survivor winner toronto

Toronto woman who won Survivor surprises staff at local bakery

Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably know that the winner of season 41 of Survivor is from Toronto. But it might have escaped your attention that she recently hit up a local bakery for some yummy cookies.

32-year-old Erika Casupanan is actually the first ever Canadian winner of the show. 

She surprised staff at The Night Baker's College location with a visit on Jan. 13 around 12:30 p.m.

Owner Mitchell Cabrera and his wife Leanne are Survivor fans and incorporate Filipino influences into their cookies, so they were ecstatic when Filipino-Canadian Casupanan showed up at the shop.

"Me and my wife Leanne have been watching Survivor together for a while now," Cabrera tells blogTO. "We watched the show religiously week after week rooting for Erika and were over the moon with joy when we saw that she had won."

It also just so happened to be the day after Mitchell's birthday, so the visit was a bit like a belated present.

The bakery posted about the surprise on Instagram, Casupanan commenting, "You were both awesome and the cookies were AMAZING. Thank you."

"It was very exciting to meet Erika," says Cabrera.

She picked up some ube cookies for her friends that day, but apparently has had their cookies before and loved them.

"We told her that we were so proud of her and it was so special for us to see a fellow Filipino on screen, thriving and winning," says Cabrera.

"She represented Filipinos really well on the show by always being positive and fighting for everything especially when times got tough. I think we can relate to her a lot because as Filipino immigrants we are sometimes overlooked but when given a chance we can do amazing things and she definitely showed that on the show."

She thanked them for their support, and of course they told her she's welcome back at Night Baker any time.

Lead photo by

Night Baker


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in Eat & Drink

Even people from Loblaws' own team are joining the boycott of its stores

Trip to Iceland leaves traveller shocked at food prices compared to Canada

40 essential bubble tea in Toronto you need to try at least once

Someone created a guide to where to buy groceries in Toronto instead of No Frills

Here's what's opening in the old Brickworks Ciderhouse space in Toronto

Food prices are so high that many Canadians are eating stuff past best-before dates

Huge lineup of people looking to apply at restaurant shows reality of Toronto job market

One of Toronto's most-hyped steakhouses will be leaving longtime location