CBS Elisabeth Hasselbeck went on to become one of the most famous "Survivor" contestants, garnering a spot on "The View."
Before she was talking about the latest hot topics on “The View” and”Fox & Friends,” best-selling author and Emmy winner Elisabeth Hasselbeck was winning over viewers’ hearts as a beloved competitor on season two of “Survivor.”
The Australian Outback edition of the series was the most-watched in the show’s history, with Elisabeth being present for the epic fight between Alicia and Kimmi over chickens and wavering fingers. She was also there when one of her Kucha tribe members fell into a burning fire, another iconic reality TV moment seared into viewers’ brains. Elisabeth, who previously worked as a Puma shoe designer, came in fourth place on the series and was voted one of the “most liked” among fans, per ABC News.
Elisabeth hasn’t returned to “Survivor” and left “The View” in 2013, so what’s she up to now?
Elisabeth Released a New Children’s Book
The latest project Elisabeth has been promoting is her new children’s book, “Flashlight Night: An Adventure in Trusting God.”
Elisabeth stopped by the “Today” show in February to chat about the story, which she wrote with her three children.
“We needed a way to say, ‘I don’t see what’s going on here, but that’s not going to stop me from trusting you, God,’” Elisabeth explained. “We’re going to see it all, but we can’t right now.”
She also addressed her past on Survivor and killed any fans’ dreams of her returning to the seris. “I was young and brave and I would never do that again. That’s over,” she said with a laugh. “We’ve been surviving in a different way this year.”
Elisabeth Left ‘Fox & Friends’ Because of Her Grueling Schedule
After she was ousted from “The View” in 2013, Elisabeth went on to land a gig at “Fox & Friends.” The show was newsier than “The View,” and she would study until nearly midnight to make sure she was prepared for the next day.
Her alarm would go off at 2:30 a.m. each morning, leaving Elisabeth with less than three hours of sleep most nights. She was so exhausted she would fall asleep at the dinner table and didn’t have enough energy to play outside with her children like she used to.
“When I feel under-qualified I tend to overcompensate,” Elisabeth told The Tennessean in March 2019. “And I’m a workhorse, (but) I was at the point of exhaustion.”
What was happening in the news also affected her. “That year was a really difficult news year — beheadings, attacks, missing planes, officers shot in their car streets from where we are,” she said. “It overwhelmed me.”
By November 2015, Elisabeth was ready to announce she’d be leaving the show. She uprooted her family and moved to Nashville, which she described to The Tennessean as her “soulmate city.”
“Nashville is a city that has eyes that see other people, the space for kindness and the hands to lift someone up when they need it,” the multi-hyphenate told the publication. “It’s a place that sees other people, knows they matter and does something about it.”
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Update on Survivor Australian Outback’s Elisabeth Hasselbeck