During the pre-season, each contestant is asked several questions in their CBS bio to gather more information for the public to get to know them. The castaways are all primarily asked about their hobbies, pet peeves, accomplishments, why they think they will win Survivor, and which past Survivor players they’re most like. It’s that last question that is the focus of this new weekly feature.
After each player is voted out, I will compare their gameplay to the past Survivor player they mentioned they were most likely to play like. Then, based on that, see if they played like that particular past player, or if they didn’t, could that have helped them improve their overall placement in the game.
This week’s boot, Lindsay Carmine, said the Survivor(s) she would play the game most like is Natalie Anderson, Sarah Lacina, and Michele Fitzgerald.
Which past Survivor will you play the game most like? Natalie (Anderson) – mental and physical strength. Sarah (Lacina) – strategic. Michele (Fitzgerald) – social.
This season has been entertaining so far, especially regarding its tribe dynamics and challenges. However, having a woman as the fourth consecutive boot has taken its toll. In this episode, the “keeping the tribe strong” mantra didn’t show up, but its friend paranoia did. And Lindsay was its casualty.
Lindsay started the game at the Coco tribe, and, as social politics started, she became part of a women’s alliance with Cassidy and Karla. To secure a solid majority within Coco, Lindsay roped in James, which hypothetically would’ve proven fatal to either Geo or Ryan whenever the time came to go to tribal council.
Unbeknownst to Lindsay, Karla and Geo were bonding on the side over the fact that they were both on Survivor to represent the Hispanic and LGBTQ+ communities, which also placed Karla precisely in the middle of Coco. Lindsay said in one of her post-game interviews that though she knew Karla was relaying info from Geo and Ryan to her and Cassidy, Lindsay didn’t know how well Karla was playing the middle.
Coco, and therefore Lindsay, didn’t get much screen time as the tribe continuously won challenges right until this fourth episode. Firstly, Vesi won the reward challenge, which allowed a person to raid one of the other two camps. Vesi then decided to target Coco as it was the only entire tribe, and Cody made it seem as if he was taking the tribe’s machete. Several members, including Lindsay, bartered with Cody to take multiple things instead of the machete, with only Karla catching that Cody had played them.
Slowly but surely, Coco’s divisions finally emerged as the women’s alliance and James were targeting Geo, and Geo wanted Cassidy out as they were continuously in disagreements. Seemingly out of the blue, Lindsay started spiralling and assumed she was the target, which drove her exasperated tribemates to shift the vote to her due to her paranoia. At tribal, in a 4-1-1 vote where only Geo voted for Cassidy, the rest voted Lindsay out of the game.
In an interview with Dalton Ross, Lindsay explained that she wasn’t blindsided at tribal as Geo told her that her name was being thrown around at camp, which led to her paranoia, which escalated when Karla refused to have game conversations with her. This only goes to show how things can quickly change on Survivor and how one conversation, or lack thereof, can be what makes or breaks someone’s game.
Lindsay mentioned three winners when asked which past Survivor players she would like to play like: Natalie Anderson, Sarah Lacina, and Michele Fitzgerald. All three had a plethora of skills that allowed them to thrive in the game and win it, with Natalie and Michele winning their first season and Sarah in her second. Natalie is primarily remembered for her physical prowess and strategic game, Sarah for being a cutthroat player, and Michele for her underestimated social game.
There wasn’t much screentime for Coco as they kept winning, but what we could see from Lindsay was that she had a tight alliance just as Michele, Sarah, and Natalie did at different points throughout their games. Lindsay was also seen helping out at camp and being a physical competitor, contributing to Coco’s wins. Overall, Lindsay was a well-rounded player that could’ve gone further had there been a tribe swap or had she been able to hide how uneasy she felt around her allies, which made her “stick out” as a red flag to them, at least according to the edit. It is similar to how Sarah could not hide her playing in the middle of Cagayan and became the first jury member.
Perhaps if Lindsay came back for a second chance, she could implement what she learned this time and come back stronger, similarly to Sarah in Game Changers. Or perhaps implement stealth into her gameplay like Natalie on SJDS or Michele in Kaôh Rōng, as both were underestimated in favour of other players, when they were the biggest fish to fry out of them all.
Quick Facts
Lindsay Carmine
- Survivor 43
- Original tribe(s): Coco tribe
- Placement: 15/18
Natalie Anderson
- San Juan del Sur, Winners at War
- Original tribe(s): SJDS (Hunahpu, Huyopa); Winners at War (Sele, Koru)
- Placement(s): Winner, 2/20
Similarities and differences: Both were physical competitors for their tribes and had a tight ally within their main alliances (Lindsay had Cassidy, Natalie had Jeremy). The biggest difference was that Natalie was able to overcome her ally being voted out, and that set out the rest of her endgame. In contrast, Lindsay was unable to shake her tribe’s untrustworthy perception of her and was voted out.
Sarah Lacina
- Cagayan, Game Changers, Winners at War
- Original tribe(s): Cagayan (Aparri, Solarrion); Game Changers (Nuku, Tavua, Nuku, Maku Maku); Winners at War (Dakal, Yara, Koru)
- Placement(s): 11/18, winner, 4/20
Similarities and differences: Both were physical competitors, and had connections with the majority of their tribes. Sarah was able to come back and learn from her mistakes from her first season.
Michele Fitzgerald
- Kaôh Rōng, Winners at War
- Original tribe(s): Kaôh Rōng (Gondol, Chan Loh, Dara); Winners at War (Sele, Koru)
- Placement(s): Winner, 3/20
Similarities and differences: Both were social and physical players, both of their tribes went on a winning streak that protected them, and neither went through a tribe swap (Lindsay in Survivor 43, Michele in Kaôh Rōng). In stark contrast, at the first chance that both were at risk after a winning streak, Michele was able to maneuver herself into a safer swing votes position (Kaôh Rōng), whereas Lindsay was voted out at her first tribal council.
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