Joan Caballero

**Joan Caballero** is a contestant from *Australian Survivor* (2017).

Entering the game with a strategy to align herself with others, Joan initially rubbed others the wrong way when she was the only one to sleep in on Day 2. After failing at the puzzle, along with Kent Nelson, Joan targeted him; however, Samantha Gash convinced her alliance to eliminate Joan. Despite Luke Toki wanting to turn the tables and eliminate Kent, and the vote initially closing at a 6-6 tie, both Jericho Malabonga and Ben Morgan changed their votes on the revote, sending Joan home with a 7-3 vote.

## Profile

*Retrieved from 10play.com.au*

**Age:** 29
**Occupation:** Escape Room Owner
**State:** NSW
**Tribe:** Asaga

If anyone knows how to handle tough situations, it is Joan. Pregnant at 16, she found herself temporarily homeless but she never gave up.

"I have fought my whole life and for everything I believe in. When I was 16, I fell pregnant and my parents kicked me out of home. I slept at a bus stop for three days and could have given up, but I went back to school and faced the challenges. I gave birth during the summer holidays and later graduated. I fought to the end and that's what I will do again on *Australian Survivor*."

Now a mum of three, Joan runs escape rooms with her partner Frank where they design and run games and puzzles for people to participate in. Joan is confident that experience will help her in challenges," she said.

"I'm a big fan of the series and it's been my lifelong dream to be part of *Survivor*. I think it is part of the reason behind the job I do. I want to design games like the ones I have seen on *Survivor*."

A former school debating champion, Joan is not afraid to tell people her opinion but as a fan of the series, she also knows that sometimes less is more. "I will need to learn to not be so loud when I am there and tone down my opinion. I believe in myself but can come across as overconfident, so I need to learn to fly under the radar a little bit," she said.

"The hero in me wants to shout from the rooftops that you can go out and achieve anything you want, but the villain in me wants to step over anyone to get what I want. I can't say whether I'm a hero or a villain. It's 2017, can I be a hybrid?"

In anticipation for her time on the island, Joan has been doing boot camp, weight training and learning to ration her food. She admits her husband Frank thinks she is crazy for applying, as he thinks she loves food too much to survive on rations.

While leaving her family at home will be the hardest thing she has had to do, Joan knows the reasons why she is there. "It has been a lifelong dream of mine to be on *Survivor*. I tell my children to always follow their dreams so I would be a hypocrite if I didn't try this."

## Australian Survivor

Joan started the game on the Asaga tribe, but almost immediately got off on the wrong foot with some of her tribemates by saying she slept very well and saying she is not great at cardio. This caused some concern that she might not be pulling her weight in camp and could only play certain roles in the challenges. She also proclaimed to be great at puzzles, only for her and Kent Nelson to fail at the puzzle portion of the Day 3 Immunity Challenge and cost their tribe immunity. Both Joan and Kent targeted each other out of necessity, but Kent was more successful in making stronger alliances and friendships.

Sam's decision to split the vote and Luke Toki's desire to go against Sam's plan gave Joan a chance of survival. Joan heaped the pressure on Kent at Tribal Council, saying she was the main contributor in the puzzle. That commented seemed to have backfired when Kent scolded Joan for putting the entire blame on him when they both failed to win. Luke forced a 6-6 tie, but his allies Ben Morgan and Jericho Malabonga escaped a deadlock situation by flipping their votes from Kent to Joan. A 7-3 revote ended Joan's time in Samoa, finishing in 24th place.

* Challenge History
* Voting History

 Flint | Reward
 Uprising | Immunity

**^1** In "Episode 1", the vote ended with a 6-6 tie between Joan and Kent, forcing a revote. Ben and Jericho changed their votes to Joan on the revote, eliminating her from the game.

## Post-Survivor

* Joan gave birth to her fourth child, Lucas, on July 29, 2018.
* Joan gave birth to her fifth child, Luna, on July 29, 2019.

## Trivia

* Joan is one of three Asian-Australian castaways on *Australian Survivor* (2017); she is Filipino. She is the only Asian-Australian woman on the season.
* Joan is the first person in *Australian Survivor* to be the first person voted out and not be voted out unanimously.
* Joan and Russell Hantz are currently tied for the most votes received at an *Australian Survivor* Tribal Council, with 13.

## References

1. ↑ https://10play.com.au/australian-survivor/participants/season-2/joan/pa190708ajmzl
2. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl2UA7ahIxN/?taken-by=cyclonejoan
3. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/B0hTU7OAxOD/