The season finale of Australian Survivor: Heroes Vs Villains went down last night and to anyone watching at home, it became very obvious that the winner would be 28-year-old Olympian, Liz Parnov, after her impassioned pitch bowled over the jury. In terms of perfect pleas to the jury, it will go down in Survivor history as one of the best.
She was articulate, commanding, unwavering, succinct and powerful. It was truly the *chefs kiss* of final pitches.
But the reality of living in that moment played out very differently in Liz’s head.
“I was so so nervous,” said Liz in an interview with POPSUGAR. “I don’t actually remember what I said. I feel like I blacked out from stress.”
Well, you certainly wouldn’t know it if you watch her cool and calm composure during the episode. Now that’s what I call a fantastic poker face. And most likely why she walked away with the crown of being sole Survivor.
When speaking about how she planned to go into the final tribal council, Liz said that despite her nerves, she had a very clear idea about how she was going to address the jury.
“I went into that final pitch and I just wanted to pretty much rattle off all the points that I had made,” she said. “I didn’t want to make it about like, ‘oh, I need the money’ because hey, everyone needs half a million dollars. Like we can all find an excuse as to why we want to win money.”
When sitting alongside fellow contestants Gold Coast surf lifeguard, Matt Sharp and pilot, Gerry Geltch, Liz was able to win over the jury. Both Matt and Gerry seemed to buckle under the pressure of the moment and the direct questions being fired from the likes of George Mladenov and Haley Leake. In the end, they were no match for Liz’s impressive resume of gameplay and she walked away with a unanimous win.
“I’m just so honoured,” she said. “I feel like the fact that I got every single vote is just mind-blowing. It just really shows the beauty of the game Survivor. I am speechless by the vote if I’m honest with you.”
That’s a humble winner right there. Congrats, Liz!
