Noura Salman wasSurvivor: Island of the Idols resident wild child.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Congrats on making it all 39 days!NOURA SALMAN:Last woman standing.
Lots of big players that were women this season to venture to beat.
Robert Voets/CBS
They were just laughing and having fun all day.
And Im like, What is going on?
So why are they going in so confidently?
And if you dont do that, youre not going to make it happen.
If you might achieve that; however, you might win.
But walking in, I was not feeling confident.
And walking in with any doubt in your mind is not going to help you at all.
That Tribal had me for about an hour and a half, literally being attacked.
Even the psychologists that are behind the show said, Yes, youre not crazy.
That was an attack.
The thing is, I never took it personally.
And 90 percent of what people do has nothing to do with you.
Its what they are going through.
And you have to realize, so many people got taken out of the game in a harsh way.
You dont see it, but that was a fully harsh exit.
Janets just blockaded like that at the end when you think youre in.
Lauren, who thinks shes got hurt.
So many number ones that could take her to the end, dont.
Theyre not the people that I know them to be today.
So youre walking in and theyre like, What the heck?
Noura is there, ahead ofme?
And thats what youre going against.
Hey, I have three immunity necklaces.
Yeah, Dean, all these trinkets because he just followed the numbers.
He never had any real strategy.
He never made any moves of his own.
Any big move, I gave him.
He just stepped away because it wasnt with big numbers that he felt comfortable with.
And you realize, okay, I found an idol and I got it flushed.
Whos around camp doing anything?
Literally, day 39 breakfast.
Noura made that breakfast.
Im a vegan making a carnivorous breakfast, for these other two guys.
And I did not convince that group whos very heady and theyre very focused on the strategic play.
And thats whereSurvivoris today.
They dont care about outwit, outlast, outplay.
And who did the best in all those areas like challenges.
They care about who is that person that is moving the game?
And theyre the strategist and theyre the maestro behind the moves.
They want to know who that person is.
And it was Lauren.
And then when shes out, its now Tommy.
Its interesting because men have now won the last five seasons ofSurvivor.
Of those 52 votes, men have gotten 50 of them.
I have 70 percent of what this job requires and wants.
Im going to apply.
A woman sees that job and says, Ive got, like, 80 percent.
I dont have enough.
Im not going to apply.
That is what happened.
You know, I didnt get that amazing lesson that Dean got.
We see it in your body language.
Her presence was commanding.
Her eye contact, her conviction.
Thats what you need.
And thats what these women that youre seeing, these final three, are not doing.
When you see my body language, Im looking down, my shoulders are closed, Im crying.
Im barely looking at the jury.
That is not going to win the game.
It doesnt matter if youre a man or woman.
you’re gonna wanna be compelling and competent.
And unfortunately, these men are talking themselves up and the women are talking themselves down.
I let them do that to me.
They looked at me like, Why do you deserve it?
Let me tell you whats up right now.
Thats where we go wrong as women in this game.
Ive got to say, there are other reasons too, but I think thats whats happening.
I have to ask: Are you a terrible liar?
Because that lie when you came back from Island of the Idols was pretty damn terrible.
[Laughs]Ill tell you, there are a few things going on there.
Im not a good liar and Im actually proud of not being a good liar.
Im very candid and honest and transparent.
The other thing is you got villains telling you that you should do it this way.
You should do this or that technique.
And what you dont see is they actually had me practice them.
Thats a sy direction.
Its not coming from me.
If it was coming from him, itd be fricking brilliant.
So bottom line is they came, they basically said, This is what you should do.
And I was like, Okay.
Thats just not Noura.
Thats not my personality.
It doesnt suit me.
It just wasnt going to work.
If you give me the most pivotal role, Ill get an advantage.
It allows me to have an extra vote.
Because they felt Noura gets an advantage and if shes the caller shes going to get it.
Or even in the game: Shes going to go behind some chair or whatever and have this advantage.
So they didnt want me even on the course.
And thats why they sat me out.
I had no chance in hell.
One of my favorite moments of the entire finale was at that day 39 breakfast feast.
And they always traditionally have everyone talking about their game and the journey.
I have a nutrition bar that is in a market thats saturated with bars.
We have a million bars.
Why am I starting to kill that game?
Because Im doing something different that has never been done before.
And thats why I didSurvivor.
Im going to play an open game.
Im going to show you my cards.
Im not going to lie to you.
Im not going to backstab you.
When I have to walk away from you, Im going to let you know.
Im going to say this is why we have to part ways, but I care for you.
No ones done it like this before.
When you enter the saturated game ofSurvivorwhere so many people have played, you have seen their gameplay.
And thats what I do, and thats whats made me successful.
So I took it in this game and look at me final three.
Maybe that will become the new Noura-mal.
You send me my ticket, lets go.
Watch an exclusive deleted scene from the episode above.
And for moreSurvivorintel, follow Dalton on Twitter@DaltonRoss.
