The two-time Olympian outlasted George, Gerry and Matt at the final challenge, winning the last individual immunity of the season and guaranteeing her a spot at the final Tribal.
“Honestly, I’m just shook to the core,” Liz told 10 Play after her monumental win. “I cannot believe that I lasted this long in this wild game, but I’m so excited. I’m so thrilled and it’s just a whirlwind right now.”
Leading up to the final Tribal, Liz had a difficult decision to make when it came to voting out one of the men she had been aligned with since merge, but it was her closest remaining ally George whose torch was snuffed, a long belated act of revenge for Liz.
“From the Shonee blindside onwards I definitely thought George was a big player and I had to be really wary of his moves and what he was doing,” she explained. “It was always on my agenda to get rid of George just because I knew, with a player like him and all the moves he had made, if he got to the end and the Jury were basing their votes on gameplay, he would have definitely won.
“In the back of my mind, I always thought that I had to get rid of George but it was a matter of picking the perfect moment and the right time and… the rest is history.”
The decision wasn’t as straightforward as she had initially thought as the King had been in her ear trying to convince her to vote in other ways.
“He was saying, ‘If you take Matt to the end all the returning players are Heroes so they’re going to vote for Matt’. George was definitely in my ear making me believe I didn’t stand a chance, hence why I was so nervous,” she admitted.
“I thought I might have the girls’ vote, I thought I might have Sam’s vote because we were really good friends throughout the season,” she continued. "Apart from that, I felt like by that stage in the game I was just delirious from the whole experience that I just thought f**k, I don’t even know who’s going to vote for me so I’m going to pitch for my life and see what happens.”
As for what happened, Liz said the entire final Tribal was a complete blur. “I was so nervous I honestly thought I was going to throw up the whole time. I just remember looking in that fire and trying not to listen to what everyone else was saying.
“When it got to me I feel like I just blacked out and it was just word vomit… I obviously made a really strong pitch, you know, that I had been a strong player throughout, that I’ve had my low moments and I fought through them. I’m a physical threat, I’ve taken down players when I needed to and, in the end, it’s gotten me to the final.”
To add to her nerves, just a day before Liz’s game was dealt another blow when the remaining players had the opportunity to vote out a jury member, with the majority all picking her BFF Shonee.
“After losing Shonee I thought I am well and truly cooked here,” Liz said, laughing. “But I was very hopeful that Shonee had put in a good word for me, god bless her, and that the Jury could see that Gerry and Matt were George’s pawns and I played my own individual game.”
Looking back at her time in the game Liz said it was the relationships she created out there that were the biggest highlight.
“I’m quite an introvert in the real world and I’m the type of person where I have my friends and I’m not really fussed with making new ones so the whole Survivor experience, in general, was quite different for me,” she said, adding, “I had to really put myself out there”.
“Winning individual immunity was just incredible,” she continued, “I never, ever thought in my wildest dreams I would do that. In particular, winning that reward with Shonee where we beat everyone else in that challenge where we held the blocks. I feel like that really showed me that I’ve got what it takes and I’ve got that grit and that determination.
“I feel like from that point on I definitely started to find my feet as an individual player.”
While the confetti is still falling for her win, Liz said she’s not ruling out giving the game another shot in the future.
“One hundred percent I’d do Survivor again but I think I need some downtime just to chill,” she added, laughing. “I feel like the trauma is still real, the PTSD is still there. Perhaps in a year or two if [they] want to give me a call I’ll definitely be up for the challenge.”
