Mae

## Survivor Career

**Mae** is the sole survivor and Queen of Survivor: The Rings of Saturn.

## Profile

**Tell us as much or as little as you want about yourself**

Mae, 29, Female, Boston, MA, ET. I’m a PhD student in economics, and I’m finishing my PhD this upcoming year. It’s been a very long six-year slog. My most used emoji right now is the hugging one (though I recognize the arms are weird).

**Have you played any orgs before? If yes, how many and what did you play most recently? Are you playing any others at the same time as this one?**

I’ve played in three orgs, the last of which was 1.5 years ago. I had a bad experience that really affected me and made me scared to be part of orgs again. However, my love for survivor and general internet nerddom continued, and eventually my friend (Kat!) invited me to the Cosmic hub, which has become my internet home for chatting about Survivor as well as lots of other nerdy hobbies. It reminds me of my middle school and early high school years when I spent tons of time on the internet talking to people (did anyone else go on the palace?). I think Cosmic is a really special place on the internet and I feel grateful that you guys have welcomed me into it. And to finish answering the question, no, I’m not playing any other orgs at the same time. Orgs can be extremely emotionally taxing even in the best of times, and I’m not actually sure if I would play in another org series without the trust I have in this community! I feel really lucky to have this chance to play again.

**Give us your most unpopular Survivor opinion**

I still have love in my heart for Russell Hantz even though I KNOW he’s an ass who will never win Survivor because he’s mean to people. A Survivor opinion that I think is a generally popular one but has turned out to be very unpopular in my irl Survivor watch crew is that I love Tyson. He rubs ALL of them the wrong way, even the ones who are now going back to watch his earlier seasons. Help!!! Is he secretly an asshole? I think of him as the awkward guy who’s grown into himself but still has empathy for everyone, including people who are different. They think he’s smarmy ☹️

**What is your coolest party trick? Any unusual talents?**

Not a general party trick, but more like a country-specific party trick, I know just enough Turkish and Mandarin Chinese that when I go to those countries people get excited that a foreigner can speak it. I’m not that exciting at parties in America though.

**What is your favorite piece of sci-fi or space-related media?**

Sci-fi is my first and forever love. I’ve branched out a lot in my older years but I started out life as a sci-fi nerd. It’s hard to pick favorites, but one that has to be up there is the Foundation series. Another favorite is the Age of X series by Richelle Mead, which is where the name Mae comes from! The author never finished the series though, and even worse, I went to a talk by her where she implied she might never finish it 😭

**What have you been doing to stay busy during the quarantine? What can you not wait to do again?**

I’ve been lucky enough to have an income and not have anyone I know get seriously sick, so quarantine has been me staying at home with my husband and either working on my PhD or hanging out pursuing hobbies. It’s honestly been a bit of a revelation for me. I’m an introvert, and quarantine has made me realize how much pressure I put on myself normally to go out in the world and socialize. I used to feel bad when I felt like I hadn’t been going out enough or if I wanted to stay home and play a video game all day. Why did I do that??? There’s no shame in being a homebody! I just happen to enjoy doing lots of things by myself! This is a big mental shift for me and I’m hoping to keep it up post-quarantine. What I do really miss is traveling. Maybe that’s how the feeling of being stuck here is manifesting for me.

**Do you watch the Olympics? If so what is your favorite sport to watch? What's the lamest to watch?**

I do, and my favorite sport to watch is figure skating! Fun fact, @edim and I hung out in a pool with Johnny Weir in Iceland! He was really fun. The answer to lamest Olympic sport is golf. Sorry golf people.

**If you were asked to give a presentation on something random that you are an expert in, what would you talk about?**

How to invest your extra savings in the stock market! It’s much easier than you think – there’s basically a strictly dominant strategy for what most people should do – and it’s much cheaper to do it yourself than to pay a financial adviser to do it for you.

**Of the three tenets of Survivor, which one do you think you’re the best at: Outwitting, Outplaying, or Outlasting? How is that going to help you win Survivor: Rings of Saturn?**

I have to say I don’t actually know what the difference is between these things 😂 I think my org strength is that I genuinely enjoy getting to know people. Orgs are special because they let you truly talk to people on here in a way you don’t normally have the social excuse to do, and on top of that, you’re mixed with people you would never meet in your regular life. It’s like what the internet was meant to be. I will try my hardest to win, I love games and this is no different, but I mainly want to have fun – this cast looks awesome, there’s a bunch of people who have brand new discords (!!), and I KNOW the Cosmic leadership puts a lot of care in the people they pick!

So I guess the answer is… outlast?? 😂

## Stats

 Days Played
 Votes Against
 Individual Immunity Wins
 Idols Found
 Votes Negated
 Advantages