376782 04: Contestant Sonja Christopher arrives for the “Survivor: The Reunion” party at the CBS studios August 23, 2000 in Los Angeles, CA. Christopher was one of 16 contestants who spent over a month on an island participating in the popular television game show “Survivor.” Sonja Christopher, the friendly, banjo-playing contestant in the first season of “Survivor,” who was the first person ever to be voted off the reality show, has died at age 87.
“I was newly recovering from breast cancer treatment,” Christopher told Entertainment Weekly. “And I had been in a 11-year relationship and my partner got consolation elsewhere during that time of the cancer. So I had moved to a senior retirement community, and I was by myself, no ties, my son was grown and taking care of himself.
Being voted off so quickly was “a little humiliating,” she admitted. She also said she left with some physical injuries. “I was pretty beaten up,” she said. “To this day, I still have bruises that don’t go away.” Over the years, Christopher enjoyed some of the benefits of celebrity, appearing on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” and dining out with Ellen DeGeneres. She also was in demand as a speaker on behalf of survivors of breast cancer. Back home in Walnut Creek, Christopher was active in her community, especially at her local church, the Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church.
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