hard to, you know, if you go through entertainment or things that people normally go to, it's like the 1% they get, you know, they're successful. But I always wanted to own a McDonald's. I know that sounds super weird, but buying a McDonald's cost like $2 million.

So I found like a cheaper, more affordable option, and it's worked out. And you can work your way up to that McDonald's. Exactly, exactly. And I'm getting that experience. So, yeah. All right. Well, let's go from, you know, hoping to get that McDonald's building to getting a shelter in the middle of the Fijian jungle.

What's your history with Survivor? And what made you decide to make the jump from fan to player? Oh my God. So I've been watching since I was seven years old. So it's been like 20 years now. And my grandmother was actually like the biggest survival. which is kind of funny because she's like this Cuban immigrant who didn't speak a lick of English and I'll never forget being like seven or eight and then she she started saying random words in English and I was like how are you getting that from Lita and she's like yes props you know like survivor and I'm like you know and so she showed me it and we were super close like this yeah and so it became our thing like the heart of our relationship you know and we watch it up until the day she died she passed away like um literally a week before winters at war and I'm so sorry and Thank you.

And it sucks because she loved Tony, so she would have loved to see him win, but she would have loved to even more see me play. And that's why I originally started applying. I started applying at 18. I almost got on 38. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that. Yeah, so I almost got on 38.

And it just didn't work out. And Lynn, I think, was still the casting producer. But Jesse Tanibom found me then. And so when I came across, I guess, casting this year, he remembered me and the rest is history. I'm here now, which is crazy. crazy to say, but this is like my ninth year applying. So I'm playing here. I just love this image of your grandmother randomly saying like got nothing for you. Oh yeah. Oh my God. Back up for grabs. Yeah. No, she would have died. Like she thought Jeff was like the hottest guy on the planet. She thought like, look how hot, like,

look how hot, like, it was just our bond, you know? So I thought, like, what better way to connect with her than actually play this game? Like, I feel like I'm going to feel her spirit throughout the entire game. That's incredible. Yeah, it's this ability to, like, I mean, obviously our past sort of informs who we are and not to say, we'll certainly get into, I'm sure, stuff that has prepared you for this, but, like, there's, like, a greater why to you

100% right now. And I'm imagining even in those lowest moments, and especially so, it's going to drive you to keep going. Oh, yeah. And weirdly enough, and I feel like she had something to do with me being here. The anniversary of her death is in a couple days, which sucks the timing because it's probably going to be a little emotional for me. But it might give me a little boost, too, to, you know, fuel the fire a little bit, you know, to get through the game.

But it's cool. I'm happy that I have her and her spirit in me to play this game. I feel like I'm going to kick ass because of it. Hell yeah. Yeah. Well, let's look back upon some pretty. Survivor season since you've been watching for a while. Give me one winner and one non-winner who you identify with the most.

Oh my God. That's like asking Willie Wonka what his favorite candy is. Who's your everlasting gobstopper of a contest? Yeah. No. Okay. So can I say a couple? Please.

For like each? Yeah. Cast a net wide. Okay. So for, it's hard. So for non-winners, there are so many because like part of the reason why I'm for like all the baddies that killed it here like seri kelly wetworth genevieve the people that played the game but didn't win like i want to represent them and

then actually like finish the job and do it um so i would say from pre not new era uh sorry no please take your time i'm gonna go like Amanda Kimmel yeah i love Amanda Kimmel bring her back for 50 please and then um new era i have to i feel like i have to say d because people are going to make comparisons we have a lot of them and she and jam jam are probably my top two from the new era yeah yeah so what would you say is your favorite moment in the history of survivor again you got you had a wide spanning pool of players to pull from a similarly widespreading pool of moments oh my god um can i say like yeah yeah yeah too okay um i would say the first of first one is kind of niche like heroes versus villains i think the first challenge or one of them

sugar and sandra are going at it sandra unclips her bra and then sugar throws a double birdie at the villains i thought that was iconic triple blur technically considering that's hilarious yeah and so that's iconic like you know i feel like i want to play that hard where like i don't care if my tits are out, you know. But, and then, oh, Wentworth does not count. Wentworth does not count. You know, that Savage's downfall.

And then probably when Debbie goes, and I'm pissed. It's like one of these things that's not like the other. I know, I know. It's super probably niche, but hopefully the real Survivor fans that watch this will get it.

And listen, you know, you're someone who has worn many hats. You certainly sympathize with the caretaker. nines of the Red Lobster server. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Oh, my God. So what would you say is one life experience that you feel has prepared you the most for

this? Um, so, there's fucking bugs everywhere. Um, I would say probably going to grad school at Duke. Um, not just because of the academic part of it, but, uh, it was my first time, like, living away from home. It was my first, like, real experience out of the bubble that is like Miami and, the Cuban culture and like I went from being one Hispanic girl to I mean one of many Hispanic girls to like the only one in my entire program and so it was a culture shock in the best way I feel

like I learned a lot about myself in that like I'm very adaptable and I gravitated to like the people who were the most different from me my friends are from like countries I've never been to part of religions I'd never heard of before getting there and so I feel like I learned that I'm a pretty adaptable person and I feel like that'll help in this game because I'm probably the only Hispanic girl out here you know. And everyone here is coming from all different places. Right. So, you know, that adaptability in this game is everything, I feel like.

So besides that sort of innate preparation, what was your literal preparation? When you found out that you were coming out here, what was the regiment? Oh, my God. Honestly, nothing. Because, first I didn't want to get hurt. I didn't want to start, like, working out when I'm not someone who works out that much. And I tried to sleep outside. I started raiding.

I was like, fuck this. I'm going back inside. I tried to eat a little less but like I can't do that I have to be in a situation like this to stop eating you know so really just I don't know

nothing listen you've gone to the show for a reason yeah yeah I don't know I mean I tried to prepare but I'm like you know what I don't want to I don't want to do too much and then regret it so yeah well let's talk about something you know speaking of that innateness within you

what would you say is your biggest superpower and your biggest piece of kryptonite that you're bringing into this game? So I would say my biggest strength and weakness in coming into this game is probably the same thing and that's my mouth.

And I say my biggest strength because I'm a people person but not in the way everyone always says like, oh, I'm friendly. I had this genuine curiosity about people where I like to ask questions. I'm a good listener

and just as much as I am a good talker. And I feel like people out here all they want to do is just be listened to, feel a little sense of home and that's what I want to do out here I want to be I want to have those emotional ties with people be the shoulder to cry on yeah and um but I say it's also my weakness because as much as I am like a people person I'm not really a people pleaser you know I'm the kind of person that like say it how it is you know not sugar coated yeah you wrote in your bio you called yourself very confrontational because that's obviously very great for you to have that you know

self-reflection but yeah at the same time it can be a tough thing in a game where you might need to please people to get a blindside to happen. Yeah, for sure. And I think, though, coming into it, knowing my weaknesses is going to help me, like, control them more. Like, I feel like some people aren't aware of them. There's been players in the past that they might, you know, be great people. Like, I don't want to shout out Rome, but they're just not aware of how they're perceived by others. Right. When I know how I might come across in my personal life and those things that might set me back, I'll be able to control out here, you know, like I, normally how I would react to a certain situation that might, you know, not affect me in the real world.

I won't react the same way here, you know? And so I think just like having that self-awareness will help me out. To that point, how do you think you're going to be perceived in this game? I think I'm going to be underestimated a little bit just because, I mean, I could just see it in pregame, like, people look at me. They're just like, I'm not worried about her. The big guys get like that respect of like from the other guys of, you know what I'm saying? Like I just know I'm going to be underestimated.

I've always been like I'm 5'2, I weigh 110 pounds. And so, but that's a good thing for me. I feel like I'm coming in and I want to be the book that's judged by its cover a little bit. Like I want people to be like, I'm not worried about that girl. And then when they don't expect it, you know, I'll come for them. Yeah, they'll worry about you when it's too late. Exactly. And that's what I want to do.

And I hope to be like a person that people like trust and emotionally open up to. And, you know, if they love you, they'll never see it coming. You know, so. Well, let's talk about some of these people that will fall in love with you. Let's talk about your competition, turn the mirror a bit. Because I'm sure you've been making some assessments. You just mentioned them a little bit. Yeah.

Let's start on the positive side of things. And you can give me initials. You can give me descriptions of some people that for you right now, this is like your best case scenario. We hit the beach on day one. Possible rider dies for you. So part of my strategy is that I want to, I want to align myself with the big, the biggest dude or the biggest girl possible. if they're on my tribe. I want to be kind of like,

you know, those Ramora fish on those big white sharks or big whales? Yeah. They create this like symbiotic relationship where they like eat the barnacle or the algae on the big fish and the big fish protects the small fish.

I kind of want to do that, but not, you know, have them coasts me through the game. I want to control the big animal too. And so have them as kind of like my meat shield where we work together and people don't really know that we're a duo. So there's this huge dude.

He looks like fucking. Hulk. I'm praying that he's on my tribe because I think if he is, I can have him wrapped around my finger. And then there's a girl with braids, her initials are KM. She's such good energy. And then who else? Who else? There's a girl that, I mean, I don't know if people will agree, but she kind of looks like parvety. Her initials are S something. And I'm trying to think of maybe another person. I mean, if you got thoughts about the other side as well, You know I'm curious about that. I know.

I know you are. Every time you do these interviews and I watch it, I'm like hoping somebody gives me, gives you the juice. And so I'm going to try and give you the juice. Yes. Yeah. Just use it up. Even the big dude.

Like, let's say he's not on my tribe and I'm not working with him. I think he might be a problem because he's like not just a big presence, but he's very friendly to when I pick up on that. And who else? Who else? Who else? I'm trying to give it to you. You're giving me some good stuff

I know when I get there I'm going to have more to say it'll be too late at that point No, you said plenty at this point No worries Well let's move to a different facet of the game You'll move from the past into the present As we're talking about idols, advantages

and journeys How much do you want to incorporate I mean you talk about like Banking your games on people like D and Jam Jam How much are you sort of in that new era mindset of trying to grab Any and all opportunities that come your way

No I think I'm going to play Kind of a mix of new era an old era because I don't like the journeys. I think that the advantages in the game kind of hurt people sometimes. It just seems that way as of recent. So I'm not, I don't feel like I need them.

But if they, you know, if I'm walking around and I see a beware advantage, I'll grab it, you know. So I'm going to let them come to me if that's what happens, but I'm not going to go out of my way to look for it. I'm not going to raise my hand when someone says, oh, who wants to go on the journey? You know what I mean?

So I'll welcome it if it happens. but I won't, you know, seek it out. Well, let's say it happens and you get like an idol. Are you telling anybody about it? Hell no, no. I think it's been so, it hasn't been fun the last few seasons because, well, 46, I think it was like the opposite end of the spectrum. Like six people went out because they didn't tell anyone and nobody knew they had it.

But then also, like, in the new era where people are like sharing the idol and telling everybody they have it, it's not fun as a fan to watch that either. and it's also not very helpful to have one when everybody knows that you have it you know so I don't know I probably won't tell people yeah well let's put yourself in Jeff shoes a little bit stay on the production side of things

if you have the chance to put something in this season for you to play with that's either a previously existing twist either from the new era or the old era or a brand new twist something that you want to personally play with what would that be ooh that's a good question Oh, okay, the idol that can be played after the votes are red.

Oh, the super idol. Super Idol. You know, I don't think they'll bring it back because, like, it's too powerful. But I love that, you know, as a player. I mean, that's an interesting one because, like, it's almost the opposite of your previous strategy where, like, you could tell everybody about it. Because it's like, you can try to vote for me, but, like, I'm not going home. Yeah, I'm going to use it. Like, don't vote for me, you know?

So. In general, what would you say is your hottest survivor take? Ooh. Hmm. I think, I mean, I don't know how hot this is, but I think that whoever wins deserves it. You know, I think there's a conversation about that out there about like, you know, Charlie being or Charlie deserving it more than Kenzie or whatever. I think whoever gets voted to win wins. Because there's a lot of conversations that we don't get to see us fans.

There's hundreds of hours of conversations that we don't see. And so I think that if a jury member feels like they want to vote for someone, it could be something. It could be a reason why that we weren't shown. And I would hope that, like, I vote for someone who, I don't know. I just think that whoever does, you know, wins deserves it. No, I want to stay on that, actually, because I do think something that's so interesting about the jury vote. To your point, there's a whole, honestly, infinite list of reasons you can vote for somebody. Likeability, relationships, resume, story, et cetera.

If I were to ask you right now, what is that sort of core value for you? We had the sentence of like, if I'm a juror, I would vote for blank. What would that blank be? That's a good question, too. So I'm hoping, I don't know what the situation is going to be, but I want to play like a really cut-throat game. And I would reward that too, because I'm going to play like that. And I would hope that I would get rewarded for it.

So even if someone gets me out, like I can recognize game, you know. I'm coming in hopefully to be like emotionally, unattached. Like, I'm going to weaponize emotion in the game, but, you know, if I get out, I'll be like, okay, it happened. Like, they're playing the game. It's probably best that they did, you know? So, yeah, that's what I would say. I'm going to look for the person who played the best game, you know, I don't care about why you need the money or, you know, what you're going to do with the money. Like, I want to reward the best player because I'm playing, I'm part of season 49. I want the best player to win. Yeah, that's interesting that you talk about wanting

to play emotionally unattached because obviously there's also a very differently emotional reason that you're out here. I mean, how do you anticipate sort of trying to untie the personal elements from the game elements? Um, yeah, that's, that's going to be tough. I know, but, um, I mean, I'm not coming into this game with muscles and like four years at an Ivy League. Like, all I have is like my ability to, to talk to people. And who I am in real life is someone who can get like deep with people and connect on an emotional level. And I feel like I'm going to do this in this game, do that in this game and um so i'm gonna like again like i said be that shoulder for people to cry on and you know i'll still have to vote them out so yeah i don't know yeah says yeah so let's go to

the beginning of the game because in the new era we certainly have seen a fair amount of these like disaster tribes right these tribes that go to tribal council a bunch in the pre-merge do you anticipate if that were ever the case that like your gameplay would change from what you anticipated going in. That's a really good question too. Thank you. Obviously you come into this game. You want to imagine that your tribe

is going to kill it. So I haven't even thought of that. But I mean, yeah, I think that would kind of force you to be even more cutthroat because you're like on a survival mode. If you're someone who's winning every challenge, you're not really doing much or you're not playing much. So it just probably require me to work more. Like right now, my plan is not to get out of that beach

and look for an idol. But if my tribe is losing, hell yeah, I don't give a shit. bad or like crazy i look i'm going to look for fucking idols you know what i mean like so i would just play probably more more aggressively even though at the merge like i plan to like go balls to the wall like ah sorry balls to the wall and like even if i look suspicious like i don't care you know i really want to play a hard game i just don't want to have any regrets when i finish here you know yeah absolutely yeah last but certainly not least if you could bring a celebrity or a fictional

character out as a loved one. Oh, my God. Who's it going to be in why? Oh, my God. That's crazy. Nikki Minaj. Nikki Minaj. There we go. Because I feel like I'm going to miss a couple things while I'm out here. One of them is my boyfriend, my dog, and lastly music. Like I listen music for everything.

Nikki Minaj has gotten me through a lot. And I feel like, you know, I would love to have her here just like pumping me up, you know giving me the beats you know which persona would she bring you think oh would she bring yeah here uh i mean she would just be a baddie like a badass you know wrapping the the background music to all the the blind sides that i'm doing out here exactly she could i mean i know shaheen just did like his own little version of the music she could do that as well she could just lay down a track right there and in the time yeah i'll fucking love that well how are you feeling right now Again, I know that there's a lot loaded into this experience, and it seems like, to your credit, like you are, you are taking everything right now. And that speaks to I think your go get attitude that has led you to becoming, you know, your business owner. So how are you feeling right now sort of on the crux of this brand new experience that obviously means so much to you and your family? I mean, I'm feeling everything. Like I, I'm even feeling emotions I've never felt before. Like seeing the cast for the first time, I was just like, if surreal was an emotion, that's what I was feeling. And, um,

like happy, sad, kind of scared. Like, I'm fucking scared. Like, these people are going to come after me. And I don't, like, I feel ready, but like, am I ready? Is there a way to prepare for Survivor? I don't think so. Like, it's, for me, I think it's like 50% being able to adapt 50%, you know, luck. So there's a lot of things I'm not going to be able to control.

And I'm not really used to that. So it's going to be interesting. But overall, like, pumped, you know, so fucking excited. This is like a dream come true, you know what I mean? imagine like your wildest dream coming true that's me right now like I'm my the seven year old who was watching with my grandmother is freaking the fuck out like I can't I can't believe that I'm here it's seriously like surreal well I'm so happy to have you here and I'm so happy to have you here right now talking with me it was it was such a delight getting to to know you I know

that you bring so much into this game to your point you know how much can you truly prepare and you're someone who I think really inates or relies on your own innate sense of self yeah And that's incredibly strong, you know, especially at the point you're at right now. And so that's all you kind of walk in with at this point, right? It's like the body that you own and the mind that you own. And I think that they're both in really good places for you to kick ass in this game. Dude, my God, that means so much to me, especially coming from you, I'm a big camera. I'm a big fan of his.

I follow him on Twitter. I watch all your, you know, YouTube interviews, which is why I might come across a little nervous because I was, like I feel a little bit nervous. But big fan, thank you for saying all those things. I'm really excited to play. I'm super excited to play.