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Loser: No regrets over $1-million 'Survivor' decision

By SHARON FINK, Times Staff Writer
Published December 15, 2003

Lill Morris followed her heart instead of her head. And it cost her $1-million.

With a guaranteed spot in the final two of Survivor: Pearl Islands, she decided to get rid of Jon Dalton, and go against fellow wife and mother Sandra Diaz-Twine for the top prize. And Diaz-Twine won Sunday night by a 6-1 vote, which ties for the biggest landslide in Survivor history.

When host Jeff Probst asked the voting contestants during the live reunion show who would have favored Morris, 51, a Cincinnati Boy Scout leader, if she had gone against Dalton, 29, a Los Angeles art consultant, four people raised their hands, meaning she would have won.

Morris said she had no regrets. She said she thought Diaz-Twine,29, a military office assistant from Fort Lewis, Wash., deserved a chance to win more than Dalton, because she couldn't identify with Dalton's single, pro-wrestling-loving lifestyle.

Diaz-Twine, who went through the game without having a vote cast against her at tribal council, benifited from having her two closest confidantes in the game voting for the winner, and in the end she was perceived as a more honest, straightforward player than Morris.

Morris had a hard time from the start, because she was sent to the islands wearing her Boy Scout uniform and spent a lot of time debating whether she should be following the Scout code while she played the game. Also, she was one of two players allowed back into the game midway through after being voted off, which was a factor for jury member Ryan Opray, who voted for Diaz-Twine.

The only jury member who voted for Morris was Tijuana Bradley. She said she didn't understand what Diaz-Twine's strategy was and that Morris played a good game.

The other 6-1 final vote in Survivor was for Jenna Morasca in the Amazon edition, which immediately preceded Pearl Islands.

The first of the Pearl Islands final four voted out Sunday wasDarrah Johnson, 22, a mortician from Liberty, Miss. None of the final four had immunity from ejection after the game's final twist involved an immunity challenge in which the then-six voting contestants competed as a group against the final four as individuals. The voters answered more questions about pirate life correctly than the final four, thus keeping any of the four from having immunity. Johnson was voted out unanimously by the other three because she had won the previous three immunity challenges and was perceived as a threat for the crucial final challenge.

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