Survivor Winner Tina Wesson Pranked Someone Weekly During Her Season For A Hilarious Reason

Since Survivor premiered in the year 2000, hundreds of people have played on Jeff Probst’s popular reality show. While that is incredible, even new fans who are figuring out which seasons to watch first will recognize that some players stand out. After all, the players who get medically evacuated and the greatest players ever who competed during the best seasons are the most memorable players ever. There is also no doubt that the show’s winners are memorable, even though Jeff wanted some of them to lose.

One of Survivor’s most memorable winners ever is Tina Wesson, since she was very popular and strategically skilled. Even though Tina is incredibly memorable, most fans don’t realize that she once pranked a member of the press weekly for a hilarious reason.

Survivor Winner Tina Wesson Hilariously Pranked An Entertainment Weekly Staffer

During Survivor 48, most fans of the show have grown to love Eva Erickson. A lovable player with fierce determination who is happy to be duplicitous even as she shows off that she has a heart of gold, Eva brings to mind several players from the past in that regard. For example, long before fans grew to love Eva, Survivor: The Australian Outback‘s Tina Wesson was a lovable player who definitely had an edge to her.

Since Eva is so forthright about her life and experiences, fans often seem to forget that she was perfectly willing to turn on Star Toomey. Since Tina had a Southern accent and was extremely polite, some fans forgot how shrewd she was as a player. With that in mind, an incident involving Tina that fans rediscovered in March 2025 should remind Survivor 48 fans not to underestimate Eva’s mischievous side.

As of 2025, many Survivor fans think of Tina only as being a sweet woman. While Tina certainly appears to be sweet, more fans in 2025 need to know about her chaotic side. Those fans should know that after it was announced that she won Survivor: The Australian Outback, the fact that Tina had been habitually pranking someone was exposed.

On May 14th, 2021, Entertainment Weekly published an article revealing what Tina had been doing to one of the outlet’s staffers.

Notably, that was 11 days after Survivor: The Australian Outback’s finale aired for the first time. That means that Tina’s incredible antics were first revealed to Survivor fans days after they watched her win $1 million and become the winner of her season.

According to Entertainment Weekly’s article about Tina’s antics, the outlet’s staff held an office pool during Survivor: The Australian Outback. After entering that pool, a sales representative for Entertainment Weekly named Dan Spaeth pulled Tina’s name as the season’s winner.

The interesting thing is that, according to the article, Dan expressed disappointment that he was stuck with Tina. Since Tina’s tribemate during Survivor: The Australian Outback, Mitchell Olson, was working at Entertainment Weekly as a temp, he told Tina about Dan’s disappointment that he was stuck with her.

During Survivor: The Australian Outback, Tina Wesson and Mitchell Olson were both part of the Ogakor tribe when the season began. While Tina became the season’s winner, Mitchell was the fourth player voted out.

Amazingly enough, Entertainment Weekly’s article revealed that after learning about his disappointment, Tina began prank calling Dan weekly. The article even quoted Dan reacting to Tina’s prank calls. ”Every Friday I would look forward to coming in and listening to her message. But I was disappointed that I never had a chance to actually speak with her.”

It is important to note that Entertainment Weekly’s article states that Tina never revealed any spoilers or even hinted she would win the season during her prank calls. The article also stated that as a result of Tina becoming the Sole Survivor, Dan won $160 from the pool.

In July 2021, Screen Rant published an article about Survivor winners’ most iconic moments. That article claimed that Tina’s most iconic moment was manipulating a vote that resulted in Mitchell Olson being voted out, since it proved how smart she was.

The most interesting part of Entertainment Weekly’s article was that it included transcripts of five prank call messages that Tina left for Dan. In the first, Tina did a Mr. T impression as she sarcastically expressed sympathy for Dan being stuck with her.

Well, it’s just too bad you got me, that’s all I can say. I pity you [Launching into her best Mr. T impression], I pity the man, I pity the man who got me. [End of Mr. T] Well, I hope you have a dandy day.

The next quoted prank call that TIna left for Dan was even more remarkable.

During her next prank call message to Dan, Tina jokingly claimed that she was going to have some kind of revenge on the Entertainment Weekly staffer.

“Hey, Dan. I didn’t want you to think that I forgot that you weren’t happy with drawing my name and that I’d just forgotten that little incident because no, I have not. [Sing-songy tone] Noooooo-oh! And I haven’t completely forgiven you for that. And I’m plotting something dastardly for you. I don’t quite know what it is yet, but you’ll just have to wait and see. [Mock sinister] Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh. Well, I hope you have a great day and I will talk to you la-a-a-ter! Toodles! Bye!”

Another one of Tina’s prank call messages to Entertainment Weekly was placed after a seminal episode of Survivor: The Australian Outback first aired. After fans first saw Tina arrange for Mitchell Olson to be voted out, she left the next message that the article quotes. During that message, Tina mocked Dan for not working, asked him to give Mitchell her love, and joked about how mad some people were at her.

“Can I continue this psychopath I’m on of destroying everybody in my path to get there? This sweet little old Tennessee mom. [Sinister] I don’t know. She’s coming across as this possessed woman. It could happen… [Cackles] Sorry I don’t ever get to talk to you. I guess if you ever came to work I would. Okay, well, have a great day, Dan. Tell Mitchell, ‘Hi,’ give him a big hug for me. Bye…. No, I take that back — don’t give him a hug for me. People might start to talk. Okay. Bye.”

As remarkable as Tina’s prank calls already were, the next one arguably takes the cake.

After Michael Skupin had to be medically evacuated as a result of suffering severe burns after falling into a fire, Tina left an incredible prank call message. Amazingly enough, in a prank call message to the Entertainment Weekly staffer, Tina jokingly claimed to have pushed Michael into the fire. It is important to note that Tina’s claim was impossible since Tina and Michael were on different tribes when his accident took place.

“Did you notice how they didn’t show Michael falling into the fire? Guess why that is. [Mock serious] Because I pushed his ass in the fire. That’s right. That was me behind the scenes. I had to find some way to go into this merger even and I did it. That was me. You don’t mess with me. It’s gettin’ close. It’s gettin’ down to the wire. And I mean business. So you better be glad. You better start being really happy, mister, about drawing my name. I’m getting really p—ed about this. Don’t make me come over there and find you.”

The final prank call message that the article quoted featured Tina asking Dan if he had changed his mind about being stuck with her. “Boy, I don’t know. If you’d been in the outback with me I don’t know if you would have lasted very long. Well, I just wonder how your thoughts might have changed from the first moment you drew my name and was filled with regret and gloom and how you might feel now. Isn’t it amazing what just a few weeks can do for your attitude. [Sinister chuckles]”

Survivor Fans Were Astonished By Tina Wesson’s Series Of Prank Calls

As a part of Entertainment Weekly’s article about Tina Wesson’s prank calls, the outlet quoted her from the show. After it was announced that she’d won Survivor: The Australian Outback, Tina expressed shock and that she never thought she could become the Sole Survivor. ”Ohhh, I just never believed it. I never believed it. Never once. I’ve never even thought about the voting process, who might be voting for who.” Despite the attitude that Tina had in public, the prank calls she left showed a completely different side to her personality. As a result, it is hilarious to see how fans reacted to learning about Tina’s prank calls more than two decades later.

In March 2025, a fan on the r/survivor subreddit uploaded the Entertainment Weekly article for the show’s other dedicated viewers to respond to. That post informed some of the most dedicated Survivor fans about what Tina had done all those years ago, but more of the show’s viewers need to know what happened.

After all, based on the response to that post, the news of Tina’s pranks can still blows the minds of Survivor fans in the year 2025. One of the topmost-upvoted responses perfectly praised Tina for the hilarious prank call messages.

Idk tina is kinda iconic for that?! She is low key a spitfire.

Another one of the top responses was about how captivated the person was by what Tina did to the Entertainment Weekly staffer. “I am obsessed with this. Tina is an icon.”