A Canadian-based former communications manager made history as the first player of Filipino descent to win in the popular American reality show Survivor.

Thirty-two-year-old Erika Casupanan became the “sole survivor” of the show’s 41st season after scoring a landslide victory as the votes of the final tribal council were revealed in the season finale, which was broadcast in the United States through CBS, on Thursday (Philippine Time).

Casupanan, currently residing in Toronto, got seven of the eight votes from recently eliminated competitors who had been tasked as members of the jury that will decide the season’s champion.

With the victory, Casupanan won USD1 million (around PHP50 million) cash.

The other vote went to second placer Deshawn Radden from Miami. The other finalist, Xander Hastings from Chicago, did not receive any nod from the jurors.

Casupanan was born in Hermosa, Bataan, but she and her family decided to migrate to the Metropolitan Toronto area when she was young.

Prior to joining Survivor, Casupanan left her job as the senior manager in marketing communications at Kijiji Canada.

Free pass to the million

Earlier in the episode, Hastings won the final immunity challenge, which allowed him to bring one player with him to the final round, leaving two other “castaways” to slug it out for the last spot in the Final 3.

In the ensuing tribal council, Hastings decided to give safety too to Casupanan, leaving Radden and Heather Aldret to fight it out in a fire-making challenge to determine the third finalist.

Radden bounced back after his initial flame was quickly extinguished and completed his objective first over Aldret by a few seconds to avert elimination and send her to the jury.

Hastings’ move of keeping Casupanan turned out to be a “million-dollar mistake” as Casupanan successfully pleaded her case to the jury during the questioning phase.

Aldret, Tiffany Seely, Naseer Muttalif, Evvie Jagoda, Shan Smith, Liana Wallace, and Ricard Foye all voted for Casupanan, while former National Football League player Danny McCray gave his vote to Radden.

Pandemic season complete

“Survivor 41” was the reality show’s first season completed amid the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

The game took place from April 15-May 10 this year in Fiji, but the highlights of the season were only shown on a weekly basis starting Sept. 23 (Philippine Time).

Traditionally a 39-day event, the season was reduced to 26 days as the supposed first two weeks of the season were devoted to quarantine.

To make the game as exciting as it was pre-pandemic, the production team, led by executive producer and host Jeff Probst, introduced new twists that made this season arguably the most fast-paced.

One particular twist was when Casupanan, who was sent to Exile Island after losing a rewards challenge, was given an option to completely overturn the outcome of the said challenge and make her and the losing team immune from the vote and have the members of the winning team slug it out instead for the last player safe from elimination.

Casupanan activated the said twist, which eventually became her big ticket to the win. (PNA)