Survivor Lunch Lady Donates $50,000

As it turns out, Survivor: China’s Denise the Lunch Lady has not only admitted that “she’d been promoted to custodian, at her own request, before the competition began,” but she has now also released a statement that she is not going to keep the $50,000 Mark Burnett gave to her based upon her previous lie. (link)

In a statement released Tuesday by CBS Martin took “full responsibility” for her misleading comments. In the statement Denise said “I do not feel comfortable about accepting the $50,000. I would instead ask that it be donated to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Please accept my apology. I would also like to thank all the people who have supported me through this experience." (link)

I’m just really glad she admitted her wrong doing, took responsibility for it and, most of all, did not keep the money. The fact that she did not give the money back right away was pretty bad though. I would love to hear an interview with Martin to find out what she was thinking when putting this whole story together in the first place. Did she not think it would get out?

Of course her school district was going to come out immediately and release a statement after she made them look terrible on live national television. Was she hoping they weren’t going to be watching that part because she had been eliminated earlier in the evening? She was in the final four, I’m sure the entire city was together cheering her on hoping for her to win the million dollars and then she slanders the same employer that has just given her three months off to compete and promote the show. It’s just a really sad situation and shows how low people are willing to sink for money.

Survivor: China Lunch Lady Scandal

So it came out this week, first reported by EW.com, that Survivor: China contestant Denise Martin full out lied at the season finale/reunion show this past Sunday on CBS. You see, Denise the Lunch Lady claimed that when she returned from China the school district she worked for would not give her her old job in the school’s cafeteria back because they feared her new found celebrity status from competing on Survivor would be too much of a distraction for the students. Instead, Denise claimed she was given a demotion to janitor, forced to work nights cleaning toilets and is now missing out on her children’s lives. The Blot, like I’m sure most of America watching the Survivor: China season finale, felt horrible for Denise after hearing her plight. Survivor producer Mark Burnett felt so bad after hearing Denise's story he informed Survivor host Jeff Probst that he would give Denise $50,000 to help her get back on her feet since she lost her job to compete on Survivor. But there was one catch to this feel good story, Denise was flat out lying about her “demotion.” (link)


The Blot was in shock after finding out it was all a lie, but at the time of the final episode’s airing the person most in shock was Nancy T. Lane, the superintendent of the Douglas Public Schools in Douglas, Mass. and Denise’s boss. Lane claims “Denise Martin lied on Sunday’s live broadcast when she stated that she was not given her job back as a cafeteria worker upon her return from taping the reality show and instead was made to ‘clean the toilets’ as a janitor working night shifts.” (link) Lane explained that Denise “was actually promoted to the position as custodian – a promotion Lane claims Martin asked for herself.” Lane went on to state that the promotion had been applied for and granted before Martin even left for China and that she asked for the promotion because it came with additional benefits and a higher salary.


Obviously, this is a classic case of he said, she said…except Martin has already called Lane to apologize. Not only that, but Lane and Denise went on CBS’ The Early Show this morning and “apologized profusely for what she said, though she stopped short of admitting that she’d lied to get the money, and won’t give back the $50K.” (link) So not only has Denise slandered her employers and made her home city of Douglas, Mass. look horrible and heartless, she is also now ripping off Mark Burnett who only wanted to help her.

I’ve watched Survivor since midway through the first season and this is the first time I can remember hearing someone come out and just lie at the reunion show for no apparent reason other than to try and get money out of viewers. Obviously the reality game show’s theme is Outwit, Outplay, Outlast and most contestants take that to mean they should lie and deceive each other, and maybe it does and maybe it doesn’t. But what was the point in lying after the final votes had already be tallied and the winner of the audience popularity vote for an additional $100,000 had already been announced (it was awarded to James the Gravedigger a.k.a. James Clement)?

Before this I felt sympathetic towards Denise for not making the final three (she was the final contestant voted out before the series finale’s final vote) because she made a strong heartfelt case of why she should be awarded the show’s one million dollar prize. But after this, not only am I glad she didn’t win Survivor: China (Todd Herzog of Pleasant Grove, UT did), I hope Burnett gets his money back and Denise is ostracized from any future Survivor: China events.