‘Survivor: Cagayan’ castaway spotlight: Will Sarah Lacina arrest the competition?
Having police officers on “Survivor” is hardly anything new, but when you look at their history on the show overall, it isn’t always that fantastic. Betsy Bolan is one of the names that comes to mind, and she was one of the first real victims of Russell Hantz.
So can Sarah Lacina really find a way to go far in the competition, and defeat many of her rivals along the way? There are times in which we feel like this is going to be hard for her, but we also think that she is bringing enough to the table to have a pretty good shot at doing well in this game. If nothing else, she and fellow cop Tony are going to allow us to use all sorts of great police-related puns all season long. Huzzah!
Name – Sarah Lacina
Age – 29
Location – Cedar Rapids, Iowa (the same state as recent champion Denise Stapley)
Occupation – Police officer (as we just mentioned a little earlier)
Tribe – Aparri (a.k.a. the brawn tribe)
What she brings to the show – First of all, she seems to be a physical player who already knows the game coming in. Imagine how different “Survivor” would be if this was true for so many of the more athletic people that were brought on? Sarah comes across as very smart, strategic, and capable of doing just about everything that she needs to in order to go far and potentially win the game. Her strategy of having one primary ally, and then branching that out to include other people is similar in ways to what Stephen and JT did in “Survivor: Tocantins,” and also what a smaller version of the Brigade did on “Big Brother 12.”
What could hurt her – The biggest issue that we could see Sarah running into is simply being around the wrong group of people and then becoming collateral damage. While there is another cop on her tribe, and that in theory would be great, Tony seems to have a very different plan for how he wants to play the game. We could see him pairing off more with the men right away, and while we predict that there would be an eventual implosion, it may be one that takes a few weeks to happen, after she is already voted out.
Past “Survivor” comparison – Strategically, the way that she talks about the game actually does feel very much like Stephen Fishbach, or to use another “Big Brother” comparison, reigning champion Andy Herren. It’s always a good thing to have someone else in front of you to be a target, especially if you have primary allies. Also, her strength is somewhat reminiscent of a legendary player in Stephenie LaGrossa. She compares herself to Malcolm Freberg, and we really don’t see any problem with that one, either.
Prediction – Sarah’s going to do very well this season, and could be someone who goes very far and almost even wins the whole thing. She’s good in challenges, likable, and is going to make moves without making enemies. The only thing that could hurt her at the end is that she’s going to have a hard time come final five of looking like a person you want to be sitting next to, and that may require her to win a couple of immunities.
How do you think Sarah is going to fare on “Survivor: Cagayan”? We want to hear some of your thoughts below, and also visit the link here if you want to see the rest of our castaway spotlights.
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Photo: CBS