Survivor Game Changers exit interviews: Sarah Lacina
With a million-dollar check in the pocket and the world as her oyster, Sarah Lacina offers her thoughts on Survivor Game Changers in her exit interviews.
Survivor Game Changers was all about how you could outwit, outplay and outlast 19 other competitors on the path to the title of Sole Survivor and the million-dollar check. Sarah Lacina carved an impeccable path to victory by playing both sides, offering up herself as a cop while secretly playing like a criminal.
With the game now over and the ten-month wait finally bringing clarity to her gameplay, Sarah Lacina spoke in her Survivor Game Changers exit interviews about her gameplay, the moves she made and the lines she crossed to earn that check. In her Entertainment Weekly interview, she discussed going down the Tony route of swearing on her kids.
"If it’s the first time you’re playing, I can see how you can’t separate the game and real life, but we’ve been here two, three, and four times now for some people, and to sit there and say, ‘How dare you do this?’ and ‘What kind of person are you?’ — well, maybe you shouldn’t be playing if that’s how you feel because this is a game. And that’s just how I view it. And Tony viewed it the same way and you saw how successful he was. To future players out there, a major key to success is separating game and real life. It truly is."
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While I’m certainly sitting squarely on Sarah’s side of this argument, Survivor is a social game. Even if seasoned players agree it’s a game, there are still some lines people think you shouldn’t cross. People are superstitious, thinking that if you swear on the life of your children and break a promise that you will cause some undue ill toward them. It’s a risky move, but thankfully, she had people who didn’t get too offended by that.
It speaks to the theory of returning players playing like the winner of their season, as Sarah spoke to Josh Wigler of Parade to talk about making her partner in cop-related crime, Tony Vlachos, proud.
"I think he’s proud. I think he’s really proud of me. I talked to him when I got home and he goes, “Yo Sarah, you better have won! We were all rooting for you.” So I kind of gave him the rundown. I have a secret scene where I talk about how I just wanted to make Tony proud. Tony actually sent it to me as I was watching it, and it’s good, because I really did want to play for Tony, too. We’re really good friends."
Despite the partnership breaking down in Cagayan, the Cops R Us alliance may have proven itself to be the most successful duo in Survivor since the winner and runner up of All-Stars, Amber and Boston Rob. Plus, it took only two seasons of Cops R Us gameplay to get two winners into the record books, showing the strength of their collective gameplay.
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Finally, in her discussion with Gordon Holmes of the Xfinity TV blog, she reveals that she’s learned to separate the game from real life, but it still hurts a bit to watch it unfold. No more crimes for her!
"None! I’m going to pay my taxes. None! None! Playing that way is not fun. Trust me. Watching it back, it breaks my heart. I hurt people and it’s not fun. But, it was what it required of me to win. I had to play that way. That’s how Tony played and I saw how successful it was for him. Not that you have to backstab a bunch of people, but that you can separate real life from the game."
Next: Survivor Winners: Ranking All 33 Sole Survivors By Season
There’s an obvious psychological toll that comes with playing Survivor, as your weakened support system makes you a bit unfocused, delusional and disconnected from the paranoia of the game. Sarah is just recovering from Survivor Game Changers now, but having to see that negative side of you play out on your path to glory has to be a surreal feeling.