User blog comment:Tanglefrost/Survivor: Con Dao- Character Applications/@comment-26714162-20200103114458

Name (Age): Laelle Harkin (44)

Current Residence: Jackson, Wyoming

Occupation: Realty Company Owner

Claim to Fame: Running a youth housing project for LGBT+ youths that have been forced out of their residency and as such are homeless with nowhere else to turn to.

Hobbies: I'm an avid tennis player and play during the week with some of the mums from my kids' school. Outside of that, I'll never say no to going to the movies with my girl friends, even if we might look a little bit silly mixing with the younger, movie-going crowd.

Pet Peeves: I can't stand those that are competent but don't apply themselves. I would much rather see someone that's completely incompetent at something but is giving it their all and trying their best to succeed than someone who has the skills and talent to do something but is too lazy to achieve it. If nothing else, it's ignorant and insulting to those that would kill for those same capabilities.

If You Could Have Three Things on the Island, What Would They Be and Why: I would definitely bring one of the builders we contract to build our properties. Those boys work like magic and would have us living in a palace of a shelter in no time. Aside from that, I'd love to bring my tennis racket to keep my strong backhand game in tip top condition, and lastly having a photo of my boys would hopefully keep me from missing home as much as I'm going to.

SURVIVOR Contestant You Are Most Like (can be my fanon or canon): I would love to say Chrissy Hofbeck. She's an absolute inspiration to all women and really has it all. She's a challenge beast, she's an avid and savvy strategist, and she's so incredibly intelligent and well-spoken. If I could even be half the player she is, I would be an incredibly proud woman.

Reason for Being on SURVIVOR: This might sound bad, especially since I'm applying for the show, but I don't actually know. The money isn't an issue for me with how well work is going, and I'm living pretty comfortably with enough to also keep the youth housing project running smoothly. I'm not too keen on living in the outdoors, and it's going to be awful being away from my family. I really don't know why I'm coming out here, but here I am.

Why You Will "Survive" SURVIVOR: I'm a firm believer that no matter what I set my mind to, I'll be able to achieve it, and even if I fall short, I can be proud of myself for putting everything I have into it and knowing that there's nothing more I could have done. Giving up or quitting just isn't in my nature, so no matter how cold, hungry and miserable I get out there, I'm going to push through until the bitter end, and nothing's going to stop me.

Why You Will Be the Sole SURVIVOR: I think I'm going to be able to be a support network for people, and that's a huge asset to have. In order to do anything in Survivor, you need to have people on your side so you can rally the troops when the time comes. I'm not saying that I'm just a loyal foot soldier, but if I'm able to have people think that I've got their back and will be there for them when they need me, they shouldn't have a reason to get rid of me. If I then have that sort of a connection with everybody, I can then pick and choose what works the best for me, and I'll be able to make a deep run at things without being the one people point at as a target hopefully.

Manga:



Additional questions for you (Answer AS YOU, not as your character)
 * Rate you castway's strategic, physical and social game out of 10, 1 being the worst and 10 being the best. Provide a reason why you chose the numbers.
 * Strategically, Laelle is a 5, as her skill set is fairly mixed in this regard. She's definitely got the natural skills in bringing people together and making important decisions through her line of work, however applying these skills to Survivor is where she may face shortcomings. She hasn't watched a heap of seasons of Survivor and is far from a super-fan, so while she may be a terrific leader and businesswoman in her daily life, translating that to Survivor may be a shaky process at first, but she does have room to grow.
 * Physically, Laelle is a 6. Due to her physically-active lifestyle, she's in good shape and will be able to hold her own in challenges, however she's not exactly some natural athlete and isn't the type to be able to comfortably rely on an immunity run when in dire straits.
 * Socially, Laelle is probably at her best and is a strong 7. She's an incredibly supportive and kindhearted person, and easily connects with people on a deep level because of this. She's incredibly optimistic and sees the best in people, but this is also potentially where her weakness lies, as she could fall victim to being too trusting of people, and while she may be observant enough to see the red flags, her positive nature would lead her to potentially overlook them in favour of someone's positive qualities.
 * What could cause your castaway to win?
 * If Laelle was to win, it would likely be from playing a strong game as the second-in-command to some of the season's power players, assisting them where need be, before eventually emerging out from under their shadow when the time is right and taking control of things for herself. Very much a Jericho from Australian Survivor's second season sort of winner.
 * What could cause your castaway to lose?
 * ​​​​​​​As touched on previously, Laelle's biggest weakness and her potential downfall could come from being too trusting of people. She always looks for the best in people, and as such would potentially overlook some of the negatives that surround someone. She's far from naive and would still recognise those negatives, however her wish to see people at their best would likely lead her to dismiss them until it's too late and she's either misled by someone or blindsided out of the game.
 * What kind of castaways would your castaways align with? 
 * ​​​​​​​She would definitely work well with fellow hard-working castaways with ethics and values that she is proud of having herself. Additionally, Laelle would try to work with any of the quieter or more reserved castaways - especially younger ones - in the hopes of bringing their confidence up and letting them contribute instead of falling to the wayside.
 * What kind of characters would your castaways avoid or be enemies with?
 * ​​​​​​​Any of the overly rude or arrogant contestants without enough redeeming qualities to balance them out, as she wouldn't be able to handle their negativity for long enough to work with them. Additionally, she wouldn't be too keen on aligning with the villainous players, but would also be willing to work with them short-term, as long as she has a clear path to either distance herself from them or vote them out in the future.
 * Please provide a small paragraph of backstory.
 * ​​​​​​​Laelle is a hard-working and compassionate mother of three (mother of four if her often-clumsy and childish husband counts) from Jackson in Wyoming. Having grown up in a lower-class family, she's truly earnt the success she has today through this hard work and dedication, and while she started as a real estate agent, she quickly rose up the ranks, eventually opening her own highly successful realty business. It's thanks to this success that she was able to start up a youth housing project for homeless LGBT+ youths, a decision she made shortly after finding out that her now fourteen-year-old (but thirteen-year-old at the time) son, Alfie, was gay, after he was caught fooling around with a male friend at the friend's house and by the friend's mum. Laelle was incredibly taken aback by this at first, not knowing any gay people in her life, and as such wasn't sure how to react and refrained from speaking to Alfie about it at all for a while. With this clearly going against her kind and supportive nature, she took the time to research resources in order to help support Alfie, which is where she learnt about the rising issue of homelessness in LGBT+ youth. Wanting to both show her support of Alfie's sexuality as well as showing that same support to kids who didn't have any in their lives, Laelle started the housing project through her realty company and is incredibly thankful to be in such a privileged position where she's able to help out those in need. Between this, work, and spending time with her family that means the absolute world to her, stepping away from all that to go on Survivor isn't an easy choice, especially considering she isn't exactly sure what she's looking for on Survivor in the first place. Nevertheless, Laelle has never backed down from a challenge and is always looking to push herself to be the best she can be, and is ready to tackle Survivor head on.
 * Do you consent to having your manga altered (such as natural hair shades, eye colours, custom clothing/face details) if your castaway is cast? (under NO CIRCUMSTANCES will this impact your character's chances of being cast) No my mangas are better than yours.