Twenty-four hours before entering the game, a typical Survivor player is sipping an emotional cocktail of anxiety, excitement, and paranoia as to what’s to come. And it’s mid-drink where I find this season’s 20 contestants. Parade had the opportunity to be on set for Survivor‘s 39th season, chatting with the castaways one more time before they officially delve into 39 days of starvation, strategy, and social politics. I’ll be bringing you one preseason interview a day, going first name alphabetically by tribe.

It works out that the first contestant I’ll be presenting, the Vokai tribe’s Dan Spilo, might be the most adept out of the entire bunch for the constant wheeling and dealing. The 48-year-old is a veteran of the entertainment industry, a manager whose day-to-day includes juggling relationships with a diverse array of clients. Dan started his career around the same time that Survivor began, and hopes that his people skills can earn him a success in the game parallel to his real life.

Read on for my chat with Dan, 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 live in Los Angeles. I run a talent management production company. I represent actors and produce TV and film. I’ve been doing that for 20 years.

Have you always been in the entertainment industry?

Yes and no. I grew up in New York and went to the “Fame” high school of the performing arts. I loved acting, even though at that time, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life. My time there made me love artists. I knew I’d have to do something in that area. Life took me in a couple of different directions.

I went to law school, thinking I’d want to be an entertainment lawyer. I thought it would be like a consigliere from The Godfather. But it turns out you’re just doing paperwork and not talking with anybody. That was instantly miserable. (Laughs.) I was working with a writer and told him this story, and he said, “You should be a manager. You should be my manager.” They actually worked for the company I now own and run.

So after all that searching, how do you feel about your current career?

I love it. Every day is different. Similar enough where you know what you’re doing, but different in this amazing personal way. I have an 11-year-old client and a 72-year-old client. Very few jobs have you dealing with this huge spectrum of humanity. Every race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, you get to learn about them. As a manager, it’s a very personal thing. It’s not just business. You have to care about everything in their lives, or you should do something else and be an agent.

What interested you in Survivor?

I’m a big fan. My first day as a manager was during the first season of Survivor almost twenty years ago. It’s weird; my career and the show have been linked. As the show has gotten more complicated, intricate, and more international, so has what I do and how I operate. It’s been fun to watch that similar trajectory.

So what brought you actually to apply for the show?

Five thousand people have climbed to the top of Mount Everest. A couple of thousand people have gotten to the Olympics. Less than 600 have gotten to play this game. This is a much rarer, more difficult feat to get to. Certain types of us look for challenges. This seemed to be the most fascinating challenge that intrigued and excited me. I have no interest in frostbite and oxygen deprivation, so I gave it a shot.

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I assume there’s plenty of crossover between being a manager and managing relationships on Survivor. What skills are you going to bring from your career into the game?

There’s no job more attuned to this than mine. Every day, I have to balance between around 27 different people, personality types, ages, desires, objectives, and requirements. From demanding, creative, narcissistic, egomaniacal, indecent people. You could have an African-American 40-year-old comedian who went to prison on Line 3 and an 11-year-old boy on Line 2, and you’re talking to a 65-year-old man on Line 1. On each call, you’re convincing them what to do and flipping between three very different personality types.

The biggest thing I hope to bring is that all those people are still your boss. I work for them. I can’t tell them, “This is the choice you’re making.” You have to find a way to get them to be as excited about the choice you think is right for them as you are without dictating, arguing, or demanding. You have to get them there. Sometimes it takes a month or a week; sometimes you only get one phone call. That’s what I do all day.

Are you going to be honest about your job to everyone else in the game?

I think so. There’s enough lying going on that you shouldn’t try to maintain a big lie at the same time. I’ve never really seen it work. I think I need to say what I do, then let them question me about it. Weirdly enough, people might not know what a manager is. They have a thought as to what an agent is or what a lawyer is. I can hopefully define my job for them in a way that supports the character I believe is the most valuable to play in this game. My clients have been to the birth of my children, and I’ve been to the birth of theirs. I can talk about the job in a way without ever mentioning trust, loyalty, honesty, support, or guidance. But it would still make them think that.

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

I hope to underplay the Hollywood, “sharky” strategic role and play up everyone’s favorite uncle whose job is to mentor and guide young artists. Especially if I just say what I do and let descriptions of my life imply it. It doesn’t work to be humble in my job. People won’t hire you if you’re like, “I’m okay at this.” But in the Survivor job, I don’t think ego and overconfidence work.

How much do you think your age might affect your perception?

I’m hoping I’m not the old guy on the beach. I have no interest in hanging out with the older people. I hope I could align with them and say, “Look, we’re older.” But at the same time, most of my clients are under 35, and a number of them are under 20. I deal with young people all the time. I get social media; I live in that world. I hope the physical age isn’t putting me in a box as to who you can interact with and engage with comfortably.

What do you desire in an alliance partner?

My fantasy is the Dom/Wendell scenario. Someone where logic is first and the logic of working with you is supported by the fact that you get along and have similar interests. It’s the prisoner’s dilemma. If you just don’t screw each other, you’re incredibly powerful. It’s amazing just to find one human being who won’t go, “Well maybe it would be better if I…” No, it won’t be! Because then you’re going to have to find somebody else.

I never understand why those things break up. Until you’re down to five or six people, as long as they’re on your side, stick with it. Then you worry about whether he’s worse to sit next to than three or four other people. But it should get you to at least the family visit. They’re also the most dangerous person to you. If they go, “You’re fine,” you’re supposed to believe them and relax. Cut to three days later, and they stab you in the back. (Laughs.)

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

I love the season Cochran won, though I’m very different physically from him. He and Nick [Wilson] kept themselves open to playing with anyone almost all the time, yet they also had a couple of quiet, long-term loyalties. Just because you make one strong alliance doesn’t mean you can’t socialize and be open to lots of other people. When it comes to television, I like Jonathan Penner. I like the way he plays and describes the game. He was able to be gregarious. He just didn’t have the modesty in his daily behavior, which built up enough to cost him. I respect EQ as much as IQ.

Can you elaborate on that?

IQ is important. But I think IQ alone can be more dangerous than it is helpful. In a world in which you live with lots of people, your ability to understand people’s emotional needs and get to them and be empathetic and sympathetic is economically more valuable. Nowadays, with social media, you’re not going to outlogic someone from their point of view. You can’t say, “I know you think 2 and 2 are 5. Here’s why it’s 4.” That’s not going to work. But you can make them feel that what you’re saying feels right. The only way you can do that is to approach them emotionally.

On that note, how are you in controlling your own emotions?

Both excellent and horrible. (Laughs.) I’ve learned with clients that, to a large degree, you don’t matter at all. Your job is to think through them, and they don’t care what you think about it. However, as someone who runs a company, in a horrible way, their feelings don’t matter. I have to get in my head that every single person on this tribe is a client. Nobody here works for me. When you see Natalie [Cole] and the other bosses, they say, “No, move that there! If you took this and put this here…” That’s a complete and utter destruction in this game. In my profession, even though you can be a boss in your company, every one of your clients is your boss. I have to be in that mode.

So you’ll be giving away jackets?

Exactly. (Laughs.) I’ll be bringing swag and giving it away. I’ll be handing them tote bags on the way out. “Here’s some perfume, and a ticket for a free cruise.”

What line will you not cross morally in the game?

This may be horrible, but I don’t have a line. There are things you shouldn’t go out of your way to engage in. There’s no reason to go out of your way to find the person who’s going home and say, “I’m telling you you’re safe.” I’m open to the idea that the intensity of this environment will form relationships that try to pull you back from doing something fairly cruel. But it’s a game.

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Do you have a plan of what you’re going to do on Day 1?

I hope nothing happens right out of the gate for me. Hopefully, I can never talk strategy unless it’s being talked to me. If anybody comes to me, I’m open and supportive. I’d like not to be the person initiating it. I’m hoping for three through twelve days of initiating almost no strategy talk. If I can avoid it, I’ll never bring up someone’s name.

I like the gameplay of someone coming to you. I’ve witnessed if someone comes to you and says, “Bob’s so annoying, we need to get rid of him,” you’ll see two hours later that he and Bob are making up. Then they can say to Bob, “You know, two hours ago, I talked with Dan, and he wanted you gone.” I also want to position myself among the most people, just being present. If there are six people and two go for a walk, stay with the four. Because the four can just look around and say, “What do you think?” And you’re there for that moment.

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

If you’re talking the first three votes, I’d vote strength. I don’t value loyalty three days in; it’s almost meaningless. I’d rather not lose again. Strength is also a complicated thing. If it’s obvious that you have the famous old lady, the skinny girl who can’t lift anything, or the guy who can’t swim, then I think you vote strength.

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

I would go right to a father/son trip I took with my 13-year-old. It was one of the most joyous trips I ever had. I’d try to ruminate on that.

Do you have a mentality for how you’re going to weather the elements?

My approach to the elements is twofold. The first comes from marathon runner David Goggins. There’s the Navy SEAL approach of saying to yourself, “Come on. It can get worse.” Then there’s the Buddhist approach of it not being about what’s going on, but how you’re dealing with it. You can either sit there and suffer, or you can think, “I chose to be here. What’s Survivor without two days of rain you never know will end? This is what I’m here for. Can you imagine how depressing 39 days of sun would be?”

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

You keep giving me one choice. It’s the worst! I love Peter O’Toole, but I don’t think I would want him to hang out. That would just be weird. If it’s a fictional character, honestly, Han Solo. That would be so [expletive] cool.

NEXT: Jack Nichting