There was a big surprise in store on last night's episode of M-Net's Survivor South Africa: Santa Carolina - popular Binnelanders actress Sandi Schultz was blind-sided by her fellow, sneaky contestants, who opted to boot her off the hit reality series, which now features only celebrity "survivors".
On being given her marching orders and having her torch extinguished at the tribal council eviction by show host Nico Panagio, Schultz became the last person to leave Survivor South Africa: Santa Carolina before the all-important merge of the two enemy tribes, which could have considerably changed her chances of buying more time on the island.
Convinced
Until her name was read out at the tribal council, Schultz was convinced the show's sweet, "lazy-boy", rap artist Proverb would be the next to leave.
She even commented on the fact that, resigned to acknowledging his head was on the chopping block, Proverb grabbed an opportunity to go snorkelling for the first and last time, before saying goodbye.
But tribe Timbila, spurred on by Survivor mastermind Ashley Hayden, had other plans. They couldn't "suss out Sandi" and were concerned she could side with Sade Giliberti and Hanna Grobler, from opposing tribe Chibudu, after the merge.
In an interview after her eviction, Schultz said her plans after bidding farewell to the sun, sand and sea were to return to the studios to continue with her role in M-Net's popular daily drama Binnelanders, for the next contract year.
Schultz, who portrays the headstrong yet sensitive Dr Jennifer Adams, one of the key characters in Binnelanders, was also planning to devote more attention to fashion design.
"I am trying to build my fledgling clothing line, Sass Designs," said the actress, who is in her 40s.
Schultz took on her Binnelanders role after living in Los Angeles from 1993 to 2005, a period when she landed parts, specially written for her, on the hit television shows NYPD Blue, with Dennis Frantz and Rick Schroder, and City of Angels, which starred Blair Underwood.
Sandi Schultz, who was evicted in last night's episode of M-Net's Survivor South Africa: Santa Caraolina, talks to us
- What was your chosen charity?
Rape Crisis. I hope my contribution will help in providing assistance to the many women behind the statistics.
- What did you most miss while on the island?
Besides the obvious - like family and loved ones - the things I missed most were small comforts like toilet paper, toothbrush and toothpaste, and dental floss.
- What did you most regret while in the game?
Not having seen previous seasons of Survivor, I had no idea about the extent of the scheming and conniving that goes on.
- Who will you miss most? And least?
I guess the person I got closest to, besides sharing my sarong with Louw at night, was Cindy, but we've stayed in contact, so that's great. I liked the island version of Darren the least. He's funny when you're not the target of his acerbic wit.
- What was your biggest challenge on the show?
After a challenging year in which I both miscarried and had an operation, I was appalled to discover how physically weak I was. One of the first things I did, coming off the island, was get a trainer and head back to the gym.