Before the game of Survivor 48 begins, there is the game before the game. That is the time spent on location in Fiji at Ponderosa in the days leading up to filming. The contestants are not allowed to talk to each other during this time, but you better believe opinions — and perhaps even alliances — are being formed, often over something as simple as a look, a facial expression, a book being read, or a video game being played.

This is where the cast begin to make their first impressions on each other, and those are impressions that can definitely carry over into the game. Of course, often those non-verbal judgements are shattered just moments after contestants hit the beach and realize they were way off one way or the other.

But if you are looking for a portrait in terms of what the cast of Survivor 48 (which premieres Feb. 26 on CBS) thought of each other leading into the game, then look no further, as we asked all 18 castaways whom they were getting good and bad vibes off of while they waited for the season start. They didn’t even know each other’s names at this point, but they knew what they felt when they gazed upon their competition, and here’s what they told us.

Sai Hughley

Okay, let me start with a positive. The dude who looks like he owns a surf shack is my vibe. He’s very much playing on his Nintendo Game Boy, very free-spirited, will smile when somebody makes eye contact. He doesn’t seem like very much of a rule follower. I can vibe with that. I also like the dude with the long hair. He seems very polite, very reserved, doesn’t require too much attention. It seems like he will speak when spoken to and when he does, it’s insightful. I also like the gentleman who has the glasses. He’s older, he’s married. I’ve been paying attention to all this stuff and he’s bald and he just seems like when I make eye contact, he’ll smile, but it’s not overly aggressive, like, “I want you to know that I’m super nice.” It’s just subtle and it’s like, okay, cool.

The people I don’t like: There are few girls that I feel like are attention-seeking and it’s driving me a little nuts. When you are in a room and everybody’s quiet and still, it’s okay to have silence. You don’t always need to be doing the most for people to clap for you. One is the blonde-haired girl. I’ve been itching to get this out. The blonde-haired girl is crinkly, she’s an artist, and every chance she gets, she takes a moment to draw. But the surfer dude that I told you about was drawing the mountains yesterday, I was like, “I didn’t even know you could draw.” He’s a jack of all trades and can surprise you. That’s what I like. The girl, she comes in next to him and starts competing with him to draw the mountains. And I’m like: That’s a no-go for me. I can’t do that.

The other girl, who’s just as similar, her hair oftentimes is pulled back. It can be a little much. You don’t always have to have all eyes on you constantly getting up to put bug spray on. But not on her full leg — literally just on her ankle! And I’m like, “If the mosquito’s going to bite you, it’s going to bite you on more than just your ankle.” But that’s just a thought.

There’s a guy who I think is a rule follower and it kind of throws me. He’s Black, but he has kind of a high-top fade. I just can’t figure him out. But I think that’s why I don’t like him, is I can’t tell who you are. Too much of a mystery.

Shauhin Davari

For me, bad vibes is actually not a bad thing. She has a part down the middle, but it’s tightly against her head. First name starts with a C, has blue eyes, and has a Chipotle bag tattooed on her arm. She gives me the worst vibes. I don’t think that she likes me at all, and I can’t wait to meet her and change her mind and then we can work together. Because I think she’s the perfect type of person who’s going to be like, “No, put that down. Stop doing that. Come back here. Let’s talk. We need to figure this out. No, that idea is not going to work, stupid.” I think that she has that personality just because I’ve seen the way that she’s interacted with some people a couple of times.

Another person that I feel like, not necessarily bad vibes, but just no vibes, which is what’s scary to me because I’m very good at being able to understand people. And I sat there for five minutes trying to figure this person out and I got nothing. And that’s the smallest person on the cast. I got very nothing from her. She’s like a ninja. And that is terrifying to me because I’m very good at figuring people out and I got nothing on her.

Best vibes out here for sure is the guy who ate Tom Cruise. That guy has the biggest smile on his face. He clearly works in acting or something. He’s just got these muscles for camera and this big, gigantic head. And I have a theory that if you want to work in Hollywood or you want to work in media, your head has to be bigger in proportion than to your body. He’s got a huge body, but his head is ginormous. And Mr. Captain America, man, I really like him. I’d love to work with him, especially because I do think he’ll make a decent shield. But it really depends because I’m also trying to play the shield for a while. And so as much as I want to work with him, I don’t know how long I’ll be able to work with him. I don’t think he can be my number one.

And I love the Rock! The Rock is so sweet. I just watched him gently fold his clothes once, and just the way that he did it, he’s clearly a dad and clearly a very sweet man and I just love him. And the older lady, too.

Mary Zheng

I’m getting good vibes from a guy who looks like he’s Asian, might be Filipino, maybe older, like mid-thirties. I get good vibes from him because I feel like he has a vast internal landscape like myself, is a thinker, and not rash. I’ve seen him write in his journal, which a lot of people have, except his journal he’s almost done with. So it’s not just a journal that he just got because he is like, “I’m going to be on Survivor. I need to get a journal for the next five days.” And also, he’s been really kind to me. When I didn’t have a seat, he basically rearranged his whole chair and seating arrangement to make space for me.

The Indian girl — I like how considerate she is. I feel like she would be a predictable player. So far, she hasn’t really pushed the boundaries. Some of us have with the rules. Sometimes they’ll be like, “You can only stay here.” She’s not walking around. She’s not the first one to get up and be like, “Okay, but can we go there?” And she’s also thoughtful. When all of us are told to shower before dinner, she comes into the dining room and then will put her face lotion on there, which means she’s being thoughtful and not taking up more time than really she needs to.

I would value that in an alliance partner, which is basically someone who is considerate. And also, she doesn’t seem fiery. I feel like she would be able to keep her cool and not leak a secret that I told her. She would play very rationally, not emotionally.

I already can sense some people, and I don’t have anything against them, but the one girl, I think she’s from the Midwest and is a blonde — she looks like she lifts weights a lot. I feel like she could be quite rash and blow up our spot if we were in alliance. I’ve heard her, because one time in the dining room there were only a few of us left, and when one of the staff members asked if I wanted to go in line to take a shower, she was like, “Okay, but where’s everybody else?” So she seems impatient. She’s sweet, but I don’t know if I would want to work with her.

Justin Pioppi

There’s a girl with really big hair, kind of like me, so she seems very, very friendly. Obviously, it’s hard to get a read on anybody, but just judging off that, she seems very, very nice. An older woman, too. She sounds very, very nice just from being around her at Ponderosa. An older gentleman, too, with glasses. We actually took the van together from Los Angeles to come out here and we helped each other with our luggage. We didn’t say anything. I didn’t even know who he was, and then I saw him at Ponderosa. I’m like, “Okay, now I know who that guy is.” There is one person, the gentleman with a beard. He seems like he’s here to play, to be honest with you. So I want to make sure I’m either on his side or we got to make sure of what he is doing early on.

Eva Erickson

I know that I want an ally that is also physical and strong because I want to be part of a good strong group that can win challenges and stuff. So I’ve been scoping out the guys who look strong and also near my age. Of course, there’s one dude who’s absolutely jacked. He looks like Captain America, but he’s a bit older and I don’t get as many vibes from him that he might be someone who’d want to work with me. But I see these two younger guys who also look pretty strong. One of them I saw earlier wearing a lacrosse sweatshirt and I was like, “Okay, lacrosse player, hockey player, we could work together.” So he seems cool, as well as there’s an Asian kid who has a great smile and he looks kind of strong as well, and I just get good vibes. He seems like a fun person that I’d want to be friends with.

I’ve seen several girls who are wearing hoop earrings and stuff and some still wearing makeup and they’re wearing cute outfits and they look great, but I’m like, “You do not look ready for this absolute grind we’re about to throw ourselves into.” So I feel like those are the kind of people that I’m probably not going to be aligning with just because I think they’re so different than I am.

David Kinne

I definitely get some good vibes from a few people. There’s an elderly woman… not elderly, but more for Survivor, so older than the rest of us. She seems very kind. She’s always smiling, which is interesting because I would imagine that everybody would be smiling and excited. I got to be honest, I’m looking around and I’m like, “Do you not realize you’re about to be on Survivor?” They just look so stoic in their mindset. So I really noticed people that have warm smiles and you kind of definitely tell that they’re sincere and kind, and I get that from her.

There are a couple other people: This gentleman with glasses, he tends to have a nice face to him and he’s always kind. But there are, surprisingly, a lot of people that just kind of keep their head down and I can’t imagine they’re the life of the party. And there’s a few people that I can definitely tell are taking this game very seriously. They’re taking notes. There’s a shorter Asian woman, she kind of sticks to herself and I can tell she’s taking notes on people, and you have to watch out for that because it is not the physical threats. I don’t know why everybody votes out the physical threats. It’s not the physical threats that end up winning the game, it’s people like them. It’s the social players and also the people that are good at puzzles.

Charity Nelms

When I saw everyone, I wrote them down my journal, and each person has a nickname. Love tall, curly haired girl. I’m also a tall, curly haired girl. She’s got a cool style. I’m like, this looks like my type of person. She looks cool, feel like we could vibe, love her. We’ve got Jersey shore guy — just jacked. He’s got the tank top on.

There’s another gentleman, maybe in his forties with a tan complexion. He’s a deep well — mark my words on that. He has got a lot going on on the inside. You can just tell and he’s very quiet, very serious, but he’s got some depth to him and I like him. You pick up a lot of nonverbal cues, and even just pulling from being a flight attendant, we’re trained on that of how people walk on and how they look at you and how they respond.

And then there’s a few that I don’t think I want to work with. There’s one, she has dreads, kind of looks like a cool basketball player, very cool vibes. She’s very tight-lipped, serious, doesn’t really smile back, doesn’t make a lot of eye contact, very kind of put together even the way she walks, the way she sits. But then when she went out to meet the producers, you heard her turn it on, so I know that there is some gameplay. I know that there’s some walls and hiding things there, so we’ll see. She might be my BFF out there!

Joe Hunter

This is like a 1992 dance party, a house party really where we’re all dressed up, we’re standing on the walls. No one wants to really interact yet. We’re just waiting for the music to drop. And in that moment, it’s really hard to get a read on people, but I will say the individual who has a thick beard, really dark, curly hair — I get a great vibe from him, which is ironic considering all it is just eye contact. There’s another kind of muscular guy, I feel like he has a pretty good vibe to him, too.

There’s an older woman, and in my mind, I call her mom already. That may not be accurate, but really good vibes from those people. Everyone else, it’s too hard to say. I hate making these judgements because normally there’s three or four more that I would say, “Well, they’re not looking at me, they’re not saying hello and goodbye,” but they can’t, so I don’t want to jump to any guns yet. There’s one woman with the full sleeve tattoo who seems rigid in this setting, or she’s extremely tactical. I can’t tell.

Kamilla Karthigesu

For good vibes right off the bat: She’s tall, her hair is pulled back. Her initials are CN. They are scary, good vibes though, because with her eyes and her smile, if she told me to jump off a cliff, I would jump off a cliff with no questions asked, which is scary. But I feel like with that face and those eyes, I can’t say no to that person. And I like it. I’ll keep her around for a bit, but other people will see it and see that she’s a threat and not me. So she seems cool. I don’t know if she’s friendly to everyone or if she was just giving me those eyes. I hope it was just me.

As for bad vibes, I read all of the pregame stuff for all of the seasons and I read in 46 that there was a guy that everyone was freaking out about and his initials were SD and he had a beard. We have an SD here and he has a beard. And so I don’t know if they’re the same person, but I’m just going to assume that they’re the same person. And if they’re not, I’m sorry he was born with those initials — that’s on him. I mean, he could have shaved his beard before he came out here. So it really is on him.

I don’t want to be near that at all. And today I had the slightest like, “Oh, should I change my mind?” He brought a Game Boy with him. I brought my Switch with me. Someone else brought a Game Boy with them. So I was like, “Oh, we could be like the gamer alliance!” But I’m like, “No, no, no, I don’t want the SD with the beard. That’s scary. I don’t trust him.” But also this dude, the SD with the beard, whenever he would walk up and down to go to the bathroom or whatever, if anyone left their bag open, he did not care if anyone was watching him and he would fully crane his neck and look inside the zipper and look and see what’s there. If anyone left a book open, he would stop by the desk, read, and keep going. He didn’t care if other people saw him doing that. I noticed him doing it every time. You’re a freak. This is scary. Don’t do this. I don’t want to play with him.

Kyle Fraser

There is a taller blonde woman who I really just like her vibe. It’s not like we’ve had any sort of eye contact interactions, but she just seems very comfortable with herself. She also seems fun, but intelligent. She’s just kind of always doing her thing in the dinner line. I’ve seen her sort of just dance a little bit, not outwardly, but just rock side to side and I like that. I’m really looking for somebody who wants to have fun in this game, is not afraid to take risks, but also would be fun to talk through things with.

There’s one person I can’t get a read on and for that I kind of have a little bit of a note in my head. He has a beard. For me, in my head, I imagine every other player has a picture pop up or some sort of idea, but with him, it’s a blank slate. I have no idea what he does, who he is, what he likes, and that is a little scary to me, but it doesn’t mean we can’t work together. I just would like to figure him out first before we get there.

Bianca Roses

I’ve been journaling about this a lot because I am trying to figure that out, too. But everyone is doing such a fantastic job of good vibes and playing neutral. No one is standing out for any reason. I’m watching what everyone’s eating. Is anyone bringing five plates back to the table? Is anyone just putting themselves first at the front of the line and being the leader? Everyone clearly knows what they’re doing, myself included, I’m a very impulsive person. I want to be the leader. I want to be first. I am holding back and I’m going to be at the back of the line. I’m not going to ask for a shower first. Nothing like that.

I feel like naturally I’m vibing with the girls a little bit more — shared smiles and just like, “Oh, she looks like we would be friends.” But I honestly haven’t gotten a bad vibe from one person. I think we’re just all so excited to be here.

Kevin Leung

There’s 18 people here and I’ve been trying to permeate in my head like, “Okay, there’s different archetypes where they can’t all be on the same tribe.” So there’s the three muscle heads. I actually labeled them in my notebook. There’s Hulk, there’s Captain America, and there’s Falcon. So those are the three juggernauts, men who are muscly, they have height, they have brawn. I actually first thought when we came on the island, I was like, is this David vs. Goliath again? Because there’s mega giant people, and there’s me. And I was like, “Am I David?”

But those three, I’m like: Okay, they can’t be in the same tribe, meaning that one of them has to be on my tribe because I don’t think that I’m going to be the muscle guy of my tribe. So I was already getting vibes from all of them. I’ve got to befriend at least three of them. We can’t talk, so I’m just eyeing them. Whenever they’re getting steak, I’m getting steak. If they’re going for the salad, me too.

I’ve been doing my Sudoku privately in my tent. I don’t want people to know. But to those three, I’m doing it right next to them. And the reason why is because I want them to know, “Hey, you’re strong, you’re going to be seen as a threat, but it’s okay because there’s a smart brainiac guy who’s your alliance member and that’s going to be a good pairing, someone who’s smart, someone who’s strategic, and we’re going to be a good pair.” So those three I have my eye on, and there’s this mom — I can’t say if she’s a mom or not, but she’s older — and I have a strategy where it’s going to be called Kevin’s family tree.

So whenever I go there, I meet somebody. If they’re older, they’re my mom or dad. If they’re younger, they’re my little sister or brother. If they’re the same age, they’re my best friend, they’re my cousin, they’re my aunt. Whatever they are, I’m just ingraining myself in their life and saying, “Oh wow, you would totally be my little sister.” Hopefully that gives some more familiarity in some people.

So I’m getting good vibes from the older mom because we both went after the ranch and I held the ranch and she held the ranch and I looked at her and I just eyed her. I was like, “Final three.” She was like, “Huh?” And I was like, “Look at my eyes” She’s like, “Are you going to use that?” And I was like, “Look what I’m saying here!”

Chrissy Sarnowsky

One guy reminds me of a great fireman I used to work with who passed away a couple of years ago, so that’s really hard. Every time I look at him, I see him. And then there’s this African-American guy with glasses. There’s something about him, a kindness in his eyes.

But then there’s a really muscular guy who seems to be trying too hard. I see him tying a knot and I’m like, “Okay.” He reminds me of fireman I worked with, but I watch him and he’s here to play. So you’ve got to watch guys like that, but sometimes they play themselves out. You can’t be like that. And then there’s a blonde and pretty girl that seems snooty to me. She walks by and I just feel like her nose is up in the air. This is just an impression I get from her.

Cedrek McFadden

Each person here, I’m like, “Oh, I can work with this person.” I don’t think there’s one person that I’ve seen that I’m like, “I don’t want to work with them.” There are some that stand out. There’s a taller blonde female that I think we may have been in a similar casting finals interview. I remember seeing her on a shuttle and there’s a positive energy.

There’s a Black gentleman with a sort of a box haircut that seems like a cool guy. There’s an older white female with some brown hair. She seems to be somebody that I could just really have a nice talk with. There’s a younger Black female with braids. She’s always smiling and always sort of giggling to herself. I can’t wait to hear what story she has.

And then there’s some that are really quiet and very, they seem to be very reflective and observant and they’re writing a lot. There’s a younger Asian female that I can’t wait to talk to her. I just hope I have a chance to talk with all of them.

Stephanie Berger

I am dying over the fact that there’s sort of a Jeff Doppelganger amongst us. He’s not fully Jeff. He’s like Jeff’s nephew who’s been really working out. He’s like Jeff Swoll, which is no knock on Jeff. Jeff is in fantastic shape, and I want that on the record, too. But the Jeffphew — he’s killing me. There’s also a guy with a mustache who we we’re sitting next to each other and both playing the Charli XCX album on our iPods, and then he changes his music and I change my music and we’re both playing Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter. And I’m like, “Okay, twin, you’re clearly my person.” The Survivor Gods are probably not putting me on a tribe with somebody who has the same playlist as me. I’m sure it would be really fun to watch a season of me and this person kiking all summer, but that’s probably not going to happen.

The one person who I feel like I can’t really get a read on, there is a girl with the fiercest bangs. They’re really spectacular and her tattoos are cool. So she seems cool, but her energy is so focused, and everybody else’s energy kind of vacillates between super focused and disperse where you’re looking around and just check in on how everybody else is doing. It reminds me of somebody who would be notorious at a business school for being the person who sets the curve and insists on making sure that they get the top score so that everybody else’s scores are worse. My hunch is that it is a really bad idea to try to read what people are based off of how they operate in a confined social experiment, but that’s my read right now and I’m sure someone’s got something to say about me, too.

Mitch Guerra

There are a few people who are giving me really good vibes. There’s this girl, her initials are CN. She has a full sleeve, she has her hair slicked back. She’s gorgeous. She just has a very big personality. You can just see it. By the way, she interacts with people without even saying anything. A couple of times we’ve been looking at each other and smiling. I could see myself working with her, hopefully sooner rather than later on. And a lot of the guys here are pretty fit, which I’m excited about. There’s a guy, he has a pretty full beard. His energy is just so good. I had a little interaction with him this morning as soon as we got here with some good energy between us.

A couple of the other guys seem really fit and active, so I would love to connect with them. The past six seasons, there haven’t been a lot of really big physical threats out here, and I want as many big physical threats out here as possible. You look at the winners from 41 to 44 and none of those players were big physical threats and I just don’t want that to happen again. So I’m trying to get rid of some of the quieter people out here.

Star Toomey

There’s this one guy here, and I’ll say with my whole chest and tell it to his face: He reminds me of Captain America. He looks like he should have been actual Captain America. He’s buff, he’s chiseled, and I’m stuck between: Do I want you on my team because you got the strength and are the strongest? Or do I want to get rid of you right now because with those muscles, how can I compete? I would rather give myself the best option by getting rid of the strength now and suffering later. Whether that means we might lose some challenges and whatnot because we don’t have the muscle, then for me to make it all the way to the end with the muscle and then really lose, but we’ll see.

Thomas Krottinger

I have my heart set on a few people, and watch none of them be on my tribe. I really love this young woman who’s blonde with long, curly hair. She gives very good energy. I like her nails, kind of everything about her. She was reading a Michael Crichton book at one point and I was like, “Okay, I see you.” There’s this guy with a beard and a fauxhawk who just I feel like would be a lot of fun. And I can tell he wants to play the game. I’m down with him. And then there is a more reserved woman with tattoos with brown hair where she feels kind of like a silent killer. In my dream scenario, the four of us come together à la Dee and Co. and do this whole thing, but that would be too good to be true.

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