Survivor Island of the Idols: Ranking the top 5 players of the season

2) Lauren Beck

Out of the five castaways on this list, Lauren is probably the most underrated. She played a brilliant social game that wasn’t flashy, but it got the job done. More often than not, the social dynamics she developed gave her a measure of power over most Tribal Councils, which is a feat only Tommy came close to matching this season.

Lauren made her mark on this season of Survivor as soon as she could. When Vokai lost their first Immunity Challenge, all eyes pointed to Noura and Jason. Jason got caught searching for an idol, while people were already annoyed with Noura’s antics. However, Lauren looked past the easy vote. She quickly realized how Molly Byman was making connections with all the guys, and Lauren wanted to prevent somebody other than herself from gaining power.

That big move set the tone for the rest of Lauren’s game. Her social connections got her through the first half of the merge unscathed, while still having a say in who should sit on the jury. The first time Lauren looked to be in legitimate trouble came at the Final Eight. Several castaways including Karishma, Dean, and Elaine planned to break up the Lauren and Tommy duo by blindsiding Lauren. Lauren silenced that threat by coming up clutch to win a critical Individual Immunity Challenge.

It was interesting to see players like Dean firmly believe that Lauren was a massive jury threat that needed to go. Her bond with Missy and Aaron plus her good relationship with her Vokai members gave Lauren the potential to gain enough jury votes to win it all. The main reason why she’s doesn’t have the top spot on this list has to do with the fact that she had far less control over the final few Tribal Councils than her partner in crime.