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The Anonymous' Nina Twine Explains Her Strategy: "Keep Somebody Else's Name in Their Mouth"
The veteran competition reality star brought her bag of tailored tricks to The Anonymous.
USA Network's brand-new social competition game The Anonymous features 12 strangers who show up at a remote house where they're tasked to play a game rife with face-to-face strategy and online subversion.
In this inaugural season, fans familiar with the competition reality genre may recognize Nina Twine. The 26-year-old was a contestant on Australian Survivor: Blood v Water and Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains ... and she just happens to be the daughter of Sandra Diaz-Twine, the legendary two-time winner of Survivor and a competitor on The Traitors.
RELATED: Meet the Cast of USA Network's The Anonymous: Liars, Deceivers & Reality Vets
In an exclusive interview with USA Insider, Nina explained that she's been an unintentional student of reality competition strategy since the age of five, which was when her mom was cast in her first Survivor appearance. It wasn't until Nina got older that she realized the many benefits of participating in reality shows.
"The older I've gotten, the more I've matured and the stories I've heard from [mom] with these lifelong friends, the more it intrigued me," she said of what finally wooed her to take part herself.
What Survivor taught Nina Twine about "the spotlight effect" strategy
With two seasons of Australian Survivor under her belt, Nina remembered when she first joined those casts and assumed she would walk into a lion's den of contestants constantly on edge; she figured she could use that to her strategic advantage.
And she did exactly that.
So when she was cast on The Anonymous, Nina said she knew the nicer living conditions and game environment (no one's sleeping on the ground or scrounging for food in the Round House) would bring out a different kind of edge to her competitors.
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"In this show...allow them to be so consumed with what they think is going to happen," she said of her early game assessment. "Because I have experience, I understand the social aspect of a lot of these games. When people are literally starving, people are pushed to their limit. And here they are too, socially, with the psychological aspect of it."
Nina labeled the phenomenon of some reality competition peers not playing a very observant game as "the spotlight effect."
"It's where everybody is so consumed by what they're doing, what's going on with them, that they kind of get distracted by it," she explained. "You would think that they're more consumed with other people, but they're actually thinking about themselves a lot more. So, I allow that to happen and really make the conversations about those individuals, not about yourself.
And always keep somebody else's name in their mouth," she added.
Nina Twine's philosophy on how to win friends ... and the advantage
Another lesson Nina said she brought back from Survivor is to "use what you have" when it comes to gameplay.
"I got that from Mark Wales, the winner of Blood vs. Water in Australia," she said. "He was like, 'People always try to build new things. Why not perfect what you already have?' My natural ability to communicate with people — to be open, to have that natural chemistry with them — is one of my biggest tools. I wanted to perfect that [in The Anonymous]."
"Something I also noticed going into these games, if you're somebody who's frantic from the beginning, no one really gravitates toward you," she continued. "You'll be kind of sequestered and secluded and you need to trickle in that fun. So for me, we're gonna have a strategic chat and at the end, I want to have like, a little "haha, hehe" with whatever we're talking about as that creates a better bond. I really love that part about this game, challenging myself to try something new while using my natural capabilities."
The Anonymous kicks off with a three-episode premiere on Monday, August 19 at 11 p.m. ET/PT on USA Network. Episodes will also air simultaneously across Bravo and SYFY on premiere night and repeat in primetime daily on USA throughout the week.
