Survivor’s Jonathan Young Shares Insight Into Training With Boston Rob

Beyond sharing his feedback from Survivor 42, Boston Rob—who was a castaway on the competition series five times, winning Survivor season 22—also wrote Jonathan a letter with a treasure trove of advice to read on the plane.

“It was three things,” the 33-year-old shared. “In this letter, the first thing was smile. Nobody wants to play with somebody that doesn’t smile.”

“When you see a dog when it’s smiling, don’t you wanna pet it? Same in Survivor,” he continued. “You wanna work with somebody that’s smiling. So I’m smiling.”

The next was a reminder for him to keep his own best interests in mind.

“You’re the only person that wants you to win,” he explained. “So, go into this knowing that you can work with people, but at the end of the day, they don’t want you to win. They want them to win. Trust as far as you can, but don’t trust anymore.”

“Number three is, do your very best, forget the rest,” he added. “Control what you can control, but when you have a tribe swap and stuff that you can’t help, let it go. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

So, what was Jonathan’s strategy this time?

“We got people who were On Fire with Jeff Probst, we have winners, we have people who’ve played five times,” he explained. “I’m just a little Jonathan from Gulf Shores, Alabama. So, I used that to my advantage. That was part of my strategy.”

“I’m just gonna pretend to catch the fish,” he noted. “I’m gonna go open your coconuts, do all the things and if I can make you believe that I’m the same guy, then I can win.”

And as Jonathan prepared to step back on the sandy shores, he kept a core principle from Sun Tzu‘s The Art of War in mind.  

“Know yourself, know your enemies,” he shared. “A thousand battles, 1000 victories. I knew who I was going into this and I knew my enemies.”

As fans wait to see who wins the $1 million prize on Survivor 50, keep reading to see all the castaways ready to make their mark this season.