Survivor 41 spotlight: What makes Naseer Muttalif stand out

Going into Survivor 41, it’s pretty easy to say that Naseer Muttalif is one of the contestants we’re most excited to see. We haven’t seen too many people like him on the show before! He describes himself in his bio as having lived the full American Dream — he great up poor in Sri Lanka and lived in a mud hut with no electricity and running water for most of his adult life. He taught himself English, developed business skills, and now is able to do great things to help his family.

Just from his story alone, it’s easy to tell that Naseer is going to be able to handle adversity — but how will he fare in the game? That’s something that we’re happy to break down more in this spotlight article.

Watch our latest Survivor 41 preview video! If you look below, you can see us talk about a number of the already-announced changes for the season. Once you take a look at that, remember to SUBSCRIBE to Matt & Jess on YouTube! We’ve got more videos coming throughout the fall and we don’t want you missing them.

What stands out about him – Naseer has already said that he’ll have an advantage being in some of the conditions, as he grew up in them and probably has more survival skills than almost anyone else out there in the game. He also works as a sales manager in Morgan Hill, California (in the Silicon Valley area), and that also tells us that he has good people skills and can be rather convincing. We think he’ll do a good job of telling his story and getting other people on his side. Someone who is this determined should also do really well in endurance competitions, which is especially helpful when you get to the merge.

What could hold him back? – While we get a great sense of who he is through his bio, we don’t really know what his overall strategy is at the game. Is he going to rely on his survival instincts and his likability, or is he willing to be devious and backstab? He may not be as overtly strategic as other players and that could be the sort of thing that very-much hurts him once he gets to a certain part of the game.

Our personal pre-season assessment

We hope that Naseer lasts for a while, if for no other reason than that we haven’t seen a lot of people like him on the show. As for whether or not he can win, we’re hesitant to say; we tend to lean more towards people who show a little more killer instinct preseason. There’s also a chance that he could be viewed as a threat just because with his backstory, no one wants to sit near him at the end of the game.

Are you rooting for Naseer Muttalif to do well on Survivor 41?

Share some of your thoughts in the comments! Once you do just that, stick around for some other updates. (Photo: CBS.)