Survivor Contestant with Severe Food Allergies Has Epic Tantrum After Missing Out on Applebee's

Survivor is a brutal enough game with its frantic pace, physical and mental challenges, and social strategizing, not to mention the lack of food. Throw in severe food allergies that limits one contestant to not eat at all for days and there's the perfect recipe for disaster. Or at least one epic meltdown. The perfect storm of ingredients came together on Wednesday's show for Liz Wilcox, who's been playing an aggressive game strategically despite hardly being able to eat anything at all (no coconuts or fruit on the island, while rice has been scarce). But when faced with one of her favorite foods as part of an Applebee's Reward Challenge, she fell apart. Supplies have been particular meager in this "new era" of Survivor, so all of the contestants were feeling it by this late stage of the game. So when Jeff Probst announced that the reward for this challenge featured Applebee's burgers, wings, fries ... you can imagine how everyone was salivating. It was even worse for Liz, who shouted, "My Wednesday night ritual!" Suddenly, there was an emotional component on top of her severe lack of nutrition for weeks on end by this point, as she explained she and her daughter usually go to Applebee's for dinner before watching Survivor in her real life. Her go-to meal, one of their burgers, was also up for the taking. In the individual challenge, Liz ultimately fell short, losing the challenge to Q. One of the elements of most Survivor challenges is that the winners can often invite one or more people to join them. It can be an element of strategy, but also expose alliances. That's what happened here, as Q Burdette was invited to bring three people along. He chose the two remaining members of his original Yanu tribe, Tiffany Ervin and Kenzie Petty -- who he's been (mostly) working with since the beginning -- as well as Maria Gonzalez, leaving a bereft Liz on the sidelines. And she absolutely lost it, screaming "I am pissed!!" "I see you eat every day," she exclaimed. "Q, you almost threw off my whole game. You overshadowed everything I have strived to do, and I said, 'It's cool. I didn't say nothing!" While Q did blow up everyone's game by almost quitting the game two weeks ago, overshadowing what Liz saw as her "big move," -- though she's not the only one who claimed the Tevin Davis blindside -- he calmly pointed out that she'd also voted for him to be eliminated at the previous Tribal Council. Ultimately, it was an emotionally vulnerable moment for Liz that led to an explosion. She did apologize for it, thanking everyone for "letting me go off like that." Though she was still salty about the whole ordeal, especially after the foursome returned from their reward and said they didn't even eat the burger! Production did orchestrat an opportunity at the next challenge for anyone to sit out in exchange for a personal portion of rice, which Liz opted to do. Was it done just for her benefit? Well, this is the first season since the "new era" that the whole tribe failed to negotiate a sit-out deal for enough rice to last the rest of the season, so this may have been in response to that, allowing anyone struggling (including Liz) the chance to sacrifice their own safety for food as an individual choice. On his On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast, the host said it was "upsetting" to see that moment then and even again now. "That's real emotion and absolute vulnerability," he said. He called for a little compassion from viewers, though, already knowing that this moment will live on social media as memes and reactions in the fandom for years to come. "imagine that's you, and for whatever reason you've been triggered in the same way," he implored them. "I mean, that is proof that you forget about the cameras because there's no façade going on there." As for Liz herself, Probst says he has "a lot of empathy" for her, but this is also what she signed up for, a show that would "push you." While he hasn't spoken with her about it, he also thinks it might prove a pivotal moment for Liz. Based on conversations he's had with past players, he believes that "when you reach that bottom and then you realize, ‘You know what, I'm still standing. I'm still here’ — that's where the growth comes." In the meantime, the number of social media posts about the moment continues to grow!

Moderated by Tomas Kauer Moderated by Tomas Kauer
May 3, 2024 - 11:35
Survivor Contestant with Severe Food Allergies Has Epic Tantrum After Missing Out on Applebee's

Liz Wilcox has notably been struggling all season on 'Survivor,' as she's allergic to so many different food options that she's hardly eaten at all -- which set up a shocking "hangry" meltdown when she missed out on an Applebee's reward challenge.

Survivor is a brutal enough game with its frantic pace, physical and mental challenges, and social strategizing, not to mention the lack of food. Throw in severe food allergies that limits one contestant to not eat at all for days and there's the perfect recipe for disaster.

Or at least one epic meltdown.

The perfect storm of ingredients came together on Wednesday's show for Liz Wilcox, who's been playing an aggressive game strategically despite hardly being able to eat anything at all (no coconuts or fruit on the island, while rice has been scarce). But when faced with one of her favorite foods as part of an Applebee's Reward Challenge, she fell apart.

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Supplies have been particular meager in this "new era" of Survivor, so all of the contestants were feeling it by this late stage of the game. So when Jeff Probst announced that the reward for this challenge featured Applebee's burgers, wings, fries ... you can imagine how everyone was salivating.

It was even worse for Liz, who shouted, "My Wednesday night ritual!" Suddenly, there was an emotional component on top of her severe lack of nutrition for weeks on end by this point, as she explained she and her daughter usually go to Applebee's for dinner before watching Survivor in her real life. Her go-to meal, one of their burgers, was also up for the taking.

In the individual challenge, Liz ultimately fell short, losing the challenge to Q. One of the elements of most Survivor challenges is that the winners can often invite one or more people to join them. It can be an element of strategy, but also expose alliances.

That's what happened here, as Q Burdette was invited to bring three people along. He chose the two remaining members of his original Yanu tribe, Tiffany Ervin and Kenzie Petty -- who he's been (mostly) working with since the beginning -- as well as Maria Gonzalez, leaving a bereft Liz on the sidelines.

And she absolutely lost it, screaming "I am pissed!!"

"I see you eat every day," she exclaimed. "Q, you almost threw off my whole game. You overshadowed everything I have strived to do, and I said, 'It's cool. I didn't say nothing!"

While Q did blow up everyone's game by almost quitting the game two weeks ago, overshadowing what Liz saw as her "big move," -- though she's not the only one who claimed the Tevin Davis blindside -- he calmly pointed out that she'd also voted for him to be eliminated at the previous Tribal Council.

Ultimately, it was an emotionally vulnerable moment for Liz that led to an explosion. She did apologize for it, thanking everyone for "letting me go off like that." Though she was still salty about the whole ordeal, especially after the foursome returned from their reward and said they didn't even eat the burger!

Production did orchestrat an opportunity at the next challenge for anyone to sit out in exchange for a personal portion of rice, which Liz opted to do.

Was it done just for her benefit? Well, this is the first season since the "new era" that the whole tribe failed to negotiate a sit-out deal for enough rice to last the rest of the season, so this may have been in response to that, allowing anyone struggling (including Liz) the chance to sacrifice their own safety for food as an individual choice.

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On his On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast, the host said it was "upsetting" to see that moment then and even again now. "That's real emotion and absolute vulnerability," he said.

He called for a little compassion from viewers, though, already knowing that this moment will live on social media as memes and reactions in the fandom for years to come.

"imagine that's you, and for whatever reason you've been triggered in the same way," he implored them. "I mean, that is proof that you forget about the cameras because there's no façade going on there."

As for Liz herself, Probst says he has "a lot of empathy" for her, but this is also what she signed up for, a show that would "push you." While he hasn't spoken with her about it, he also thinks it might prove a pivotal moment for Liz.

Based on conversations he's had with past players, he believes that "when you reach that bottom and then you realize, ‘You know what, I'm still standing. I'm still here’ — that's where the growth comes."

In the meantime, the number of social media posts about the moment continues to grow!

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