"I think I could go win this thing" — Survivor 47 star Gabe Ortis opens up about his participation in the show

Survivor will premiere its latest season, Season 47, on CBS, on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. It will feature a diverse lineup of 18 castaways, participating in the show from different walks of life.

Jeff Probst will return as the showrunner, taking the contestants on a unique journey in the islands of Fiji, where they will encounter unexpected obstacles and a "twist-packed" road. Competing for $1 million, each player will try and put their best foot forward to outperform the other and walk away with the winner's title.

Radio host Gabe Ortis, 26, participated in the show, convinced he could clinch the winner's title. In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, published on September 16, 2024, Gabe revealed he decided to become a castaway after binge-watching the show.

"And the more and more I was watching, I just kind of had this moment of, you know, not only could I go do this, I think I could go win this thing," Gabe said.

The Survivor 47 cast member confessed he grew up watching the survivalist show with his family. However, as time passed, he fell behind on the seasons. It was not until he moved in with his current roommates, who were "big, super fans" of the show that he started watching it again.

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Survivor 47 star Gabe Ortis talks about role models, game strategy, production, and more

As a fan, Gabe was familiar with the legacy certain players created for themselves on the show. Such players were always commemorated and often praised as role models. When asked who Gabe looked up to, he confessed that despite some commendable personalities, he preferred creating his own name in the game.

The castaway wanted people to remember him as him, not as someone else's shadow.

"I want people to watch the seasons after mine and say, "Wow, that person played like Gabe." You know, I kind of want to create my own legacy," Gabe stated.

Previously, the Survivor cast member stated that he would not make friends or alliances since he wanted to focus his attention and effort on perfecting his individualistic game. However, in the interview, Gabe mentioned, "Survivor is a bonding game."

He explained that the connections on the show formed organically. Since they shared the same time and space, their experiences were similar to each others' and so were their hardships.

"I have a very special and a very unique bond with all the people that I got to play with out there. We all went through something that we can only relate to each other. I can't come back home and talk to my dad about starving on an island because he's never done that before," Gabe explained.

When asked what the most surprising thing about being on the island was, the Survivor cast member revealed it was the show's "insane production." On most days there were only a "few cameramen." However, it felt like being in a big-budget Hollywood studio during challenges. Gabe commended the production's efforts to make the cast look like a "Hollywood-level production."

While discussing game strategies, Gabe explained one needed to find the best opportunity to "siphon information" from the other castaways. One had to carefully approach those conversations to decipher what the other cast members were discussing.

"For a lot of people who don't have that experience, they just want to blow up the conversation, or go up and say, "What are you guys talking about?" All that does is paint you as this chaotic, erratic, paranoid player who gets ostracized and people don't want to work with," Gabe stated.

As a resident of Baltimore, renowned as Charm City, he wanted to present his hometown in a positive light. He strived to change the "national narrative" about Baltimore and project it as one of the greatest cities in the world. He wanted to utilize "a large platform like CBS" to make his "city proud."

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Survivor Season 47 will release its first episode on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, at 8 pm ET, only on CBS.