Blue Hen survivor
UD criminal justice major is a contestant on 'Survivor: Philippines'
2:31 p.m., Aug. 29, 2012--University of Delaware senior Katie Hanson spent last semester trying to outwit, outlast and outplay 17 other people, including a Giant and Blair from The Facts of Life.
Hanson is a contestant on the next season of the hit CBS television show Survivor, which begins airing Sept. 19. The cast includes retired Major League Baseball player Jeff Kent, who won the National League MVP award while playing with the San Francisco Giants and Lisa Wenchel, the former teen actress who starred in The Facts of Life.
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Hanson, a criminal justice major from Newark, Del., was crowned Miss Delaware USA in 2011 and competed at the national level for Miss USA. She says she is “not an outdoorsy girl at all” but staying physically fit for pageants meant she entered the competition with an athletic advantage. She fueled that advantage by putting on weight before filming began in March.
While Hanson went into the show with plans to strengthen her chances, the show’s producers added twists. The players were divided into three tribes, instead of the traditional two. And, the cast included three contestants from previous seasons who were evacuated for medical reasons. One member of Hanson’s tribe, Jonathan Penner, was playing the game for the third time.
“None of us wanted him there, he’s an obvious threat,” Hanson says.
The UD community will cheer on Hanson with a Survivor: Philippines premier party beginning at 7:30 p.m., on Wednesday, Sept. 19, in the new Trabant University Center student lounge. Tropical food will be offered, along with giveaways and prizes. Arrive early for Survivor trivia.
Televisions in the student lounge will be tuned to the show each Wednesday night as long Hanson stays on the island and will stay tuned if she is voted out but becomes a member of the show’s jury.
Hanson says she is honored to have the support of the University of Delaware community.
“I’m just like them and I’m putting us on the map and representing for not only our state but our school too,” she says.
This semester Hanson is back on campus working to finish her degree in the winter.
Article by Andrea Boyle Tippett
Photos courtesy of CBS Broadcasting Inc.