After 50 gruelling days in Savusavu, Pia Miranda outwitted, outplayed and outlasted Baden Gilbert and Harry Hills to take out the title of Sole Survivor. And while the hard work paid off— she was crowned the winner of Australian Survivor: Champions vs Contenders during last night’s emotional episode— the fan favourite says we won’t be seeing her on our screens again anytime soon!
“Who knows what will happen to me. I would never do another reality show … never. I came in, I went hard and I bailed,” the 46-year-old told The Daily Telegraph.
Despite scoring a whopping $500,000 (which she plans to put towards paying off her mortgage), the Looking For Alibrandi actress said that her time on the survival show nearly broke her. In fact, after her lengthy stint in Fiji, she left the country with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
WATCH: The moment Pia Miranda wins Survivor Australia 2019
“I honestly felt like I had a bit of PTSD,” she said before admitting she even began to think her own family was plotting against her. “I told myself, ”My family isn’t plotting against me,” but some days I’d struggle to look them in the eye. I kept saying, ‘I have to keep an eye on everyone.” But I was just being paranoid.”
The star’s struggle to adjust back to normal life was so immense she was unable to use an inside toilet at first, instead choosing to go outside behind a tree.
Although she was tipped to win from the get go, her time on the show was plagued with accusations that she cheated during one of the toughest challenges we’ve seen to date. The contestants were challenged to hang onto a bar for 90 minutes, first with both hands, then with two. In the final moments, Simon slipped off taking himself out of the challenge and soon after Luke did the same. However, in-between Simon and Luke bowing out of the challenge, eagle-eyed viewers spotted Pia appearing to grip the bar with both hands.
Taking to Instagram, Pia—who recently opened up about the shock medical condition she was diagnosed with during filming— attempted to clear up the controversy.
“In regards to the edit showing me apparently changing arms,” she wrote, “I was changing them throughout the challenge when it was 2 arms to give each one a rest. I can only assume vision came from that period of the challenge.”
After Janine Allis was eliminated from the gruelling competition a few weeks back, the Boost Juice founder told WHO that she was always gunning for her bestie, Pia, to win!
“We hit it off from the get-go,” the Godmother told us.”When you are going through an experience where people lie and manipulate you all day, it’s nice to have someone you can trust… and I trusted her with my life. “She was my moral compass and I was really lucky to find someone like that. She honestly kept me sane. And she was my snuggle buddy, too!”
Since filming wrapped, Janine says they’re still the best of friends, admitting they’eve even discussed going into business together.
“We want to start a podcast or do a show together,” she said. “We literally speak every single day and our daughters are best friends as well. It is just so nice to have come out of that experience with such an amazing friend.”
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