Mariana van Zeller

Give me 100 guys with masks and AK-47s and I will take them all.

But one shark in the ocean and I'm dead.

I was super nervous.

But then once you're in the water, it's actually less nerve-wracking.

So I'm usually very focused on the interview.

I have this whole thing where a lot of times I bring cigarettes.

We always have cigarettes in the production because a lot of times you have to have meetings before the cameras are even turned on and you have to get that person comfortable.

And a lot of times they don't want to be on camera, right?

So having cigarettes for me, offering people cigarettes or beer or...

Very Portuguese, but it's a way that we're connecting, right?

I'm not above you.

I'm not different from you.

I show them photos of my son and my family on my phone.

I ask them about their families.

And it's a way that we're immediately connecting.

And I do that even if they say yes, then we sit across from each other.

And even before we turn on the cameras, I'm asking questions that I know are just like, what's your favorite food?

Things that we all share in common.

And that's my way of humanizing them and of them to understand that I'm there as a human being.

And then I never have a list of questions in front of me.