Lauren Samet was the fifth winner of The Floor. She took home $250,000 on June 10 after keeping her original category of “Soap Operas” until the last duel.
Samet only dueled once before the finale, picking the category “Voice Actors” on the square next to her. When it came time for the finale, she made it to the final three before being randomized again. Luckily, her opponent, James, was the one who was picked, so Samet moved to the final two and got to duel her original category.
She and James faced off in a best-of-three duel in “Soap Operas,” his category “Country Flags,” and a third category that they got to study for — “Glassware.” In the end, Samet wound up winning “Soap Operas” and “Glassware,” securing her win and the $250,000.
Throughout the season, contestants mentioned that there was an alliance with those on the outer perimeter. Samet set the record straight on that and why she chose to go against it.
There was also a new twist this year — the Territory Freeze. Whoeever had won the most duels by the halfway point of the season had their territory frozen and couldn’t play again until everyone had duelled at least once. This gave them an almost guaranteed ticket to the finals. Eric won it, and he did make it to the finale, but didn’t win the show.
The Floor winner talked about the rumored alliance, what fans don’t see on TV, her plans for her winnings, and more.
TVI: What drew you to audition for The Floor?
Lauren Samet: Since I’ve watched it since Season One, I have been a fan of it, and just watching it from home, I’m like, “This is trivia, this is competition.” I love those things, and I’ve always kind of been the person who has random facts in their heads and can just recall things, especially when it comes to celebrities or pop culture, but even just other random things.
So, with The Floor being a trivia-based show, I was like, “I think I should do that.” Then, after season two, I saw something about casting, I reached out to somebody who was helping out with the casting, and then the rest is history. But I’ve always kind of wanted to be on sort of some sort of a game show since I was a little girl, so this was just fulfilling a total bucket list for me.
Before the finale, you had only duelled one other time, and that was when you got randomized. Do you think that you weren’t picked to duel the rest of the game due to luck of the randomizer, or because the contestants were scared of your category?
After I got randomized, I couldn’t be randomized again until later on, but after I won that duel, and the only people that could come after me were the whale, and they were scared of soap operas. On and off the screen, people were saying, “There’s no way I would ever duel Lauren and Soap Operas,” and I was using that to my advantage. Anybody who knew that they were going to take the risk to go against me was going to lose. So, I used that to my advantage, for sure, as part of my strategy, that I was intimidating with having Soap Operas, and it was going to be a risk for them to have to go against me.
Were you surprised when you saw what was in your category, because it was some soap operas, but then there were also some plain drama shows mixed in?
We weren’t sure what was going to be shown. I have watched Soap Operas for over 30 years, including prime time soap operas too, and so when they said it could be daytime and prime time before we dueled, I was okay. I studied everything from soap operas, from the originals of Dark Shadows and Ryan’s Hope. I know of all of those. I wish they had shown more daytime stuff, so I could have shown how much I really do know about daytime, but there wasn’t enough time to go through more.
What is your favorite Soap Opera right now?
General Hospital. I still watch it every day, at 2 o’clock, and Days of Our Lives. Those are the two that are still on, definitely those two I have watched the longest.
What was your opinion on the new twist this year, the Territory Freeze?
It was definitely a game-changer for a lot of people, and it ruffled some feathers. It helped a lot of people, from the start, getting them to play more aggressively and everything. I knew that that wasn’t going to be something that I was necessarily going to want to do, as far as my strategy to go out and keep winning all the duels. It was kind of weird, obviously, to have somebody who just is able to be frozen and coast to the finals, but it didn’t affect me really that much.
When I was watching, I was thinking, towards the end, “Why wouldn’t the people just duel the people that were only one spot, so the territory freeze could unfreeze?” Would you have done that if you had the chance to go before the final duel to get him unfrozen?
Possibly. It depended on the categories that were around me. That was the thing, what I was surrounded by, at the beginning, was not necessarily even in my wheelhouse, but I don’t know.
Since I would have wanted to stay longer, I wouldn’t have gone for a category that I didn’t feel comfortable winning in. So I would have let the randomizer just try to get those other guys out.
What do you plan to do with your winnings?
There’s a lot. So, first off, I want to pay off a lot of debt. Unfortunately, I did rack up some debt over the years, and financially, we’ve had some issues with our family. It’s been challenging, so I just want to be able to breathe for a while. That would be helpful. I do want to take my family on a vacation. We haven’t really been able to take a really good vacation in quite a few years. My boys are dying to go somewhere, whether it’s a cruise or to Universal Studios. We’ll see. I need a new car. I need to fix up around the house. It’s gonna be very helpful.
In a couple of episodes, it was mentioned that there was an alliance with the outer perimeter people, and when you duelled, you went against that. Was there actually an alliance, and what was like the strategy behind that?
If there was an alliance, I think a lot of it was more exaggerated than it was. I wasn’t a part of that. Yes, I was friends with a lot of those people. I was out there a week earlier with some of them, but if there was an alliance, I wasn’t aware of it, and I wasn’t going to let it affect my game.
I had friendships, I had people that I studied with, people that I leaned on for support, but, I know it was kind of a big talking point for the season that a lot of people were not fans of, but my alliance was with my family, that’s who I was playing for, and like I said, I had friendships, but I was never going to sacrifice my game for anybody else, and I really don’t think at the end of the day anybody would have, whether they said they were in an alliance or not, really would have sacrificed their game,
Earlier, you mentioned that having Soap Operas was kind of your strategy, but did you have like a prior strategy besides that going in?
I did kind of just want to lie low. I didn’t want to be the aggressive person that just wants to get up there and play and try and win duel after duel after duel to make myself a target. I’ve watched this show since Season One, and I’ve seen how people win, and it’s never the one that’s out there trying to be the big whale every episode. So, I knew if I could just win a duel, have my little territory, and just let everybody else get out, that was kind of what I wanted to do.
I did want to play a little bit weaker than maybe I am, a little bit dumber than I really am. So people would kind of forget about me. I did use Soap Operas as “Okay, that’s her strong suit,” and I was intimidating with that, but I wanted just all the big players to just kind of try and be aggressive towards each other and forget about me, and it worked.
What is a twist on The Floor that they haven’t done yet that you think would be like a cool thing to add to the game?
Oh, good question. I’ve thought of things. Obviously, falling through the floor would be funny when you get eliminated, but they would never do that. One where you can move to a different spot on the floor and switch with somebody after winning a set number of duels. So, if you want to be on a corner, that could be a different kind of twist, where you have that option to move. If you win three duels, you could be like, “Okay, you can switch your placement on the floor with somebody.”
There’s a lot of strategy that could come with that, where if you want to go after somebody that is a threat and you want to put them in a worse position, and then you’re in a better position, and then you want to be closer to categories that you think you’d be better dueling at. I know at the beginning I was like, “What’s around me that I would even know?” My only option was “Voice Actors,” and that’s why I doubled down on that; it was kind of a celebrity category, so I was like, this is what I’m going for. Imagine if you could switch to something where there were “Dance Movies” or “Sexist Man Alive,” where I had more options. So, I think that would be a good twist.
Is there something that fans don’t see on TV that you think would surprise them, like behind the scenes or an aspect of the game?
That we’re standing there for hours and hours and hours in a day. Probably fans of the show know that we film multiple episodes in a day, so when we say “Last week” or “Next week,” that’s not the case, and we don’t have as much time to study as maybe you would think. We don’t have time to study for a whole week between episodes. I know everybody asks, “Why are we wearing the same outfits?” That’s a question we get asked a lot that may surprise people, that no, it’s not filmed all in one day.
There are just friendships that are formed. That’s why people get upset with each other. Like “Why’d you go after me? You said you wouldn’t. You were my friend.” You’re with these people for so long, you’re going to build friendships.
Was there any category that you didn’t want to duel at all?
I mean, “Country Flags” was what I was scared of, hence why I didn’t perform so well. There were a few, like The Lord of the Rings, which was near me at the beginning. I was like, “I don’t want that anywhere near me.” I’m good with pop culture and movies and all that, but Lord of the Rings was definitely not in my wheelhouse at all, and anything really geography I was just wanting to stay away from.
I tried with the flag. I knew some of them. I was kicking myself, but I wouldn’t have beaten James in country flags, even if I got more and I did better. There was nobody who was going to beat James in “Country Flags.”
Are there any other game shows that you would want to be on now?
Yeah, I’d love to do more, so whoever really wants to have me join any other type of trivia reality type of show, I love those. I love to compete, and I love to win. My husband thinks I should go on The Traitors. If anybody thinks I would be a wonderful addition to their cast, I would love to go on.
Do you have any advice for future contestants? Any dos and don’ts?
Definitely study. Make your flash cards, your quizlets, etc. You can go up there, and you think, “Oh, I’ll get this,” but no, you do have to put things in your brain. Some people went there to just hang out in Ireland, but if you want to do well, you should study, but also don’t beat yourself up if you get up there and you freeze. It’s a very anxiety-type environment, and just sometimes, when you’re under those lights, you never know how you’re going to be. Go in with some sort of strategy, but also that can go out the window the minute that you get on the floor. You could be studying for when you get the categories, you think, “Okay, I’m going to study these,” and then they could be on the complete opposite end of the floor. So, just be prepared for change and go with the flow. Build relationships, too. You don’t want to come out as too cocky, because I think those are the people that people are going to want them gone, and just be humble.
The Floor, all seasons, now streaming, Hulu