Drew Basile: 5 Things to Know About the Grad Student Competing on ‘Survivor’

Drew Basile has used his smarts to make it to the final 7 on ‘Survivor.’ Here’s what you need to know about the season 45 contestant.

Drew Basile has his eyes on the prize as one of the final seven players on Survivor 45. Drew is only in his early 20s, but he’s been playing a great strategic game and has a good shot at winning the long-running reality show’s milestone 45th season.

“You won’t see me drown,” Drew told Parade when discussing his preparation for the show. “I did practice some of the more common puzzles, got my slide puzzles down pat, things like that. And I did some cardio, did some running. I hope I’ll hang in, and I have put some prep work in to do so,” he added.

Here’s what you need to know about Drew Basile.

Drew lives in Philadelphia.

Drew is from Birmingham, Michigan, but he currently lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for school.

Drew is a grad student.

When Drew left for Survivor, he was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania studying English and philosophy.

“I’m in the books, I’m in the library,” he said to Parade. “I don’t get out much to the gym, for example. But what I do work on is really dense stuff. I’m talking modernist epic door stoppers. So it’s not the easy A humanities. It’s really rigorous, logical work.”

Drew deferred his graduation to be on Survivor.

Drew revealed that he decided to defer his graduation from UPenn in order to be on Survivor 45. When explaining why it was the right time to do the show, Drew said, “I’ve spent a lot of time building myself during this ‘educational’ stage, in a lot of senses. And I want to test that. I want to see where I’m at. I want to knock on the door, see what the foundation looks like.”

Drew is the youngest contestant on season 45.

At 22 years old at the time of filming, Drew is the youngest contestant on season 45 of Survivor. The second-youngest person on the cast is Brandon “Brando” Meyer, who was 23 when filming began.

Drew isn’t the first ‘nerd’ to be on Survivor.

Drew fits into the “nerd” archetype that is often showcased on Survivor. The most famous nerd to play Survivor is John Cochran, winner of season 26. Drew told Parade that Cochran was “a major inspiration” for him when he watched the fellow red head win the show.