A member of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors has landed a spot on a USA Network competition show.
Bismah Ahmed, a lobbyist who also serves as vice chair of advocacy at the Chamber, is a contestant on “The Anonymous” — a reality show of strategy and deception in which players compete for a prize of up to $100,000.
Joining the show several episodes in, after an original group had already begun developing ties and trust, Ahmed told ARLnow that she used her professional background to quickly build alliances.
Rule number one: tell no one about her decade of experience lobbying the Virginia General Assembly, executive agencies and local governments in the D.C. area.
“I definitely wanted people to trust me and make them feel like I was actually, genuinely connecting with them and not just lobbying them into manipulating another player,” Ahmed said. “And so I tried to really kind of tone down that side of myself — but then in my head, I was strategically lobbying.”
Ahmed can’t reveal what’s going to happen on the show, which is still airing new episodes on Mondays at 11 p.m. But she loves “strategic challenges” and felt that, given her experience working with legislators, “this was going to be a piece of cake.”
“This really just was right up my alley,” Ahmed said. “When I was initially thinking about this game, I was like, ‘Okay, well just hand me the check right now. I’ve got it.'”
One concern Ahmed had, however, was how her loved ones might see her after watching her compete. Dishonesty is a core part of the show, with contestants — who are all living together — scheming against each other in an anonymous virtual world while trying to maintain alliances in real life.
“I [felt] like my friends and family are gonna be like, ‘Well, should we actually trust you based on how much you lie on the show?” she said. “But no, they’re actually so excited to see someone they know on TV, and playing a strategic game like this.”
Ahmed goes to her sister’s house for a watch party every Monday, where she spends an hour “screaming at the TV” with her family.
One of the coolest things about being on the show, Ahmed said, was getting to meet stars from shows like “Survivor” and “Big Brother.” She said she still keeps in touch with the other players — and tries to make her peace with all the times they betrayed her.
“I really, really admire everybody’s gameplay,” she said. “At the end of the day, I’m not going to be hurt by anything anybody said or [did]. It is a game, and we had to play ruthless. There are things that might be hard watching back — but, you know, we’re playing for $100,000.”
As viewers continue to watch Ahmed representing Arlington on new episodes of “The Anonymous,” a whole crew of D.C.-area residents are set to appear on Season 7 of “Love is Blind,” which is set in D.C. and released its cast list earlier this week. That show’s new season premiers on Oct. 2.
