Orchestrating the first blindside of Survivor 46, former football and track and field star Quintavius “Q” Burdette appears to be a shoo-in for the title of “Sole Survivor” and the million-dollar cash prize, already solidifying his spot as one of the strongest competitors of the beloved competition series — as far as brains, brawn, and beauty go — after just one episode.
Starting the game as a member of the Yanu tribe alongside David Jelinsky, Bhanu Gopal, Jess Chong, Kenzie Petty, and Tiffany Nicole Ervin, it looks like Q is already starting to build some connections around camp, convincing his tribemates to unanimously vote out Jelinsky, despite having their sights set on Jess. While he seems to be on top of the world within the Yanu tribe, there is someone from the Nami tribe that Q might team up with should a tribe swap occur, dishing in an exclusive interview with Parade prior to his stint on the show who exactly this contestant is.
Want to find out for yourself who this castaway is, as well as how they caught his eye right off the bat? If so, just keep scrolling…
Which castaways instantaneously caught Q Burdette’s eye?
“I’m getting a couple smiles, a couple of winks. I don’t know if it’s from the ladies or the guys. I won’t say, but what I will say is I’m picking up on cues within this group,” Q shared with a smile while joking around with Survivor writer and reporter Mike Bloom.
“I know who eats first every time a meal is served. I know who sleeps in their spare time. I know who has to snack. I know all those sorts of things,” he continued, prior to describing one of his fellow castaways who he wants to “run the game from start to finish” with, based on first impressions alone.
Based on the description Q gave in his interview with Parade, we pinpointed this contestant to be the one and only Hunter McKnight, the only other Mississippi native competing on season 46 of the beloved competition series.
“I’m not 100% sure, but I think we have another guy here from Mississippi, because on his hat, it says ‘FC.’ On his pants, it says ‘FC’ with a cougar-type thing. In Mississippi, that’s Farewell Christian, so he might be from Mississippi, and if that’s true… That’s all I need, baby. Us Mississippi folks, we stick together now. We’re gonna stick together, and as long as he understands that we’re in it together, I’ll lose to him, but I need him to understand that he has to lose to me, too. He’s a physical threat, so we might clique up, and we might run the game from start to finish.”
Funny enough, Hunter said the same thing in his interview with Parade as well. Could this be the start of the best bromance in Survivor history?
“There’s a guy with a Mississippi tattoo on his arm. There’s never been a guy from Mississippi play, and it looks like there’s gonna be two on this, so I’m like, “We’ve got to work together!” He had he had an Ole Miss backpack on. I was like, ‘Okay, he could play for Ole Miss,’ but then he had the tattoo on his arm… I want to bring the Mississippi to the end and just have a better shot at him. If QB – I think those are his initials – is getting a lot of love, it’s time to go. I’m sorry, but you gotta go… If I’m the one on the lead, then I really got to hold tight to the Mississippi boy so that we can stick together, but he may not even have that desire at all to stick together.”
With Q and Hunter on different tribes to start the game, we will just have to wait and see if they connect somewhere later down the line…
Nonetheless, to see if Q manages to bring home the bacon — securing title of “Sole Survivor” and the million-dollar cash prize at the end of Survivor 46 — catch brand new episodes every Wednesday evening at 8pm ET/PT on CBS. With the return of Jeff Probst’s sassy side, as exemplified in the very first Tribal Council, this season will undoubtedly be one for the Survivor history books.