Naseer Muttalif

Naseer Muttalif is a contestant from Survivor 41.

Placed on the Luvu tribe, Naseer had a rocky start to the game where he earned the distrust of his tribe, but he ultimately endeared himself to them by playing the role of the tribe's provider. Without having to visit Tribal Council until Day 12, Naseer was able to solidify an alliance with his Luvu tribemates with additional safety by virtue of a Hidden Immunity Idol in his pocket. However, his misplaced confidence was exploited by Ricard Foyé and Shan Smith in a blindside which caused him to be eliminated with his idol in 10th place.

Profile[]

Retrieved from cbs.com

Age: 37
Hometown: Sri Lanka
Current Residence: Morgan Hill, Calif.
Occupation: Sales manager
Hobbies: Cricket, traveling, cooking
Three Words to Describe You: Authentic, outgoing, hardworking
Pet Peeves: Laziness and people who don't contribute to group efforts
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? I have achieved the American Dream. I grew up in poverty, living in a mud hut with no electricity or running water for half my life. I never held a cell phone or touched a computer until I was 18. I worked my way up from selling vegetables on the street to making multi-million-dollar sales for my company. I taught myself English. I am able to give my kids the life I didn't have growing up and still fully support my family back in Sri Lanka. I was able to help send my sister to college and support the education of my nieces and nephew. I recently saved enough money to buy land in Sri Lanka, where I hope to build my mom a more modern, safer home.
What is something we would never know from looking at you? People would never know that I grew up in a remote village and didn't experience modern conveniences or technology until I was grown. I didn't know how to use a real toilet or shower until I was 18 and moved overseas (in Sri Lanka, we had a hole in the ground in an outhouse for a toilet and bathed in the river behind the house). We washed our clothes in the river. I didn't get my driver's license (or really drive a car) until my wife — then girlfriend — helped me get one in Dubai when I was 26.
Who is your hero and why? My mom is absolutely my hero. She has sacrificed everything for her children. When I was young and my father was ill, she had to make the immensely difficult decision to leave behind three young children to go work in a foreign country as a housemaid. She suffered and was mistreated there, but she did what she had to do to keep us fed.
Which past Survivor will you play the game most like? I think I'm pretty original and not too similar to anyone who has played before. I have some aspects of former players, like my jungle skills and an engaging personality, but I think I'm unique and will bring something new and refreshing to the game.
Why do you believe you can win Survivor? I am a strong competitor. I have a unique and engaging personality and believe my tribe would want to keep me because I can provide, win challenges and keep them entertained. I will do whatever it takes to win. This game is so important to me and winning it would be my greatest achievement. I have unique life experiences that will help me to make it to the end.^[2]

Survivor[]

Naseer revealed his personal connection to Survivor during the season's opening conversation, mentioning that he learned how to speak English watching the show. Luvu faced an endurance challenge in order to obtain fire, and while Deshawn Radden and Danny McCray carried out that task, Naseer approached the women about aligning against that duo. After that conversation, Sydney Segal revealed Naseer's intentions to the men, putting Naseer in danger should Luvu lose the first Immunity Challenge. Fortunately for him, Luvu were the only tribe to avoid Tribal Council on Day 3. Luvu's winning streak gave Naseer time to build stronger relationships, take on the role of provider, and allow other targets to take the spotlight away from him. One of those targets would be Erika Casupanan, so much so that Deshawn recruited Naseer to attempt to throw the Day 11 Immmunity Challenge to vote her out. Naseer opted not to throw the challenge, and instead his effort ensured Luvu won yet again. It was also revealed that Naseer found the Beware Advantage, allowing him to say the phrase "I am as confused as a goat on Astroturf", activating his Hidden Immunity Idol, as well as those of Shan Smith on Ua and Xander Hastings on Yase.

With all six of Luvu's members surviving the pre-merge, a twist split the final twelve into two groups of five with Naseer and Erika as the odd ones out. The group of Evvie Jagoda, Ricard Foyé, Danny, Deshawn, and Sydney won the challenge and chose to protect Naseer and exile Erika. However, Erika was given and accepted the opportunity to break an Hourglass to reverse the challenge result. With Ricard winning the individual Immunity Challenge, Naseer was vulnerable again. The focus was on Evvie, Deshawn, and later Sydney, while Naseer became the swing vote between the All-Black Alliance, with which many of his Luvu allies were aligned, and the Yase Alliance. Naseer sided with his tribe and contributed to the plan that eliminated Sydney. In the coming days, Naseer was revealed to be on the periphery of Luvu but also invested his trust in Shan and Ricard. While Naseer came up as a decoy target, he was able to convince Shan to make someone else the decoy. She chose Heather Aldret, which then rattled her. At the Day 16 Tribal Council, Heather's paranoia caused her to rashly target Naseer, and he then received a vote from Xander. It didn't amount to much, as outsider Tiffany Seely was still voted out as planned.

In the aftermath of that vote, Naseer made it clear to Heather that he no longer wished to work with her. During a Double Elimination twist, the final ten were split into two groups of five. Naseer came close to winning immunity, but Erika managed to outlast him. Naseer informed Heather that he would be voting her out that night, which forced tight duo Heather and Erika to retaliate. While Shan wanted to keep Naseer as a loyal ally, Ricard viewed him as a bigger challenge threat than Heather and he had an idol that needed to be flushed. The former Ua pair succeeded in making Naseer feel comfortable enough not to play his idol, allowing them (with Shan's Extra Vote) to produce a 3-3 tie between Naseer and Heather. In the revote, Naseer was taken out of the game 4-0 to finish the game in 10th place and as the second juror.

At the Final Tribal Council, while Naseer praised Xander for his kindness, he joined in voting for Erika to become the Sole Survivor.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Luvu	Marooning	Reward	No	Lost
1		Bonus Track	Immunity	No	Won
2		Water Sports	Reward/Immunity	No	1st
3		Victory in the Bag	Reward/Immunity	No	1st
4		Running Down a Dream	Reward	Yes	Lost
4		Kenny Log-Ins	Immunity	No	2nd
5		Ramplified	Reward/Immunity	No	2nd
Tribes Disbanded, Day 12
6	None	Keep Digging	Reward/Immunity	Yes	Shared¹
7	None	The Game is Afoot	Immunity	No	Lost
Tribes Merged, Night 14
8	Viakana	Puzzle Pieces	Reward	No	Lost
8		Keep on Your Toes	Immunity	Yes²	Lost
9		Uncomfortably Numb	Reward/Immunity		Lost
Voted Out, Day 17
Notes: ^1 Naseer drew the grey rock and had to sit out of the challenge, but was chosen by the winning team to have reward and immunity as well. However, the unchosen sit-out from the challenge (Erika) was exiled. There, she was given an hourglass which she may choose to break to strip the winning team of their immunity, transferring it to the losing team and herself. Erika broke the hourglass and Naseer lost his immunity. ^2 Naseer elected to sit out of the challenge to help his tribe win a supply of rice.

Episode	Naseer's Votes	Voted Against Naseer
1	Luvu Tribe Immune
2	Luvu Tribe Immune
3	Luvu Tribe Immune
4	Luvu Tribe Immune
5	Luvu Tribe Immune
7	Sydney	-
8	Xander	Xander
9	Heather; Ineligible	Erika, Heather, Shan; Erika, Ricard, Shan (x2)¹
Voted Out, Day 17
Voted for Sole Survivor	Erika

^1 In "Who's Who in the Zoo", the vote ended with a 3-3 tie between Naseer and Heather, forcing a revote. Ricard changed his vote and Shan changed her extra vote to Naseer on the revote, eliminating him from the game.

Post-Survivor[]

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Trivia[]

Naseer is the first man of South Asian heritage to compete on Survivor and the fourth overall, following the Anderson twins and Karishma Patel.
Naseer is the first person to receive three votes against him from the same person at the same Tribal Council.
Naseer is the only juror on Survivor 41 to attend Tribal Council without ever having immunity.
Naseer lost 14 lbs. during his time on Survivor 41.^[3]