An accidental survivor contestant

Last year, Lynbrook High School graduate Joaquin Souberbielle was in California on vacation when his phone rang. It was a message notification from Tinder, a smartphone dating application that lets users pick potential dates using a photo. This message was not intended to win Souberbielle’s heart, however, but to offer him a rare opportunity.

“I was on vacation with some friends and family last year,” he explained. “And I got a message on Tinder from a producer on the show asking me to be on Survivor.”

He said he was reluctant at first to appear on the CBS reality show, which pits 18 contestants against one another in a “last man standing” format while they live on a remote island.

“When they first asked me I said no, actually,” he explained. “They wanted me to come for an interview, but I had plans to head to Las Vegas … reality television was never really my thing. I don’t watch too much T.V. Between trying to balance work, a social life, staying in shape, and when I did it was pretty much all ESPN all the time.”

So, after politely declining the offer, he headed for Sin City, where he said he spent three days enjoying the sun and fun in Las Vegas. While on the trip, however, he could not stop thinking about the offer. He received calls from producers on the show, asking him to reconsider but said no for most of the trip until a conversation changed his mind.

“After three days of me saying no any time they called, anytime anyone asked me, I finally decided to go for it,” he said. “I had a conversation with my cousin late one night, and he convinced me. He told me it was something I couldn’t pass up. Millions of people have applied to be on the show, but they just picked me. He said it seemed like destiny, and I couldn’t disagree with him.”

Souberbielle hopped back on a plane to Los Angeles and met with executives with CBS in charge of casting the show. “They asked me a lot of rapid fire questions, trying to keep me on my feet, see what my reactions, my personality were like,” he said. “And eventually they told me they wanted me on the show.”