From what the audience is told, and what they see, Survivor is a game that lasts 39 days. It’s part of the tagline of the series premiere. Every season, Jeff likes to remind us, “39 days, 18 people, one Survivor”. In theory, everything about that is true. The players can only play 39 days on the island. Unless they happened to play in the Austrlian Outback or are on Australian Survivor… what is it about Australia that makes people want to make the game longer?

In reality? The game is so much longer than that and it begins during the casting calls. That’s where the producers meet the prospective players and choose who will ultimately make the final cut. It’s where contestants first have to play the game and learn how to sell themselves. You might have an interesting story or background but if you can’t present it in an interesting way, someone else probably can.

Meeting with the producers and Jeff Probst is a good crash course for Survivor. The questions they ask help people prepare themselves for tribal council. If Jeff can be probing on camera, imagine what he can get out of someone when nobody is around to film it. Players need to be ready to face that kind of scrutiny if they want any hope of making the show.

Once they are officially on the cast, they get shipped out on location. This is where some of the most important parts of the game plays out and we never see a minute of it. While on-location, players don’t immediately go from the plane to the game. Press needs to be done first, they need to shoot cast photos and do their pre-game interviews. Details need to be hammered out.

While all that is happening, players are held on-location, in sequester. They are given a handler to follow them around and make sure they play by the rules. Those rules? No talking to the other players. Minimal time spent outside of their little hut, or whatever establishment they are given. No contact with the outside world. You know, the usual stuff they do to keep contestants solely in game-mode.

During that time, there isn’t much to be done. Players are provided past Survivor seasons to watch if they feel so inclined. From what I’ve heard, the seasons offered varies from year to year but Micronesia appears to be high up on the list of the ones that are suggested. It might explain the penchant for blindsides that has been in place since that season if a lot of people are using it as a measuring pole.

Exactly photo, making first impressions.

Other than that, players are left to read, work-out or relax to themselves. What they should be doing, and the smart ones do so already, is sizing up their competition to try and see what they can gleam from people’s non-verbal. It’s hard to put on an act for the days the players are sequestered together and though they may not be able to speak to each other, you can tell a lot from somebody just from the way they act.

Are they talking to their handlers often? If so, does it seem to be in a friendly manner or are they more closed off? Do they meet your gaze when you look over to them? Maybe they offer up a friendly smile. Maybe they have a constant frown that might be a case of resting bitch face. Anything players can get from the others is a leg-up from going into a game with complete strangers. It could help people form an idea of who they might want to ally with and who they don’t think they can trust.

We get a little bit of that insight thanks to Survivor pre-game press. Right now, the Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers pre-game is in full swing and Josh Wigler’s pre-game interviews have offered us some information on how the players are sizing each other up. For example, here are some thoughts people have had on Ashley Nolan, part of the Heroes tribe, while sharing sequester with her.

Chrissy Hofbeck (Actuary, Heroes Tribe): I don’t think she likes me. She just seems very angry. You know, other contestants are looking at each other and kind of smiling as we walk by. She never smiles, she never looks. I don’t know whether she’s just really following the rules and she’s a very lovely person in real life, which could definitely be the answer, but she does not look like a warm-and-fuzzy. Ali Elliott (Celebrity Assistant, Hustlers Tribe): She always has a mad face. She’s kind of the one I’m really worried about right now. Because I keep trying to make eye contact with her, and be like, “Smile!” I get this bad vibe, almost. I want to like you — I want to like everyone, at least at the beginning. And she kind of just looks mad. Desiree Williams (Physical Therapist, Healers Tribe): Um, so she started to smile a little bit; but she just comes off as a little cold, and I don’t know if that’s her competitive spirit coming through or if she’s an only child and just used to having her way. For example, this morning we were getting ready to come here [for interviews], and we have one converter — like, one converter for all the girls to use to do their hair and what-have-you. So, I got to the converter before her to use the curling iron and you could see that she was, like, pissed, and she was just like, “Well, okay.” And when I asked for another converter… like, just she complains about weird things that I feel like aren’t a big deal. It’s like, “I’m gonna be done in less than 10 minutes.” Like, literally, it’ll take me less than 10 minutes! Alan Ball (NFL Player, Heroes Tribe): She’s a diva, just by the way I watch her. Some of the little slight things she says… if she’s talking to someone, she may say something slight. It gives me the impression that she might not be a bad person, but she’s just a little bit of a diva, maybe a little bit spoiled. I don’t know. I may be reading wrong, because I haven’t talked to her. She might be the nicest person in the world. I might grow to love her. She might be my best friend on the show! I don’t know, but just from what I’m getting so far? That’s what I’m getting. Patrick Bolton (Small Business Owner, Hustlers Tribe): Well, the first time I’ve seen her smile is in that picture. She never smiles like that at Ponderosa. She gives you the most stern looks I’ve ever seen. I’m like, come on, could you give me a smile? The first day you get there, and you’re excited. Everybody should be very excited that they’re here smiling at everyone. Everybody should be smiling back. I still have not seen her smile.

Unknowingly, simply by not smiling enough or appearing warm enough, Ashley has given herself more work to do once the season actually begins. If one or two people have a bad feeling about you, that could simply be personalities that won’t mix. When it’s the majority of the cast, that’s where you start having problems. Whether or not Ashley realizes, she is giving off vibes to people that don’t leave them feeling comfortable with her and in Survivor, that’s an easy way to get voted out early.

Some people aren’t able to change their personality to make themselves welcoming even if they aren’t allowed to talk. Ashley might be one of those people. Other players have this innate ability to seem friendly, no matter what they are doing. Those are usually the players who could have the best social games during a season because of their ability to make others feel good in their presence. So far, Alan Ball, also of the Heroes tribe, has had the most success in the current Survivor pre-game. Once again, Josh Wigler’s pieces give us a lot of great information about how players are feeling about Alan as the game is almost ready to begin.

Ali Elliott (Celebrity Assistant, Hustlers Tribe): He seems like someone I would probably hang out with. He seems hilarious. He seems like if we’re on the same tribe, we’d probably be in an alliance. I feel like a lot of the people in college were kind of like him, just based off of appearance and what I’m seeing around [Ponderosa]. I feel like every person he talks to, they’re dying laughing. Lauren Rimmer (Fisherman, Hustlers Tribe): I think that he’s going to be a very nice guy. He doesn’t seem to be a prick. His demeanor is very laid back. I think he’s going to be a big help during challenges. He’s very tall, and strong. I think he’ll be easy to work with, maybe. Patrick Bolton (Small Business Owner, Hustlers Tribe): He seems genuinely nice. He gives smiles. I wouldn’t trust him with my life, but I think that he would be great in challenges. He’d be good at camp. As far as getting to really know somebody, you can’t without them opening their mouth. So as far as he goes, he seems like somebody I would like to be on my side. Desi Williams (Physical Therapist, Healers Tribe): I like him, more than I should. He seems like a nice Christian boy. I assume he’s Southern. He prays before each meal. I haven’t seen anybody else do that besides him. He seems to interact well with the staff members. So, I’m hoping to form some type of alliance with him. Chrissy Hofbeck (Financial Analyst, Heroes Tribe): Oh, he is such a gentleman! His mom raised him well. He lets the ladies go in front and he is just a kind soul.

Of course, nothing will ever be fully black and white. Some people expressed a desire to work with Ashley and some contestants thought Alan might be full of himself and not fit for the environment. Nobody is ever going to get universal approval from each contestant. The idea in the pre-game sequester is to simply try to swing the majority of the players on your side with your first impression. They always say you only get a chance to make one first impression and it tends to last. Without as much as saying a word, a player could tank their chances in the game before it’s even begun. Understanding how important pre-game sequester can be is primordial for anybody going on Survivor.

During Heroes vs Villains pre-game, nobody had any idea who Russell Hantz was. His season had been right before Heroes vs Villains and the cast had flown out to film before Samoa aired. Knowing people had never seen his gameplay, Russell went around pre-game sequester carrying his bible everywhere. While he may have been cast as a villain, it was enough to convince J.T. that Russell might be somebody to work with down the line. We all know how that ended up for both of them.

The most pious man there ever was.

Then again, we also have to realize that people can overcome bad first impressions if they are good players. Simply looking one season back, here are some things that were said about Sarah Lacina before the cast of Game Changers hit the ground running.

Malcolm Freberg (Philippines, Caramoan): Poor Sarah. I don’t think her head’s in it. It’s intimidation, maybe? I hope it’s not that. The wheels are spinning too fast. Something’s going on. Her eyes won’t stop doing this — (he darts his eyes back and forth) — and she sits too tense. Michaela Bradshaw (Millennials vs Gen X): She’s walking around looking like a female boxer. She looks like a punching bag to me. She’s bulky and just stares intensely at nothing all the time. It would be helpful for you to smile, know what I’m saying? JT Thomas (Tocantins, Heroes vs Villains): Sarah’s a wild card. I get zero vibe from her at all at Ponderosa. She’s giving off nothing. She has this fierce gaze into the wall. You don’t know what she’s going to do. Andrea Boehlke (Redemption Island, Caramoan): She’s weirdly the biggest wild card for me. I can’t tell if she hates me. I think she actually hates me. We can’t talk to anybody right now. She has these wide eyes. She’s a little shifty. She’s a tomboy. I have never been with her in real life. I’ve never met her before, so I can’t really tell. Part of me is worried about her. But maybe that will all change. Maybe she’s really nice. Sandra Diaz-Twine (Pearl Islands, Heroes vs Villains): She has to go home. It’s the way she walks. She’s dangerous. She’s the POPO. She’s the fuzz. Five-Oh!

So while it may not always end up being a factor in deciding a winner, understanding how people might perceive you, even when you’re just sitting around, could be good for your game. Going into the season, would you rather have a bunch of people thinking they could work with you or a bunch of people who think you might be an ass? Given the choice, I think I would rather have some potential friends over some people I might have to win over a second time.

If ever you make the final cut for a Survivor season and find yourself bored out of your mind in sequester, just try to remember to be bored with a smile.