‘Survivor 40: Winners at War’: Sandra Diaz-Twine Defends Her Many Challenge Sit-Outs From Ruthless Fans
While 45-year-old two-time Sole Survivor Sandra Diaz-Twine is known for a lot of things, her performance in challenges is not one of them. Instead, she lays low and uses her signature “anybody but me” method to make it to the end.
During Winners at War, Sandra continues to not participate in many challenges. Although, she did correctly solve a puzzle faster than Boston Rob Mariano and Michele Fitzergald, earning her tribe the victory, and caught a decent-sized shark with a fishnet.
Still, the two-time champ’s lack of participation in challenges bothers many fans, and they bullied her about it in a Facebook group. Sandra responded to her critics before leaving the group.
Jeff Probst renamed bench to Sandra Sit-Out Bench
Per Survivor rule, if a tribe has more members than another, they must select people to sit out of the challenge to have equal-numbered tribes. However, they have to alternate as one person can not sit out in back-to-back challenges.
In all three of her seasons, the two-time champ did not participate in nearly every other challenge. Now in her fourth season, she continues to do the same and has already sat out for two challenges after four episodes.
During the challenge in the fourth episode, Sandra immediately raised her hand once Jeff Probst asked who would not compete. Sele tribe member and Survivor legend, Parvati Shallow, then said Probst should nickname the designated bench for those not competing to the Sandra Sit-Out Bench.
Even though some of the other contestants, and Probst, thought Parvati threw shade, the two-time champ claimed the comment did not hurt her feelings.
The Micronesia winner continued poking fun of Sandra after the episode aired as she watched it with fellow competitor Ethan Zohn and others. She joked that it was “really stressful” participating in the challenges, “but Sandra wouldn’t know about that.”
Parvati then showed a shocked-looking Ethan sitting next to her, and captioned it, “#SandraSitOutBench” and “she’s proud of it.” Other fans began trolling her online for her upcoming sit-out record.
Sandra Diaz-Twine defends her many challenge sit-outs
Even though it’s a constant joke that Sandra doesn’t compete in many challenges, many fans are very irritated by it and perceive her to be “lazy” and think it’s “arrogant” that brags about it.
In a Survivor Facebook group, ruthless fans bashed Sandra and she responded with a picture of herself wearing her signature crown. “The Queen” explained she sits out of the challenges because her tribe wants her to.
Additionally, they already decide who will not participate in the challenge based on “what’s best for the team.” She continued, “I’m not a track star. I don’t run marathons. I’m not an Olympian. I’m not a superhero. I don’t coach CrossFit.”
Instead, she’s an “average middle-aged mother” who has “brains” and not “muscles.” Therefore, Sandra sits out of the challenges and uses her brain, which has given her two wins, as opposed to those who “use their muscles and lose.”
She then sarcastically apologized to those who are affected by her not competing in challenges, and concluded with her signature, “the Queen stays Queen.” After publishing her post, the two-time champ chose to leave the Facebook group.
Watch Survivor 40: Winners at War Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.
