'Survivor' 46: Two Canadian castaways, Jess Chong and Venus Vafa, compete for $1 million
Premiering Feb. 28, meet the two Canadian women striving to be the season's Sole Survivor
Competing in famed reality TV show Survivor Season 46 (premiering Feb. 28), hosted by Jeff Probst, Canadians Jessica “Jess” Chong and Venus Vafa were among the castaways to head to Fiji.
Where to watch Survivor 46: Global TV in Canada, CBS in the U.S., Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT
Where to stream Survivor 46: Stream with STACKTV channel through Prime Video in Canada, or through Paramount+ in the U.S.
Watch Survivor Season 46 by adding the STACKTV channel to your Prime Video subscription. 14-day free trial then $12.99/month
Who is 'Survivor' star Venus Vafa?
Vafa revealed that it was specifically following the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by Iran's morality police for allegedly not complying with the mandatory hijab rules, that really made her want to apply for the show.
Vafa's parents first immigrated to Canada from Iran in the 1990s, but ended up moving back to Iran shortly after she was born. The family moved to Canada again in order to raise their "outspoken" daughter, where Vafa went to French immersion school, eventually leading her to McGill University in Montreal.
"Survivor was my comfort show during COVID and never in a billion years when I was watching it did I think I'd ever be on it," Vafa, a 24-year-old data analyst who lives in Toronto, told Yahoo Canada. "What inspired me to actually apply to be on the show was what was going on in Iran."
"As a young person, woman myself, I was heartbroken, also a little disconcerted with the way the media was covering the issue, and just the general fear of the attention not being on this conversation for long enough to actually inspire change. So I think what really inspired me to go on a show like Survivor that is the epitome of like strength, cunning, and outwit, outplay, outlast, all of these things that I feel like are the pillars of what Persian women stand for. This strength and this intelligence, I felt as though it's the perfect show for me to go on and be able to talk about these issues, and be able to keep that conversation going."
While Vafa stressed she didn't seek out to be an "ambassador" for all IranIan women, there was a gap in representation that she wanted to fill.
"The Middle Eastern identity and the first generation immigrant identity is not really talked about enough," she said. "It's such a common story, yet we don't get enough of it on our TVs and on our screens."
"The cast reveal just happened recently and the conversations surrounding me in particular have just highlighted exactly the fears that I've had and why I went on the show to begin with. People are messaging me saying that I'm not really brown and it just goes to show you that there's so much confusion, and not enough understanding around the Middle Eastern identity. I'm not brown, apparently, but also I get none of the privileges of being white. And it's like this very confusing, grey area that no one talks about."
Who is 'Survivor' star Jess Chong?
Chong, who grew up between Hong Kong and Toronto, but now lives in San Francisco, Calif., was inspired by watching Gabby Pascuzzi on Survivor: David vs. Goliath to be on the show herself.
"I love Gabby and ... growing up, I really didn't feel like I saw people on screen that represented me or reflected me, not even racially but just in terms of like character," the 37-year-old software engineer said. "So I was like, I just really want to go on the show and be the representation that I didn't get to see when I was young."
Chong's parents met and got married in Toronto after both moving to Canada in the 1970s. Going between both Hong Kong and Toronto as a kid, Chong recalled getting on the plane to Canada and hearing the national anthem in her head.
The castaway also had a unique concern going onto Survivor, sun exposure, but found out that she was allowed to wear SPF on the island.
Strategy, allies and 'Survivor' prep
Much of the tactic of Survivor includes creating allies and forming alliances on the island.
For Vafa, she revealed her strategy going into the show was that she wanted people to approach her, not the other way around.
"I know from my own past experiences that the people who vibe with me, vibe with me, and the people who don't just don't," she said. "So that was sort of my mentality going in is to not force anything, and just let natural alliances happen as they may."
Chong shared that she went into the show wanting to make "real connections" with people.
"When you have 26 days there, you have so much less time to ingratiate yourself to people," she stressed. "So for me, I thought it was very important to make strong connections with people ... to get you further in the game."
In terms of Survivor prep, both Chong and Vafa spent some time trying to hone their puzzle skills, in addition to working on their physical fitness.
"My husband bought a 3D printer, ... he made me a bunch of puzzles," Chong revealed.
"And I read a book about negotiation, ... and I kind of just tried to really understand what it is about myself that makes me who I am and makes people trust me. ... I actually wrote down a bunch of like affirmations because I was like, this is all I'm going to have."
Watch Survivor Season 46 by adding the STACKTV channel to your Prime Video subscription. 14-day free trial then $12.99/month
Vafa shared that her dad had some concerns about how "extremely competitive" she can be.
"He was so worried for me going on this show," Vafa said. "He's like, 'You have to make sure that you are very sportsman like. I know you're competitive. I know you're going to get angry if you don't win, ... but you have to be very calm in this situation.'"
"So thankfully I took his advice to heart and I was very competitive, but I made sure to conceal it as much as possible."
