Dean Kowalski is up for a challenge, whether physical or metaphorical. The 28-year-old Google salesman grew up on the basketball court, putting himself in the top tier of this extremely athletic cast. But the adaptability and tenacity from his adolescence fostered a fighting spirit in Dean. It’s what made him power through a rough time in high school, a transition from teaching in Florida to the New York tech scene, and ultimately apply for Survivor to put his skills and new mindset to the test.

Read on for my chat with Dean, 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 28, and I live in New York City. I work in tech sales at Google. Before that, I was a teacher in Miami, teaching 9th-grade Algebra I.

What prompted the switch?

I grew up playing basketball, with the goal of being an NBA player. Then I realized I was 5’10”, so that wasn’t happening. But I thought about playing college basketball, so that prompted me to go to a high school where all we did was play. We were top five in the country, and I was one of four white kids in the whole school. We would go all around the country. I ended up going to play basketball at Columbia University. I use “play” very sparingly because I had front-row seats for the most part. (Laughs.) I was a co-captain my senior year, but I only played two minutes a game.

Every summer was dedicated to basketball. My coach didn’t allow internships, so I didn’t know what the heck I wanted to do. I knew I didn’t want to wear a suit every day like some of the other Columbia alumni. So I took the teaching route. I did a program for Teach for America, which brought me to Miami. You rank cities where you want to go as if you’re rushing a sorority. At first, I only wanted New York because my girlfriend was there and I was from New Jersey. But at the last minute, I was like, “[expletive] it. I’ve never lived anywhere else.” So I put L.A., San Francisco, and Miami. After the two-year commitment, I wanted to get back to my girlfriend and family. And thus, I wanted to try out a “real” job.

And what are you thinking about it so far?

I don’t know; sales is something I fell into. Coming from teaching, I didn’t have any hard skills to lean my hat on. I looked up ed-tech companies in New York. I started at a company called Grovo, which was rated one of the top ed-tech companies to work at. So I landed at some random company in sales. I did well enough that Google found me. I’m still doing well in sales. But having a quota above my head and a commission-based income isn’t my favorite thing.

What brought you onto Survivor?

I’m by no means a superfan. I started watching in college with two of my best friends. We just wanted a show to pick up and Wednesday nights were free, so we chose Survivor. We started with Caramoan. I vividly remember Brenda and her cheering, “Cookies and brownies!” during a Reward Challenge. It’s still an inside joke between us. (Laughs.) But after college, life got in the way, so Survivor wasn’t a thing. At Grovo, I worked hand-in-hand with another salesperson in a conference in New Orleans. We walk into a meeting with H&R Block and this guy, who is a superfan, walks in and immediately jets out. He’s starstruck because across the table is Mama C. At that moment, I didn’t really know who she was. We had the meeting and went out with them on Bourbon Street. He knew every one of her moves, and I was just listening. After that trip, he and I started watching together. That was around five years ago, and I’ve watched every one since. That’s what brought me back in love with the show.

It’s one thing to watch it and another to be on it. That stems from my personality. So many people just talk. “I want to get a new job; I want to be on Survivor, I want to go to Fiji.” I made it a New Year’s resolution to apply. I put in a video, and I had no freakin’ idea it would land me here. I made a video walking the streets of New York, Google Pixel in hand in selfie mode, walking up and down Fifth Avenue. And here we are.

It’s so interesting you bring up “talkers and doers,” because that applies to making moves versus watching moves in this game.

You have to strike that delicate balance out here. Here I am talking, but I’ve never done it before. We’ll see how it pans out. To win, especially in this day and age, you need a resume and moves. You need stuff to push you forward. I don’t want to be the guy doing that Day 1, though. Because getting that target for 39 days is going to be a tough place to be.

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

At face value, I’ll be taken as a threat. It might sound kind of pompous to say people will think, “He looks physically fit so he’ll be good at challenges. He looks likable because he’s always smiling and patting people on the back.” If it gets out that I work at Google or went to Columbia, those are huge brand names that can get me in trouble. I think all those things can put a target on my back. I’m hoping to subdue that by making quick connections and relationships.

What do you desire in an alliance partner?

You’d say loyalty and trust, but who the hell has that nowadays? (Laughs.) I definitely want some threat or shield. There have been some huge freakin’ dudes here. Everyone always says, “Oh, he’s physically fit. He’s gonna be good in challenges.” Solving a puzzle is more necessary than being physically fit. With that said, I do want to keep guys like that around. Or if there’s a loudmouth person like Tony, I want to make him my best bud.

What line will you not cross morally in the game?

Can’t say I have one. I don’t know these people. I say that now, but who knows. Maybe after 37 or 38 days, I get to know someone well and don’t want to stab them in the back. But I can’t see that being the case.

How has your life so far prepared you for the adaptability of Survivor?

Going from a relatively affluent suburb to being one of four white kids in my school, I had to find my way in. Being in a sales role, whether it’s a Fortune 500 company or a startup, I’m able to find my way and find my role. I speak differently if I need to. I pride myself on that type of quality.

What type of personality do you get along with the most?

I already see some older folks. They’re not the ones I’m immediately drawn to. But I can go out of my way and ask what their story is. I do think I can vibe with the younger athletic personalities quicker than others.

I read you’ve gotten into astronomy and your place in the world. What prompted that?

I feel we should all be thinking about this cloud of dust and rock that we’re sitting on right now that’s simply floating through space. Space has always been an interest that I dug into more recently. I’ve read some Neil DeGrasse Tyson and watched some Carl Sagan videos. Think about it. Picture yourself, but zoom out your perspective until you see Earth, then the sun, then the galaxy. You become a pale blue dot that you can’t distinguish from any other star or galaxy out there. It’s very humbling to think, “Why do people stress out? Why can’t we all [expletive] get along?” That segued into mindfulness, meditation, and Buddhism.

Are you going to try to practice that mindfulness out here?

One of my other New Year’s resolutions was to meditate more. The goal was three times a week, five minutes minimum, and I’ve stuck to it. Of course, I want to be me out there. But I don’t want any reason for people to point me and stick out like a sore thumb. I might not meditate. But there’s going to be a lot of downtime.

You speak about not wanting to stick out so much. Are you going to hunt for idols at all?

I know sticking out sucks. But to win, you need some sort of advantage. So, absolutely. Or I hopefully find it on the boat the first day, or it falls out of my cup at a reward. (Laughs.)

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

If it’s right before the merge, I’m going with loyalty. Once that merge hits, it’s the athletic people who are targeted. I don’t know if it’s correct or not, but from experience, that’s the case.

Give me a Survivor alum you want to play like.

The one who immediately comes to mind is Wendell. He felt so cool, calm, and under control at all times. Everyone got along with him, no matter what type of person it was. He used Dom as a shield. He was so calm and cool he didn’t even announce he won a puzzle at one point! Being that calm in this stressful environment is something I want.

What are you going to tell your tribemates about what you do?

I don’t know what Google and Columbia are. I work at a tech company, a startup called Grovo, in marketing. I’m kind of lying. I did work at Grovo, and I sell to marketers. But I don’t work in marketing. Salesmen have sleazy connotations to them, and I want to stay away from that. I didn’t go to Columbia, but I did still play basketball and co-captain a team. But it was at a Division III school at Hunter College on the Upper East Side. Blue and yellow, go eagles! (Laughs.) Hopefully, there’s not anyone there from Hunter College. I’ve thought about the teaching stuff too. I don’t want to lead with that necessarily. Because being a teacher also says, “Damn, he’s a good-hearted dude. We need to get him out because everyone’s going to like him.”

Speaking of versatility, I heard you recently got into DJing.

(Laughs.) I did, kind of. Whenever I step into an Uber, all my friends and coworkers know I get the front seat. That way, I can ask the driver to connect my phone with the aux cord. Once I get that, it’s game on. A fellow teacher from Miami got married this summer and asked me to DJ their wedding. I called him up after he emailed me and was like, “Are you [expletive] serious? This is your wedding! I don’t know what I’m doing.” So I bought a little table and kind of taught myself. It wasn’t that great. But he also asked me to emcee, which went very well. I’m also officiating another friend’s wedding this December. So I’ll be the whole wedding package.

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

When it comes to hard work, I come back to my sophomore or junior year of high school. This is right when I decided to leave all my childhood friends behind to go to this school just to play basketball. I was the smallest kids on the whole team, always fighting for playing time. I made varsity my junior year, probably seventh or eighth man without much playing time. We’d still have to work out in the morning, running around a park in the New Jersey winter where it wasn’t light until 8:00 AM. We’d go from that into school, put on our uniforms, go to school, and then practice afterward. We didn’t see the sun all day.

There I was, in this mist of puberty and development. I was watching Laguna Beach and The O.C. at the time. As corny as it was, all I thought was, “I want to be a normal high school student. I want to ask some beautiful girl to prom and hang out at house parties.” Here I was running in the middle of the winter in pitch black, getting ready for a basketball team I didn’t really play on. Those were dark days. I came home crying to my mom, and she was like, “Do you want to transfer?” But I made it through, and I don’t regret it. It made me a better person.

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

There are a lot of options. But given context, I’ve got to go with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. I would want him to give me some context and humility

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