CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to better reflect that Rose encourages students to send in an application for CBS’s Survivor show.
Bianca Roses was 8 years old when the first season of CBS’s Survivor aired on national television. But from the moment she witnessed the show’s contestants drop down on an island in pursuit of a million dollar prize, she knew she wanted to play the game.
“‘I want to do this. I can do this kind of a thing,’” she remembers thinking as she watched cast members compete in elaborate challenges, build and betray alliances and sleep under the stars.
Twenty-five years and 48 seasons of Survivor later, Roses, now 33, has made her childhood dream a reality.
The University of Maryland alum appeared on the first five episodes of Survivor’s ongoing 48th season, where she competed against 17 other players in the Mamanuca Islands of Fiji. The season was filmed last summer and premiered on CBS on Feb. 26, according to Forbes.
Roses, who graduated from this university in 2013, is one of several alumni who have appeared on the show. Alumni Chelsea Walker, who also graduated in 2013, and Noura Salman, who graduated in 2004, both competed in the show’s 39th season, according to Maryland Today.
Roses told The Diamondback she decided to apply as a contestant for Survivor two years ago after leaving her public relations job, starting her own business and moving from Manhattan, New York to Arlington, Virginia with her now-fiance.
“There was just a lot of risks that I was taking,” she said. “And I was like, ‘Why have I never applied for Survivor?’ Quitting my job is way more risky than sending in an application for Survivor.”
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Roses said the competition, which lasted her 11 days out of the possible 26, tested both her physical and emotional limits.
But she also made countless memories with her competitors, an element of the experience that surprised her, she added.
“I made lifelong friends, and I did not go on this show to make friends,” she said. “I’m so grateful.”
Roses said she grew especially close to fellow contestant Thomas Krottinger while on the island. The two were placed on the same original tribe, Lagi, and bonded over their puzzle-solving skills.
When other players voted Krottinger off — one episode before Roses’ own elimination from the show on March 26 — the former Terp said she was “devastated.”
Roses, usually an expressive person, said downplaying her emotions and reactions when Krottinger was cut was one of the most challenging parts of the competition.
Before entering the strategic world of Survivor, Roses studied at this university for four years, earning a bachelor’s degree in communication with a Spanish minor.
Members of this university’s Survivor Maryland club, which runs semester-long competitions modeled after the CBS series where students can participate in challenges to win the title of “Sole Survivor,” said they were excited to find out about Roses’ connection to this university.
“We were all rooting for her from the beginning,” said Julia Ciurleo, a sophomore real estate and the built environment major who served on the club’s executive board this fall.
Senior criminology and criminal justice major Marissa Jarrett, Survivor Maryland’s community and recruitment chair, said she drafted Roses as a pick in her family’s seasonal Survivor bracket.
She loved watching Roses and Krottinger strategize together, she added.
As a student, Roses was a member of this university’s Alpha Phi sorority chapter and served on the executive board of TerpThon, an annual dance marathon event to raise money for children and families impacted by pediatric illness.
“Working with Children’s Miracle Network and the children and helping raise hundreds of thousands of dollars was extremely powerful,” she said.
Victoria Walker, a sophomore public health sciences major and TerpThon’s incoming internal director, said that, just like Roses, she began watching Survivor with her parents as a kid .
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Walker added that she was excited to see the alum appear on this season of the show.
“It’s really cool just seeing all the opportunities that people from [this university] get to do later on in life,” she said.
Roses said she attributes her “love for communication and relationship building,” skills she used while playing the social game of Survivor, to her time at this university and the activities she was involved with.
She also expressed enthusiasm for the concept of the Survivor Maryland club.
Founded in 2012, Survivor Maryland was the first official collegiate branch of the show and is recognized by CBS, according to the club’s description on TerpLink.
Both Jarrett and Ciurleo said they have made some of their best friends through the club — even though everyone is competing against each other.
“It’s such a niche interest, but it’s such a big community, and I think that’s why we love it so much,” Jarrett said.
Students can now apply to play in next semester’s Survivor Maryland game by filling out a form linked on the organization’s Instagram page.
Roses encouraged them to take a risk and send in an application for the CBS show.
“Don’t let fear hold you back,” Roses said. “Don’t overthink it, and just show who you are authentically.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated that Roses is the third alum of this university to appear on Survivor. More than three alum have competed on the show. This story has been updated.
