Back in June, while the Survivor 50 cast were battling it out on the islands of Fiji, I reached out to a selection of former Survivor players to get their thoughts and predictions on the returning castaways. I will be posting those interviews intermittently here on Inside Survivor over the coming months.
Today, we’re talking to Rome Cooney, who played with Genevieve Mushaluk in Survivor 47. As members of the Lavo tribe, Rome and Genevieve formed a working relationship early on, a partnership that worked well for a short time. Rome’s large personality and bold gameplay meshed well with Genevieve’s quieter, cerebral strategy to form a deadly duo, allowing them to pull off an early blindside on tribemate Kishan Patel and gain control of the tribe. Unfortunately, once the individual game began, Rome became too much of a target, and Genevieve joined the majority in voting him out.
Inside Survivor reached out to Rome to get his thoughts on Genevieve’s return to Survivor 50.
1) You and Genevieve aligned early on in Survivor 47. What was your initial opinion of her, and what made you gravitate towards her as an ally?
My initial opinion of her was that she seemed really nervous, mainly due to fear of being an early boot. We initially hit it off the first time we talked and made an alliance with each other within 30 seconds of talking. She had a great bubbly vibe with a want to be a great player, which was exactly the ally and person I wanted to play with. She was also a gamer, which was an instant connection.
2) On TV, we didn’t see much of Genevieve in those first three episodes. I’m interested to know what she was like in those early days on the beach. What was Genevieve like around camp during the downtime? How did she fit in?
Genevieve was not feeling well the first few days on the island, so I’m not too surprised she wasn’t shown as much early on. She was still her bubbly self, just not with the same energy she had after episode 3 when she started feeling better. I tried to be there for her any way I could early on because I was personally feeling great, and the last thing I wanted was an ally having a hard time from feeling sick and going through it alone.
Every night, we would meet on the beach together to talk life and strategy, with 90% of the talking being about life while everyone else slept. I got to know her extremely well during these times on a personal level, and I was the first one she told that she was a lawyer after episode 3 during one of our night beach talks. We were much closer than the edit showed. During the day, she would mostly be around camp, trying to stay with the majority group at all times. She fit in with everyone on the tribe and kept a positive mentality around camp, which was always helpful.
3) Genevieve’s game really came alive after the Kishan boot. Did we see an accurate depiction of how that move went down? And how did your perception of Genevieve change from this point on?
That episode was a whirlwind of a day. When I asked Kishan about giving Sol the ultimatum, and Kishan said to use Genevieve’s name when telling Sol that we would work with him that night…. I had no idea how that would change things. I immediately told [Genevieve] being my number one in the game, but the plan was still Sol as of that moment. Then I left for a “walk.” When I came back, Genevieve says the plan is now me instead, and Kishan wants me out. This is about 5 minutes before leaving for tribal.
But since Kishan put [Genevieve’s] name out there as the decoy, she wanted Kishan gone. I also wanted him gone as he was targeting me when I did nothing but try and put the 4-cheese pizza alliance (Myself, Genevieve, Teeny, and Kishan) in a prime position to make it to the end of the game. Genevieve knew I had a Steal A Vote, so the plan became to use the Steal A Vote on Kishan instead of Sol, so that he couldn’t play his Shot in the Dark (SITD). The editors did a great job of showing how things went down because it was incredibly hard to show an hour of complete chaos in 10 minutes. That was the day Genevieve took control of her game.
4) Even though you were aligned pre-merge, Genevieve voted you out at the merge. Did you have any inclination that Genevieve was turning against you? Why do you think she chose to let you go?
Once the merge hit, Genevieve and I did a great job of talking with everyone while trying to keep our alliance low-key. When it comes to 13 people all needing to vote out one person, it was essentially decided who went home at the merge feast, which I wasn’t at, and Genevieve was. Sol had already spread stories about me, so I was an easy target for the others to vote out when discussing who to take out. She went with the majority in a situation where you should almost never stick your neck out to save someone.
Aside from NOT telling me I was the vote, which she could have done last minute so I could play my SITD, she did what she was supposed to do. I always knew Genevieve would do what’s in the best interest of her game. I was just hoping that would include taking me to the end with her or fighting for me the way I fought for her early on.
5) A big part of Genevieve’s story on Survivor 47 was her struggle to balance cutthroat gameplay with social relationships. Do you think that will continue to be a struggle on S50? Or will she adapt, and if so, how? How would you approach season 50 in her position?
Genevieve is always going to struggle with cutthroat gameplay because she makes genuine connections with people that hurts her to break. I think she has the capability of being one of the most cutthroat players of all time, but I don’t think she enjoys being that person in the game. She also played only a year ago, so changing who you are in that quick of time is tough. I think she learned that you need an ally through the game, as it got very difficult for her once she didn’t have one. So I can see her fighting for her alliance more on Season 50.
6) What stands out to you as Genevieve’s best move from her original season?
Her best move was one that didn’t make the edit. Aysha and Teeny struggled severely on the episode 3 water immunity challenge. She asked to sit out of the immunity challenge over Teeny because she didn’t want to show her water prowess to us just yet. Genevieve is a long-time swimmer and rower, which is how she led us in the first immunity challenge with the boats. We were the only tribe to not flip our boat, and a big reason was because of her leadership in the water. She sat out of a challenge to hide how good she was. Genius, even though we probably went to tribal because of it.
7) Genevieve is the lone S47 player on this cast. How do you think she will fit into the dynamics of this cast? Who will she gravitate towards and why? Who will be a good ally for her?
I think Genevieve fits right in with this cast. It’s a group of tons of personalities all willing to play hard. Returnee seasons are a dream come true for players like her. When the entire cast feels like they won’t get punished for “playing hard,” it lets you do what you want to the max. I think she will gravitate to the people she feels are on the outs early. She is one of three players that has never played with anyone else on the cast so she is already on the outs herself a bit.
I’m sure she will spot the cracks in previous relationships and engrain herself perfectly with a group of players that she feels she can beat and will stay loyal. I think her and Kamila would be a fearsome duo on the island, but I think it will be harder for her to get a tight duo after everyone saw her not fight for her duo at the merge six months ago.
8) On the flip side, who on this cast poses the biggest threat to Genevieve? Is there anyone you see her butting heads with?
Genevieve’s biggest threat are the people that will beat her in immunities at the end, and any lawyers. If Genevieve ever makes it to the end, I don’t see her losing to anyone. Being a lawyer makes final tribal feel like another day in the office, as we saw for Kyle [Fraser] last season. I could see her knowing this and not working with anyone she feels could give a good final tribal performance.
9) What is Genevieve’s biggest strength? And her biggest weakness?
Genevieve’s biggest strength is her social game. She’s an incredibly easy person to get along with and can make people feel comfortable around her. Right now, her biggest weakness is working with people long-term. She was never able to find her footing after the merge in 47 due to not having a consistent ally. If she can find that and keep her ally post-merge, she has a great chance.
10) Before I let you go, what is new in the world of Rome? How has life been recently?
Life has been a whirlwind. In August, myself and Genevieve both got called for Season 50 before our season aired. So the last nine months, I’ve been thinking I’m about to go play again, so it’s been constant working out and even puzzling. I wanted to be the best version of myself this time, so it’s unfortunate to get cut at the last minute for such an iconic season. I’m a believer that everything happens for a reason, so whether it’s New Era All Stars or Heroes vs. Villains 2 or even Second Chances 2, I don’t think season 47 is the last you’ll see of me.
I was recently in casting finals for House of Villains for Season 3, and I appreciate CBS for letting them talk with me after getting cut from 50, but due to my contract I couldn’t go play House of Villains yet. Would it have been fun driving housewives and other reality stars crazy for a couple weeks? Of course. But everything happens for a reason.
I still do esports commentary gigs here and there and am always looking for more opportunities with hosting. I’ve just had so much potentially happening the last nine months, it’s been hard to think about anything other than prepping to go on TV again. Now that I’m not in casting for the first time in 17 months, I have lots of time to reflect on my experience and learn from it and grow as a person.
Life has been great, and I truly feel blessed to have had the opportunity to play the greatest game of all time and be a part of a season many see as a solidified top two new era season. I broke a confessional record that has been there since Season 4, so I’ll always be proud to have given so much content to a show that I love… and still want to be the host of one day! (Love you Jeff!).
Thanks again to Rome for taking part. Stay tuned to Inside Survivor for more Playing With 50 interviews in the coming weeks.
Survivor 50 premieres early 2026, on CBS.
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Queen Genevieve. The biggest player coming into 50! What a legend already