Sandra Diaz-Twine
Sandra Diaz-Twine | |
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The Traitors | |
Children | 2 |
Sandra Diaz-Twine (born July 30, 1974) is an American television personality who became known for her appearances on the reality game show Survivor. She won the first two seasons she appeared on, Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, making her the show's first two-time winner.[1] She returned for Survivor's 34th season, Survivor: Game Changers, where she was the 6th person voted out. Along with fellow Survivor contestant Rob Mariano, she was a non-competing mentor on the show's 39th season Survivor: Island of the Idols, and subsequently competed on the show's 40th season, Survivor: Winners at War, where she was the 7th person voted out and only player to leave the game at the Edge of Extinction. Diaz-Twine is regarded among fans as one of the greatest players on the show.[2] She also competed for a 5th time on theBlood V Water edition of the Australian Version of Survivor with her daughter Nina, which premiered in Australia on January 31, 2022.[3]
Personal life
She was born in Stamford, Connecticut and for a time served in the United States Army as a chemical repair specialist and later an office administrator. She lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina with her husband Marcus, a career soldier, and her two children, while working as a secretary for a law firm.[4][5]
Survivor
Pearl Islands
Diaz-Twine seemed like an early target for her lack of physical strength and inability to swim, but her knowledge of the
With the Drake and Morgan tribes even at five members each, they were shocked when the six contestants who had been previously voted out came back into the game as a third tribe, in a turn of events called the "Outcast Twist." When the tribe of Outcasts competed against the Drake and Morgan tribes and subsequently won the immunity challenge, two of the Outcasts were allowed to return to the game. At the same time, both Drake and Morgan were forced to vote out a tribe member. In a game-changing move, Diaz-Twine, Boneham, and Hastie, unsure about whether to send home Cohen, the last minority alliance member left, or Fairplay, who betrayed them previously together with Dunn, asked them to publicly campaign for their spot. The alliance eventually eliminated Cohen, and received Roberts as a replacement from The Outcasts.
As the tribes merged into Balboa at 5–5, the Drake tribe, with the help of outcast Roberts, was able to sway Morgan outcast Lillian "Lil" Morris to vote with them, controlling the game and subsequently voting out Morgan leaders Andrew Savage and Ryan Opray. However, the game took a major shift when old Drake members Fairplay and Roberts aligned themselves with Morris, and recruited the remaining Morgan members Tijuana "Ti" Bradley and Darrah Johnson. This new alliance successfully targeted Boneham and he was blindsided.
At the Final Seven, it seemed that Diaz-Twine and Hastie were doomed by this newly created alliance, but Diaz-Twine swayed Bradley and Johnson by spying on Roberts and Fairplay to expose their intentions to eliminate the Morgan girls after getting rid of Diaz-Twine and Hastie. However, when Roberts and Fairplay learned of this impending mutiny, they regained the trust of Diaz-Twine and Hastie (with the help of Fairplay’s infamous "dead grandmother" lie) to successfully blindside Bradley. Soon after that, they were betrayed once again when Roberts and Dalton switched sides and Hastie was voted out next.
At the Final Five, Johnson was the next target of Roberts and Fairplay, but Morris started to have suspicions about her alliance (which would prove true eventually). Roberts made a potentially fatal error by inviting Dalton on his reward trip, leaving the three women, including an angered Morris, together back at camp, sparking a last minute scramble to break the bond between the two guys, eventually voting out Roberts for the second time in the game.
After Diaz-Twine made it to the Final Four, she was no longer a target, with Morris and Johnson targeting each other, each believing that no one could win against her in the Final Two. Diaz-Twine and Fairplay decided to side with Morris and vote out Johnson, propelling them into the Final Three. In the Final Three endurance immunity challenge, Morris won and chose to eliminate Fairplay, an error that led to Diaz-Twine's ultimate win.
In the end, after having previously stated that no one could ever win against Morris because she was too nice, Diaz-Twine defeated Morris, winning by a vote of 6–1 to become the Sole Survivor. During her final statements at Tribal Council, Diaz-Twine described her strategy as being the one people would come to if they needed one more vote to oust someone ("anyone, as long as it ain't me"). She gained the votes of Opray, Boneham, Hastie, Roberts, Johnson, and Fairplay. Only Bradley voted for Morris.
Heroes vs. Villains
After declining a spot on
In Episode Three, when the Villains faced their first Tribal Council, Diaz-Twine stuck with her strategy from Pearl Islands of "anyone, as long as it ain't me." She, along with the rest of the Villains tribe, unanimously voted out Randy Bailey from
After the merge, Diaz-Twine pleaded with the Heroes not to trust Hantz. However, they did not listen, and despite several attempts to oust him, she remained with the Villains after her plans to help the Heroes failed to materialize. She made it to the Final Three, along with Shallow and Hantz. On May 16, 2010, Diaz-Twine received six jury votes from Yates, Heroes tribe members Thomas, Amanda Kimmel, Candice Woodcock, Boneham and Colby Donaldson to Shallow's three and Hantz's zero to win the game. She became the first contestant to win Survivor twice and proclaimed herself the "Queen of Survivor."
Game Changers
Diaz-Twine entered Survivor: Game Changers as one of three former winners. She had an especially big target on her back since she had won twice before. She was initially assigned to the Mana tribe. After losing the first Immunity Challenge, Mana made an easy vote and decided to unanimously vote off Ciera Eastin for playing too hard too early.
The day after Eastin's elimination, Diaz-Twine made an alliance with
Day Seven brought a tribe swap, and Diaz-Twine was sent to the Nuku tribe. The former Manas had a 5–1 majority on the new Nuku, with Thomas being the odd man out. Nuku won the third Immunity Challenge, and later the first Reward Challenge, winning coffee, cookies, and pastries. During this time, Thomas was plotting behind Diaz-Twine's back to take her out of the competition.
At the Day 11 Immunity Challenge, Jeff Probst revealed that the two tribes who lost the Immunity Challenge would be sent to one Tribal Council, where they would collectively vote out one person. Nuku had an early lead due to Varner's proficient communication skills, but he ultimately lost the challenge at the table maze stage. Nuku was set to head to Tribal Council with Mana. During the afternoon, Thomas continued plotting against Diaz-Twine, mainly with his new ally Freberg. However, the rest of the tribe planned to vote together. They planned to vote against Sierra Dawn Thomas (no relation to J.T.). At a chaotic Tribal Council, J.T. had told Mana that Sierra was Nuku's target, and hoped to get the Mana tribe to blindside Diaz-Twine. In the end, Nuku continued with their original plan, piling their votes onto Sierra. Tai Trang played his hidden immunity idol on Sierra, negating the six votes cast against her. Freberg was taken out, much to the chagrin of the Nuku tribe.
Freberg's untimely blindside infuriated Diaz-Twine, who, after Tribal Council, confronted J.T. She planned to get him out for his "dirty deed" should Nuku lose the next Immunity Challenge. At the second Reward Challenge, she helped Nuku win peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by completing the puzzle. After the challenge, she played on the brewing feud between J.T. and Bradshaw. She escalated the tension by consuming the tribe's sugar and putting the blame on Bradshaw. Nuku went on to lose the Immunity Challenge, sending Diaz-Twine to Tribal Council for the fourth time. She seized the opportunity to exact revenge on J.T. At Tribal Council, J.T. and Bradshaw's fight reached a fever pitch. Diaz-Twine took advantage of this to secure Bradshaw's vote. She pulled the wool over Bracco's and J.T.’s eyes, and with Varner's vote, J.T. was sent home with an idol in his pocket. After Tribal Council, Diaz-Twine made clear that Bracco was next on her list, since she had failed to get with the rest of the Manas during her time in the game.
A second tribe swap occurred on Day 14, but although Diaz-Twine remained on Nuku, she was relegated to the bottom with Varner, as the original Nukus who returned to the tribe held a five-to-two numbers advantage. The Nukus planned to get her out for being a two-time winner. Her fate was sealed when Nuku lost the Immunity Challenge. However, she saw through the Nukus' lie that she was safe over Trang, and she tried to gather votes by telling Ozzy Lusth, Sarah Lacina, and Andrea Boehlke that she would vote with them when the merge hit. Diaz-Twine planned to throw Trang under the bus at Tribal Council. But during Tribal Council, Trang whispered to her, telling her to vote against Lusth. She made a last-ditch attempt to gather votes against either Lusth or Trang (for his perceived duplicity), but it was all for naught. Diaz-Twine left the game in 15th place to an ovation, in a 5–2 vote. However, she emerged as the highest-placing former winner in the season.
Island of the Idols
Diaz-Twine, along with Rob Mariano, participated in the show's 39th season which aired in late 2019. Neither participated in any direct aspect of the game, but instead, they served as mentors to any player sent to the island, offering advice on various topics deemed valuable attributes of a Survivor player. Both players stayed on the island until the Final 5, after which the players were left to play the game by themselves.[7]
Winners at War
Diaz-Twine played the game for a fourth time on the show's 40th season, Survivor: Winners at War.
Australian Survivor: Blood V Water
Diaz-Twine played for a fifth time on the ninth season of Australian Survivor, titled Australian Survivor: Blood V Water, alongside her daughter Nina.[12] Diaz-Twine became the second former American Survivor contestant to compete on Australian Survivor after Russell Hantz, as well as being the second contestant after Rob Mariano to play the game for a fifth time. She was eliminated on after a tribe swap, and yet again on the 16th Day of the competition.[13]
The Traitors
Diaz-Twine competed in the second season of
Other media appearances
In 2013, Diaz-Twine was in the audience of an episode of
Filmography
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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2003 | Survivor: Pearl Islands | Contestant | Winner, Day 39 |
2010 | Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains | Contestant | Winner, Day 39 |
2013 | Dr. Phil | Guest | 1 episode |
2017 | Survivor: Game Changers | Contestant | Eliminated; 15th place, Day 16 |
2019 | Survivor: Island of the Idols | Mentor | |
2020 | Survivor: Winners at War | Contestant | Eliminated; 20th place, Day 16 |
2022 | Australian Survivor: Blood V Water | Contestant | Eliminated; 19th place, Day 16 |
2024 | The Traitors (American Season 2)
|
Contestant - Faithful | Banished; 5th place |
References
- ^ Ross, Dalton (May 16, 2010). "'Survivor: Heroes vs Villains': And the winner is..." EW.com. Archived from the original on May 18, 2010. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
- ^ "The 10 All-Time Greatest Survivor Castaways". CBS. CBS. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
- ^ "Australian Survivor".
- ^ "Sandra Diaz-Twine - Survivors Strike Back Blog". CBS.com. Archived from the original on November 24, 2006. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
- People.com. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
- ^ Lang, Derrik J. (January 6, 2010). "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains' cast announced". HitFix. Archived from the original on January 10, 2010. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
- ^ Ross, Dalton (May 15, 2019). "Survivor: Island of the Idols: Jeff Probst shares intel on NEXT season". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
- ^ Meet the cast of Survivor: Winners at War Entertainment Weekly, Retrieved February 23, 2020
- ^ Jeff Probst shares intel on Survivor: Winners at War Entertainment Weekly, Retrieved February 23, 2020
- ^ Ross, Dalton (January 21, 2020). "Survivor: Winners at War tribe division revealed". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
- ^ Ross, Dalton (March 26, 2020). "Jeff Probst weighs in on Sandra quitting Survivor: Winners at War". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
- ^ Holmes, Martin (December 20, 2021). "Australian Survivor Releases First Trailer For Blood vs. Water". Inside Survivor. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
- ^ Bond, Nick (February 13, 2022). "Bizarre Survivor curse strikes again in latest elimination". news.com.au. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
- ^ Ross, Dalton (September 21, 2023). "The Traitors season 2 cast features reality all-stars and celebrities". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
- People.com. Archivedfrom the original on January 22, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
External links
- Sandra Diaz-Twine biography for Survivor: Pearl Islands at CBS.com
- Sandra Diaz-Twine biography for Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains at CBS.com
- Sandra Diaz-Twine at IMDb