Sandra Diaz-Twine

Sandra Diaz-Twine is the Sole Survivor of Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, and the only two-time winner in Survivor (U.S.) history. She also competed on Survivor: Game Changers.

In Pearl Islands, after controlling the Drake tribe along with allies Rupert Boneham and Christa Hastie, Sandra made it to the merge where her alliance was eventually overthrown. However, she was then able to maneuver herself through the game between the alliances to eventually make it to the end and win.

Sandra later returned for Heroes vs. Villains as a member of the Villains tribe. Being practically invisible early on, Sandra's alliance was overthrown by Russell Hantz. Despite this, Sandra again proceeded to demonstrate her adaptability in the face of long odds, and was able to manipulate and deceive the majority alliance into blindsiding Coach Wade in order to save her closest ally, Courtney Yates. Sandra made it to the merge despite Courtney's eventual elimination, but was rebuffed in her efforts to work in concert with the Heroes' alliance. After finding a Hidden Immunity Idol and being viewed as no threat at all, Sandra made it to the end. Through her previous social relationships and the Heroes' overall disdain for fellow finalists Hantz and Parvati Shallow, Sandra became the series' first two-time winner.

Profile

Retrieved from CBS.com

Survivor

Pearl Islands

Sandra started out on the Drake tribe. Early on, she proved herself an asset when her knowledge of the Spanish language helped her tribe get a huge advantage at the Panamanian village, where she helped secure a huge deal for her tribe in provisions and food. Although she was not a force in challenges, The Drake tribe dominated challenges early on. During this time, Sandra grew very annoyed with Jon Dalton (who called himself "Jonny Fairplay"). This conflict came to a head when he wanted her to sit out for being a weak swimmer. She countered by stating that she was on the shore well before him. Sandra was also the first person to loot opposing tribe, taking the Morgan tribe's tarp. Eventually after finding the buried treasure, Burton Roberts proposed to throw a challenge to eliminate one of the weaker members. Despite doubts with the plan, the tribe went through with it. A twist was revealed that the winning tribe would Kidnap one of the losing tribe's member. Morgan chose Rupert Boneham abstaining from the vote. The tribe voted out Burton for his failed plan. Unfortunately, Drake lost all remaining Immunity Challenges. Sandra's social status kept her safe as the tribe voted out Michelle Tesauro as she was blamed for an Immunity Challenge loss. When Sandra learned that Trish Dunn was attempting to blindside Rupert, Sandra redirected the vote toward Trish.

At the next challenges, everyone was shocked when The Outcasts, the game's first six eliminated contestants returned for one final shot. The Outcasts won, sending both tribes to Tribal Council, where Sandra joined in voting out the increasingly volatile Shawn Cohen.

Ultimately, Burton returned to Drake and Lillian Morris returned to Morgan. The Drake tribe made amends with Burton. Because of this, Burton convinced the alienated Lill to aligned with the Drake tribe and vote out Andrew Savage, the former Morgan tribe leader and perceived biggest physical threat. Ryan Opray was quickly eliminated afterwards. At the final eight, thinking that Darrah Johnson would be voted off, Sandra cast her vote for Jon. She was shocked when Rupert was voted off instead. Upon reaching the camp, Sandra stole the fish Rupert had caught earlier but accidentally spilled the very heavy bucket. Sandra was able to deflect suspicion off her, But her closest friend and ally Christa Hastie was blamed. Knowing that Christa would tell everyone, Sandra kept the fact that she was the real culprit to herself. At the love ones challenge, Sandra was the only one to know that Jon was lying about his grandma's death. Unfortunately, Sandra's husband, Marcus was the first person out because of that. Sandra tried to convince Tijuana Bradley to betray Burton and Jon. However, the men regained the trust of the Drake women and voted out Tijuana. Unfortunately, the men flipped on Sandra, and Christa was ousted at the next opportunity.

At the final five, while on reward, Sandra formed and alliance with Darrah and Lillian. Neither Jon or Burton suspected a women's alliance, with Jon making Sandra swear on her kids her loyalty. She secretly said that she swears that she will screw him and Burton. When Darrah won her third straight immunity, The women turned to challenge threat Burton, over the antagonistic Jon. At the final four, Jon turned Lill and Darrah against each other. At the Immunity Challenge, all four castaways were vulnerable due to a twist that let the jury compete which they won. Sandra and Jon turned on Darrah for her challenge streak. At the Final Immunity Challenge, Sandra was the first out and Lillian ultimately won immunity. Sandra stated that she would be shocked if Lillian took her to the Final Tribal Council over Jon. However, Lillian was impressed by Sandra's willingly to provide for her family, and deemed her more deserving and chose her.

At the Final Tribal Council, some jurors addressed her gameplay, questioning whether she had worked for her position. Sandra answered the juror questions effectively and she noted that she was loyal to her alliances and worked hard. In the end, Sandra easily bested Lillian in a 6-1 vote, only losing Tijuana's vote.

Voting History

Heroes vs. Villains

Sandra would start the game amongst the majority alliance with Rob Mariano, Courtney Yates, Jerri Manthey, Tyson Apostol, and Coach Wade. Her main allies were Courtney and Rob. The plan to get rid of Russell Hantz, who was suspected of having a Hidden Immunity Idol, was to split the votes 3-3-3, with 3 of the alliance voting for Russell, 3 voting for Russell's ally Parvati Shallow, and expecting the rival of alliance of Russell, Pavarti, and Danielle DiLorenzo to all vote for either Rob or Tyson. This would flush out the idol, and allow one of the opposing alliance to be voted out on the revote. However Tyson foolishly cast a 4th vote for Parvati, leading to his elimination when Russell unexpectedly played the idol for Parvati rather than on himself; Tyson was eliminated 3 votes to 2 for Russell.

After this, the majority alliance would crumble. Jerri and Coach would both switch over to Russell's alliance, and Rob was first voted out. When the Villains lost immunity on Day 21, Sandra lied to Russell, telling him that Coach was gunning for him; Russell bought the lie and Coach was voted out 4-3. The Villains did manage to win the Reward Challenge on Day 22, getting to eat at an Outback Steakhouse, during which Sandra made a remark that her husband was probably jealous of her since they both love Outback. On Day 24, Villains lost the Immunity Challenge and Courtney was voted out unanimously 5-1 with Sandra voting against her, leaving Sandra at the bottom of the Villains' alliance at the merge. With the numbers at 5 Heroes and 5 Villains at the merge, Sandra would be the one to warn J.T. Thomas and the other Heroes about Russell lying about a proposed all girls' alliance, to not trust him, and that she was willing to flip and help them. She warned that the Villains had every intention of sticking together, and Russell had no plans to help them. Though Rupert was wondering if what Sandra said was true, J.T. and the other Heroes would refuse to believe this after J.T. gave Russell his Hidden Immunity Idol, which Russell would then pass on to Parvati, Parvati would play 2 idols for both Sandra and Jerri (negating all 5 of the Heroes' votes against Jerri), leaving J.T. to be voted out with all five of the Villains' votes.

Sandra would again attempt to switch to the Heroes' side but would be thwarted by Candice Woodcock flipping to the Villains' side. Sandra would make one last attempt to help the Heroes, but her good friend Rupert Boneham would instead try to work with Russell, and told of Sandra's plan to Russell, leaving Sandra no choice but to vote him out. After already having tried to vote Rupert out at the previous Tribal Council, Sandra, sensing danger, would play her Hidden Immunity Idol for safety, negating 2 votes against her, but Rupert would have been voted out 4-2 regardless.

Sandra would mostly fly under the radar in the late stages, but would benefit from Russell orchestrating blindsides of both Candice and Danielle. The remaining Heroes would also be eliminated leaving a final 4 of Jerri, Russell, Pavarti, and Sandra. The others, seemingly unaware of the large jury threat Sandra posed, did not target her. Russell wanting Jerri to be voted out, and Jerri targeting Pavarti. Pavarti had said she wanted Sandra voted out, believing she was the biggest jury threat, but after Russell won the Final Immunity Challenge, Pavarti was forced to go along with the others in voting Jerri out.

At the Final Tribal Council, Russell received negative comments from the jury, rendering him a non-factor. Parvati would try to own up to her game, but would be criticized for aligning too closely with Russell, and also for not making enough of an attempt to socialize or even talk strategies with anyone of the Heroes. She was also criticized for, at times, outright mocking the Heroes and belittling their attempts to get into the game, in particular mocking J.T.'s letter. Sandra played up that she had wanted Russell out since Day 1, that she had interacted well with both sides and many times tried to help the Heroes, and her ability to get to the end despite losing her core allies early, and being at the bottom of the Villains alliance. Parvati attempted to point out Sandra's poor performance in challenges, and lack of any big strategic moves. The jury awarded Sandra with her historic second Sole Survivor title with 6 votes to 3 for Parvati and 0 for Russell. All 5 Heroes jury members, along with close friend Courtney, would award Sandra their votes.

Voting History

Game Changers

Voting History

Post-Survivor

• After Survivor: Pearl Islands, Sandra appeared on The Early Show and talked about Survivor: All-Stars. She correctly predicted that Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich would go far in the game, while Brian Heidik, who was also a guest, said they wouldn't.^[4] 
• In Summer of 2009, Sandra, along with the other first eighteen Survivor winners, appeared on a TVGuide special "Survivor Millionaires: Where Are They Now?"^[5]
• On January 9, 2010, Sandra attended Survivor's 10-year anniversary party along with all of her Heroes vs. Villains cast mates.
• For winning the game twice, Sandra was one of the first five inductees of the Survivor Hall of Fame along with Russell Hantz, Richard Hatch, Rob Mariano, and Parvati Shallow in 2010.
• In an episode of Dr. Phil aired on November 18, 2013, Sandra was in the audience to show support for Survivor: China winner Todd Herzog, who was battling alcoholism.
• On February 25, 2015, the day of the Survivor: Worlds Apart premiere, Sandra appeared in a Survivor roundtable retrospective alongside host Jeff Probst and former contestants Parvati Shallow, John Cochran, and Rob Cesternino.^[6] Sandra revealed that she was currently working at a law firm, but was preparing to leave for Georgia by August, where her husband was based.

Trivia

• Sandra is the game's first and only two-time winner.
• In "Flames and Endurance", the finale of Survivor: Pearl Islands, Jeff Probst refers to her as "the lippiest mother we've ever had on the show."
• Sandra was the first Hispanic castaway to make it to Final Tribal Council and is currently the only Hispanic winner.
• Sandra is the only castaway from Pearl Islands to never receive a vote against her.
• Sandra was the first Sole Survivor to not win any individual challenge even indirectly, as Tina Wesson's family won the Loved Ones Challenge in Survivor: The Australian Outback for her.
• Sandra was invited back for Survivor: All-Stars, but declined because she was still recovering from the parasites she got from Survivor: Pearl Islands.^[7]
• Sandra and Parvati Shallow are the only former winners to make it to the end twice.
  • Sandra is the only contestant to complete on multiple seasons and reach Final Tribal Council each time.
• Sandra is one of only four people to play multiple times without ever being voted out along with Jenna Morasca (won, then quit), Michael Skupin (medical evacuation, then finalist), and Colton Cumbie (medical evacuation, then quit). 
• Sandra is the first female contestant to play a Hidden Immunity Idol during a season and go on to win that season.
• In Sandra's voting confessionals in both seasons, she always ended her confessional by saying "Adios."
• Both times Sandra reached the Final Tribal Council, she received six votes to win.

References

Preceded by The Amazon Jenna Morasca

Sole Survivor Titleholder Pearl Islands Sandra Diaz-Twine

Succeeded by All-Stars Amber Brkich

Preceded by Samoa Natalie White

Sole Survivor Titleholder Heroes vs. Villains Sandra Diaz-Twine

Succeeded by Nicaragua Fabio Birza

Survivor: Pearl Islands Castaways
Andrew Morgan	Burton Drake	Christa Drake	Darrah Morgan	Jon Drake	Lillian Morgan	Michelle Drake	Nicole Morgan
Osten Morgan	Rupert Drake	Ryan O. Morgan	Ryan S. Morgan	Sandra Drake	Shawn Drake	Tijuana Morgan	Trish Drake

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Castaways
Amanda Heroes	Candice Heroes	Cirie Heroes	Coach Villains	Colby Heroes	Courtney Villains	Danielle Villains	James Heroes	Jerri Villains	J.T. Heroes
Parvati Villains	Randy Villains	Rob Villains	Rupert Heroes	Russell Villains	Sandra Villains	Stephenie Heroes	Sugar Heroes	Tom Heroes	Tyson Villains

Survivor: Game Changers Castaways
Andrea Nuku	Aubry Mana	Brad Nuku	Caleb Mana	Ciera Mana	Cirie Nuku	Debbie Nuku	Hali Mana	J.T. Nuku	Jeff Mana
Malcolm Mana	Michaela Mana	Ozzy Nuku	Sandra Mana	Sarah Nuku	Sierra Nuku	Tai Nuku	Tony Mana	Troyzan Mana	Zeke Nuku