She grew up in Jefferson City, graduated from JCHS and MU, and is planning a career in law. Hope Driskill is no stranger to the spotlight, winning the Miss Missouri USA pageant in 2011. But she'll face her biggest audience this week in the hit CBS show Survivor: Caramoan.
Her secret trip to the island in the Phillipinesis now known nationwide, but Driskill isn't around for the hype. She's currently in Milan, Italy, working as a model. She spoke with me via Skype before Wednesday's 7 p.m. premiere.
"One of my biggest surprises was finding out that Survivor is very, very, real," Hope said. "We had absolutely nothing. We had nothing but the clothes on our back."
Hope said the worst part was a terrible sunburn she suffered on the first day. The CBS trailer of the show includes another contestant who says he had the worst sunburn of his life.
"My entire body head to toe, literally my toes, are sunburned," Cochran says in the spot. "It's pretty ridiculous."
While the physical challenges were great, Hope said the mental challenges were even greater.
"The physical endurance helps because you're stranded on an island with nothing," she said. "You're exhausted mentally, physically. No water, and you're competing in these extremely physical challenges, but the main part of the game is your mental strategy and being able to stay strong and stay confident even when everyone around you is not trustworthy. It really, really breaks you down mentally."
Hope said that unlike her time in the Miss USA pageant when there were people behind the scenes to do the contestants' hair andmake-up, Survivor had none of that.
"Survivor is the complete opposite," Hope said with a laugh. "I mean I had no makeup, no hair, no shower, no toothbrush."
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKRCG