PV Resident Proud of Third Place Finish on ‘Survivor’
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For Putnam Valley resident Sue Smey, finishing third out of 18 contestants on the 47th season of the reality show “Survivor” was a great accomplishment, but also somewhat disappointing.
“It was, but it wasn’t. I really wanted to win the $1 million,” Smey said in a Dec. 20 interview. “It was a fight from the beginning.”
Smey, 59, was the oldest competitor on the CBS program, but she concealed her age until the final Tribal Council showdown on the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji. The grandmother played the game for the 26 days it was filmed with the others thinking she was in her 40s.
“That was my game plan all along,” she explained. “Tell them I was younger than I am. I thought if they knew my age I would be the first one voted out.”
Rachel LaMont, who befriended Smey and chose to take her to the final three at Tribal Council for all the marbles, received seven of the eight votes from the jury to win the top prize. Smey, who couldn’t muster up any support from the jury, won $85,000.
Smey also set two Survivor records: the oldest person to finish in the top three, and the oldest person to win an immunity challenge competition (where contestants are safe from being eliminated.)
She said living on a remote island in a foreign place with 17 strangers, with no running water or restroom facilities, was challenging.
“I started to struggle physically. I could feel the lack of nutrients. I would try to conserve as much energy as possible,” said Smey, who noted she lost 15 pounds, weighing under 100 pounds, by the show’s end. “I was horrified when I saw my body and I saw my face. There’s no food. We would have a coconut or two for all of us to share.”
Sleeping was also difficult for Smey, with the sounds of bats chirping and the less than desirable conditions.
“I slept in the dirt. I was always cold. I always slept near the fire,” she said. “The days were long, but the nights were longer. We never knew what time it was. When it was dark, we would go to bed. You’re exhausted.”
Smey said she had a viewing party with hundreds of family and friends in Brooklyn to watch the final show on Dec. 18, with only she knowing what the outcome would be.
“It was a lot of fun hearing everyone make assumptions on what was going to happen. Every one of them was wrong,” she quipped.
She said she was pleased with the way she was depicted on the screen.
“I actually was surprised how much of an edit I was in. I think they did a good job with everything,” Smey said, referring to the amount of time she was shown. “The dirty face, that was terrifying. That was a little humiliating. I knew I was going to be skinny and scrawny going 26 days without eating or sleeping.”
The owner of a flight school in Dutchess County said it took a few months for her to regain her strength and “get my body back to being healthy.”
Embracing her quasi-celebrity status by posing for photos for anyone who recognizes her, Smey said she wouldn’t hesitate to go on the show again if asked.
“I would do it in a heartbeat,” she said. “I wouldn’t even think twice. This was shell shocking. I had to figure it out. I definitely feel I would go in stronger and better. It’s like an adrenaline rush. Before I get too old, I want to get as much off the bucket list as possible.”
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/