Chrissy Hofbeck

Christine "Chrissy" Bass Hofbeck^[2]^[3] is a contestant from Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers.

Initially perceived an outsider in the original Levu tribe, Chrissy proved to be a strategic force, securing herself a tight alliance with Ryan Ulrich, who had gifted her the Super Idol on Day 1, and JP Hilsabeck following a Tribe Switch. After the merge, the trio joined the remaining Levu and Yawa tribe members to form the Solewa majority alliance. Unfortunately, the trio would find themselves relegated to the minority at the final nine after the other four members decided to flip on the initial alliance. Chrissy would then go on to win four Immunity Challenges, tying the record for most wins for a female contestant in a season, and securing herself a spot in the Final Tribal Council. However, her social game was seen as lacking by the jury, which ultimately caused her to finish second to Ben Driebergen in a 5-2-1 vote.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

Age: 46
Hometown: Bernardsville, N.J.
Current Residence: Lebanon Township, N.J.
Occupation: Actuary
Hobbies: Adventure travel, any kind of puzzle, and cheering on my kids at their sports and activities.
Pet peeves: When someone doesn't hold a fork correctly and eats like a caveman.
Three words to describe you: Mushy, happy, and efficient.
What's your personal claim to fame? I've traveled through all seven continents! I'm proud of having graduated from Penn (as a math major!) and MIT. And mostly, I'm really proud of the three incredible humans that my husband and I have raised.
Who or what is your inspiration in life? My husband and my children - they are just amazing in every way. Anyone who is afraid but goes for it anyway. Women in math.
If you could have three things on the island, what would they be and why? A photo of my family since they'd get me through the super tough days, a blanket because I hate being cold, and tweezers.
Which Survivor contestant are you most like? Probably Tai Trang. He falls in love with everyone but gets cut-throat when he needs to. Or Spencer Bledsoe, who never gives up or stops looking for cracks.
What's your reason for being on Survivor? The adventure! But it's an adventure with a goal, and I am a super competitive, Type A overachiever. I will win!
Why do you think you'll "survive" Survivor? I am smart, lovable, and driven, and people like to help me, a combination that has led to great success. I get along with everyone, work hard, and always think "I can do it!"^[4]

Survivor[]

Chrissy was initially placed on the Levu tribe consisting of "Heroes" for her story as a mom who came back into the workforce.^[5] Right away, she appeared to bond with fellow mom Katrina Radke. After Levu lost the season's first Immunity Challenge on Day 3, she threw up. Before Tribal Council, Chrissy found an advantage in her bag, which was anonymously given to her by Ryan Ulrich and turned out to be a super idol, which was only good for the first Tribal Council. At Tribal Council however, she did not play the idol and joined the others in unanimously voting out Katrina.

The next day, she aligned with Ben Driebergen after discovering cracks within the initial Levu alliance. Levu then proceeded to win the next two challenges. When a Tribe Switch occurred on Day 9, she and JP Hilsabeck were switched to the Soko tribe. On Soko, Ryan revealed to Chrissy that he sent her the super idol, which bonded them together. When Soko lost immunity on Day 14 after Chrissy struggled at the challenge, Chrissy approached Roark Luskin for strategy talk, but Roark believed that she was untrustworthy for only talking strategy with her before Tribal Council, so Chrissy targeted her. To save herself, Chrissy told JP that Roark proposed an all-girls' alliance, and JP instantly agreed to vote out Roark. At Tribal Council, Roark was voted out in a 3-2 vote. When Soko lost immunity again, Chrissy joined JP and Ryan in voting out Ali Elliott.

After the tribes merged into the Solewa tribe on Day 17, she regrouped with Ben, and the two, along with JP and Ryan, joined the majority alliance. At the next Tribal Council, Chrissy was targeted by the Soko Alliance for her intelligence, but was saved by her allies, and Jessica Johnston was voted out. When Chrissy's team won the Reward Challenge on Day 20, both Chrissy and Ryan found a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol back at camp during the reward. Unfortunately, Cole Medders had seen the clue as well and raced Chrissy to the idol upon returning to camp. However, neither found the idol as Ryan had already obtained it. After Cole won the next Immunity Challenge, the alliance voted Desi Williams out instead. Although Cole was still the target after he lost the following Immunity Challenge, Chrissy and Ashley Nolan became increasingly fed up with Joe Mena and wanted to target him instead. However, Ben was adamant on eliminating Cole, causing friction within the majority. At Tribal Council, the alliance stuck together and voted Cole out.

The following day, Chrissy and Ryan discussed targeting Ben and Lauren Rimmer after eliminating Joe and Mike Zahalsky. However, she experienced her first misfortune at the next Tribal Council as JP was blindsided by a new alliance led by Lauren. Returning from Tribal Council, Chrissy believed that she was on the bottom along with Ben and Ryan, though was unaware that Ben was in on the plan to take out JP and was playing double agent. With her neck on the line, Chrissy won the next Immunity Challenge. She, Ben, and Ryan then agreed to target Ashley, but Ben revealed his duplicity at Tribal Council and joined Ashley, Lauren, and Devon Pinto in voting Joe out.

Returning from Tribal Council, Chrissy found out that Ben was playing double agent, which caused the two to get into an argument. The next day, she met her husband Keith at the Loved Ones Challenge. Chrissy then won the challenge and chose to share the reward with Ashley, Mike, and Ryan, believing that Ashley would be the easiest to turn against the majority. When Ashley won immunity, Ben apologized to Chrissy for backstabbing her, and told her about Lauren's idol and Extra Vote advantage. In a chaotic Tribal Council, Mike and Ryan told her to vote for Ben, which she refused. However, she ended up voting against him, but Ben used his own idol to blindside Lauren with his sole vote.

Chrissy and Devon then won the next Reward Challenge and chose to share the reward with Ryan. On the trip, she proposed a Final Three deal with them, which they accepted. Chrissy then won the next Immunity Challenge, and while Ben was the target, she wanted to vote for Ashley, feeling that she had built better relationships throughout the game. At Tribal Council, Ben played his idol before the votes were cast, forcing the five to turn on each other, and Ashley was unanimously voted out. When Chrissy again won immunity the following day, she chose to share her reward with Devon and Mike. They searched for an idol clue on the reward, but were unable to find one. Chrissy told Devon and Mike about her super idol from the first Tribal Council and that she planned to trick Ben into thinking that she found a new idol so that he would not search for one himself, but was unaware that Ben already found the real idol. Ben spent the day pretending to believe that Chrissy had the real idol.

At Tribal Council, Chrissy pulled out her now-defunct super idol and continued her charade, while Ben continued acting as though he would get voted out that night. Before the votes were read, Chrissy offered her idol to her alliance; Mike was prepared to play it to continue the charade, but Ben pulled out his idol to play on himself, negating the three votes against him and shocking the others, resulting in a 1-1-0 tie between Devon and Mike. Chrissy, Ben, and Ryan went to revote, where both Chrissy and Ryan voted out Mike. On Day 38, Chrissy won the Final Immunity Challenge, but along with the win came a twist for her as well. When she read it, is was revealed that she had to choose one of the remaining three to take to the Final Three, which would force the other two to compete in a fire-making challenge . Chrissy felt that Devon would have a better chance to beat Ben than Ryan would; she told Devon and Ryan her plans with the advantage. At Tribal Council she saved Ryan, but Ben beat Devon in the challenge.

At the Final Tribal Council, Chrissy was praised by Ashley, Cole, Desi, Joe, and Lauren for her challenge prowess, but Joe criticized their relationship and told her that she ignored the social aspect, Desi questioned her on why she, Devon, and Ryan allowed Ben to look for idols, and Cole asked her how she created social relationships with people. She received votes from Ashley and Mike, which were enough to make her the runner-up. She defeated Ryan who came in third place with one vote, but lost to Ben, who won with five votes.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Levu	Race to Shore	Reward	No	2nd
1		Tracks of My Tears	Immunity	No	Lost
2		Crossroads	Reward/Immunity	No	2nd
3		Block in a Hard Place	Reward/Immunity	No	1st
Switched Tribes, Day 9
4	Soko	Tangled Up	Reward	No	Lost
4		The Color and the Shape	Immunity	No	2nd
5		Head Long Flight	Reward	Yes	Lost
5		Rice Race	Immunity	No	Lost
6		A-Tension Span	Reward	No	1st
6		Discy Business	Immunity	No	Lost
Tribes Merged, Day 17
7	Solewa	Will It Go Round	Immunity		Lost
8		Air Raid	Reward	No	Won
8		Ten-Foot Pole	Immunity		Lost
9		Hear About It Ladder	Reward		Won
9		Squatty Probst	Immunity		Lost
10		The Game is Afoot	Reward		Lost
		Bermuda Triangles	Immunity	No	Lost
		Kenny Log-Ins	Reward		Lost
		Driving Wheel	Immunity		Won
11		Love on the Rocks	Reward		Won
11		This Much	Immunity		Lost
12		The Bottom Line	Reward		Won
12		Franklin's Tower	Immunity		Won
13		Might as Well Jump	Reward/Immunity		Won
13		You Shook Me	Immunity		Won
Runner-Up, Day 39

Episode	Chrissy's Votes	Voted Against Chrissy
1	Katrina	-
2	Levu Tribe Immune
3	Levu Tribe Immune
4	Soko Tribe Immune
5	Roark	Ali, Roark
6	Ali	-
7	Jessica	Cole, Desi, Jessica, Joe, Mike
8	Joe; Desi¹	-
9	~~Mike~~²	-
10	Joe	-
10	Ashley	Individual Immunity
11	~~Ben~~³	-
12	Ashley	Individual Immunity
13	~~Ben~~; Mike⁴	Individual Immunity
Jury Votes for Chrissy	Ashley, Mike
Runner-Up, Day 39

^1 In "Playing with the Devil", the vote ended with a 4-4 tie between Desi and Joe, forcing a revote. Chrissy changed her vote to Desi on the revote.
^2 In "Fear of the Unknown", Mike used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Chrissy's vote against him.
^3 In "Not Going to Roll Over and Die", Ben used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Chrissy's vote against him.
^4 In "Million Dollar Night", Ben used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Chrissy's vote against him. Also, the vote ended with a 1-1-0 tie between Devon and Mike, forcing a revote. Chrissy changed her vote to Mike on the revote.

Post-Survivor[]

Chrissy was featured in her own TED Talk segment,^[6] where she discussed her experience during the game and how playing Survivor positively changed her outlook on life.
In 2023, Chrissy revealed that she would be undergoing a preventive bilateral mastectomy, oophorectomy and salpingectomy.^[7]

Trivia[]

There were numerous revisions on Chrissy's CBS bio, such as stating that her occupation is a financial analyst and that the past Survivor contestant she is most like was Jenna Morasca.^[8] While some changes, such as her occupation and hometown were likely corrections, her other changed answers, such as her answer to the Survivor contestant she is most like, were changed for unknown reasons.^[9]
Chrissy is the first woman to have obtained a super idol.
Chrissy is the highest ranking woman on Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers.
Chrissy lost 7 lbs. (3.17 kg) during her time on Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers.^[10]
Chrissy is the fourth woman to win four individual Immunity Challenges in a season, following Kelly Wiglesworth in Borneo, Jenna Morasca in The Amazon, and Kim Spradlin in One World.
- Chrissy is the oldest woman to achieve this feat.