Appearing on back-to-back seasons of “Survivor” did a number on castaway Savannah Louie’s health.
Savannah was one of the all-stars who returned for “Survivor 50,” which Jeff Probst told Entertainment Weekly they started filming about 10 days after she won “Survivor 49.”
Of course, part of being on the island for the show means scavenging one’s own food, with many competitors losing a good amount of weight during production. Once she was off the show, however, Savannah struggled with binge eating once food was again so readily available.
Savannah’s Relationship with Food Changed
CBSDuring an appearance this week on Victoria Garrick Browne’s Real Pod podcast, the 31-year-old explained how being on the CBS reality show impacted her health.
“So, you know, I’ll preface this kind of by explaining, I’ve never had an eating disorder,” she began. “I’ve always been an athlete. There have been times in my life where I thought, ‘OK, I could lose a few pounds,’ but I’ve always generally appreciated my body and the strength, more importantly, that my body has provided for me.”
Explaining that “you’re not really eating much” while filming, Savannah said her diet mainly consisted of coconuts, papayas, and whatever they won during the many reward challenges throughout the season.
“As the season goes on, the rewards get progressively bigger and greater and more delicious. And so, when I won some of those rewards, I would go from basically not eating anything to gorging and trying to eat as much as humanly possible,” she shared.
That, said Savannah, “kind of warped my experience and my mindset when I had food in front of me.”
“It’s the craziest thing because for that period of time, I was so used to, whenever I had a big plate of food or any opportunity of food, to just consume as much as I humanly could,” she continued.
Unhealthy Eating Habits Continue After Elimination
After she was eliminated on Season 50, Savannah said she continued to have a “weird, awkward relationship with food.”
“And so, it starts off, maybe, ‘OK, I’ll have some cake.’ And instead of having, like, maybe one slice of cake, I’ll have, and I kid you not, five very large slices of cake,” Savannah explained. “And this would be after like a full day of eating. And when I would eat, I wouldn’t just stop when I was full. I would eat until I was in physical pain. And even when I hit that point to where I felt like I was gonna be sick, I would still feel the need to consume.”
Savannah then explained that she lost around 10 pounds when she was on Season 49, before revealing that, two months after she was voted out on Season 50, she gained “about 50 pounds total.”
“It was more than I ever weighed in my entire life,” she continued. “My body was also so inflamed, it hurt to work out. I used to be very into the boot camp classes. I’m like, ‘I cannot do that anymore.’ But even just the long walks that I would do around my neighborhood, that would actually be painful for my joints at times, just because my inflammation was so bad.”
She said she ended up losing hair as well, adding that her body “was in this state of confusion and it had no idea what to do in terms of food.”
By the time she got home, Savannah said things got even worse. She even recalled having a “panic attack” at the grocery store, as she was overwhelmed by all the choices and whether any of them would start another “crazy binge.”
“As someone who typically loves to have control over every aspect of their lives, I felt like I had zero control over what I was consuming,” she added. “And it felt like a worst nightmare kind of thing, but it’s really, honestly, the first time I’ve talked publicly about this.”
“It was really hard to go through. My hope in sharing this is that maybe it can help someone,” said Savannah.
The reality star appears to be in a much better place now, saying she’s incredibly “grateful” for CBS connecting her with a therapist.
“They set me up with one, in particular, who specialized in eating disorders,” said Savanah. “She helped me all summer long. We did workbooks together. I met with her every week.”
