Erika Tinio Casupanan (born July 20, 1989) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

communications professional known for being the Sole Survivor on the 41st season of the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

reality TV competition series ''

Survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: Actual survivors * *Last survivors of historical events Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Found ...

''. In doing so, Casupanan became the first Canadian and Filipino to win the competition series.

Early life

Casupanan was born in the municipality of Hermosa, located in

Bataan Bataan (), officially the Province of Bataan ( fil, Lalawigan ng Bataan ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entir ...

, a province of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. When she was young, she emigrated with her parents to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. She grew up in

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...

, where she attended St. Paul Catholic High School. She later earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in Media, Information & Technoculture from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

(Western University). Eventually, she moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, where she worked as an agency consultant at Media Profile for five years, and a communications manager at

Kijiji Kijiji.ca ( ; , ''village'') is a Canadian online classified advertising website and part of eBay Classifieds Group, which was acquired by Adevinta in 2020. It operates sections for cities and urban regions, for posting local advertisements. Kij ...

for four years.

''Survivor''

In 2020, Casupanan was cast on the 41st season of ''

'', a reality competition series that airs on Global. However, due to the

COVID-19 crisis The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, production of that season was delayed until 2021. When production finally resumed, Casupanan and 17 other players were flown to

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

to participate in ''

Survivor 41 ''Survivor 41'' is the forty-first season of the American competition television series '' Survivor''. The season was first broadcast on September 22, 2021, on CBS in the United States and Global in Canada. It ended on December 15, 2021, when Er ...

''. At the start of the game, Casupanan was placed on the Luvu tribe. Initially on the outs with the rest of Luvu, she evaded immediate danger by virtue of Luvu winning immunity for the entirety of the premerge. Casupanan found her footing after the original tribes were dissolved, when on Day 12, she and fellow former Luvu member Naseer Muttalif were randomly chosen to sit out the immunity challenge. Following the completion of the challenge, the winning team chose to give Muttalif additional immunity and send Casupanan to Exile Island. While on Exile, series host

Jeff Probst Jeff Probst (; born November 4, 1961) is an American reality show host and executive producer. He is best known as the Emmy Award-winning host of the U.S. version of the reality television show '' Survivor'' since 2000. He was also the host of ' ...

paid her a visit, presenting her with a brand new game twist. If she chose to do so, she could reverse the outcome of the previous challenge and give the losing team, and herself, immunity at the next Tribal Council. Her decision would be symbolized by an hourglass given to her by Probst: if she broke the hourglass, the winners of the previous challenge and Muttalif would lose immunity and have to compete against each other in an individual immunity challenge; if she left the hourglass alone, she and the losers of that challenge would compete against one another for individual immunity as originally planned. On Day 14, after two days on Exile Island, Casupanan got to return to her fellow castaways, and upon her return, she announced that she had broken the hourglass, thus reversing the outcome of the previous immunity challenge. This guaranteed her a spot on the merged tribe, as she was now immune from the vote at the Night 14 Tribal Council. After former Luvu member Sydney Segal was voted off that night, the new merge tribe was formed. It was Casupanan who named it Viakana, which comes from the Fijian phrase for 'hungry'. There, she formed a close bond with another former Luvu member, Heather Aldret. The two women created a strong alliance and took control of numerous eliminations. Both of them were able to make it to the Final Four together. On Day 25, Casupanan and Aldret lost to Xander Hastings in the final immunity challenge of the season. As a perk for winning this challenge, Hastings also got to choose one person to sit next to him at the Final Tribal Council on Day 26, meaning that the other two players left would be required to compete in a fire-making competition to determine the third and final finalist. Hastings chose Casupanan to bring into the finals, leaving Aldret to battle it out with Deshawn Radden in the fire-making contest. Radden defeated Aldret in a closely-contested battle, sending Aldret to the jury. On Day 26, Casupanan presented her case to the members of the jury. Her respectable social and strategic gameplay and ability to avoid being targeted earned her the respect of the jury, and she won the title of Sole Survivor in a 7–1–0 vote. She earned the votes of everyone on the jury except Danny McCray, who voted for Radden to win. On February 25, 2022, Casupanan was awarded the key to the city by

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

mayor Jim Diodati.

References

External links

Erika Casupanan
at

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Official CBS biography page

Early life

''Survivor''

References

External links

See also