Jamal Shipman would be the first person to tell you he’s a man with layers. The 33-year-old has an athletic build with an academic mind, a New Jersey origin within a New England lifestyle, and a sensitive soul to boot. Jamal feels that mentality has sufficiently prepared him for Survivor, along with an intense study of the franchise that the admissions counselor hopes will get him into the collegiate winners’ circle.

Read on for my interview with Jamal, and make sure to check in with Parade.com every day for interviews with this season’s contestants and other on-set tidbits. Survivor: Island of the Idols premieres on September 25 with a special 90-minute premiere on CBS.

Tell me about yourself.

I’m a teenager in a thirty-something-year-old body. I grew up in Jersey City but had a crazy schooling trajectory that took me up to boarding school in Massachusetts. Then I went to Brown in Providence, then back to Jersey for a long time. About four years ago, I moved back to Providence. Now I’m the Associate Director of Admissions at an all-girls school.

How did you get there?

I was in the admissions industry, starting at the Lawrence School in New Jersey just south of Princeton. I moved to Providence following my heart and a relationship. I got into the admissions office at this particular school. The relationship didn’t work out, but I kept the relationship with my school. Now it’s my only relationship. (Laughs.)

So what brought out to Fiji?

This is my second time applying. I applied two years ago for season 35 and made it as far as you can go without getting on. I had applied because a friend of mine wanted to go to an open call at Mohegan Sun. I thought I could get it over with, then play at the casino all day. Not getting it the first time was the best thing that could have happened, because I realized that I really did want it. Getting called two years later made a lot more sense. I’m in a very different place in my life. I built myself back up, buying a house and getting a new job. I’m feeling good in my life. I thought it would be an amazing opportunity to strip all that away and test out the new person I’ve become.

Related: Meet the Full Cast of Survivor Season 39

What do you think people are going to perceive you as?

In the initial days, I’ll have that image of a big jock. I have a history of athletics. I’ve played football and basketball, ran track in high school, all-American. It was a big part of my identity growing up. It literally shaped me. (Laughs.) People are going to see my size and how imposing I am physically. But I have an even-keeled demeanor. I’m a counselor by nature; I’ve been in counseling roles all my life. I think I’m going to have the ability to put people at ease. They’ll feel really comfortable talking to me and coming to me with information.

How would you counsel someone into voting with you?

The trick is to make sure they agree that it’s in their best interest to vote with you. I just have to figure out what people want, and that’s what I do. I figure out what makes someone interested in the school, what’s important to a person. So I need to figure out, “What do I need to be for you right now? Am I reminding you of your nephew, your big brother, or your ex-boyfriend? Whatever it is I’m doing for you, how can I play that role to make you feel comfortable with me?”

Are you going to be truthful about your occupation?

Yeah. I understand Survivor is a game about deceit and lying. I have to make sure you think I’m voting one way when it’s actually another. I’m going to be fine with that. But when it comes to myself, I can only be me. I can only be genuine because that’s what you’re going to want to connect to. You’re going to want to connect with someone who’s authentic and has real, truthful stories, ways of connecting to you that make you feel like you’re dealing with a real person. Lying would get in the way, and I’d be distracted by that.

What do you desire in an alliance partner?

I don’t know that I’m seeking any qualities necessarily. But I’m going to look for that one person. Duos are the key in the modern game of Survivor. Your Dom and Wendell situation. You are honest about every aspect of the game, playing, voting, and flipping together. That’s what carries you through, a tight hardcore alliance that’s subversive through the game.

You call yourself a “big teddy bear.” Can you elaborate on that?

I think I have an image that people see and will react to. They’ll react to me as a big man or a big black man, which can be a little intimidating or threatening, something to be wary of. But I’m just as sensitive and “cushy” as anybody. It’s about being in tune with my feelings and being in touch with my sensitive side, which people won’t anticipate. I feel like I can keep my emotions in check for my strategy. It’s knowing about them and using them to manipulate other people. I want to feel; I want to empathize. If someone’s having a hard time or telling me a heart-wrenching story, I want to be able to connect.

Give me a Survivor winner and non-winner you want to play like.

I definitely resonate with Jeremy Collins. I love the way he played the game. He had the perfect strategy of keeping shields around him to make sure the votes never came towards him. He made the big move when he needed to, playing idols for himself and other people. He had this higher-level gameplay that was masterful to watch.

For non-winner, I just like Michaela. (Laughs.) I think she’s hilarious and she doesn’t get enough due for who she is. She’s awesome, funny, real, genuine, a beast at challenges. I wish someone like her could win this game, but unfortunately, they can’t. I learned a lot about what not to do from Michaela. (Laughs.)

You spoke about buying a house before, which I know was a significant accomplishment for you. Talk to me more about that.

I was in a five-year relationship, and thought it was “the one.” We had moved in together, renting an apartment, and I thought that was what my life was going to be. Unfortunately, things got turbulent, and I ended up living with roommates off of Craigslist with all my stuff in storage. I had just a car and a job, and I built up from that. I started over in a new city. In doing that, I slowly built up myself. I ended up getting an apartment and kept renting until my lease started turning over. Then I thought, “I don’t want to pay another dime to someone else.” So that epiphany made me jump in. With the help of a lot of people, I was able to do it.

The relation to my lineage is so interesting. It’s so stark to go from where my mom and her parents were to where I am now. My mom is Puerto-Rican, and my dad is African-American. My parents were constantly on and off, so there was a lot of unrest when I was a kid. My mom’s mom was from Puerto Rico, and a lot of my mom’s childhood was between the States and the island. Getting evicted, being too poor to pay rent, moving around, living with family members. It was a struggle, the grind of low-income people in the cities in America. My mom and her siblings had this commitment of, “We’re not going to do this anymore. We’re going to work hard, make the right choices, take care of our kids, and be responsible.” All of them have really come to have amazing lives. It’s given my cousins and me an even greater launching pad. I’ve hopefully inherited that generational know-how. Hopefully, it runs in the family. (Laughs.)

Related: Everything You Need to Know About Survivor Season 39

You wrote that you “studied this game intensely.” What does that mean?

It means binging a lot of Survivor and breaking it down. Down to saying, “If you have seven people left, and it’s a 4-3 split, statistically speaking, what’s the best thing to do?” If you’re in the four-person majority, it’s actually the best thing to flip and join the minority. It’s looking at what makes sense in each particular situation. It’s the science of Survivor.

So how concrete is your game plan coming in?

I’ve done all this intense study. I’ve analyzed past personalities and scenarios, who won and who didn’t. Now I’m just going to let instincts take over. My instincts have been informed by what I’ve taken in; I can’t overthink it. I’m not playing Survivor with any of the 500 people who’ve played before. I’m playing with these guys. It’s really going to be about my read, how it makes the most sense to move forward.

What line will you not cross morally in the game?

I don’t have one. Having watched so much Survivor, there’s a problem for most people who do something like that. Like a Coach, who goes in and says, “I’m playing with honor. This is how the game of Survivor is supposed to be played.” That’s in your head. The game of Survivor is whatever we decide it to be. Who deemed you God of how Survivor is meant to be played? A lot of players will say, “It’s not meant to be played that way! You’re playing it wrong.” No, it’s however the twenty people on that season decide the game should be done.

There’s a lot of talk on Survivor of, “You’re not playing the game.” When they really mean, “You’re not playing the game I want you to play.”

That’s exactly what they’re saying. To the credit of someone like Ciera, who would say something like that, that’s manipulative. They’re trying to pull people into doing what they want by “playing the game.” But as a rule, it doesn’t hold water. There’s no objectivity in Survivor.

I want to put your Survivor science to the test. When your tribe visits Tribal Council, would you rather vote on strength or loyalty?

It’s got to be loyalty. I just think the concept of strength is ridiculous. What does that even mean? There are a whole group of challenges that I would be terrible at. But people look at me and are going to be like, “Oh, we’ve got to keep Jamal because we’ve got to keep the tribe strong.” What? If it’s holding onto a pole, swimming, or throwing your tribe over a 20-foot structure, that’s not going to be me. So my tribe isn’t “strong” for that challenge.

Which is more important to your game: Strategy or social?

I think you need to add another dimension. It’s two tiers. If you think back to Boston Rob’s second season, he was very loyal and social with Amber and that core alliance. But he was very strategic with the people on the outskirts. I’m going to be strategic with people on the outs of my core plan. But I’ll have those social bonds that will get a Laurel to vote for me in the end, which will win me the game. The strategy will get me further in the game; the social will get me to win.

When you’re at your lowest low, what’s one memory you’ll pull from to boost your spirits?

I’ve actually done the reverse of this while on my king-sized Tempurpedic mattress in my house. (Laughs.) The last few nights, I’ve been going to sleep in my room and thinking, “This is one of the last times I’ll be in my bed.” I’m so proud of my bed; it’s my favorite place on the planet. It’s been the first time I’ve had a king-sized bed, and it’s like sleeping on a cloud. I would have that in my head.

Related: Jeff Probst Picks His Top 10 Survivor Winners of All Time

I can assume your favorite reward is going to be if you get to eat a meal in a bed.

Oh, God. Yes, yes. Give me the spa and all that. That’s going to be my jam. If I can use a Reward Steal, I just might have to use it. (Laughs.)

If you could bring one celebrity or fictional character out as your loved one, who would you pick?

My old favorite is Alicia Keys. She doesn’t know it yet, but she and I are connected. Before Swizz Beatz got into the picture, I had a running bet with a friend of mine as to who was going to meet Alicia Keys first. I lost that bet. She’s all about peace and love and loving yourself. She’s so great.

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