Sonja Christopher Season: 1 Borneo Finish: 16th place / 1st boot / Day 3 Booted: 4-3-1 DOB: 1/28/37 Age during show: 63 Age now: 70 Marital Status: Single Occupation: Musician Hometown: Walnut Creek, California Luxury Item: Ukulele Biography: Sonja was born and raised in Olympia, Washington. Her studies at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, the University of Oslo in Norway, the University of Washington in Seattle and the University of California, Berkeley, produced a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology, along with a teaching credential. Before retiring, Sonja worked as an investment counselor, tennis teacher and elementary school teacher. She currently works part-time as a music therapist, playing the banjo as she leads sing- alongs at Alzheimer's centers. She also enjoys performing in local community theater. Her favorite sport is swimming, although it used to be tennis, which she played competitively for a number of years. She also enjoys playing Bridge. In December of 1997, Sonja was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. She underwent pre-surgical chemotherapy, followed by lumpectomy and radiation and has resumed a full, healthy life. Sonja describes herself as courageous, open and fun-loving. In describing her perfect day, Sonja would wake up feeling good and counting her blessings. She would enjoy a cup of coffee while reading the paper before heading out to exercise (walk, bike, swimming or yoga). Afterwards, she would connect with a friend by phone or over lunch before or after performing at a nursing home. At some point in her day, she would discover a new interest, "be there" for someone in need, have a new idea or fix something around the house and find that all the desk work which requires a good deal of her time would miraculously get done by itself. Capping off her perfect day would be an evening at the theatre or movies with a dear friend, after which she would crawl into bed with a good book. Sonja currently resides in Walnut Creek, California, about 45 minutes from her son, Dan. She is on the Board of Directors at her the Unitarian Universalist Church and was instrumental as a fundraiser in the building of the Regional Center for the Arts. She is also is a member of the Diable Light Opera Company and Contra Costa Musical Theatre, and also participates in local video and computer clubs. Her birth date is Jan. 28, 1937. Final Words Episode: Well, I think this has been an awesome experience. Being the first to be voted out is a little humiliating, On the other hand, the team did the right thing. They’re a terrific group of people, they’re very strong physically, and I think in their shoes, I’d probably do the same thing. CBS Site: I think being a Survivor has been an awesome experience. Being first to be voted out is a little humiliating. On the other hand, I think the team did the right thing. They are a terrific group of people, very strong physically, and I think in their shoes, I would have probably done the same thing - vote out the weakest member. Last night at the competition, I certainly felt like I made the team lose. But I am going away with the feeling that I really bonded with these people in a genuine way and I know that's the rules of the game. And maybe tonight I will get a shower, and a meal! Trivia Challenge Record: 0% (0/1) Sonja has the worst challenge record of her season, and competed in fewer challenges than anyone else on her season. Voting Record: 0% (0/1) Sonja was the first player to be booted 4-3-1. Confessional Average: 2 Sonja was the first player to ever be voted out of Survivor. Sonja’s luxury item, a ukulele, was the first to ever be featured on the show. Quotes • "I think this will be one of the greatest adventures of my life. I can imagine that every skill I've ever learned -- as well as ones I'll have to develop on the island -- will be called into play. I can hardly wait!" • “I’ll fight to the finish. I have my blisters and whatnot, but I’m doing okay.” • “Go get ‘em, you guys.” Interviews http://www.seniorwomen.com/articles/cullison/articlesCullisonSonja.html She'd always wanted to do it. Since childhood Sonja Christopher has wondered if she could survive on a desert island. As a child the stories of Robinson Crusoe and Swiss Family Robinson fascinated her. Did she have the right stuff to endure such an adventure? Once, as a teenager, she set out in a boat alone on the bay near her family home* in Olympia, Washington to test her survival skills. As an adult she journeyed to a remote island in Tahiti. But always the answer to her question eluded her. Guided by a father who admired the philosophy of Henry David Thoreau, Sonja's family lived as much as possible on the fruits, vegetables, livestock, and poultry raised on their ten-acre farm. From an early age, Sonja learned to make use of the resources around her, to live simply and independently. She began collecting quotations that inspired her to "go for it", to challenge herself and to live life to the fullest. By the time she reached the age of 63, Sonja had faced a number of life's serious challenges such as divorce, single motherhood, a benign brain tumor, breast cancer, and a recent relationship that ended in painful estrangement. When she learned that CBS was seeking applicants to participate in a simulated television reality series called Survivor during which sixteen people would be left to fend for themselves on a remote South China Sea island, she hoped that her youthful fantasy might at last come true. Sonja submitted a video that friends at Rossmoor, a retirement community in Walnut Creek, California where she lives, helped her make. In the video Sonja pitched her qualifications by singing and playing the ukulele, entertainment she performs regularly for Alzheimer patients in convalescent homes. "I wouldn't be doing it only for me...but also for the millions of other seniors out there looking for new images of aging," she explained. After she was chosen from more than 6,000 applicants, friends and family members began voicing concern about her health and safety. Her son objected to her involvement in an experiment designed to force contestants to vie against one another in order to stay on the island. Sonja began to realize that she might not like being away from her active life at home for two months or giving up her privacy by appearing on national television. She worried that she might not be able to hold up physically. But when she went to the telephone to cancel, she felt an overwhelming sadness. "That told me I should go for it," she said, and so she did. She dove into the first challenge of getting ready. She practiced tying knots, read survival manuals, and worked with a personal trainer who was told only that Sonja was going on a tropical expedition. After she joined the other Survivor candidates, CBS gave them one an d a half days of training that included boat and helicopter rescue procedures. They learned about edible plants and how to make shelters out of palm fronds. Secrecy prevailed during this time, and only when the contestants were on the boat and headed for their island were they allowed to talk with each other. After they arrived on the island, the sixteen adventurers were divided into two tribes of eight. Sonja spent three days on the island. "The experience was absolutely real, like very rugged camping." They had no fire and little food but plenty of bugs, rats, and snakes. She quickly learned that the wet sand got as hard as cement when she tried to sleep on it. Sonja thinks that the games contrived by CBS to deselect the participants intruded on the real experience of trying to survive on the island. When a tribe lost a competition, they had to vote one of their own off the island, hardly a way to build team spirit and cooperation. Sonja's tribe lost the first game, and she was the first person to leave the island. She had worn sturdy leather sandals with socks on the day of that first beachside competition, while everyone else wore sneakers laced securely to their bare feet. The sandals and socks created a drag while she was swimming and caused her to stumble once her feet could touch bottom in the water. She was unable to regain her footing as she and her team struggled to bring a raft to shore, and they lost the race. Feeling responsible for the loss, she apologized to her Survivor teammates. The psychologist, who counseled the candidates as they left the island, explained that her apology gave the team permission to eliminate her. "I knew they were going to vote me off, and I was prepared in my mind for it," she said. No one wants to be the first to be sent out of the game. We all must have childhood memories of that fear coming true. As a championship tennis player and a successful actress in regional theater, Sonja knows well the ups and downs of competition. This knowledge surely came to her aid the next night when her team's first tribal council was called. Together they hiked for an hour and a half through the rainy dark jungle and were stopped twice by six-foot long poisonous snakes in their path.