Every Survivor fan knows the tenets of the game: outwit, outplay, outlast. But not every Survivor player can follow them to perfection. What happens more often than not is that players are really good at one thing and terrible at another. Cirie Fields, a fan favorite alum notorious for being the queen of outwit, revealed which aspect of Survivor she could’ve committed more effort to during her four times playing.
Most will remember her as a key leader in the Black Widow Brigade from Survivor: Micronesia or as the only player to be voted out by default during Survivor: Game Changers. She often gets kudos as one of the best strategists to ever play the game, and for good reason. But Cirie Fields was never a physical competitor in Survivor and that, in her view, is where she could’ve put in more effort. She told Entertainment Weekly:
Honestly, my biggest regret is that I never put in a thousand percent effort and preparation as far as physically. I'll do something and I'll start running just so I don't die, but to be able to really, really be a physical competitor — I've never really put that thousand percent effort in, and it shows.
Cirie Fields was never a competition beast in the ranks of Boston Rob or Joe Anglim during Survivor. She struggled to keep up during most challenges. But I think fans will disagree that Fields never gave one thousand percent – however she could. Famously, in a challenge during Survivor: Game Changers, Fields simply could not cross a beam and her team lost. But she never gave up and (with the encouragement of host Jeff Probst, her teammates and rivals) ended up finishing the challenge even though it was already over.
It’s that kind of Survivor player that is the most awe-inspiring. They’re not the fastest or the strongest or the wisest, but it’s clear they have the most heart. And that’s also why fans have rooted for Cirie Fields every single time she’s played. But according to Fields, she knows she’ll never win Survivor until she conquers the physical aspect. She continued:
I know my goal is to win Survivor, and I know that at some point it's going to come down to me winning a challenge in order to push myself to the end to sit in the final and speak to the jury. And I just never really go the extra mile to be a hundred percent prepared, and I guess that would be the only thing I regret.
If there was any justice in Survivor, then players who deserve to win, win in the end. It’s not always the case. Cirie Fields made it to final four and final three, before she was blindsided in one season and then voted out on a technicality in another. Hopefully, there will one day be an opportunity for “the woman who got up off the couch and played Survivor,” as Jeff Probst once said.
