When Rachel LaMont began her “Survivor” journey as an alternate on Season 46, she had no idea that fate would instead see her winning Season 47 as a competition beast, effectively changing her career path along the way.
A year after winning the CBS reality competition show, she’s bringing the spirit of the series’ iconic puzzles to a game night near you with Puzzle Hungry: Umami Rush. Her game with partner Ryan Plaisted challenges 2-4 players to a “chaotic kitchen race” in which they speedily solve jigsaw puzzles against one another — with 19 hand-drawn dishes to choose from thus far.
“With ‘Survivor’ challenges, you cannot underestimate the amount of adrenaline that courses through your veins. The ability to think through something like a puzzle when your heart is beating is just really interesting, because jigsaw puzzles at home is a very relaxing activity,” Rachel told TheWrap. “So what we tried to do with Puzzle Hungry is bring some of that intensity into it. There is just something really special and unique about looking at somebody else and being like, ‘Oh my God, I’m losing. I have to go faster.’ I was really trying to capture that in this game. They’re also double-sided, which is unique to jigsaw puzzles and very ‘Survivor’-coded.”
While CBS introduced Rachel to viewers as a graphic designer, she was actually most recently a UX designer at General Motors. It’s a job that ultimately lended itself to her new gig as a game designer: “I felt very stuck professionally [after the show] and didn’t realize that a pivot like this could work and make me feel so passionate. I was worried I’d have to change careers or get a new education, but there really are ways to design experiences that aren’t just apps.”
So now that Puzzle Hungry will soon be in the hands of fans, does Rachel have a newfound appreciation for “Survivor” host/showrunner Jeff Probst and his sometimes-questionable decisions as game master?
“I understand more about why some things are the way they are. So many times during play-testing, we would be changing rules and realized that giving people more decision power is more interesting. I still feel like there are places in current ‘Survivor’ where we are taking choice away for no apparent reason. Why not force people to argue? Force people to take sides? I think that those things are way more interesting,” she shared. “We have a mechanism in our game where you draw a card and have to do the thing, but then we were like, if you draw the card, you should be able to decide who has to do it. Those things make it a lot more interesting. But I do now get why you would put contingencies in place.”
Plus, the RE:SOLVE GAMES co-founder has already invited “probably close to two dozen” former castaways to try out Puzzle Hungry. As diehard fans are aware, the Season 47 cast is particularly close, which isn’t always the case for reality television stars.
“We’re just so lucky. No drama. I think that, truly, everybody, in their heart, wants to get along. Not even other casts, just people in general are vulnerablility-averse; they want to keep stuff in, they don’t want to confront people. So when you’re upset about something and then you don’t see people for a few months or a year, you just grow resentment. It grows into this ugly thing. I think that we have all been really good about hearing something and then having a conversation about it,” Rachel explained. “This is the craziest community ever; everyone knows everyone, word travels fast, so stuff comes up. It’s not like we don’t have conflict, but I think that everyone really wants to make sure that we get along, so we’re willing to do the hard work to make sure it happens. I’m just so grateful, because many casts are not like this — and that can taint your whole experience.”
Looking ahead, her fellow castaway Genevieve Mushaluk will be the lone Season 47 representation on the show’s milestone 50th season — but Rachel also revealed that she’d return to the island if asked, and nominated co-stars Andy Rueda and Sam Phalen as worthy potential all-stars, too.
The Puzzle Hungry Kickstarter is already at 200% funding, and you can pre-order the game yourself through Nov. 20. “Survivor” Season 49 airs Wednesdays on CBS before streaming on Paramount+.
