Toronto woman becomes the first Canadian to win on Survivor

The first ever Canadian winner of Survivor lives in Toronto.

Season 41 of the show wrapped up on Wednesday with Toronto's Erika Casupanan, 32, winning in a 7-1-0 vote over Deshawn Radden and Xander Hastings, to become the first Canadian winner of the American reality show.

I must be a witch bc I just broke a curse #survivor #survivor41

— Erika Casupanan (@erika_cas) December 16, 2021

Canadians were only allowed to become contestants in season 39. Casupanan was also the first woman to win the physically challenging show in seven seasons.

Casupanan quit her Toronto job as a communications manager with Kijiji Canada to join the show. Originally from Niagara Falls, she describes herself as "fun, fearless and empathetic," traits that no doubt helped her win, but she told Entertainment Weekly her confidence wavered.

"I go back and forth between being super confident, but also being someone who suffered from imposter syndrome," she said.

It’s Survivor 41 ✨finale day✨

Tune in to see who wins the title of Sole Survivor on @CBS 🇺🇸 and @GlobalTV 🇨🇦#survivor #survivor41 #Survivorcbs pic.twitter.com/Wvhausf0W0

— Erika Casupanan (@erika_cas) December 15, 2021

When asked which was cooler the win as a woman or as the first Canadian, Casupanan pointed out that there were actually three great things.

"I wanna say that it's actually a three-way tie between breaking the drought of a woman winning, being the first Canadian winner, and being the first person of Filipino descent to win American Survivor," she told Entertainment Weekly.

Erika is almost there, let’s get her there before the finale! 🔜 https://t.co/dF9OMTgLTJ pic.twitter.com/Q7T5SCcoOL

— Survivor Diversity Campaign (@SurvDiversity) December 14, 2021

Casupanan takes home a $1 million prize, and she already has plans for the money.

"Number one, figure up the U.S. to Canadian taxation situation," she said.

"But my second priority has always been making sure that I set up my parents with whatever they need. My parents worked so hard to make sure I'm in a position to make my dream of winning Survivor come true. So my number one priority is my parents. And then my number three priority is buying some really expensive handbags."