Bonita

Bonita was a contestant on *Survivor: Atlantic Ocean* and *Survivor: Game Changers*.

Instantly applying to get inspiration for her new book, Bonita got the feeling of Survivor immediately. After an successful blindside against Rosalyn, Bonita grew close to Yamen and Hope and made an majority alliance consisting of herself, Hope, Sharon and Leah to take out their opponents. Bonita was very smart and calculated during this time, giving Sharon and Leah room to make themselves targets while she did the behind the scenes work. Bonita made it to the merge easily, never been viewed as a target while playing the game very hard. At a certain time, she became very game bott-y and even tried to turn against her alliance. This backfired and caused Bonita to be seen as flashy and all-over-the-place. Bonita stayed frustrated as her former ally, Sharon, kept winning challenges. Eventually, she faced Sharon together with outcast Whitney. Because of Bonita's aggressive gameplay and attitude at the later stage of the game, she lost against Sharon in an 7-1-1 vote.

In *Game Changers*, Bonita came back determined to not let history repeat itself again. Forming close bonds on day one, with fellow former runner-up Angelina, she took over the Davui tribe and was a major force through the pre-merge portion of the game, which rubbed some people the wrong way. At the merge, Bonita became public enemy number one for her pushing behavior and her extreme urge to play hard and dominant. She clashed with former ally Gina after the two got a major disagreement regarding Chase's blindside, which Bonita wanted to organize by herself. Having a strong alliance, Bonita was able to outlast both and made it to the final five where it seemed like Bonita wasn't having a chance at winning anymore. To her surprise she was eliminated via Rachel's orb that saved Bonita's arch-rival Indiana. Leaving at a very emotional tribal council, Bonita finally gained the respect she hoped for.

As one of the more complex characters, Bonita has received mixed reactions. While a lot of viewers, and alumni, have described her as one of their least favorite players, many praise her for her will to play hard and being heavily misunderstood. Her change of personality after her elimination in *Game Changers* raised respect for Bonita.

## Survivor: Atlantic Ocean

**Name:** Bonita

**Tribe:** Ascension

**Personal Claim to Fame:** I have published my own book, "As Sharp As Glass", which was the best-selling book in my town in 2019.

**Inspiration in Life:** This will sound *very* cliche but once a chapter ends, continue your story. Many doors will get closed in front of your face and the challenge is to open them again and continue.

**Hobbies:** Besides writing and doing lots of research, I do love walking on the beach with my husband, going to lectures and watching British crime series on the BBC.

**Pet Peeves:** Loud noises, terrorism, racism, hate in general and publishers who claim to be full of manuscripts but just reject you for the matter of fun.

**3 Words to Describe You:** Secluded, Astute, Studious.

**If You Could Have 3 Things on The Island What Would They Be And Why?** Give me a notebook, a pencil and my phone for research and I'll be living like an angel on the island.

**Reason for Being on Survivor:** As a disciplined writer, I often dare to go to the extreme situations for inspiration of my books. Besides the fact that I'm an huge fan of the Survivor series, I feel like I could get tons of inspiration while being on the island. I'm very interested to see how this game plays out in reality and if I have what it takes to be a Sole Survivor.

**Why You Think You Will Be the Sole Survivor:** I am a story-teller, so it's easy to make people believe the stories I'm telling them. Also, I am not the person who easily backstabs and lies so that's another reason to keep me.

## Survivor: Game Changers

**Name:** Bonita

**Tribe Designation:** Davui

**Player she respects the most:** Manuella, our first African-American *female* winner. She's such a icon and is the face of POC Survivor if you ask me. I owe her a lot as she was part of the reason I decided to apply for *Atlantic Ocean*.

**Player she respects the least:** Whitney. The fact that we tied at final tribal council with both getting one vote just makes my stomach turn, not kidding. I played so hard and made incredible moves while Whitney just got dragged along and made nonsense comments all the damn time.

**Previous Finishes:** robbed Runner-Up.

**Favorite Past Moment:** I think my favorite moment actually came *after* the season as I published my book and made a lot of money. That healed the wound of not winning the game. I think that if my opponent wasn't Sharon, I would've won the game fairly easy. I'm really convinced on that.

**Why Did You Come Back?:** I'm ready to write a sequel so I'm ready for another go on this season. In all honesty - I was robbed. I lost to an incredibly strong female player which is understandable but only receive *one* (!!!) vote to win is a big crime. If I could've turned back time for one event, I would've changed that moment. And now that I'm getting a second shot at the game, I'll do anything to not make history repeat itself again.

## Trivia

* Bonita was one of the 40 ballot members for *Survivor: Game Changers*.
	+ She was one of the 20 players to get enough votes to make part of the cast.
* Bonita made it to the finale episode in both her seasons.