'Survivor' winner a Western grad

Western News, December 17, 2021

By Western Communications

Erika Casupanan, BA’11, kept her secret close to the vest for more than half a year.

And this week, the big reveal: she’d outwitted, outplayed and outlasted her opponents to become winner of the 41st season of Survivor.

The graduate of Western’s Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS) – whose trademark purple hair could be a nod to her “purple and proud” Western roots – was the first Canadian to win the event.

The competition/drama show pitted 18 players against each other in Mamanuca Islands, Fiji.

To win the game, players – called “castaways” – advance through each day’s events by winning different challenges and avoiding being voted out by a ‘tribal council’ of fellow competitors (continue reading).