Deena Ramirez Bennett is a contestant from Survivor: The Amazon.
As the leader of the Jaburu tribe, Deena was in charge of the Jaburu Alliance for a long time and controlled many votes. However, an aggressive attempt to prematurely blindside her ally Alex Bell led to her own alliance turning on her.
Profile[]
Retrieved from CBS.com
Name: Deena Bennett
Age: 35
Marital Status: Married
Occupation: Deputy District Attorney
Hometown: Riverside, CA
Luxury Item: Water Balloons
Bennett currently works as a Deputy District Attorney assigned to the Sexual Assault Child Abuse Unit in Riverside County, Calif. In her words, "If you hurt, abuse or kill a child, then I am your worst nightmare. Criminal prosecution is my game, protecting the innocent is my aim." She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State, Fullerton and a Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota. She would like to be a Superior Court Judge (and has since the 4th grade). She is a member of the Inland Inferno Triathlon Club and the California State Bar.
Bennett enjoys participating in triathlons, adventure racing and sleeping. She's traveled to Brazil before because she wanted to see the rainforests. She's also traveled to Australia to climb Ayers Rock and dive the Great Barrier Reef. She describes herself as spirited, adventurous and intense. She is most proud of being a mom despite her career accomplishments. If given the choice of being a superhero, she'd want to be Batman because he has all the cool toys and Alfred ("Every mommy in the world needs an Alfred."). Her hero is her husband, Paul, who works as a sheriff's deputy. If she wins the $1 million, she's getting new flooring for her house.
Bennett and her husband have two boys, Zachary and Caleb. They live in Riverside, Calif., with their two dogs, birds and fish. Her birth date is February 12, 1967.[1]
Survivor[]
Deena was placed on the all-female Jaburu tribe. She was happy because see did not have to worry about privacy and was on an equal playing field because the tribe was all of the same sex. However, camp life was unorganized due to a lack of leadership. Despite that, the women eventually won the first challenge of the season because the men of the Tambaqui tribe (most notably Ryan Aiken and Daniel Lue) had trouble with the balance beam. The women's winning streak continued when they won the next Reward Challenge. Despite that, camp was still unorganized. Things got worse when a granola bar wrapper was discovered at camp. Jeanne Hebert felt that Janet Koth smuggled the bar. Jaburu lost the second Immunity Challenge and Janet was voted out for being the weakest person on the tribe, as well for being blamed for the alleged smuggling incident.
Jaburu then won the Reward Challenge for toiletries. Deena was voted the leader of the tribe. Under Deena's leadership, camp life improved significantly. Jaburu also won the next Immunity Challenge. Deena was approached by Shawna Mitchell about joining the Jaburu Alliance with her, Heidi Strobel, and Jenna Morasca. Feeling that she could easily control the young women, Deena accepted. Tambaqui won the Reward Challenge and after the loss, Shawna had a breakdown and asked to be voted out. Shawna was complaining so much that Deena became annoyed by it. After Jaburu lost the following Immunity Challenge, Shawna asked for her request to be granted. However, Deena wanted to vote out JoAnna Ward because of her threat status. Deena felt that Shawna needed to be stronger, so she convinced Christy Smith to vote out JoAnna. Deena's plan came to fruition and JoAnna was voted out in a 4-2-1 vote.
Jeanne was very angry that JoAnna was voted out instead Shawna. Deena tried to tell her that she was important, but Jeanne didn't believe it. Shawna was also angry that she was still in the game. The next Tree Mail said that the youngest member of each tribe (in Jaburu's case, Jenna) would go on a night of fun. When Jenna returned, she revealed that Heidi, Christy, and Jeanne would go to Tambaqui. They would be replaced by Alex Bell, Rob Cesternino, and Matthew von Ertfelda. Shawna sparked back up in the presence of the men, particularly Alex. Deena was worried about this as she may be into Alex more that a women's alliance. Jaburu won the next Immunity Challenge. At the following Reward Challenge, Deena sat out and Tambaqui won the challenge. Deena was approached by Rob to form an alliance, which Deena accepted. After losing the next Immunity Challenge, Alex and Shawna decided to vote out Matthew. With the rest of the tribe worried about loyalty, Shawna was voted out.
Deena missed Shawna because of the spark she had. The next day, the tribes were allowed to open the box that had been there since Day 1 revealing that the tribes had merged into the Jacaré tribe. Deena immediately got into conflict with Roger Sexton because of their personalities, though she initially targeted Dave Johnson for his athleticism. However, Heidi and Jenna convinced Deena to vote out Roger so that he would not make the jury because he would not vote for a woman at the Final Tribal Council. Deena won the first post-merge Immunity Challenge after beating Christy in rock-paper-scissors. Everything fell into motion and Roger was voted out in a 7-3 vote. Deena was particularly happy that Roger was gone. At the Reward Challenge, Deena was teamed with Dave and Alex. They won the first round and made it to the final round. Although she did not win the challenge herself, Dave picked Deena to go on reward with him since she picked the number he was thinking of. Dave tried to turn the vote against Matthew, who was scaring the tribe with his creepy behavior. When they returned from their food reward, Dave and Deena proceeded to eat the tribe's dinner, which irked Jenna. Jenna won the next immunity and Dave was unanimously voted out.
Deena started worrying about Alex's threat status and wanted to vote him out should Matthew win immunity. At the Reward Challenge, Deena was eliminated in the second round. Alex won the challenge and picked Jenna to join him. While they were away, Deena talked to Heidi and Rob about voting out Alex in case Matthew won immunity, and they were both seemingly onboard with Deena's plan. The Immunity Challenge was an eating contest. Deena made it to the final round, though she made no attempt to eat the live grub. This allowed Matthew to win immunity. With Jenna also agreeing to her plan, Deena was confident that Alex was going to be voted out. However, Deena was blindsided by her own alliance at Tribal Council.
At the Final Tribal Council, Deena asked Jenna if the jury's vote should be based on need rather than gameplay. Jenna said that need is something she would consider in her own jury vote. Deena pointed out that Matthew had earlier said. "May the best man win", which she viewed as sexist. Matthew did not remember saying it, but stated that he regretted saying it anyway and that he was not a chauvinist. Matthew said he was happy that Deena brought it up because it may reflect the fact that he had assumed a male victory. Deena thanked the finalists for their answers. More impressed with Jenna's gameplay, Deena voted for her to win.
| Episode | Tribe Affiliation |
Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jaburu | Unchained | Immunity | No | Won |
| 2 | Flip Out | Reward | No | Won | |
| Total Recall | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| 3 | Matchmaker | Reward | No | Won | |
| The Great Escape | Immunity | No | Won | ||
| 4 | Light My Fire | Reward | No | Lost | |
| Gone Fishin' | Reward/Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| 5 | Up The Creek | Immunity | No | Won | |
| 6 | Log Jam | Reward | Yes | Lost | |
| Piranha Feast | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| Tribes Merged, Day 20 | |||||
| 7 | Jacaré | Perch | Immunity | Won | |
| 8 | Mud Bungee | Reward | Invited | ||
| Face Off | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 9 | Weapons | Reward | Lost | ||
| Amazon Menu | Immunity | Lost | |||
| Voted Out, Day 27 | |||||
Post-Survivor[]
- On January 9, 2010, Deena attended Survivor's 10-year anniversary party.
Trivia[]
- Deena's luxury items were water balloons.
- Deena only voted against females before the merge and only voted against males after the merge.
- Deena is the first Latin American contestant to last longer than 6 days in the game.
- Deena is the only juror on The Amazon to never be a member of Tambaqui.
- Deena lost 30 lbs. during her time on The Amazon.[2]
References[]
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