Survivor 47 was another exciting season of the reality competition, with a Canadian, 33-year-old Genevieve Mushaluk, a corporate lawyer from Winnipeg, having a good run on the show. While her strategy couldn’t win her the $1 million prize, Mushaluk opened up about the impact of being on the island, both physically and mentally, when it’s time to return home.

“I was, of course, thrilled to see my family. I took a week off when I got home and then I jumped right back into work, and I would say the multitasking, and the stimulation from the screens and the pings, … it’s so much to come back to when you’re used to being singularly focused on the island with what’s in front of you, and no technology,” Mushaluk told Yahoo Canada. “It made me realize I was way less anxious in Fiji. I slept better in Fiji, not withstanding all of the madness around me.”

“So coming home and being so overwhelmed with what is just our regular life surprised me a little bit. And then 24 days of not eating much, my hair was falling out. For three months I would pull like handfuls of hair out of my head as I showered. So the physical side of it is no joke, but it almost helps remind me, like hey Genevieve, your body’s still going through it, the aftermath of the experience. So it makes sense that your mind would be too. So just be patient with yourself and you’ll catch back up. But I still get really overstimulated, overwhelmed with all of the pings, all the sounds and notifications, and I’m a zero inbox girly so it drives me nuts. It’s a lot. Our regular life every day demands so much of us.”

Spoilers for Survivor 47 finale included beyond this point

‘Opposites do attract in some ways in Survivor‘

As we saw in the finale of Survivor 47, 34-year-old Rachel LaMont was the season’s winner, getting the support of the majority of the jury, including Mushaluk.

Love it or hate it, we got a fire-making challenge in the season’s last episode between Teeny Chirichillo and Sam Phalen, with wind knocking out Chirichillo’s flame, losing a spot in the finals.

Throughout the season, the relationship between Chirichillo and Mushaluk seemed quite contentious as two people with different approaches to the competition, but Mushaluk highlighted that there were unseen “wonderful” moments between the two castaways as well.

“The show showed a lot of the dramatic points of tension, but there were so many wonderful moments,” Mushaluk said. “I mean, … on the spectrum of cold and calculated to warm and emotional, Teeny and I could not be further extremes of that spectrum, but opposites do attract in some ways in Survivor.”

“It made us get along and enjoy life on the beach together really well, but it meant our strategies conflicted nearly all of the time. And so progressively throughout the show I think some of Teeny’s emotional vulnerability wore off on me, and it was hard to keep that shell around someone who’s as emotional as Teeny. And I think … my mentality wore off on Teeny. So it was a really interesting relationship, and we’re still really close to this day.”

‘Someone who is instantly lovable is a threat to my game’

But Mushaluk proved to be the kind of Survivor player that fans want to see, orchestrating moves that significantly impacted the game and executing schemes, like making a fake idol. One move that preoccupied fas was Mushaluk’s decision facilitate Solomon “Sol” Yi being voted off, something she still stands by.

“We love Sol, … in my mind that is more reason to get rid of him,” Mushaluk said. “There’s Teeny who is magnetic, Sol who is lovable, and then me, who’s like, ‘I don’t want to make any friends,’ right? So someone who is instantly lovable is a threat to my game.”

“Not shown early days, … Sol and I were on opposite sides of the tribe and we didn’t get along personally. That’s fine and actually that’s workable from a strategic perspective, and I had approached him and said, ‘Hey, let’s work from opposite sides of the tribe. We can collect almost complete information that way, and as long as we always communicate, we can vote together and keep each other safe.’ Within 10 minutes he had told people and blown that up. So I knew he didn’t want to work with me from a strategic perspective.”

While Survivor 47 has come to an end, the milestone season, Survivor 50, is already on the minds of many, and we think Mushaluk is a great candidate to come back.