Ben received every vote at tribal council on the Dec. 6 episode of Survivor, but it was Lauren Rimmer who was sent home after the former marine pulled out an immunity idol he’d been keeping a secret. Before tribal, Lauren had an idol of her own, but crazily gave half of it to Mike. “I wanted him to feel like he was included,” Lauren tells HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY. “Mike had always kept saying that he felt like he was left out during certain votes, but I knew that he was kind of a swing. He was back and forth, you always had to kind of watch Mike, because you wouldn’t know who he was talking to and what he was actually doing. So at the last minute, I said, here, you’re included, I want you to be part of this. Just to try and make him a little bit more secure to work with us.”
Of course, as we saw, Mike was NOT on-board with working with Lauren, and he threw the idol into the fire at tribal council. “I didn’t know Mike was trying to throw me under the bus so bad,” Lauren admits. “Things just went downhill from there. I really wish he wouldn’t have thrown the idol in the fire because he could’ve just given it to me, or I wish I dug it out of the fire. But who knows that Jeff would’ve even let me play it.” Ben did have an idol to play, though, which saved him from elimination. “To my knowledge, no one knew [Ben had the idol],” Lauren reveals. “He did a really good job at hiding it.” Check out the rest of our interview with Lauren here!
What do you think was your biggest downfall in the game? My downfall was the idol. It’s a total regret that I punish myself for all the time. It was a really stupid mistake that cost me the game. In reality, I could’ve played the idol, and nobody would’ve been able to vote for me, period.
Who was your ideal final 3? Originally, I wanted Devon and Ashley, because they never really did any major decision making and they kind of went along with the group’s decision. Ashley especially. She didn’t come up with any ideas on her own or make any jumps or try and do anything. But the longer we played together, the more she started becoming more boisterous, and so did Devon. Obviously, I saw watching TV that he was more involved than I thought he was, but they were the two I was originally thinking.
What surprised you the most watching the show back? I was really surprised at Devon and Ryan, actually. Chrissy, I knew what she was about and Ben the same way, Ashley, I still had the same thoughts. I really liked Joe and I wish I could’ve worked with Joe. He got voted off because I didn’t have the numbers to keep him since everybody was still so gung ho on Ben.
Who was your biggest ally in the game? I really thought that between Ben and Devon, I had a lot of trust. Ben and myself, we proved that to each other, but I knew I couldn’t go to the 1-2-3 with [Ben and Devon]. I’m pretty sure Ben knew the same thing. I tried to gun for him a little too early or a little bit too late. Honestly, I think it was a little bit too late.
Would you play again? Heck yeah. I would absolutely love to come play. I’m in my own element over there, I enjoyed every drop of it. If only it wasn’t so mentally draining. That’s the hard part — socially trying to keep up with everything that you talk about and all the stories. But absolutely [I’d play again].
HollywoodLifers, are you shocked Lauren got voted off Survivor?