Chennai: After successfully launching the first-ever Tamil adaptation of the internationally acclaimed reality show – Survivor, Zee Tamil took viewers on an exhilarating journey of 18 contestants who put their survival instincts as well as their mental and physical strength to the ultimate test. Over the past 90 days, these contestants displayed extraordinary grit and determination as they competed in challenging tasks and came to grips with living on an uninhabited island, while overcoming their worst fears. The contestants including Vikranth, Umapathy, Aishwarya, Saran, Nandha, Vijaya Lakshmi, Lucky Narayan, Inigo Prabhakar, Vanessa Cruz, Amzad Khan, Srushti Dange, Besant Ravi, Parvathy VJ, Gayathri Reddy, Ram C, Lady Kash, Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli, and Indraja Shankar, faced several challenges as they battled it out to win ‘Survivor’. Action King turned host Arjun also kept them on their toes throughout the season with participants facing uncertain twists and turns. However, little did anyone know that the season would come to a close with an unexpected surprise! The Survivor Grand Finale took place on 12th December and after a mega showdown that got everyone’s hearts racing, popular actress Vijayalakshmi emerged as the sole ‘Survivor’ and took home the Rs 1 crore prize money.
Like several contestants, Vijayalakshmi had also endured multiple failures and injuries during tasks throughout the season, but what made her stand out was her resilience and determination to bounce back in the game. In fact, mid-way through the season, she had been eliminated and transferred to ‘Moondram Ulagam.’ However, she fought her own battles with other contestants on ‘Moondram Ulagam’ and won all the challenges by showcasing her wit and determination. Vijayalakshmi’s kindness and solidarity also worked in her favour as she gained her team’s constant support throughout the game. Throughout the season, she also proved that if you believe in something, you can achieve it irrespective of the obstacles that come your way and, in her case, the opponents she faced during the competition and their physical strength, and capabilities.
During Survivor’s Grand Finale, the top 6 contestants namely Umapathy, Aishwarya, Saran, Vijayalakshmi, Lucky Narayan, and Vanessa Cruz had to face off against one another and each one of them had to put their best foot forward. However, in an unexpected turn of events, Aishwarya was eliminated during the tribal panchayat as the other contestants felt that she had become unreliable during the final stages of the game. The elimination of such a powerful contestant left viewers eager to know what will happen next. With Aishwarya’s eviction, the top 5 would have to face each other in the final, epic battle. In the final ‘Survivor’ challenge, Lucky Narayan was eliminated on the spot, meaning that Vijayalakshmi was the first finalist to enter the grand finale. The first finalist also got the special power to choose the second finalist among the other three contestants namely Umapathy, Vanessa Cruz, and Saran.
With Vijayalakshmi choosing Vanessa, Umapathy felt betrayed as the former had earlier promised to choose him as the second finalist. Even though Umapathy had a chance to get back into the game by defeating Saran in the fire-making task, he gave up mid-way as he felt deceived by Vijayalakshmi. That meant, Saran made it to the top three. In the ultimate showdown, the finalists campaigned for themselves in front of the jury members namely Nandha, Amzath Khan, Inigo Prabhakar, Vikranth, Aishwarya, Lucky Narayan, and Umapathy. While Saran and Vijayalakshmi secured equal votes from their co-contestants, there was one more vote left for the sole ‘Survivor’ to be crowned. The nail-biting moment had everyone on the edge of their seats and the decision-making vote ended up in Vijayalakshmi’s favour which helped her win ‘Survivor’ and take home the Rs 1 crore prize money. Vijayalakshmi proved her tenacity, mettle, and perseverance against all odds and emerged as the winner of Zee Tamil’s ‘Survivor.’
