Sandra Diaz-Twine
|
Sandra Diaz-Twine (born July 30, 1974) was the winner (aka "the sole survivor") of Survivor: Pearl Islands. Living with her husband and two children and working as an office assistant in Fort Lewis, Washington, she is also distinguished for being the only castaway (in this season) to never receive a vote to expel her at Tribal Council.
Continuing the trend whereby each subsequent Survivor winner depended on not only considering the past winners' strategies in order to predict what actions their opponents would take, but also on creating a unique, new strategy in order to outlast everyone else, Sandra was a cunning master of sabotage. She became the first Survivor cast member to threaten to ransack her own camp if she perceived the threat of being voted out as great enough. In fact, after her ally, Rupert Boneham, was unfairly voted out, she mutilated the camp's fish supply, which had been caught by Rupert, and emptied the remains back into the water. She might have even hidden the camp's weapons and tools, as she threatened.
She was also notable for being the first truly honest Survivor player, never making it a secret when she disliked someone or suspected that they were going to vote her off. She point-blank asked people about their alliances and kept on top of them until they revealed some of their planned strategies to her. She also employed spying tactics, which had previously been unseen on Survivor. For example, she snuck out of her camp late at night to snoop on other players once she discovered that they were plotting in the middle of the night. A pivotal point in the game occurred when Sandra woke up Tijuana and showed her proof that people were planning to vote off Tijuana.
During her final statements at tribal council, Sandra described her strategy as being the one people would come to if they needed one more vote to oust someone. This strategy served her well, as acts of betrayal were quite common during this season, and others often ended up taking the heat instead.