[INFP] Lisa Whelchel = INFP?

[Folderol]

Before I begin, a warning: if you haven't finished Survivor S25, then you should close this thread as it may contain spoilers.




Anyways, I was catching up on the latest season of Survivor (was a bit behind), and I am pretty sure that Lisa [Whelchel] is an INFP. It's not a random guess, but based on what I saw of her during the season and cemented during her reunion interview (I'll post that below after), where it looks like a lot of is Fi going on. I found this all very interesting and maybe so I thought I would share it. Maybe somebody else will find it interesting too, and not sure how many here watch survivor.

In general, if you don't watch Survivor, I'll give a brief recap of Lisa from what we've seen on the show anyways: she is a former tv child star who went into religious work, like spreading the message and being a speaker. She was on the outs in Survivor for a while in the beginning, as she didn't really fit in and was genuinely misunderstood. Very emotional but a lot of it kept to herself (creating more confusions since people couldn't easily read her). Eventually, she integrated more into the group as the game progressed but a common theme throughout was internal conflict. Her heart wanted to be true to herself and the values she holds high, like loyalty (not voting out people she makes connections with, sticking with original alliances) and truth (a couple times she told others truths that shouldn't have been said, they were not in her best interest in the game, but she wanted to be honest with her friends), yet at the same time, her head was telling her to make all these strategic moves (she would often come up with insight or possibilities the game could shift in her 1-on-1 to the camera scenes). It was really this conflict at the center of her. Eventually, her brother arrived and helped me get more in control and realize what is really important to her.

Here's that interview above that I was referencing. I went back and typed it all up, but I think it was kind of fun to listen to. She has a very animated and dynamic voice when she says of all of this stuff, it has that stress in there and it has the speed and flow to it, but at the same time I felt like she doesn't even really know what's going to exactly come out, but she knows it will be honest. I realized when typing this up that a lot of it isn't totally correct [I am basically verbatim here though], but you can totally get the intention and meaning.

JEFF PROBST [HOST/INTERVIEWER]: We just saw on there, The Facts of Life: people grew up with you on TV, you grew up on TV, and then you come to this game in which you're going to be stripped bare, very vulnerable, nowhere to hide, nobody even necessarily likes you. Were you concerned about this image that you had to the public?

LISA WHELCHEL: You know I really didn't even ever think about that. I was so excited to be a part of the game, and in the game, and I'm really not like Blair [her character on the Facts of Life], I actually prefer not wearing makeup and not being high heels, so that felt very comfortable and very me. And so it just really, I wasn't aware and self conscious about my appearance. It was much more about my opening up what was inside and the conflict that was going on in there.

J: So, the Christianity, which was such a big part. Is that a concern then? That you're going to let people in to see what you believe, and how you believe, and how you pray and what you draw on?

L: Yeah, absolutely, because I watched the show so many times, I know that... I had planned in my heart, "I'm not gonna pray out there", cause people are just gonna roll their eyes. It's cause it doesn't translate well. [Her opinions of what God entails, kind of long and very opinionated so I didn't type it up]. And that's hard to translate, so I didn't even try.

J: So then the dilemma for you that we watched at home was, "Was this game, this devilish game, which is pitted against your Christianity" really?

L: Yeah, and that was.. my journey was having spent a lifetime for different reasons: as a child wanting to be good to win my parents approval, then being a Christian and wanting God to be glad that he came for me, and then being on the show wanting to reflect God's love, but at the same time, nothing about Survivor is the kind of thing that reflects the character of God. And so it was a total internal conflict until I realized, "Wait a minute. You know what? I'm all of those things, and it's ok to be human and it's ok to sometimes good and sometimes bad, even in the context of the game, even not in the context of the game. That's actually what Christianity is all about, is acceptance.

One final quote her from: "I was out of control, but I also got out of my head, got into my gut, and was able to see that all that's inside there is acceptable to God, it's acceptable to me, and it doesn't matter if it's acceptable to anybody else."

So, what do you think? Indicative of Fi? Or maybe you had watched this season of Survivor. Do you think she could be INFP or have a different opinion?

 

[kelric]

Based upon her public statements and what the Survivor editors chose to show us, it seems a reasonable conclusion. But I think that she was really playing to the camera throughout the season in order to promote herself as a public figure, so it's hard to say if that's the "real her".

 

[Totenkindly]

I have never ever gotten an "N" indication from Lisa Welchel. I've been aware of her since she was a teenager, and she's deepened since then. I think that a lifelong commitment to a religion forces people of all types into dealing with more abstract issues of morality, and that we should not be confusing that with an S vs N leading. (I think actually this is even part of the appeal of religion to some S types -- it gives a necessary abstract depth to their framework of life.)

N's tend to veer more into the mystical approaches to religion, rather than evangelical/fundamentalism.

As we age, I think people who have been through a lot of crap naturally become more well-rounded as well. It gives depth; N's have to learn how to take care of practical, tangible business, and S types start to look for connections between things that might not be tangible. Welchel has been through a lot of crap in her life, from what I can tell; I'm not surprised she has become a deeper person and been stretched in good ways to be able to speak from both sides of the type divide. But I don't think that changes base type.

 

[kelric]

Yeah, that's true. My only real exposure to her was watching the Facts of Life as a kid (which of course doesn't really count, as she was acting, not being herself) and on Survivor (where what we see is highly selected-for and gives someone a chance to "play to the camera" in the confessionals, which is most of what we saw from Lisa).

I'm always dubious about trying to type people who are in the public eye -- it's not a very good way to get a complete view of someone, and just asking to be wrong based on incomplete information.

While INFP seems reasonable, it's not the only type that seems reasonable. ISFP is at least as possible - if she even has a definitive type (some people don't, and as Jennifer said, the lines tend to blur as we gain age/experience). S/N can be particularly difficult to evaluate from a short-term exposure to someone, especially at a distance, as on TV.

 

[Tigerlily]

ISFX. Just a guess.