Tina Wesson

Tina Wesson
Born	(1960-12-26) December 26, 1960 Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Television	Survivor: The Australian Outback Survivor: All-Stars Survivor: Blood vs. Water

Tina Wesson (born December 26, 1960 in Knoxville, Tennessee) won $1,000,000 as the winner of the second season of Survivor, on Survivor: The Australian Outback in 2001. Wesson returned in 2004 for Survivor: All-Stars, where she was the first person voted off the show. After her appearances on the show, Wesson began teaching occasional outdoor survival classes. Wesson returned as a contestant on the show's 27th season, Survivor: Blood vs. Water with her daughter, Katie Collins. Her daughter finished in 8th place while Wesson ended the season in 4th place.

Survivor

Wesson's first appearance on Survivor was in the show's second season, Survivor: The Australian Outback. As part of the Ogakor tribe, Wesson was not targeted in the beginning of the game, seeming to mesh well with all the contestants and was not seen as a physical liability. Although Wesson caused the Ogakor tribe to lose the second immunity challenge, her alliance with Amber Brkich, Colby Donaldson, Jerri Manthey and Mitchell Olson voted out Kel Gleason and Maralyn Hershey. The next time they lost immunity, Wesson managed to convince allies Keith Famie and Colby Donaldson to force a tie between Mitchell Olson (who was aligned with Amber Brkich and Jerri Manthey) and Keith, whereby Mitchell would be voted off due to having a prior vote cast against him. Tina and the four remaining Ogakors all the made the merge.

With six contestants left, the main faction of the now Ogakor four joined Rodger Bingham and Elisabeth Filarski to vote out Jerri's old ally Amber. Colby and Keith eliminated Rodger and then Elisabeth at the next two tribal councils. In the final immunity challenge, Colby continued his winning streak and ultimately chose to sit next to Wesson at the final Tribal Council instead of the more hated Keith. Wesson became the Sole Survivor in a 4-3 vote, in which she gained the votes of Keith, Elisabeth, Jerri, and Alicia. At the time Wesson was aged 40 and she held the title of oldest female Survivor winner for 11 years (23 seasons, 10 female winners) until Denise Stapley, aged 41, won Survivor: Philippines in 2012.

She returned to the game for it's All-Stars season. As part of the Saboga tribe who lost the first immunity, Wesson was immediately targeted for being a past winner. On day 3, Wesson became the first player voted out.

Wesson also competed on the show's 27th season, Survivor: Blood vs. Water, alongside her daughter Katie Collins, who previously appeared in the loved ones challenge on Survivor: The Australian Outback. Wesson was originally placed on the Galang tribe, which won four out of five immunity challenges over the Tadhana tribe, and she was initially in the majority alliance. After the merge, Wesson was voted out due to not being in the majority alliance and consistently competed on Redemption Island for a chance to re-enter the game. She won the final duel and returned to the game, beating Laura Morrett and Hayden Moss, but was later voted out on day 38, becoming the eighth and final member of the jury, where she cast her vote for the show's winner Tyson Apostol.

Personal life

Wesson's son, Taylor Lee Collins, died December 3, 2013 in a car accident. He was not wearing a seat belt, and was ejected from the vehicle on impact. The grandfather of Collins' girlfriend said that Collins had a habit of not wearing a seat belt, even though he knew it was illegal. The driver suffered only minor injuries.

Bibliography

• Wesson, Tina (2006). Out Live Out Laugh Out Love. AuthorHouse.

External links

• Official website
• Tina Wesson biography for Survivor: All-Stars at CBS.com
• Tina Wesson and Katie Collins for Survivor: Blood vs. Water at CBS.com