Coming into her fifth – yes, you read that right, FIFTH! – season of Survivor, US player Cirie Fields was determined to right one wrong that has always eluded her: winning!
“I love being known as the best player to play anything, but to never win? Come on, let’s change that up!” Cirie, who racked up more than 120 days during her previous four stints, tells WHO.
“Absolutely I’m coming back to say, ‘Yes, I’m one of the best players, and we’re going to drop that “never win” part.’”
(Credit: Ten)
While she may only have to outwit, outplay and outlast her fellow opponents for 16 days this time around to achieve her dream of being named Sole Survivor, competing on Survivor: Australia v. the World – what she calls the “Olympics of Survivor” – in her fifties was every bit as hard as the regular game, if not harder.
“It felt like 60 days. I tell you, on day seven, day eight, I felt every hour of my 54 years,” Cirie, now 55, says with a laugh.
“I’m like, ‘Well damn! How many more days?!’ I started counting them, like, ‘Thank God it’s only 16!’ It’s a quicker format, but those 16 days let you know you’re playing Survivor.”
(Credit: Network Ten)
Still, it can’t have been all that bad, as the fan favourite will return for Survivor 50 – the US series’ milestone 50th anniversary season – next year.
Cirie wrapped filming on what will mark her sixth and possibly final time competing just weeks before chatting with WHO.
(Credit: Network Ten)
“[I feel] ecstatic. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!” she enthuses of the opportunity.
“I mean, first you get invited to the Super Bowl [Survivor: Australia v The World] and then just a monumental epic 50th season. I couldn’t write this any better if I was writing a life story for myself.
“I’ve been so blessed to have these opportunities. I’ve been playing Survivor now for 20 years: I started at 35, I turned 55 [in July]. So, yeah, I am just in awe of all of it, because when I started, I started with zero expectations. I had no idea it would be all of this. I don’t want to but, I mean, I could go ahead and die happy now!”
(Credit: Network Ten)
Hypothetically, if Cirie wasn’t to make it to the finish line, who would she be happy to see win Survivor: Australia v The World?
“If I wasn’t to win then I would want my boy Luke [Toki] to win,” she says without hesitation. “Or even I would be OK with Kirby [Bentley] winning. Obviously, we don’t want it to go to somebody who has already won – I want to share the wealth around. So I would be perfectly fine if any of those people won.”
Survivor: Australia v The World airs Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays on 10.
