Swartz voted winner of 'Survivor SA: Philippines'
The Survivor SA: Philippines top three, Jeanne Michel, winner Tom Swartz and Annalize Sainsbury. Photo: M-Net The Survivor SA: Philippines top three, Jeanne Michel, winner Tom Swartz and Annalize Sainsbury. Photo: M-Net
Cape Town - The jury has spoken, the final votes have been tallied and there is only one man left standing.
Tom Swartz was voted the winner of Survivor SA: Philippines on Thursday night during a live reunion and finale show held in Cape Town at the Silverline Studios at the Waterfront.
In addition to the title of sole survivor, the 41-year-old adventure camp manager from Port Elizabeth won the R1 million prize money after 39 days of outwitting, outplaying and outlasting his fellow castaways on a remote island.
This sixth season of the reality game show was filled with vicious twists, unexpected turns and epic blindsides.
Last month, Swartz said: “I wanted to prove to myself and others that I was not just a guy who reads a book and was now trying to teach others."
Describing his reaction on hearing he had been selected as one of 18 South Africans to be stranded on a cluster of remote islands in the Philippines for 39 days, Swartz said in an interview it was difficult to contain his excitement. “I was over the moon. It was surreal,” he said.
Swartz, along with his wife, Nicci, and children Yasmin, 23, and Dyllan, 14, arrived in Port Elizabeth five years ago to start an anti-perlemoen poaching unit.
Now the adventure manager at Pine Lodge Resort, Swartz said his upbringing in East London had paved the way for his love and passion for the outdoors.