In another timeline, Rachel LaMont, the winner of Survivor 47, might not have even been in this season.
In fact, had the producers or fate intervened a little sooner, Rachel might have been playing with or against Kenzie Petty, Charlie Davis, and Maria Shrime Gonzalez in Survivor 46.
On the latest episode of the On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast, it was revealed that Rachel was the alternate for Survivor 46. She actually spent a week with the Survivor 46 cast learning the ropes, seeing how production worked, and sizing up her potential competition.
Rachel shared a little about the experience during the pre-show portion of Survivor 46 as an alternate during the episode. And, she actually wrote a little bit about Charlie in her pre-game notebook.
"Yeah, I mean, I actually, you know, you said mental notes, Jeff, but I grabbed my little pregame notebook from 46," Rachel said. "And so, I have the actual notes."
"Yes. Charlie, yeah, CD, not Charlie Davis, but CD," Rachel continued. "He looks like a guy from my high school that I can't remember the name of. He seems very smart and maybe sneaky. People will know it, though. Will he go out early for playing too hard? That was my note on Charlie's page.”
Well, well, well. Not only was Rachel an alternate for Charlie's season, she had him sized up as a sneaky, smart player, which Charlie was, but people did not catch on. In fact, his social game was so good that he basically used that, along with great, timely strategy to make it all the way to the end of Survivor 46.
For those who don't know, there are a number of alternates who travel out to Fiji the week before production starts with the cast. While they're there, they can't speak with any of the potential cast members. None of the cast can either, to be clear. For started, Rachel was one of the alternates who was sent home just as filming started.
Because they don't get to know each other at this phase, Charlie knew who Rachel was, but of course, he didn't realize that she was an alternate at the time. Production obviously doesn't say who is confirmed for the cast.
Charlie also shared his impression of Rachel from his notebook on the new episode.
“Well, this woman that I saw, I did not know it was Rachel Lamont," Charlie said. "All I knew is that it was 'RL'. All we have is each other's initials. So when I saw RL, and we're with each other for a week, you can't talk, but you're observing everything like Jeff's saying. And, Rachel, I had a little code word that I matched up with your initials. I called you "Real Life," because I just got great vibes from you."
"I just got really down to earth, genuine energy exuding from you the whole time. And, I was really excited to get to know you and maybe work with you or work against you."
Well, as I mentioned, in another timeline, Rachel and Charlie are allies taking over a season of Survivor. I think we'd all love to see that!
And, hey, who says it can't happen? I have to imagine that Charlie is on the shortlist of players in consideration for Survivor 50. Will Rachel be considered, as well? We know at least one player from Survivor 47 is going to join the cast. She's clearly one of the best Survivor players of all time, so I would be in favor. I just don't think it's going to happen. I think that we're going to see as many non-winners as Jeff Probst and the gang can squeeze into it.
But, we'll see. I would absolutely love to see Rachel return for Survivor 50. I think Survivor fans would agree that she's great TV, a challenge beast, and one of the best strategic players we've seen in a long time in the game.
So, yes, there is still hope for Charlie and Rachel to play together. You can count me as one of those fans who wants it to happen.
We'll share more news about Charlie, Rachel, and Survivor 50 as we find out! Stay tuned!