“The game is out here, not up here,” Noura Salman tells me. She’s admonishing herself for looking up to the Fijian canopy during one of my questions, but it’s a great microcosm of the entrepreneur’s attitude in general. The 36-year-old sees the world at large after her parents moved from Lebanon to London to raise her before traveling stateside. Feeling stuck in a finance job, she completely changed her outlook on life, now working in health and wellness. Now that she knows what she’s like on the playground, she feels ready to enter the Survivor jungle gym, with eyes focused out and on that million-dollar prize.

Read on for my chat with Noura, 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 vegan, and I’m a really big health and wellness advocate. I come from the financial world. I’m a CPA of fifteen years by trade, which is unsuspecting of someone with my personality. I’m an outgoing people person. In the last five years, I was like, “I’m out.” I’m trying to gradually migrate to health and wellness. I’m still doing something with finance because I need to make a living. It’s hard for me because I’m someone who says, “Let’s burn the boats and go for it!”

I’m from the D.C. area, born and raised in London. We moved over when I was 10; my childhood is there. My parents are Lebanese. They left during the civil war there and went to London. It was very expensive to raise a family there. We have family in the U.S., and my mom got a job with the family. That’s what brought us here. Seeing my parents struggle is what got me into the finance world. You realize how money can make such an impact on your relationship, raising kids, everything. That’s what got me to go into the financial world, even though that’s not my personality.

What made you pursue health and wellness?

When you hear yourself complaining about something enough times, you say, “Enough is enough.” You have to realize when you’re that broken record, you have to make that change. I left and moved to Miami, on this little adventure of returning back to who I am and what makes me happy. There’s something in your life that’s your Kryptonite, that you keep around. It can be a person or a job. You have to get away from it because it’s draining you from your superpowers that can help you do good.

And when led to you bringing your superpowers to Survivor?

It’s really weird because it’s so full circle. Once I started being who I really am, it started showing in my applications. I’m sure they’ve seen everything. They’ve seen people naked running through the snow, doing silly things to get attention. It’s only when I took all that smoky mirrors away–is that right, smoky mirrors?

I believe it’s smoke and mirrors.

That’s it, thank you! Being an American that grew up outside of the culture, there are a lot of messed-up colloquialisms. They’ve been messed up since childhood. If mom doesn’t get it, then you don’t get it. It’s like getting the lyrics to a song wrong, but if you say those lyrics all the time. But I didn’t allow myself to be me and play in my video. It’s the same in my life. Once I made that shift and I came into myself, I can now say I’m ready. I got to figure out my life, so hopefully, I can really play all-out and show you some stuff.

How did your shift in lifestyle change your mentality?

When you stop playing a role or an identity, you ask, “Who is Noura and what does she want?” I have this saying: “When you’re on the playground with Noura, what’s she like?” You don’t think, “Who’s Noura’s parents and what type of sports does she play?” Generally, people want to know these outside things to figure out who you are. It should be the opposite.

We all want to fit in the world, and we’re going to see a lot of that in the game. You want to fit in, but you want to stand out. You want to make big moves, but you don’t want to get voted out early. In our daily lives, we’re conditioned to behave a certain way with a certain routine. It will be so cool to say, “Forget all that!” That’s how I am as an entrepreneur. I have to think outside the box and be okay to say I’ll do it a certain way and not care about how I’m going to be judged.

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

That is very challenging. You already get a feel, and if you’re in tune with people, you see people judging you for the way you dress or hold yourself. They’re probably saying, “Oh, she’s stretching now. She’s putting weird green drops in her water.” People can tell I’m a very warm person. I make eye contact with people and genuinely smile at them. You can tell I’m happy to be here and meet these different people.

They’ve all got to be superfans. At this point, we have so many seasons behind us. We all have Hulu and Amazon and we can converse with other people about it. We have so much at our fingertips, we better be well-educated players and, as a result, play a better game. It’s going to be a lot more challenging since the game has become a lot more transparent for us to get our hands on.

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

Kim from One World had this way about her. You see this with a lot of winning players. Players sometimes get that weird question near the end of “Who would you give your life to?” And they all said, “Kim.” I want people to know that’s who I am. I want to be that rock for people in the game. I like how so many people respected her and never thought twice about their alliance with her. That’s one of the best aspects she had in her game. She also knew how to do it with a little finesse. If I can emulate those aspects of that game, that would be great. I do feel some likeness in that she’s an entrepreneur, fit, and well-liked. We have commonalities, but there are some aspects she has better than me. She knows not to react too quickly. I’m way more impulsive. She was very democratic and chill. I never saw her lose her cool. I’m gonna lose my cool.

I really liked Domenick, and I’m sad how he lost. In my mind, he’s a winner. He’s well-liked and knows how to get along with people. He can deal with all kinds and “classes” of people from different walks of life because of his work. I resonate with that. You can be like an Ozzy or a Malcolm, an island boy with a lot of tools in your tool belt. But the tools that really matter are the social tools. I’d be better off not doing certain things and chilling with you, while someone is off bringing in all these things for us. Ozzy’s a great example of that. To win this game, you have to win over the people.

What do you desire in an alliance partner?

I really believe in moving to what you’re attracted to. The people I’m drawn to are the ones who can look me in the eye for more than a few seconds. With the digital times we’re living in, that doesn’t happen. We don’t get as much–pun intended–facetime. These people are comfortable being uncomfortable. They’re looking to connect. They’re self-actualized and know who they are, which means they can connect with others. You’re not only looking at who you can connect with; you’re looking at who can connect with others too. These people can look me in the eye and give me a smile, and I feel a genuineness.

How much authenticity do you plan on bringing into the game?

What I’ve learned in the real world is that people let down their barriers when someone is more willing to let theirs down first. People are very reactive. In this environment, where we’re waiting, there could be a moment where everyone’s sitting and I stand. Now some people are standing up! I get too hot; I throw my shirt off. Now other people are like, “Okay, we can throw our shirts off!” I’m listening to music and gyrating my hips a little. All of a sudden you see people doing that. It’s like they’re a little afraid. When I say, “This is me in my bikini! I feel a little bloated and haven’t gone to the bathroom in a few days. But it’s cool!” Today, I sat on a chair that was broken and I fell down. I laughed at myself and it made everyone laugh.

I just need to know where to cut ties. It’s like dating or a business partnership. I’ve done that with all of them. You get in and peel your layers back. I’m probably going to peel first. But as I peel those layers back and I see things I don’t like, I know from my experience that the core is going to magnify the good and the bad. I need to be smart enough to know when it’s time to say it’s done. It’s going to be hard because I see the good in people and don’t want to be naive.

When your tribe visits Tribal Council, would you rather vote on strength or loyalty?

It’s obviously loyalty. Even if I get out some stronger players that can win Immunity Challenges, if I don’t have enough partnerships and people I can trust, it doesn’t matter. We’ve seen people say, “It’s an individual game, all bets are off.” No, do you not understand?! These people are going to vote for you for the money, and it’s the people who are going to get you there. Anyone who’s done anything great in this world doesn’t get up to the podium and say, “I’d like to thank myself.” You realize it takes a village.

How has your mother’s journey inspired you in your life?

My mom is the breadwinner, but it didn’t start like that. She came from a great family. Her dad was an entrepreneur, which is common in the Middle East. There’s that idea of the merchant and businessman. My dad was the breadwinner originally. They’re both stubborn, and that’s why I think it didn’t work out between them, among other reasons. When he wasn’t making ends meet, she had to take the role. It created a hardship on the family. She put herself through a lot and compromised a lot of her loves and passions. She ran a business for my uncle, but she really wanted to be an artist. She had to put that on hold because it wasn’t paying. She had to take this job because it paid a lot more and allowed us to move to the United States.

I realized at that moment that she could have love and money without killing herself in the process. How can you have the American dream while also having your health? You can make all the money in the world. But if you don’t have your health, that’s it. You can’t take it with you. She reminded me that you can do it all, but there’s a smarter way.

I’m assuming that was another thing to put you down the wellness path.

I’m not just doing this just for me. I want to crack the code for me to do it and teach others. I want to show that we can achieve the American dream. You can have that happy marriage, that family, and all the things you want without killing yourself in the process. And now my mom’s remarried to a man that provides, and she’s doing the art she loves. She’s never been happier. She got it all, but it took being married to the right person, giving herself that happiness, and really embracing her love and dreams. That’s what her story said to me.

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

This is going to be weird, but I would say Leonardo DiCaprio. He stands for protecting this Earth and our environment. And also our health, because they go together. When we’re sicker, the Earth gets sicker. We’re doing things to ourselves like over-working and polluting that’s making us and the planet all sick. He puts a lot of energy, effort, and a voice to those things. Not many people who make the money really give back to us all. He gives us entertainment, but he’s also making a stand!

If I win the money, my effort is going to be like his. I want to put it back into our ecosystem. Most people you’ll give the million to are to pay off some debts or give money to their parents. I’m going to tell the jury, “I’m going to do nothing for myself. I’m going to put this all back into things that will improve our financial and health worlds.” I want to help us as a whole, and that’s going to be my plea. “Help me help you.”

“Give green to go green.”

Ooh, I love that!

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