Meet the 'Survivor 44' Cast! Bruce Perreault Will Be "Looking, Not Searching" for Advantages
The 46-year-old's experience growing up in the foster care system taught him the value of making relationships.
Bruce Perreault could care less about challenges or food rewards. For the 46-year-old, Survivor is all about seeing what makes people tick. Growing up in the foster care system taught him the value of both short- and long-term relationships. And walking in with carefree confidence from decades of life experience, he hopes that his strategy to avoid searching for advantages and make alliances based on information will ensure the insurance agent makes it to the end.
Read on for my interview with Bruce, and make sure to check in with Parade.com every day for interviews with this season's contestants and other tidbits. Survivor 44 premieres on March 1 with a special two-hour premiere on CBS.
Related: Meet the Full Cast of Survivor 44
Interview with Bruce from Survivor 44
Why are you here on Survivor?
I'm here on Survivor because this is the ultimate social game.
What's your history with watching Survivor?
I've watched every episode. But I started watching week three of season one.
Give me one Survivor winner and one non-winner who you identify with the most.
It could possibly be the same person. But Jeremy Collins on the winner's side. The reason being is because he definitely played a value-based game. As for a non-winner, as funny as this might sound, someone like Coach. Coach is cool to watch. He was very animated. (Laughs.) And a lot of antics, which is good.
What's your favorite moment in Survivor history?
My favorite moments in watching Survivor would be the family visits. I know we haven't seen them recently. But the family visit is my favorite part just for the fact that people have been away from their family for whatever period of time. And it gives them a little bit of a jolt of energy because they remember why they're there.
What's one life experience you feel has prepared you most for the game?
I was abandoned as a child, and I was placed into the foster care system. And before being placed into the foster care system, I was abandoned for about three days. So it was a level of survival there, even though I didn't know it; I was at the age of two. But, growing up in the foster care system, you gain a sense of being able to survive, because you never know how long you're gonna be with the person that is there with you.
My parents have been foster parents for 20 years. I believe 127 kids went in and out of the house. And of those 127 kids, my parents adopted eight. So you tend to learn how to kind of grow bonds when you know they're going to be there. But then you also tend not to grow those bonds when you know it's only a short-term situation.
What excites you the most about the new era of Survivor?
What excites me the most about the new era would definitely be what Jeff and the production of Survivor have up their sleeve. I love the idea that there is always going to be something new. So that is exciting. And that's for the moment. What keeps the excitement for me on a regular basis is that it's a social game. It's a game where it's a construct where you're looking at people. Right now, we're judging; we're looking at each other. We're nodding and smiling through our masks. And we're already building an idea of what this person is, maybe what they do for a living or whatever. And we could be right, when 95% of the time, we're probably going to be wrong.
Then we start the game, and we have the conversations, and the social part really makes the most sense. My job is going to be able to figure out who these people are, what makes them tick, and their do's and don'ts without them even telling me. That's the exciting part. Challenges are challenges. Food rewards, who cares? Just talking to people and seeing how what makes them tick, that's exciting to me.
What do you think people will perceive you as?
(Laughs.) People probably perceive me as some arrogant dude walking around. (Laughs.) Because my level of confidence about who I am is okay at this point. I'm 45; I've already lived this life of uncertainty in my 20s and trying to figure out who I am in my 30s. I know who I am now in my 40s. Some people might look at me and say, "He's a little arrogant. He's someone I can't talk to." I would say probably a quarter of them will think that. The others will just look at me and be like, "Oh, that dude is gonna be fun." Because I just have a carefree sense about me while I'm here.
What type of player are you looking for in an alliance?
I'm looking for someone that will talk but not talk too much. The reason being is if you go back and look at Survivor, where people have made mistakes. From what we see in the edited version, people have conversations, then they turn around and have other conversations with other people about the conversation that you had, which is a good thing and a bad thing. You can manipulate that any way you want.
But to have someone that's in a great alliance with you is someone that's going to bring the information back to you, but not steal the information that you give to them, and then be able to work together and vice versa. To see an end goal. The end goal could be you make it to the merge, and then we part ways. The end goal can be to make it to Final Four, then all bets are off. Now shake hands like Wendell and Dom and call it a day. But like I said, the perfect alliance partner would be someone that just doesn't blab too much.
How eager will you be to look for advantages in the game?
I will not be too eager to look for advantages in the game. They will happen upon me if it's meant to be. I've seen in the years of watching a lot of people get caught up in trying to find the advantage. They know that they're being voted off, and the biggest thing they want to do is go and try and find an advantage. Why do that? Go talk to people. Have a conversation, and figure out what's going on. Put your thumb on it, and then maybe adjust it as necessary whenever you can. You have to outwit, outplay, and outlast, but outwit comes in at that point in time. So being able to tell these people certain things that maybe might change their mindset, or have them question what's going on in their head or their own alliances, maybe can help me out. So searching for advantages, I know that they're there. I will be looking, but I will not be searching. Those are two different things.
What is the one thing you told yourself you wouldn't do in this game?
I didn't tell myself anything. The reason being is because I'm not the kind of person that would ever do anything ruthless against another human being or get another human being to be spiteful of me. So as far as the game and things that I will not do, I can't really answer that question. Because I can't think like that. I will lie to people if need be. I will bend the truth if need be. And I will tell the truth. But I don't think that there is anything that I really wouldn't do. Just because I don't really live a life of "what would you not do?"
What's the best advice you received before coming out to play?
(Laughs.) The best advice I received before coming out here was from my daughter and my son. They play sports at the competitive level, which is great. And whenever they go out before their game, or they get on the bus to go to the game, we have a conversation on the phone with myself and my wife. We tell them just to have fun. And my kids said that to me, and my wife said that as well. Just have fun. No matter what happens, just have a good time. And when I make it to the Final Four and I ended up being crowned the Survivor 44 champion, I can just basically say I had fun.
Can you come up with your own weird phrase that could be said at a challenge to unlock an idol?
"A rhinoceros is an animal that is very delicate to birds, runs around, and prances through the forest." I don't know. (Laughs.)
What celebrity or fictional character would you want to come out for a Loved Ones visit?
Martin Luther King. That would be great for him to be able to see. Because Survivor has done such an awesome job over the last couple of years in adding diversity and inclusion all the way across the board. To know that he had a part in spearheading some of those things from 50+ years ago that are just getting better, that will probably be a great visit.
Next, check out our interview with Survivor 44 contestant Matt Blankinship.
