"Survivor": Danni Outplays 'Em All

Mon., Dec. 12, 2005 9:00 AM PST by Gina Serpe

There was no tiara or bouquet of roses, but the million-dollar check probably helped ease the pain.

Former pageant girl Danni Boatwright captured the hefty cash prize, a 2006 Pontiac Torrent SUV and the title of last woman standing Sunday night after being voted the winner of Survivor: Guatemala, The Maya Empire.

The 30-year-old sports radio host from Kansas managed to outwit, outlast and outplay her way to the top, beating out runner-up Stephenie LaGrossa, a fan favorite who was brought back to compete after being ousted from last season's Survivor: Palau.

"I felt like I did outwit," the 11th Survivor winner said during CBS' live finale. "And I definitely outlasted."

The Tonganoxie, Kansas, native, who laid low for the majority of the show's run, ensured her spot in the final two after winning the final immunity challenge--standing on a wobbly board with only rope, then nothing, to hang on to.

Following the challenge, third-place finisher Rafe Judkins, Boatwright's alliance partner for much of the show's run, released her from a promise the two had made to take each other to the final two, all but ensuring his own elimination. Reasoning that she would fare better in the voting against a back-stabbing player, Boatwright chose to go up against LaGrossa instead.

The former Miss USA and Teen USA contestant was right.

Judkins, was the lone member of the seven-person jury to throw his vote to LaGrossa at the final Tribal Council.

The granddaddy of reality TV shows has ranked among the top 10 shows every season of its broadcast, becoming only the sixth series in TV history to do so. Survivor: Guatemala is the sixth-most watched show of the season, averaging 18.1 million viewers per week. The two-hour finale averaged 21.3 million viewers Sunday and the reunion show averaged 14.2 million viewers, per preliminary Nielsen numbers.

And CBS hopes Survivor will continue to outlast and outplay the competition. Last week, host Jeff Probst, 43, put to rest rumors that he might leave the Mark Burnett-created show by reupping through the show's 16th edition in 2008.

"I was thinking about retiring and spending my time traveling to exotic locations around the world, meeting new and interesting people. Then I realized, uh, wait a second, I'm already doing that with 'Survivor' and getting paid for it, as well," Probst said in a statement.

Probst is already back at work, filming the show's 12th cycle, Survivor: Panama, Exile Island, which will start airing on CBS this spring.