1st Survivor Castoff Sonja Christopher Dead at 87

Sonja Christopher, the initially-at any time Survivor castoff, died at age 87 on Friday, April 26.

“Sonya [sic] was a single of the kindest folks to ever play Survivor. Each interaction I experienced with her over the a long time was attractive,” host Jeff Probst reported in a assertion posted via the show’s formal Instagram account on Saturday, April 27. “She would always greet you with a smile on her deal with and joy in her coronary heart. I’m honored that our paths acquired to cross.”

The account also shared a photo of Christopher, who smiled as she altered her hat. No bring about of dying has been discovered.

Information of her dying broke when Liz Wilcox, who is competing on season 46 of the fact collection, shared a heartfelt message alongside a picture of Christopher, who competed on the inaugural time in 2000, holding up her signed ukulele by way of FaceTime. (Christopher was identified for actively playing the ukulele.)

“Today, the legend herself Sonja Christopher of Year One handed away,” Wilcox wrote by using X on Friday. “I experienced the enjoyment of meeting her on Christmas. She had so much spunk + like for Survivor and what the show brought to her everyday living. I hope you’re singing + participating in your heart out someplace gorgeous, Sonja.”

In a subsequent put up by way of X on Friday, Wilcox added, “No bouquets, but donations may be sent to Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church (Walnut Creek, CA), the Cancer Assistance Community of the San Francisco Bay Place, or the Sjogren’s Basis.”

Lots of Survivor forged associates have given that paid out tribute to Christopher through social media. Rob Cesternino wrote by means of X on Friday, “She paved the way for each human being to at any time engage in Survivor. We will often smile when we consider of Sonja Christopher. RIP to a legend.”

Christopher voted out of time 1 of Survivor, filmed in Borneo, following battling with the first problem.

“I experienced blended inner thoughts, that’s for positive. I was quite beaten up,” Christopher recalled to Enjoyment Weekly in 2020 about her exit from the show. “To this day, I nonetheless have bruises that never go away… Anyone once requested me if I considered my becoming voted off early was because of to ageism. And I claimed, ‘Oh, no.’ And you know why is mainly because I experienced no thought of ageism. I was normally excellent at sporting activities and incredibly lively bodily. I just did not notice I was, to some of these people today, an old girl.”

Christopher’s Survivor overall look arrived 3 yrs immediately after she battled breast cancer. “I was newly recovering from breast cancer procedure. And I experienced been in a 11-yr marriage and my companion acquired consolation elsewhere for the duration of that time of the cancer,” she advised the outlet. “So I experienced moved to a senior retirement neighborhood, and I was by myself, no ties, my son was grown and using care of himself. I was reading through the morning paper, and it explained a little something in an posting about CBS seeking for 16 People to forged absent on a deserted island and see who could endure for 39 times.”