Tina Marie Wesson (born December 26, 1960) is an American nurse, motivational speaker, and reality TV personality who won
$1,000,000 as the winner of the second season of ''
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 ...
'', on ''
Survivor: The Australian Outback'' in 2001. Wesson returned in 2004 for ''
Survivor: All-Stars'', where she was the first person voted off the show. After her appearances on the show, Wesson began teaching occasional outdoor survival classes. Wesson returned as a contestant on the show's 27th season, ''
Survivor: Blood vs. Water'' with her daughter, Katie Collins. Her daughter finished in eighth place while Wesson ended the season in fourth place.
''Survivor''
''The Australian Outback''
Wesson's first appearance on ''Survivor'' was in the show's second season, ''
Survivor: The Australian Outback''. As part of the Ogakor tribe, Wesson was not targeted in the beginning of the game, seeming to mesh well with all the contestants and was not seen as a physical liability. Although Wesson caused the Ogakor tribe to lose the second immunity challenge, her alliance with
Amber Brkich
Amber Joy Mariano (née Brkich; born August 11, 1978) is an American television personality and winner of '' Survivor: All-Stars'' with its $1,000,000 prize, after appearing as a contestant on one of its predecessors, '' Survivor: The Australian ...
,
Colby Donaldson,
Jerri Manthey and Mitchell Olson voted out Kel Gleason and Maralyn "Mad Dog" Hershey. The next time they lost immunity, Wesson managed to convince Donaldson and
Keith Famie
Keith Famie (born February 11, 1960, in Farmington Hills, Michigan) is an American chef-restaurateur and film director and producer. He notoriously appeared in '' Survivor: The Australian Outback'' (2001), finishing in third place.
Pre-''Survivo ...
to force a tie between Olson (who was aligned with Brkich and Manthey) and Famie, whereby Mitchell would be voted off due to having a prior vote cast against him. Wesson and the four remaining Ogakors all made the merge.
With six contestants left, the main faction of the now Ogakor four joined Rodger Bingham and
Elisabeth Filarski to vote out Manthey's old ally Brkich. Donaldson and Famie eliminated Bingham and then Filarski at the next two tribal councils. In the final
immunity
Immunity may refer to:
Medicine
* Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease
* ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press
Biology
* Immune system
Engineering
* Radiofrequence immunity desc ...
challenge, Donaldson continued his winning streak and ultimately chose to sit next to Wesson at the final Tribal Council instead of the more hated Famie. Wesson became the first female Sole Survivor in a 4–3 vote, in which she gained the votes of Famie, Filarski, Manthey, and Alicia Calloway. At the time, Wesson was aged 40; thus she held the title of oldest female Survivor winner for 11 years (23 seasons, ten female winners) until
Denise Stapley
Denise Marie Stapley (née McCormick; born January 1, 1971) is an American sex therapist known as the winner of '' Survivor: Philippines'', the 25th season of the reality TV competition series '' Survivor''. She also participated in the 40th seaso ...
, aged 41, won ''
Survivor: Philippines'' in 2012.
''All-Stars''
She returned to the game for its ''
All-Stars '' season. As part of the Saboga tribe who lost the first
immunity
Immunity may refer to:
Medicine
* Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease
* ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press
Biology
* Immune system
Engineering
* Radiofrequence immunity desc ...
, Wesson was immediately targeted for being a past winner. On Day Three, Wesson became the first player voted out. She finished in 18th place.
''Blood vs. Water''
Wesson played the game for a third time on the show's 27th season, ''
Survivor: Blood vs. Water'', alongside her daughter Katie Collins, who previously appeared in the loved ones challenge on ''The Australian Outback''. Wesson was originally placed on the Galang tribe, which won four out of five immunity challenges over the Tadhana tribe, and she was initially in the majority alliance. After the merge, Wesson was voted out due to not being in the majority alliance and consistently competed on Redemption Island for a chance to re-enter the game. After competing in every Redemption Island duel post-merge, she won the final duel and returned to the game, beating Laura Morett and
Hayden Moss
Hayden Garrett Moss (born May 27, 1986), is a reality TV personality from Mesa, Arizona. He was the winner of the reality TV show '' Big Brother 12''. He subsequently competed on '' Survivor: Blood vs. Water'' with his then-girlfriend, '' Surv ...
, but was later voted out on day 38, becoming the eighth and final member of the jury, where she cast her vote for the eventual winner,
Tyson Apostol
Tyson Apostol (born June 17, 1979) is an American reality television personality, best known for his appearances on multiple seasons of the CBS reality television show '' Survivor''. Apostol originally competed on '' Survivor: Tocantins'' in 2009 ...
.
Additional television appearances
In 2016, Wesson appeared in a special episode of ''
The Price Is Right'' which featured multiple former ''Survivor'' contestants competing on the show. The episode aired on May 23, 2016.
Bibliography
*
Filmography
Television
References
External links
Official website*
Tina Wesson biographyfor ''
Survivor: All-Stars'' at
CBS.com
Tina Wesson and Katie Collinsfor ''
Survivor: Blood vs. Water'' at CBS.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wesson, Tina
1961 births
American nurses
American women nurses
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
People from Knoxville, Tennessee
Survivor (American TV series) winners
21st-century American women
Winners in the Survivor franchise