Don’t let the average-looking motherly appearance of 41-year-old Kassandra (Kass) McQuillen, one of eight remaining “Survivor” reality show contestants, fool you.

“I’m a bit of a villain,” said McQuillen, a lawyer in Tehachapi, Calif.

McQuillen, her husband and daughter briefly visited local friends, Hanna and Don Pestell, last week and agreed to be interviewed.

“Survivor” airs Wednesday evenings on CBS.

All episodes for the 28th season were filmed last July and August. A confidentiality agreement with CBS television prohibited Kass from revealing the lone survivor and winner of the $1 million prize.

One comment during the one-hour interview might be indicative of how she fared.

“I think a lot of women in my age group are rooting for me because I’m showing that you can be a mom, you can be a woman, but you also can go out there and sit at the table with the big boys and come home with the chips,” she said.

Kass recalled her reasons for auditioning for the reality game show, described the dynamics of the contestants after 39 consecutive days together on a remote tropical island, and her conscious strategy to win.

The show spotlights a group of strangers who live in a desolate locale where they must provide food, water, fire, and shelter for themselves.

This season started with 16 individuals divided into teams (tribes): brawn vs. brains vs. beauty.

McQuillen was a member of the brains tribe. They co-existed for 39 days on Palaui Island, Santa Ana, Cagayan, in The Philippines.

Frequent physical challenges pit the teams against each other. Each week, one person is voted off by the players.

“There is no script. None at all. It’s a reality show. This is a game. We’re not actors, we’re contestants,” said McQuillen.

She was an avid “Survivor” fan before becoming a contestant. Why did the program appeal to her?

“I love it,” she said. “I love the social aspect. It’s a psychological game, it’s a physical game and it’s a mental game. You’re starving out there; you’re not sleeping. There is no bathroom. There is no toothbrush, no toilet paper. Just the clothes on your back, and it’s 39 days if you can last.”

“I’ve never missed an episode. I’m probably one of the biggest fans to play. A lot of people want to be on the show to be famous. Of course, you want the money, and if you’re a fan, you want the title and you want the challenge.”

She described the game show as a “human chess match.”

“If you put 18 alpha dogs on an island competing for a million bucks, you don’t feed them, you don’t house them, you get a sense or paranoia every three days that one is going home and you never know,” she said.

“I look like a frumpy little housewife. I’m terrible at challenges and I’m very quiet on the show around camp, letting all the younger people’s personalities come out. That was my strategy -- for no one to see me coming.”

The most difficult aspect was dealing with the behavior of the competitors, none with subservient personalities, she recalled.

Her strategy going into the game was to become the first mom-villain in the program’s history, said McQuillen.

“I’m going to go out there and play like a man and they’re not going to see me coming,” she added.

“I can look you in the eye and shake your hand. We can be best friends, and then that night, I can write your name down” to be voted out.

Living conditions were sparse: “You have to build your shelter, boil all the water. If it’s raining, you can catch some water.”

A typhoon struck the island on day three during the filming. “It was horrific,” she added. “It went on for 12 hours. We could not get dry. We could only huddle together.”

“That would break some people’s will,” commented McQuillen. She said she coped by realizing the living conditions and knowing that the experience would only last for a set period of time.

In an early episode, she appeared on camera, saying “Look, we’ve got 33 days to go. If this has got you down, get out of here because it is going to get worse before it gets better.”

“It’s not that CBS is going to let someone die out there, but it does get fairly miserable.”

During one episode, she was nicknamed “Chaos Kass” when her betrayal resulted in confrontation with competitor Morgan.

“I treated this as a game. Every decision is a business decision out there because I want to get my million,” she said.

“Historically speaking, most of the older women who have appeared on the show have been dragged to the end as goats…

“That’s what they call them, because they have done nothing strategically to earn the respect of the other players.”

Physically, the older woman is not a threat and the male contestants will take advantage of them, noted McQuillen. A male competitor whose profession is a police officer said McQuillen had a “stone face” and he could not read her.

“That was my thing,” she said. “To always let everybody feel that I’m listening to them but not to give away anything and to allow them to discount me.”

She said she pandered “a bit to their egos” and resorted to being devious.

“You’re not going to win by being the nice guy,” she said.

The double standard of young vs. older women and men vs. female existed on the island. McQuillen said she did not anticipate a double standard to play out on the “Survivor” set.

“I’m in a male-dominated industry,” she added. “I own my own practice. I take on the big boys all the time. I let them insult me and then I beat them. That was my strategy going in.”

Advice to anyone thinking about applying? “Be yourself.” The show receives about 50,000 applications.

While on location, McQuillen said she lost between 10 and 15 pounds. She has no regrets for appearing on the reality show: “Take it for what is it. It’s super fun.”