I don’t know how many of you watched the Survivor China finale the other night. There were four remaining Survivors – Denise (the lunch lady), Courtney (the waifish waitress), Todd (the schemer), and Amanda (the beauty queen). The field needed to be whittled down to the final three. Denise knew she was on the outside, but Amanda assured her she would not write her name on the ballot to eliminate her. I mean she said, “I will guarantee you I will not vote for you tonight.” Denise, one of the older competitors on the show, was a fan favorite.
Well, of course, Amanda did write Denise’s name down and Denise was eliminated in fourth place. Of the remaining three, Todd, who I felt was the most deserving, went on to win the million dollar prize. But, at the follow-up show, Denise mentioned that she lost her lunch lady job because she was considered too much of a distraction to the kids. She said she was working second shift now and missed events with her family. The producers, feeling sorry for her having lost her job due to the show, gave her $50,000.
That was nice – I was glad to see Denise walk away with some money from the show. But, maybe not everyone feels that way.
Now, Nancy T. Lane, the superintendent of Douglas Public School in Douglas, MA, said that Denise lied on air. When she talked about losing her job, it did make the school she worked for look a bit bad. Nancy claims that Denise was actually promoted to the position of custodian – a position Denise herself asked for. Nancy says that Denise was a lunch lady, but was promoted to custodian (which had more benefits and a higher salary) on March 30, 2007 and that once Survivor China was over (in August), she returned to that position.
Nancy has spoken to Denise and Denise apologized, but really gave no good explanation for what she said. Nancy said that the school tried to support Denise when she was on Survivor, giving her the three months off plus additional time when needed.
Nancy said, “I think we have a few things to go over” but did say that Denise still had her job waiting for her when she returned to Douglas after filming the follow-up.
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