Rachel's journey on Survivor 47 began with one of her most complicated relationships: Andy Rueda. While the two quickly bonded, Andy waking her up in the middle of the night due to his anxiety had her distancing herself from him, feeling he was too much of a liability. Little did Rachel realize then that he would go on to blindside her three times over the course of the season. She entered the postmerge in a tough situation, having just lost her closest ally in Anika Dhar. Her isolation became literal when a twist sent her into Tribal Council with five Tukus. But for the first (and certainly not the last) time, Rachel walked out of her own funeral alive and well, granted an advantage by Sol Yi that gave her "Safety Without Power."Interestingly, the rest of Rachel's game would mostly be a combination of safety and power. Despite being labeled as a threat, Rachel was able to slip further down the pecking order as others emerged, and played a large role in taking them out. And, despite being left out of a couple of crucial votes, she was able to keep herself immune to make sure she was never the name on everyone's lips. The one time that did happen was at the Final Six. Following "Operation: Italy," nearly everyone had turned on Rachel, which she overheard down at the beach. She countered with her own stealth mission, as everyone planned to take her out, memorializing how good she was at the game. They had no idea that she had secretly been safe the entire time, with an idol she had secured at the auction. With the power suddenly flipped back in her hands, she took out Andy, as he had spilled the game he played to her believing she would be a juror. Now, she had made sure that he would be the one to go in her stead.Rachel's work was not done, however. After all, she still had two major threats around her in Genevieve Mushaluk and Sam Phalen. When she won immunity at the Final Five, she was able to say "Avada Kedavra" to her Harry Potter/Voldemort rivalry with the Canadian. At the Final Four, she once again won the necklace, tying the immunity record for women. She attempted to take out her final big challenge in Sam, only for him to mount an upset win in firemaking. He brought that come-from-behind mentality into Final Tribal Council, as he attempted to invalidate Rachel's win by saying she needed to rely on challenges and advantages to sit at the end. But, if anything was clear from Rachel's previous 25 days in the game, she worked best when the pressure was on. And so she used that pressure to show off her gem of a journey, winning the title near-unanimously.The day after the finale, Rachel talks with Parade.com about her thoughts on winning as the Final Tribal Council went on, her big idol play and taking out Andy, and how she looks at herself as a winner compared to players past.Related: Read our Survivor 47 pre-game interview with Rachel LaMont
Rachel LaMont Survivor 47 Winner Interview (17:03)First off, can we talk about how wild this is?! This season alone was far from the journey you expected. But it's been the culmination of a year-and-a-half unexpected journey. I know you said on Day 26 that you never imagined playing without winning outright. But it must be so wild now to reflect on your two very different trips to Fiji.Yeah I mean, I remember telling you, "I feel like the backup quarterback at the Super Bowl." And just truly being able to be on 47, officially show up to Fiji, knowing that I was going to play, it just already was such a different mental dynamic. It was just this idea. And I remember talking to the producers before the game started and saying, "Last year, I needed to play. And this year, I just want to play". And I think that that year in between, gave me the space to be like, "It's already a win. You already won, to just actually step foot out there as a contestant. Let's play." It was so fun. And you certainly did play! On that note, you came into the Final Tribal Council feeling good. But you said you always performed best when you felt someone was breathing down your neck. It certainly helped in this case when Sam was putting together an admirable performance. Going into that evening, did you have the same mentality Genevieve did, that you just had to talk up your game and you would win? And how did that mentality change over the evening?Yeah, what's so crazy is, to back up just a tiny bit, when I won that Final Five immunity, I was like, "I think I just won the game." I truly believe in that moment, knowing I'd get Genevieve out that night, I was like, "I think I see the path, and I really feel good about my chances." And then coming into that firemaking, I of course knew that perhaps Sam would beat Teeny. But not in the most outrageous, dramatic way possible, where the jury's jumping off the bench and everybody's freaking out. I was like, "You couldn't just win in a normal way?!" And so that was very scary, because I could tell the energy from the jury was so intense. And it was just the most dramatic thing that happened at Tribal the whole season. And then going into final Tribal and knowing Sam, our relationship was always like sibling rivalry. Like he would pick me up and give me a noogie, that is our dynamic. And so I knew we would go in and bicker like a little brother and big sister would. And so I was so prepared for that back and forth. And I remember being so scared. When he pulled out all those facts, the numbers about his game, I was like, "Oh my God. I didn't think about that." And it was just so intense. And there was multiple moments where I was like, "I think I just lost the game at Final Tribal." It was so intimidating. He did so well. When Jeff went to count the votes was the the most anxiety I'd had in days. I really felt like it was locked up, and then all of a sudden I was like, "Did I underestimate him? And is this not going to go my way?" So very fun and very intense To that point, were there any jury votes you were surprised to get, one way or the other?I felt like I knew that I would get Genevieve and Caroline. I felt like I was probably a lock for Teeny, and I thought Sol was on my side. Sierra obviously could have gone either way, and really struggled. She was in tears almost going to vote. But there were signs previous in previous Tribals. Like when I came in with the third necklace, I think she was like, [Mouthing.] "I'm so proud of you." And so those things gave me hope that I had a chance at her vote, where, when she was voted out, I was like, "That's a Sam vote. If we go to tribal right now, I think she's voting for him." So I felt like I the biggest question marks to me were Gabe and Kyle. And obviously I didn't get Kyle's vote. But ultimately, I think Gabe recognized that the game I played. He loves Mike Holloway, he loves Ben Driebergen. He is that kind of player that I think would see himself playing that kind of game. But I wasn't sure. You just never know.I want to talk about your most Ben-esque moment out there. When you find out that everyone except Sue is turning on you, you decide to play up that you're a dead woman walking, then play your idol to take out Andy. Talk to me about your approach to that round.So what was not shown was, when I told Andy about my "Block-a-Vote" advantage, he abruptly goes, "Rachel, you're my number one." And I didn't really believe him. I knew he was closer to Teeny. But I was like, "It's so good that he is saying this to me. Because I feel like that means I can, at least for the short term, trust him." It's part of why, [in] "Operation: Italy," I was more convinced that he wasn't going to flip, because he had just said that. Why would you go out of your way? And so we come back from "Operation: Italy," and I'm like, "What's your game, dude? Why did you go out of your way to say something to me? I didn't say anything to you. It wasn't a reciprocal thing. You said that to me. And then to immediately stab me in the back, like, what? What are you doing?" And I was trying to guilt him, because what I wanted to happen was to convince somebody to vote with Sue so that I could play my "Block-a-Vote" at six and play my idol at five. And so I immediately started kind of hounding him for it. And then I lose immunity. I know I'm gonna have to probably play the idol, but I sort of blackmailed him. He's like, "I don't want to lie to you anymore. It's been fun to blindside people, but I'm done lying to you, Rachel." I was like, "Okay, well, if you're done, then this is what's happening tonight. I'm blocking Sam's vote. Sue and I are voting for Sam. If you vote for Sam with us, I will not target you at five. That is a deal, I promise you. And if you vote for Sam, or if you tell me you're voting for Sam and you vote for me, you will never get my jury vote at the end, and you will never get Sue's jury vote at the end." ...
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