Turns out Survivor contestants don’t necessarily have to outwit, outplay or outlast in order to win a big cash prize. That’s because Sia has once again given away huge spoils of her own to her favorite season 43 contestants.
In a video shared by Entertainment Weekly on Friday (Dec. 23), the pop star doled out $200,000 to three players who fell short of the CBS competition’s $1 million grand prize when the Sole Survivor was announced on Dec. 14.
“Hi, Jesse! It’s your biggest fan, Sia!” she begins during a video chat with Jesse Lopez, who finished in fourth place. “I really think that you deserved to win, and I think you just played the most epic, sneaky, wonderful game in the whole world. … So I wanted to give you $100,000.”
“Oh my god!” a shocked Lopez exclaimed.
The pop star then went on to share how much she was impressed by the love he has for his family, and how he has changed his life despite his difficult childhood. Sia added that she hoped Survivor would ask him back for another season. “I’ll try and boss Jeff into it,” she said of potentially pulling some strings with the show’s longtime host, Jeff Probst.
Owen Knight, who finished in third place, was another player who earned the Sia Award. “I just wanted to tell you that I really see you, and I really loved your personality and how beautiful and kind and, like, I’m used to being a bit of the underdog and a little bit of the outsider,” she told him. “I knew that I wanted to make sure that I gave you something just to lift your spirits, even, so I decided that I want to give you $50,000 just to say ‘I love you and keep going.’”
Sia then shared why his gameplay touched her so deeply. “You spoke for all the underdogs, and that meant a lot to me because I don’t say much publicly,” she explained to Knight. “So when other people say what I feel or mean, that makes me feel proud and that makes me feel seen as well.”
The third lucky contestant was Ryan Medrano, who also received $50,000. “You’re a totally beautiful, beautiful person,” she told Medrano, who was the 10th person voted out and the third member of the jury. “I love you! I was so bummed you were let go so soon! … You’re a beautiful person. Your vibe is awesome.”
Probst told EW that there are two reasons why Sia is so generous when it comes to the contestants. “She gets a lot of joy from watching Survivor players take on such a personal and often vulnerable life adventure,” he shared. “And she has been incredibly fortunate in her own career and wants to share some of that fortune with others.”
Earlier this year, the Survivor superfan also gave another of her favorite contestants a big cash prize. Drea Wheeler, who finished in seventh place on season 42, received $100,000 from the star. The nine-time Grammy nominee has also given three players from 2019’s Survivor: Island of the Idols a total of $215,000.
Watch the video of Sia surprising her favorite Survivor players of the season with big cash prizes:
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