Lauren Ashley Beck was the fourth-place survivor in season 39 of the CBS show. During quarantine, she started making a TikTok series called “Survivor Secrets,” where she revealed a lot about the show that fans can’t see. I got the opportunity to sit down on Zoom with her and instead of it being a traditional interview, it just felt as if I was talking with a friend.
In her TikTok series, she talks about all things Survivor and answers many questions people are curious about. She started it when she was bored one day because she realized she wanted to just talk about something she loves and woke up to 150,000 followers the next day. She’s very proud to be able to show everyone that there’s no certain type of person that can be on Survivor, anyone can. She said that the community built around her “allowed me to not only embrace myself as a survivor but to have people fangirling over me is crazy. It feels so good and validating.” Talking to her, you can tell that she’s appreciative of every single person that follows her and enjoys her content.
In her series, she discusses a lot about her experience, but it was very interesting to hear more about the mental effects.
Survivor is such a unique experience that tests you both mentally and physically, which can make it a journey of learning yourself and growing as a person. Lauren said the experience’s biggest impact on her was that she was able to find herself with no outside noise since you’re completely detached from the outside world and social media. She was always questioning and comparing herself so the journey for her was about growth (even though the prize money would have been a great bonus). She believes she was able to prove not only to herself that she could do anything she put her mind to, but also to other people that if they wanted to, they can do it too.
Survivor completely changes how you have to live and operate for 39 days (if you make it to the final). Coming back into the “real world” is going to be a different experience for everyone who went on this journey, but for Lauren it was really hard. She was in such a high from being on the show, then when it was over, she wasn’t okay. She would talk on the phone for ten hours a day with two of her fellow castaways just obsessing over the game and still having that mindset. She said she would focus on “what ifs” such as what if her ally didn’t help the other person she had to beat. They thought about everything or what could have been different when in the reality of it none of that mattered because it wasn’t what happened. She did mention that CBS does have a lot of resources for mental health support after the game, but it could be better. Lauren said, “Coming home for about a year, mentally my mind was not okay. I was very unwell.” There’s just so much fans will never see in the show itself, especially regarding how everyone feels after they’re voted off and regain some sense of reality.
I asked Lauren if there was anything she wishes she had changed about the way she played the game and she felt that her biggest problem was the way that she held her relationships too close to her heart. She couldn’t betray her closest ally, and in the end, he was a big reason on why she didn’t make it to the final. He helped teach the person she had to beat how to win. Even after finding this out, she still was his biggest advocate in trying to get the jury to vote for him to win. She also helped coach him when he spoke to the jury by telling him when he needs to stop talking for his own sake or nodding him on after finding out about what he did. Even if in the end her loyalty and kindness was her demise, she’s still happy to have walked away with her morals.
Her biggest advice to anyone who might want to be on the show is to be yourself. Lauren explained, “Only you can be the best version of yourself so do that and be that.” She said Survivor wants new fresh faces and that “representation is so important on so many levels.” Basically, just being your true genuine self will be your best chance at getting casted.
Make sure to check out Lauren’s TikTok and Instagram!
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and Pinterest!