Who Is Sai Hughley? Get to Know ‘Survivor’ Season 48 Contestant 

The Tribe Has Spoken

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Saiounia “Sai”‘ Hughley made quite an entrance on Season 48 of Survivor. She quickly hit the ground running and led the charge in having Stephanie Berger be the first contestant of the season voted out. Plus, she found the beware advantage and solved the puzzle to obtain an immunity idol.

Viewers are anxious to see if Hughley continues her aggressive gameplay and how it affects her moving forward. Scroll down for everything we know about the cutthroat competitor so far!

What does Sai Hughley do?

Before playing Survivor, Hughley was a marketing professional. However, she quit her job before heading to Fiji to film the show.

“I worked in marketing at NBC, so I was responsible for paid media for NBC and Bravo shows,” she told Parade. “So I bought all of our billboard ads, all of our audio ads, all of our ads that you see in print.”

However, playing Survivor wasn’t the reason that Hughley decided to move on from her career. After her boss, who was also an African-American woman, “stepped away” from the job, Hughley followed suit. “Representation is massive to me,” she explained, adding, “It felt like I was the only African-American woman [left] on my team. And so it was just like, ‘This no longer makes sense for me.’ I had been there for a very long time. And I was very comfortable, and I wasn’t being challenged either. And then this was happening too, so it was like, ‘Perfect. This is a sign.'”

Where did Sai Hughley go to college?

Hughely received her bachelor’s degree in mass communications/media studies from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2018, according to LinkedIn.

“I studied journalism in college. I was a reporter at one time and I absolutely hated being on call,” she admitted to Parade. “I thought only doctors were on call.”

Where does Sai Hughley live?

Hughley grew up in Philadelphia but relocated to Los Angeles when she decided to move on from her journalism career. “I came out here with no plan, which is not like me, and took a risk on myself,” she told Parade. She got her first California job as an assistant editor at NBC and began moving up the ranks.

What happened when Sai was hit by a car?

In her Survivor bio, Hughley revealed that she was hit by a car in college. She expanded on what happened in her Parade interview.

“We had an orientation about, because I was in the city, being aware of public transit,” she explained. “It had to be junior or senior year. And I was crossing the street, listening to my iPod, very aware. And a public transit bus had hit me. And I guess it was adrenaline that I didn’t really realize. I had just popped right back up, and I was about to walk off. But he was like, ‘No, no, no!’ And called the ambulance and everything. Got a nice payout from it. But I was like, ‘Look at me!’ Got to take off an extra week for finals. I didn’t have to do it right away. I bought my first car with the money.”

Survivor, Season 48, Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS