Lydia Morales

Lydia Morales is a contestant from Survivor: Guatemala.

Despite being a physical liability in most of the challenges, Lydia's likability allowed her to create critical bonds with her tribemates, most of which saved her from elimination. Eventually, she found herself in the majority alliance and advanced all the way to the final four, before the same likability which helped keep her in the game had her voted out two nights before the Final Tribal Council.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

Born in Okinawa, Japan and living the life of a US Marine Corps brat, Lydia Morales spent her early years in Japan before she and her family moved to her father's birthplace, Puerto Rico, upon his retirement. After marrying a US Army soldier, she moved to Ludwigsburg, West Germany, where she lived for five years.

Morales currently works in Washington state as an assistant manager at a seafood company where she has been employed for the past 18 years. She also earned a degree in early childhood education from Clover Park College in Lakewood, Washington.

Despite being a huge Survivor fan who has never missed an episode, this was her first time applying to be on the show. Morales works out regularly, including swimming three times per week. She describes herself as spontaneous, energetic and friendly, with a good sense of humor. She believes her personality and physicality gives her what it takes to be the Sole Survivor. If there is a potential obstacle in her path, it might be her fear of extreme heights, but she is willing to parachute out of a plane if it will earn her $1 million.

Morales' favorite past Survivor is Rupert because on the show he was hard-working, friendly, disliked conflict and was eager to gather food and cook for all. Her hero is Oprah Winfrey, whom she considers a truly wonderful, giving person who cares about people. She enjoys cooking, traveling, reading, collecting books and watching foreign movies.

Morales currently resides in Lakewood, Washington. She is a happily divorced mother to one son, Nicholas. She has an older sister living in Puyallup, Washington, and an older brother currently living in Puerto Rico. She has a pet dwarf rabbit named Ihop. Her birth date is January 19, 1963.^[1]

Survivor[]

Lydia started the game on the Yaxhá tribe. When Stephenie LaGrossa and Bobby Jon Drinkard were revealed to be playing a second time, she was delighted that Stephenie would be on her tribe. Lydia lagged behind during the eleven mile hike, costing them the better of the two camps and flint. However, the tribe's spirit was not deterred and Yaxhá won immunity. Yaxhá and Nakúm proved to be relatively equal in challenges. Yaxhá lost the next Reward Challenge, costing them fishing gear. The food situation was grim, but Lydia proved herself to be a hard worker and used a system to catch the tribe ten minnows. Yaxhá lost the Immunity Challenge and Lydia was targeted as a liability in challenges. Lydia pleaded to Gary Hogeboom and Brian Corridan to spare her as she was a hard worker. Brian noted that the tribe hasn't lost challenges because of Lydia. Although she preferred Brianna Varela to be eliminated for physical weakness, Brian and Gary targeted Morgan McDevitt for her lack of work ethic. At Tribal Council, Morgan was unanimously voted off. Lydia and Brianna's personalities made it awkward to around each other, although the women didn't had any conflicts. Yaxhá lost the next challenges, and Brianna was eliminated despite her lobbying for Lydia's ouster.

On Day 9, Jeff asked a series of questions about the tribes. When he asked who had the most tribe spirit, Yaxhá said Brian while Nakúm said Cindy Hall. Jeff then announced tribe switch and that Brian and Cindy are the only two staying on their respective tribes. Lydia was transferred to the Nakúm along with Stephenie, Rafe Judkins, and Jamie Newton. Brooke Struck stayed on the Nakúm because she drew a gold buff, along with Judd Sergeant and Margaret Bobonich as they were on a picnic. The new Nakúm lost the immunity and Lydia was on the chopping block for the third time. She was saved when Judd decided it was in his best interest to be with the former Yaxhás. The new tribe bonded with the exception of Margaret, who was angry with Judd for betraying the former Nakúm. Nakúm won all of the remaining Immunity Challenges, although they had to vote off Margaret because of twist sending both tribes to Tribal Council.

On Night 18 while sleeping, the former Yaxhá woke them up to tell that the tribes had merged and they gotten buffs. While getting to each other, Lydia designed the merged tribe flag which she named the tribe Xhakúm. At first individual challenge, Lydia sat out for a feast and grew annoyed with Jamie's talking. Despite that, the former Nakúms aligned themselves and voted out Brandon Bellinger and Bobby Jon. Eventually, Jamie got so paranoid, he was blindsided as it was becoming intolerable.

Lydia started resenting Stephenie as she was going on many food rewards and was the biggest threat. Lydia became isolated and Gary tried to convince her to flip. Lydia wondered if it was the best option for herself. Lydia decided to remain loyal to the alliance and voted out Gary. After a Survivor Auction, Lydia, Rafe, and Danni were sent to the former Yaxhá camp while Judd, Stephenie, and Cindy spent a day with their love ones. Danni made social connections with the two. Danni Boatwright won immunity meaning that the alliance had to turn on one of its own. Danni had successfully lobbied for Judd's elimination for being untrustworthy and Rafe successfully campaigned for Cindy's elimination for her apparent selfishness. At the final four Immunity Challenge, Lydia wasn't able to keep up. Danni pleaded with Rafe saying that she will keep her word to take him the Final Two and saying that Lydia is too likable. Lydia tried to save herself saying that she cannot win the Final Immunity Challenge. However, Danni won and Lydia was unanimously voted out.

At Final Tribal Council, Lydia noted that she was always loyal to Stephenie, while Stephenie did not reciprocate. Stephenie thanked her for her loyalty. She explained that it would have been smarter for her to take Lydia to the end, but it would not have satisfied her competitive nature. Lydia gave her jury vote to Danni to win the game.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Yaxhá	11-Mile Hike	Reward	No	Lost
1		Paddle Battle	Immunity	No	Won
2		Web Over Water	Reward	No	Lost
2		Dragged Through Mud	Immunity	No	Lost
3		Blind Build	Reward	No	Lost
3		Holding Court	Immunity	No	Lost
Switched Tribes, Day 9
4	Nakúm	Rows and Throws	Immunity	Yes	Lost
5		Slave to the Grind	Reward	No	Lost
5		What's for Launch?	Immunity	No	Won
6		Boulder Smash	Reward¹	Yes	Won
6		Sudden Death	Immunity	No	Lost
7		Spooling Around	Reward	No	Lost
7		Tomb Raider	Immunity	Yes	Won
Tribes Merged, Night 18
8	Xhakúm	Pot Head	Immunity	Yes²	Lost
9		Atlatl	Reward		8th³
9		Bridge It	Immunity		Lost
10		Mud Slide	Reward		Lost
10		Around the Bend	Immunity		Lost
11		Shattered Dreams	Reward		Lost
11		Maya Folklore	Immunity		Lost
12		Survivor Auction
12		Watch Your Step	Immunity		Lost
13		Second Chance	Reward		Lost
13		Pole Dancing	Immunity		Lost
14		Maya Maze	Immunity		Lost
Voted Out, Day 37
Notes: ^1 Both tribes were sent to Tribal Council. The tribe that won the Reward Challenge earned the right to compete in an individual Immunity Challenge. ^2 Lydia elected to sit out of the challenge to eat at the merge feast. ^3 The reward was dependent on each castaway's finish in the challenge. Lydia originally finished 9th, but moved up to 8th place after Jamie volunteered to take last place.

Episode	Lydia's Votes	Voted Against Lydia
1	Yaxhá Tribe Immune
2	Morgan	Morgan
3	Brianna	Brianna
4	Brooke	Brooke, Cindy, Margaret
5	Nakúm Tribe Immune
6	Margaret	-
7	Nakúm Tribe Immune
8	Brandon	-
9	Bobby Jon	-
10	Jamie	-
11	Gary	-
12	Judd	Cindy, Judd
13	Cindy	-
14	Danni	Danni, Rafe, Stephenie
Voted Out, Day 37
Voted for Sole Survivor	Danni

Post-Survivor[]

On August 14, 2006, Lydia's son, Nicholas, was killed in a car accident alongside his friend. He was 17 years old.^[2]

Trivia[]

Lydia is the oldest woman of the original Yaxhá tribe.
In the first episode of Guatemala, Lydia said she applied because of Stephenie LaGrossa's performance in Palau.
Lydia is tied with Jamie Newton for having the most votes cast against her in Guatemala, with 10.
Every time Lydia received votes against her, the person she voted for voted against her.