Reality bites
Librarian Lisa’s Survivor win
contestants agreed as Lisa won with four votes to Tess’ three.
With a huge smile, Lisa gleefully admits the triumph is a long-held dream come true. “In the past, I’ve sort of struggled a bit socially. I’m not very fit. I’ve got asthma. But I won!” she says in wonder. “I still can’t quite believe it. It really is crazy.”
To take out the Sole Survivor title, Lisa had to withstand 39 days on an unforgiving Thai island with very little food, beating 17 others in a range of mental and physical challenges, and made it through the gruelling elimination ceremonies.
The Christchurch resident had already proved she was a tough cookie before she went on the show, though. She was on the top floor of the old central-city library with her then seven-month-old son Logan during the 2011 earthquakes. She was actually planning to go to the cathedral, but had stopped to feed Logan first. If she hadn’t done that, they could have been in the building when the spire collapsed. “It was absolutely terrifying,” she recalls.
Although Lisa is delighted she won, she’s disappointed that her buddy Dave didn’t get any votes from the jury. “It was such a privilege to play with Dave. I was so glad he and I buddied up. He’s one of the best guys I’ve ever known. He’s amazing and it sucks that his game didn’t get the credit it deserved. Not to take anything away from Tess – her physical achievements in those last few challenges were amazing.”
Lisa has a few plans for her prize money, including paying off some of her mortgage, doing a few home improvements and “definitely travelling with Logan”.
She hadn’t ventured far until the trip to Thailand for Survivor and doesn’t want eightyear-old Logan to reach 38 before he leaves New Zealand.
“I’d like to find out what he wants to see and take him to see it. And there’s some stuff that I want to see! I did my degree in classical studies, so I’ve always wanted to go to Greece and Rome. Maybe I could do that now. I’ve always wanted to go to a Survivor final in America, so I might start working on that.”
The passionate librarian also wants to get some up-to-date library books about technology subjects into schools.
Logan’shero
So proud of his mum, Logan too will be enjoying the spoils of victory. “He did ask for $200 if I won,” says Lisa, “so he’s going to get $200 to spend on Lego or lollies, or whatever he wants. He’s excited about what the kids at school are saying about it!” she chuckles.
Lisa says one of the most difficult things about Survivor was the hunger, something she is still dealing with now.
“Your body is constantly giving you the message that you’re starving. Everything slows down – you become mentally really sluggish. By the end, I was staggering more than walking. Your body really goes into decline and then when you get back, your body is like, ‘I’m starving. I need to eat everything.’ Food stuff is really complicated for me since I got back.”
And now that Lisa has realised her dream to take out the Survivor crown, she feels ready to take on other things she had previously thought were too difficult.
“I’m very happy and proud of how I did,” she says, “which is incredible because I got to play Survivor and then I got to say that at the end of it. That’s all I could want really.”