Ryan Griffin

**Ryan Griffin** is a contestant from *Worlds Collide* & *Unfinished Business*.

## Profile

*Retrieved from CBS.com*

**Age:** 21

**Hometown:** East Haven, CT

**Current Residence:** West Haven, CT

**Occupation:** College Student

**3 Words to Describe You:** Sarcastic, introspective, neurotic

**Why do you want to be part of SURVIVOR?** I haven't had the best life a lot of people don't realize, but Survivor is the one thing in my life that I have loved and it was always the glimmer of hope which is so dramatic I know. I am doing Survivor now in the perfect time actually I had this goal since I was in middle school as soon as I hit 18 I would apply and that didn't happen and I think it was the best thing to ever happen to me. The year I turned 18 was 2020 so great year that was, I was graduating high school and wanted to start the next chapter of my life playing a game I love and that clearly didn't happen and it was the best thing that happen to me (in term sof playing Survivor) I am now 21 and that is a huge difference from being a teenager and I think it's my time it's now or never.

**What’s one life experience you feel has prepared you for the game?** I think as someone who went their life with undiagnosed mental health things (anxiety, depression and autism) really prepared me for this game. I hit a all time low since 2020, I had some kind of breaking point/breakdown, I don't know it sent me down a spiral I felt like I couldn't get out. So in the years since 2020 (and a little before that) I have been diagonsed with social and generalized anxiety, depression and autism while also graduating high school in a pandemic, turning 18, not going to college like people in my grade working terrible customer service jobs in a pandemic, applying for and going to college, turning 20 having a breakdown so bad that I had to take a leave of absence from school to get my mental health in a better place and lastly finally turning 21. I think all of those things for 21 years an about 16-20 years of being undiagnosed really shaped me to wanting to take the risk to finally feel comfortable enough for this game.

**Which previous player do you identify with the most? Who do you think you will play most like?** Always and forever Todd Herzog and Courtney Yates. I watched them at 5 years old dominating China and also complaining, gossiping and shit talking the entire time. I relate so much to that because that's how I survived high school was doing just those three things. I do want to play like Todd just playing the second or third in command and be a puppet master in the shadows until it's to late. I want to be a sneaky person in this game but also look at that Fei Long Alliance, I am a loyal person until you do something against my best interest then I am done with you. I want to play a loyal, alliance game and make subtle, or a big move to get me to that win.

**What will you value in an alliance partner?** I need someone who gets me and I get them. I need someone for me to feel comfortable with to give my loyalty too. I think in an alliance partner I also want to see actions over words, put your money where your mouth is and if you want to talk about loyalty show it to me.

**Favorite Hobbies:** Writing, Creating Stories, Absorbing Pop Culture, Gossiping/Complaining

**Pet Peeves:** 99% of everything and anything (but mostly any racist, homophobic, sexist, abelist person)

**What is the accomplishment you are most proud of?** Somehow graduating high school in a pandemic, and then working a year in a pandemic and then being accepted into college (big win for someone who doesn't like and eventually leaves school)

**What is something we would never know from looking at you?** I am a lot more competitive than people give me credit for

**Who in your life is your biggest inspiration and why?** I think people who had a goal or a dream and just went for it, even if they fail. I think I struggle with that because I don't like change and don't like the risk because it could not go your way and it usually doesn't. I am a pessimist and a realist so that mindset is always in my head, but for this game I had to get rid of it and take that change even if it scares me so much.

**Why will you be the Sole Survivor?** I will be the sole survivor because I know my strengths and weaknesses and I know how to use them. I think I have enough knowledge of this game where it will overwhelm me and be too meta. I am also an extremely observant person and a "quieter" person so I think those skills will help me in the game to figure out people. I think my biggest struggle is going to be finding a balance with my weaknesses because I do have social and generalized anxiety, depression, autism and this game needs you to be social, I think finding the right people to make me feel comfortable with make me win the game.

 **Days spent on Redemption Island:** | N/A