So this isn’t gonna be a long article because a) this week is busy and b) this week is not an easy one to write about. I think anyone who put myself and these articles together probably figured last elimination would make me really sad. It did, but at the same time I loved a lot about it. Sure, some parts of it I had a longstanding nature of calling as bullshit (really, six votes being negated against one are why I have always had trouble with idols) but when Mike threw his half of the idol in the fire I about lost my mind. It was a mixture of me crying out “no!!!” but also “holy shit that was awesome”.

Let’s be clear- that is one of the ballsiest editing moves I have ever seen. Get someone not usually seen as a fan favorite, edit them to be a fan favorite, and show them being involved a lot with the story as a good player… then let them have a huge downfall on an embarrassing move and have them go home with an idol and advantage unplayed. Not only do they not let fan favorites be the ones to make very ridiculous moves, but they also don’t let fan favorites get voted out 1-0 thanks to an idol.

Let me reiterate the terms “fan favorite” and “good player” because she was both. I expect in recent discussion for her move to be hotly debated and a shocking contender for dumbest move- I don’t think not playing her advantage was but giving half her idol to Mike backfired into an explosion. However, I’ve seen a lot of people acting as though she was never a good player, never a fan favorite, she was overrated, she was a hair racist (because apparently those people care about racism now), and that there was a huge circlejerk in denial. I think it’s BS to act like she added nothing to the show and isn’t deservedly a fan favorite with aspects to her that made up a good player.

Now that she’s dead and gone I think it’d be a disservice to let her legacy die. And, yes, I said legacy. That angers a lot of people but a legacy is something everyone has. Some are so tiny that they seem invisible, some are large enough to establish them as legends of TV who get a million dollars for existing, but legacies exist for everyone. I am not saying her legacy is the biggest ever. But it damn sure exists and it damn sure is pretty big.

I’m here to tell the story of why everyone, from reddit to CTS, from ZLS to the FB page, from podcasts to YouTube comments, and from me to you, all united together to like a brash, bold, average-looking, aggressive, unfiltered middle-aged fisherwoman mother from North Carolina.

I think it’s common knowledge that we had incredibly low expectations of Lauren as a player going in, but I feel those were founded. Alongside the fact that the oldest women on the tribe can get cut with extreme ease, Lauren said outright she was inflexible and hardheaded. She was a set 16th placer.

And then she wasn’t.

The entire time we were going through the Patrick episode I was sure he was staying, Lauren was going, and I was going to hate it. I was going to hate that Patrick behaved badly, and took up the time on the immunity challenge because “looking at Lauren I doubt she would have changed anything”, and Lauren was going to go because the tribe was going to forgive Patrick’s assholery and vote out the older woman through no real fault of her own. Even when she started slaying at Tribal, and I fell in love, I was sure it was just going to be a cooler than usual boot episode.

Then…

I get those exaggerated mercy-me gasps you would expect from a Southern belle now, because I basically had one at that second Patrick vote. I had to fan myself down after that. It may be the most pleasantly shocked I ever was on Survivor, because not only had I resigned myself to Lauren going, but I had actually really grown to love her over that one episode, especially during her annihilation of Patrick that Tribal.

Despite some still ongoing cries that she’s racist against redheads by people I doubt care about racism, she showed Patrick up a lot. She said exactly what she thought against Patrick and why Patrick should go over her, and for my money was very funny about it. You could tell it wasn’t about humiliating Patrick but saving herself- and she as naturally pretty witty. The second she shut Patrick’s first argument down with “I understand that son” and busted out “I have two of them” in response to Patrick accusing her of having an idol, I realized I had drastically underestimated her- this Lauren was way different, way better, than I expected.

Underestimating Lauren was a huge part of the experience, and it would be easy to assume that the props Lauren got were the benefit of lowered expectations, and not indicative of actual skill. However, I choose to take it as surprise, because unlike our perceptions and quite like the nineteen people of 2,500+ on r/survivor who picked her to win, she made some genuinely interesting and well done moves. When she took what Cole reported about Jessica’s advantage and used it against him, we all had no choice but to take her dead seriously. Lauren Rimmer came to play.

It was less us congratulating her for a little and more us being amazed that she did a lot- and we never would have guessed it. Every time I saw a reminder of the fact that we all predicted her to go early and she was here genuinely slaying it, I laughed, because the irony was rich. The person we all expected to flop was slowly building up as one of the better characters in recent seasons.

The buildup to Lauren as a power player was gradual, but as it happened it was hard to dispute. It really took off when she got the advantage and covered her tracks, and built up until she pulled off the power shift, which she did really impeccably. Bring four in, make them all comfortable, lay bare the knowledge and advantages you have, so everyone knows this is the legit way to know and you mean it. It was a work of art seeing her pull it off and kickstart the heart of the fabled last third Probst was so happy about.

As Lauren did more, it was easier to get a sense of her play style. Lauren was unafraid to make bold choices and/or the fabled #bigmove but seemed to know that she couldn’t do it alone, so she always enlisted help. She made sure the alliances she was in weren’t ones of convenience and she was open about her advantages.

While this unusual style in a selfish game helped her get this far, it also hurt her from getting further. Her telling Ben about the advantage meant when Ben flipped it was on her, and her giving half the idol to Mike meant she didn’t sway him like she used her extra vote to, but gave him something to burn and hurt her game over. It would have been amazing if she gave him a fake shell, but that’s not how Lauren rolls. She’s real, and the moves she makes are real, and while that can work for her, her honesty can be ignited and burned in a flash.

That’s her Achilles heel, but by being her Achilles heel it implies she had a full fleshed out body of work to present. I believe she does. I hate to use this term because instinctively it makes me want to barf, but she has a resume. She’s done a lot of things and she has a way about doing them, and if she ever returns those are things she can iron out.

Most importantly, if she returns, she won’t be seen as the weak antisocial woman who they can boot in third. People expected that the first time, but she interacts well with others, she’s stronger than we give her credit for, and it’s clear that others value her. She did better than we expected here, but I think that by the time next season rolls around that we’ll have a better grasp on her.

A lot of people said that she learned to play Survivor this season, but sooner or later we’ll have to accept that she always knew how.

Of course, Lauren being a good player is the foremost thing to justify as its erasure is the most fervent. However, the other complaint others have is people griping about “the circlejerk of blind staunch Lauren lovers”. It’s hard to justify why people like Lauren, not that we should have to give a thesis on it just to justify her being liked on a TV show. Apparently, we have to provide receipts for it, so that’s what I’m going to do.

This is tough, because with Lauren it’s hard to describe why she’s so good when she just is. Most of the time she does things that other contestants do, but manages to make it personable and entertaining. I think this is because her personality is so honest, and while she is composed she isn’t afraid to be goofy and she always says what she means. Not in a “tell it like it is” honest asshole way, but she always communicates what is in her line of sight without ego. When she does good, she says it. When she struggles, she says it.

That’s what helps her, she is a cohesive narrator and gives us a window to what she is thinking while doing things, clarifying them more. I learned a lot from her about the specific setup of a calculated flip of alliances. Not only that, but she was clear about her feelings. She didn’t set to trash or praise anyone but some people wandered into her line of fire. She had a good few barbs in her when people annoyed her but didn’t set out with the intent to trash people. Compare to Joe, who went out of his way to be a villain and laugh at people’s tears.

Lauren was snarky, Lauren was funny, Lauren was deadpan, Lauren was skilled, Lauren was clear, and Lauren was honest. A lot of people called her an old-school character, and I’ll be honest, a lot of it was tied into the fact that she looked a LOT closer to us than she does to the average modern day Survivor contestant. I won’t lie, the fact that she succeeded while looking closer to me than she does to the rest of her cast boosted my confidence and investment in her.

Still, if she’s a throwback, it’s because the way she speaks isn’t in meta-commentary or irony. It isn’t fully in Probst-prescribed lines. She doesn’t put things in explicit life or death terms. She doesn’t feel like a carbon copy of many other Survivor contestants. She naturally became a fan favorite, and wasn’t a predestined one CBS arranged to get the super edit special. She feels like her own entity, and backs that up by excelling in the way she talks about herself and others.

With Lauren gone, it stands to reason that there’s no one left I root for since I had all my eggs in the Lauren basket. True, I am in scorch-the-earth mode quite a bit. I even said a lot about how flawed their game was, especially in making the list two weeks ago. However, there’s still someone I am rooting for, and even as he ended Lauren’s game I did the second he threw Lauren’s shell in the fire.

Never underestimate Doctor Mike!

-Cameron

P.S. if this was a normal article I would have probably spent half bitching about that family visit challenge but others have covered that atrocity well enough.

P.P.S. Also I would have mentioned one of the best rivalries in Survivor history in Ben and Chrissy trying to out-petty each other.