Can Kristin Flickinger survive the ultimate reality show?
There’s no doubt she’s ready. She’s been ready her entire life.
“Before “Survivor” was a thing, I was training for “Survivor,”” said Flickinger.
Locals tuning into “Survivor” tonight might recognize one of their own as Flickinger — who served as executive director of Pacific Pride Foundation for four years and currently sits on the board of several nonprofits in town — makes her debut on the 51st season competing to be the “Sole Survivor” on the island.
And to win the $1 million prize.
Flickinger is the latest Santa Barbara local to star on a reality TV show, joining people like Kelsey and Joey Buttitta, the winners of Amazing Race season 27, and Andrew Firestone, who starred in “The Bachelor.”
At age 49, Flickinger is this season’s oldest contestant.
And her journey to “Survivor” started long before the show even existed.
Flickinger remembered being on a walk with her sister when she was younger, tiptoeing around in nature so she wouldn’t make a sound.
When her sister questioned what she was doing, Flickinger had a simple but cryptic response: “I’m training.”
Training for what exactly wouldn’t become clear until the year 2000, when “Survivor” first premiered.
After watching the debut season, she recorded herself on a VHS camera and told producers she had what it takes to be on the show.
She was rejected, but she never stopped applying.
As a self-described Aries and double-Scorpio, Flickinger said she’s always had the fire and tenacity to get things done. And through 26 years of “Survivor,” she said the show never lost its adventure and fire.
In the meantime, she was always training.
“I’d take jobs and I would say, ‘just so you know, I always apply for “Survivor,” and it’s possible that I’ll need to take time off,’” Flickinger said.
For example, she once ate nothing but coconut and papaya for five days straight. She’s built “Survivor” challenges, like the overhead beanbag toss, in her backyard. And she trained herself to sleep outside.
Even in work meetings, she said, she’d vote people off the island.
“My whole life has been Survivor-fied,” Flickinger said.
She said she believes this season was the one because she truly understands what makes her special now.
“You have to reflect a bunch and not just figure out who you are,” Flickinger said, “But figure out how to talk about who you are and what the things are that make you unique.”
Going through the casting process multiple times, she said she learned more about herself.
“I’m a queer kid from Idaho,” Flickinger said. “I’m a nonprofit executive who specializes in crisis management.
“I’m quirky, and I’m smart, and I love my dog. And it took a while to really understand what makes me, me.”
For Flickinger, filming “Survivor” also reminded her that representation matters.
She said that she never intended to go on “Survivor” to represent a whole community but realized that’s what happens, anyways.
“When you’re part of a minority community, you’re representing that community in everything you do,” Flickinger said.
In a recent interview with Flickinger, the LGBTQ+ publication Them called her a “queer fan fave.”
Ultimately, Flickinger said Survivor was a dream she wanted to achieve for herself.
From leading LGBTQ+ nonprofits in San Diego, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara to opening her own crisis management consulting firm, she said her lifetime’s work has always been “in service of other people.”
But “Survivor” was going to be different.
“”Survivor” is just a thing that I have held for myself that I wanted to do,” Flickinger said. “Some people thought it was crazy, some people thought it would never happen, and I always held on to it.
“I knew, this is for me. I am aligned with this and connected to this, and it will happen.”
Season 51 of “Survivor” premieres tonight at 8.p.m. on CBS and streams on Paramount Plus.
