Kim Johnson, the former schoolteacher who competed on Survivor: Africa and was the season’s runner-up, died July 23 after a long bout with cancer. She was 79.
Johnson’s three children, Wendy, Kerry, and Teddy, confirmed the news to Entertainment Weekly and said in a statement Monday, “Our mom leaves a legacy of strength, resilience, kindness and generosity. She wore her rose-colored glasses right up until the end. She was the coolest mom and grandmother in the world. We will miss her forever.”
Survivor host and executive producer Jeff Probst eulogized Johnson as “a pioneer” on the show in a statement posted to social media. He added, “She definitely left her mark on the game and on all of us who were lucky enough to work on that season and tell her story.”
CBS
Survivor: Africa winner Ethan Zohn also paid tribute to Johnson in a heartfelt Instagram post. “Rest in peace Kim Johnson,” he wrote, alongside a montage of highlight clips featuring his tribemate from season 3 of the reality show. “It was a blessing to call you my friend and a privilege to experience the final tribal council with you. I will forever have that planters punch in your honor!”
A retired elementary school teacher from Oyster Bay, N.Y., Johnson was 56 when she competed in Kenya on the red-hot reality franchise back in 2001. While she thought she would be the first person eliminated, Johnson made it all the way to the final four, and then surprised everyone by winning the final two immunity challenges. That included the last one in which the three players remaining had to stand on two uneven poles and hold on to a totem for as long as possible in 104-degree heat. Johnson outlasted both Zohn and Lex van den Berghe, winning after more than three hours and 20 minutes in the blazing sun.
Johnson — who then lost to Zohn in a 5-2 jury vote at the final Tribal Council — is not only the oldest Survivor contestant to win a final immunity challenge, but she also remains the oldest female finalist in franchise history.
According to her CBS bio going into the Survivor: Africa season, Johnson was born in Cleveland, grew up in Annapolis, Md., and then moved to New York. She attended Dickinson College and Monmouth University, receiving a bachelor of science degree in elementary education.
Her bio also noted, “In her free time, Johnson enjoys exercising (running, tennis and free weights), camping, hiking, fishing, sailing, golfing, horseback riding, thoroughbred horse racing and playing games of any kind. She describes herself as nutty, logical and determined. She is extremely proud of her family; she is especially proud of being the grandmother of two, with another one on the way. She is fluent in sign language, and has volunteered her services over the years for the blind and deaf.”
CBS
After her triumphant final endurance victory in Africa, Johnson spoke about what led her to the big win. “The final immunity challenge was not luck, was not being nice, was not any of the things I had done so far,” she said. “That was something that came out of me, inside of me — a determination that I haven’t seen in me, maybe ever.”
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