Ciandre “CeCe” Taylor is about to make her Survivor debut, and not a moment too soon. After all, she’s been dreaming about hitting the beach since the days of Richard Hatch and Tina Wesson.
“I’ve been applying since the second season,” she tells me during our eight-minute conversation over the phone before the game begins. “I’ve been watching [the show] since the very first one in 2000. I absolutely remember it, because my daughter was very little at the time. She was just born. I remember thinking: ‘What in the world is going on? These people, they’re on an island, they’re starving, they’re eating rats… this is pretty cool!’ I’ve been sucked into this game since it started.”
After fifteen years of applications and video auditions, Ciandre and Survivor are finally about to collide — and given her dedication to the show, she knows a thing or two about what not to do.
Click here to read Ciandre’s bio, and read on for our chat.
Wigler: How are you doing, Ciandre?
Ciandre: I’m doing good!
Wigler: Are we freaking out yet?
Ciandre: Ah, just a little bit. (Laughs.) I’m really excited, but not at the “freaking” level just yet. I’m not feeling [too stressed] yet, as far as emotions. I have kids, but I’m not feeling the whole “oh, I miss my kids” thing just yet. I’m more excited to get started. All of the waiting — hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait — I’m just ready to get started.
Wigler: I have your bio in front of me. You say you love watching reality TV shows. I assume you’re a big fan of Survivor, then?
Ciandre: Super, super Survivor fan. I’ve been watching this since the very first one in 2000. I absolutely remember it, because my daughter was very little at the time. She was just born. I remember thinking: “What in the world is going on? These people, they’re on an island, they’re starving, they’re eating rats… this is pretty cool!” I’ve been sucked into this game since it started.
Wigler: And when did you make the leap from someone who’s watching the show to someone who wants to be on the show?
Ciandre: The second season. I’ve been applying since the second season.
Wigler: Wow!
Ciandre: I’ve applied 15 times, yes. (Laughs.)
Wigler: Continuously? Or did you ever take breaks?
Ciandre: I took some breaks. At a certain point I would go, “Oh, this is stupid. I don’t know why I keep trying. I keep submitting all of these tapes, and these people don’t want me.” But I always got this pull whenever I watched the show. I would just go, “Okay, fine, I’ll apply again.” (Laughs.) So I just kept doing it!
Wigler: What was on your audition tape? Anything fun we should know about?
Ciandre: My very first tape… I come from Buffalo, New York, and it’s really cold there. It was dead in the winter time, snow on the ground, and I went out there in a two-piece bikini. I had a lounge chair, I was reading the newspaper, and I did my audition video right there in the snow in the backyard. That was my first one.
Wigler: What brought you out to California from Buffalo?
Ciandre: My daughter is a professional dancer. She dances with Debbie Allen. So, me being a stage mom… she’s been dancing since she was three years old. I figured she would thrive and blossom out here, so we made the move to come out here.
Wigler: How do you feel about that decision? Good choice?
Ciandre: Yeah, absolutely. She’s doing really good at dance. She loves it. She’s given no indication that she wants to stop.
Wigler: Shifting to the game, you’ve watched the show from the very beginning, so you’ve seen all kinds of successful people on Survivor. What are you thinking about how you plan on playing the game?
Ciandre: I want to take it just a little bit easy in the beginning. I know it’s the ones who come out hard-hitting in the beginning who automatically get the target. It never fails. Every single season, you see someone coming out as a dictator with their rules about how to build the shelter or how to do this, and they become a target. It’s in my nature to do that. I have kids, so it’s easy for me to get into that role. But I need to take it a little easy. I want to play the middle. I’m not going to be laying completely down. But I don’t want to be at the top or the front. I’m going to take it easy in the beginning. But once you start getting to know people, and once you start reading people, then you can really start playing the game and be a little bit aggressive and make some decisions on some things.
Wigler: What types of people do you want to play against? Who’s a good, ideal person for you to play Survivor with?
Ciandre: First, someone who wants to play the game. I don’t want to be on a tribe with someone who wants to take it easy and keep going and be a yes person. I need someone with an opinion. If you give an opinion, we can strategize. I don’t want someone who just agrees to everything. As long as the person is open and willing to try and take risks, then I think we’ll have a good shot.
Wigler: You said you’re a stage mom, which isn’t in your bio, but now that I’ve had a minute or two to think about it, I feel like that’s pretty good prep for Survivor. You must be dealing with some interesting characters in that world, right?
Ciandre: Oh, yeah. (Laughs.) I just remember dealing with [my daughter] when we were in Buffalo, doing our national competitions with her dance team. It would get super crazy with the undermining. Some of the moms and the other teams were undermining [each other]. You would think that with little kids, parents and people wouldn’t be like that… but they are! It’s like that TV show, The Dance Moms. That’s really how it was when my daughter was little. It’s absolutely like that.
Wigler: So you’ve negotiated some difficult personalities. You’re feeling rehearsed in that department.
Ciandre: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
Wigler: How do your kids feel about you coming out here?
Ciandre: They’re excited. They’ve been on this journey from the beginning. At one point, when I was talking to my daughter after I got cast, I was wondering out loud: “Should I do this? Am I ready for this?” And my daughter, who’s only 16 and was a baby when I applied for the first time, said: “Mom, you’ve been doing this since I was a baby. You got this.” And I was just like, “Wow. They get it. They absolutely get it.”
Wigler: Is it going to be hard being away from them?
Ciandre: It’s going to be tough, but they’re teenagers, and my son will be 18 next month. It’s going to be a little bit tough, but I’m doing this for them. It’s that extra push to keep going and keep trying.
Wigler: In your bio, you say that the reason you’re playing Survivor is for a better life for your family, that you’re tired of struggling and living check to check. Is life difficult right now?
Ciandre: It is. I’m separated. I was married… well, I’m still legally married, but when I moved out here, that’s when the separation happened with my ex-husband or whatever. Going from a two family income with two kids to just myself… and what you pay in Buffalo versus what you pay in Los Angeles, the cost of living out here is expensive. I knew it was going to be expensive, but I didn’t know it was going to be that expensive. It’s definitely been literally check-to-check, sometimes getting payday loans. It has been that struggle. It’s just like, come on. I need some relief. My son just got into college and I want to be able to pay for his tuition. This would definitely be life-changing for us.
Wigler: Is this something you’re looking forward to, in terms of challenging yourself and trying something new?
Ciandre: I’ve done some things outside of my comfort zone before, when I did the Spartan Races and things like that. But this is definitely going to be a completely different thing. It’s one thing if you’re doing a race for a couple of hours, versus something like this for almost two months. I’m going to be out of my comfort zone, but I always want to challenge myself. I always want to set a goal for each year, so this is definitely life-changing for my identity and my life, period.
Wigler: Are you worried at all about the survival aspect?
Ciandre: Not really. The only thing is being cold. You would think that me being from Buffalo, cold isn’t an issue. But I’ve been in California now for almost five years, so I don’t know what cold is anymore. (Laughs.) I had the heat on in my room last night. I hate being cold. That’s the only thing. You’re going to see me shivering somewhere on the show, trying to keep myself warm.
Wigler: But other than that, it sounds like you’re excited.
Ciandre: Oh yeah! And nervous! (Laughs.) Super nervous. I think this whole month leading up to right now, I was super nervous and super stressed. I’ve had loss of appetite, change in appetite, not eating… the nerves kill you. I’m still feeling all of those things. Nerves, excitement, disbelief. I applied fifteen times, and now, oh my goodness. This is happening.
Wigler: So the moral of the story for people who have been applying forever, is to keep applying. Sometimes, it actually works out.
Ciandre: Absolutely. Yes. Always push for your dreams. You never know what could happen.
Check back every day for another Survivor 33 pre-game interview.
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Josh Wigler is a writer, editor and podcaster who has been published by MTV News, New York Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Comic Book Resources and more. He is the co-author of The Evolution of Strategy: 30 Seasons of Survivor, an audiobook chronicling the reality TV show’s transformation, and one of the hosts of Post Show Recaps, a podcast about film and television. Follow Josh on Twitter @roundhoward.
Survivor: Millennials vs Gen X premieres on September 21.
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