Xander, the 20-year-old app developer from Chicago, is one of the standouts of the season, having made it to the final six with an idol in his pocket after a series of flashy moves. Now, just days after he was seen professing an attraction to his season 41 rival, Liana Wallace, in an unaired secret scene, it appears that Xander has been spending time with a different former Survivor player off the island.
The pairing might make a lot of sense to Survivor fans who have watched their two seasons. Both players quickly found an immunity idol and held on to it for the majority of the game. Like Lauren, a collegiate soccer player, Xander has been a strong player in Survivor's challenges throughout the season. One area in which Xander may hope to differ, however, is immunity idol usage: Lauren wasted her idol on Chris Underwood at the final six tribal council before promptly being voted out by him the next night.
The evidence in favor of Xander and Lauren dating is mounting quickly. First, Reddit u/InsuranceAltruistic1 shared a pair of photos separately posted by the two on Tuesday, each prominently featuring the Chicago River in the background, while adding that "Apparently his voice was in the back[ground] of her instagram story as well." Three-time Survivor veteran Kelley Wentworth, who played with and became fast friends with Lauren in season 38, added credibility to the rumor when she commented on Xander's post. "Photography skills on point tho," she replied, before adding a winking emoji and tagging Lauren. If any doubt remains, it should be largely silenced by a tweet from Lauren herself. On Tuesday, she wrote, "jeff probst works hard. survivor reddit works harder," seemingly indicating that the Reddit sleuths have indeed cracked the case.
This isn't the first time that the two idol-finders have been linked to one another on social media. Lauren has mentioned Xander, or "[butterfly] boy" as Survivor 41's more unique twists. In the same Reddit post as above, u/Survivornewbie1 mentioned that Survivor seasons 25 and 31 contestant, Abi-Maria Gomes, was seen with both Lauren and Kelley the same night in which she posted a picture of herself and Xander on Instagram.
Despite a lack of official confirmation by either party at this time, all signs seem to indicate that Xander Hastings and Lauren O'Connell are in fact dating. Invested Survivor showmance fans should keep an eye on O'Connell and Wentworth's Survivor 41 finale watch party in Seattle. If he makes an appearance all the way from his current residence of Chicago, an official confirmation of Xander and Lauren dating may be just around the corner. And if Survivor ever does another Blood vs. Water season, other players should keep an eye on these two idol-hunting immunity threats.
Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
Sources: u/InsuranceAltruistic1/Reddit, Lauren O'Connell/Twitter, Xander Hastings/Instagram