The Ontarian who took home the top prize in Survivor 41 has added a key to the city of Niagara Falls to their rewards for efforts in becoming the first Canadian winner on the reality series.
Erika Casupanan, originally from the Falls, picked up the accolade on Friday in a ceremony hosted by mayor Jim Diodati.
“It’s an honor for me to accept the key to the city. I know that it’s been something that I will always be proud of to be someone who’s represented Niagara Falls on the world stage,” Casupanan said.
The 32-year-old communications manager, who now resides in Toronto, says she’s beginning to understand the feat of winning Survivor considering the likelihood of doing so is quite slim.
“You have to get this jury of people that you have eliminated to vote for you, but before that, you have to outlast 15 people, and before that, you have to be picked out of tens of thousands of people to be on the cast.” said Casupanan.
Casupanan won the US$1-million prize, beating out four other finalists to be crowned the season’s survivor.
Previous seasons have seen the winner announced in a live finale, months after the rest of the season was shot, but the show has had to adjust amid the pandemic.
Casupanan is also one of the few women to win the show in recent years. since men have won 12 of the last 15 editions of the series
A total of 25 of 41 seasons have seen male winner.
The Niagara Falls native says working hospitality in the city as a teen helped in acquiring the skills for Survivor through empathy and teaming with diverse coworkers.
“I had to learn flexible and adaptable decision-making in different circumstances,” Casupanan said.
Diodati said Casupanan’s run became a real theme in the city with many getting caught up in the excitement of it.
“We kept thinking … it might happen, it’s going to happen, my gosh, it happened!” Diodati remarked during the award presentation.
“We went through the roller coaster. I’d like to say we never had doubt, but we always knew you had what it took. And we’re so proud of you.”