Survivor winner reveals jaw-dropping amount she lost from $1 million prize money
Speaking on the Financial Tea with Mrs. Dow Jones podcast, the Survivor star discussed what happens behind the scenes and how much of the prize pot she got to keep.
After being crowned Sole Survivor and securing the $1 million grand prize, the 32-year-old opened up about the massive tax bill that followed.
Savannah described the experience as a “punch to the gut,” noting that the tax debt alone far exceeded her entire annual income from previous years.
The Georgia resident was asked: “How much of that are you actually getting after tax?”
She replied: “Oh, my God, girl, it is painful. It’s actually devastating.
“So I have already paid my taxes, obviously, from the past year and I think I paid, of that million dollars, $380,000.
“It was like a punch to the gut, because that’s more money than I have ever made in a year by far, especially when I was working as a journalist.
“My first couple of jobs out of college, I was at 30k a year and so to sign a cheque over for that high was unreal. It hurt.”
She continued: “Canadians get to keep all that money. They don’t have to pay taxes.
“There actually was a winner who was from Canada a few years ago, and so the money that’s in her pocket is a little different from the money in mine.
“At the same time, living in Atlanta, I’m very grateful that I’m there and not, like, probably California.”
On having to wait patiently for her winnings, she explained: “This is actually sickening.
“So we played the game in summer and you can get a very small advance of maybe $10,000, but other than that they’re keeping that money because with Survivor or maybe other reality shows, I’m not sure, there are NDAs in place.
“So I know who the winner is. Our cast knows who the winner is, but production doesn’t want that to get out and so they have that cheque at the end of the day that’s kind of looming.
“We have to wait until the finale airs before we get that payout.
“For me, our finale aired in December, so I was waiting a long time, very patiently.”
After winning her season, Savannah was asked back to compete on Survivor 50.
The former winner ended up leaving the competition early and was the second person to be voted out.
