Getty United States Paralympic Athlete Noelle Lambert.
“Survivor” is known for having a diverse range of players over its 20-plus year run, ranging from everyday, ordinary white-collar workers to celebrities, athletes, and Olympians alike. Fans will recall the likes of famed screenwriter Mike White, Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Elizabeth Beisel, and Dallas Cowboys player Danny McCray in just the past few seasons alone.
Season 43 is introducing a whole new element of diversity to the show, however: included in the new cast is Noelle Lambert, a 25-year-old former Paralympian from New Hampshire. And while it may be tough for fully able-bodied people to endure the Fijian elements for 26 days, Lambert is confident that she will thrive in the game.
Noelle Lambert Set a Record at Her Paralympic Games
Noelle Lambert will make history on the upcoming “Survivor” season for being the first ever Paralympian to compete in the game. She is not the first amputee to ever compete, however – Chad Crittenden of season 9, “Vanuatu” and Kelly Bruno of season 21, “Nicaragua,” come before her. All three have prosthetic legs. Lambert lost her left leg in a moped accident in 2016, at the age of 19, per the Concord Monitor.
In 2020, Lambert competed as a sprinter in the Tokyo Summer Paralympics, where she placed sixth in her respective category for the 100 meter dash, according to USA Lacrosse Magazine. This race, which she finished in 15.97 seconds, set a record for her sex and amputee category.
Perhaps most impressive of all is that Lambert wasn’t even a sprinter before she lost her leg. As she explained in her CBS introductory video, she had been a star lacrosse athlete throughout her youth – and indeed into college at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, per Team USA. In her first game back to the lacrosse field after her accident – about a year later – she immediately scored a goal, which is what motivated her to try a sport she had “never even tried before:” track and field. Of course, in the end, it ended up working out for her.
Soon after her accident, Lambert also founded the Born to Run Foundation, a nonprofit which seeks to provide prosthetic limbs to young people and children who cannot otherwise afford them. The Foundation explains that their goal is “to show amputees that having a disability does not mean they are incapable of playing sports and being active, and to show them that being different is something to embrace.”
Lambert Believes She Will Make ‘Survivor’ History
When it comes to “Survivor,” Lambert is a diehard fan of the game, and doesn’t want her disability to define her. As she explains in her CBS bio, “What a lot of people see when they look at me is my prosthetic, and they feel sorry for me and doubt my capabilities. And that is their first mistake.”
When it comes to how she will play the game, Lambert is relying on her social acumen – her ability to “form friendships easily,” and adaptability to “ever-changing environment[s].” Quite fittingly, Lambert believes that whenever she is presented with “the impossible,” “I will overcome it.” And in the end, she is confident about her chances.
“I’m absolutely going to win,” she said in her introductory video. “I’m going to be the first amputee to ever win the game of ‘Survivor’.” No doubt that Lambert has overcome the odds before, but time will tell if her track record persists in the game of “Survivor.”
Be sure to catch our live coverage of the two-hour “Survivor 43” premiere on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, at 8 p.m. Eastern.