Stephenie LaGrossa

Stephenie LaGrossa is a contestant from, , and.

Despite her physical strength, Stephenie would soon suffer at the hands of the ill-fated Ulong tribe, where she would become the sole surviving member of her team and be subsequently absorbed by the rival Koror tribe. She was ultimately voted out at the final seven.

Upon returning for a second time in Guatemala, her gameplay became more deceptive and ruthless, earning the ire of her former allies. Her cutthroat gameplay caused her to lose to Danni Boatwright in a 6-1 vote only receiving one vote to win.

Despite her villainy in her second outing, she was remembered mainly for her participation in Palau, landing her a spot on the Heroes tribe in Heroes vs. Villains. However, she was relegated to the bottom early on. This combined with her heated rivalry with James Clement led to her being the second person voted out.

Profile
Retrieved from CBS.com

Palau
Stephenie started with a bang when herself and Jonathan Libby jumped off the boat before any other castaway and tried swimming to win an Immunity Necklace. Unfortunately, Steph and her fellow swimmer jumped the gun and were the last ones to the beach. Her obvious athleticism caused her to be picked early in the Schoolyard Pick by Bobby Jon Drinkard, putting her on the Ulong tribe.

Stephenie continued to hold her own in challenges, being one of the more athletic members of her tribe. However, Ulong's lack of teamwork caused them to suffer an abysmal losing streak. Stephenie and Ulong first voted out Jolanda Jones for her difficult personality, Ashlee Ashby due to illness and weakness in challenges, Jeff Wilson due to an injured ankle, and Kim Mullen for her uselessness in challenges and at camp.

At the next Reward Challenge, Ulong lost again, however both tribes would vote out a member. As part of their reward, the opposing tribe, Koror, granted Ibrehem Rahman with an Immunity Necklace at the vote. Stephenie and her ally Angie Jakusz voted for Bobby Jon which forced a tie between Angie and Bobby Jon. Seeing no other way, Steph was forced to vote out Angie in the revote. Ulong lost yet another challenge and at Tribal Council, Stephenie stuck by James Miller and voted for Ibrehem, causing a tie. Bobby Jon then promised Steph that if she switched her vote he wouldn't vote for her at the next Tribal Council. Steph trusted him and voted out James. Ulong then lost their sixth straight Immunity Challenge. Thankfully for Stephenie, Bobby Jon stuck to his word and they voted out Ibrehem 2-1.

Koror now outnumbered Ulong with 8 members to Ulong's 2. In a close challenge, Ulong lost for the seventh time. At Tribal Council, Stephenie and Bobby Jon were confused as to how their fate would be decided. Jeff Probst announced that a Fire Making Challenge would decide which of the two would go on. Steph defeated Bobby Jon, eliminating him, and sending her back to camp, alone. The next day, Stephenie got Tree Mail telling her to pack up her things and move to the Koror beach. Ulong had officially been conquered.

Stephenie was the obvious outcast at Koror. Coby Archa quickly took her under his wing and informed her of the majority alliance of the tribe. Stephenie came close to winning the first individual Immunity Challenge, but lost to Tom Westman. Fortunately, the dominant alliance instead targeted their long-time enemy and threatening player, Coby, voting him out 7-1-1.

The following Immunity Challenge revealed a weakness in Janu Tornell as she was put on for her poor performance. Stephenie's loss seemed to seal her fate, however at Tribal Council Janu announced to Jeff and the tribe that she would be willing to quit in order to spare Stephenie, who showed a greater will to remain in the game. With Ian Rosenberger winning the next Immunity Challenge, Stephenie made a plea to him, Tom, and Caryn Groedel to stay, however it appeared that Stephenie's time was finally up. Stephenie was voted out unanimously, making her the 3rd member of the jury.

At Final Tribal Council, Steph cast her vote for Tom to win the game over Katie Gallagher due to his superior strategy and dominance in challenges. Tom won  in a 6-1 vote.

Voting History
In The Best and Worst Reward Ever, the vote ended with a 2-2 tie between Angie and Bobby Jon, forcing a revote. Stephenie voted for Angie on the revote. In Jellyfish 'n Chips, the vote ended with a 2-2 tie between Ibrehem and James, forcing a revote. Stephenie voted for James on the revote. In Neanderthal Man, there was a fire-making challenge instead of a vote at Tribal Council between Stephenie and Bobby Jon. Stephenie won the challenge and remained in the game.

Guatemala
Stephenie started the game on the Yaxhá tribe,  which started a short losing streak. She was immediately afraid of her past Survivor experience recurring, but Yaxhá won the next Immunity Challenge. Stephenie built strong bonds with Rafe Judkins and Jamie Newton. During a surprise tribal swap, her, Rafe, Jamie, and Lydia Morales were switched to Nakúm, which also consisted of four original Nakúm members. Stephenie and Jamie convinced Judd Sergeant to flip on his former tribe and vote out Brooke Struck. Stephenie's new tribe continued to win immunity, only going to Tribal Council and eliminating Margaret Bobonich because of a double Tribal Council twist.

Stephenie's alliance, which consisted of her, Rafe, Jamie, Lydia, Judd, and Cindy Hall entered the merge with numbers over the new Yaxhá tribe. After promising Bobby Jon Drinkard a spot on the jury, Stephenie and her alliance voted out Brandon Bellinger and then Bobby Jon himself after Gary Hogeboom played an Immunity Idol. Instead of continuing to eliminate the rival alliance, Rafe wanted to blindside Jamie for being paranoid and wanting to go the final two with Judd. Stephenie reluctantly agreed, and aided in voting her close ally out. Judd was shocked, but maintained his loyalty. The alliance was then back on track and voted out Gary, leaving Danni Boatwright as the only remaining alliance member left.

After a Reward Challenge where Danni bought an advantage to the Immunity Challenge, Judd bought the family reward and invited Stephenie, Cindy, and their respective loved ones on it. Stephenie promised Judd's wife that she would go to the final two with him. Danni won individual immunity, forcing Stephenie to eliminate another member of her own alliance. She decided to vote off Judd, citing his multiple lies as justification. After he was blindsided, he was clearly angry, and another ally Stephenie burned.

Cindy was not informed of the Judd blindside, and felt vulnerable. After keeping a car reward for herself rather than giving a car to Stephenie, Rafe, Lydia, and Danni and than picking Stephenie go on reward with her, Rafe was angry. He made a pact with Danni to go to the final three with her, and when Stephenie returned from the reward, Rafe informed her that he wanted to eliminate Cindy. Cindy was then voted out, and Stephenie took most of the heat again.

At the final four, Rafe wanted to stay true to his bond with Danni and eliminate Lydia. Stephenie thought Danni was a bigger threat, but did not want to upset her closest ally, Rafe, and helped him in voting her out. Danni won the Final Immunity Challenge, and Rafe released her of her promise to bring him to the final two. Danni brought Stephenie, which angered Rafe. Stephenie only received Rafe's vote, and was named runner-up to Danni.

Heroes vs. Villains
The producers have deemed LaGrossa's "heroic" showing in Palau more memorable than her more "villainous" game approach in Guatemala, thus placing her in the Heroes tribe in the 10th anniversary/20th season,.

During the first round of the first Reward Challenge, Stephenie accidentally dislocated her shoulder. It required medical help from the Survivor medics and they successfully put it back into place, but the injury was not serious enough to evacuate her from the game.

LaGrossa became an outsider early on in the game. After the elimination of Sugar Kiper, a majority alliance consisted of James Clement, Rupert Boneham, Amanda Kimmel, J.T. Thomas, Cirie Fields, and Candice Woodcock was formed. With this, Stephenie's Palau castmate, former winner Tom Westman, and alum Colby Donaldson, created an alliance out of necessity.

During the second Immunity Challenge, Stephenie was non-cooperative to the team while building a puzzle, to the point of Clement fuming at her to listen to tribe mate J.T. Thomas, who had done the same challenge in his own season. James also made the argument that any tribe Stephenie was on was sure to lose. The debacle between James and Stephenie carried over at camp and at Tribal Council with Tom and Colby being the only ones to come to her defense. In the end, the Heroes majority alliance eliminated her in a 6-3 vote.

Post-Survivor

 * Stephenie married high school history teacher Michael Ward on July 7, 2006. 8 other Survivor castaway attended their wedding, including castmates Tom, Ian, Gregg, Jenn, Katie, and Caryn, and  castmates Amy and Rafe. The two eventually divorced. On November 13, 2010, Stephenie married again, this time to Philadelphia Phillies pitcher,.
 * In Summer of 2009, Stephenie appeared on the TVGuide special "Survivor Millionaires: Where Are They Now?" in a segment focused on non-winners.
 * On January 9, 2010, Stephenie attended Survivor ' s 10-year anniversary party along with all of her cast mates.
 * In February 2010, Stephenie appeared on  as Top Ten List Presenter #8 along with nine of her Heroes vs. Villains cast mates.
 * Some time after Heroes vs. Villains, Stephenie became a co-owner of "GiGi Restaurant & Lounge" in Old City Philadelphia. The establishment was closed and was replaced with a new food establishment.
 * Stephenie has had two children with Kyle. Their first child, daughter Sophia Marguerite, was born on September 3, 2011. Their second child, son Kyle Kendrick Jr., was born on July 30, 2013.

Trivia

 * Stephenie is the first player to contribute to the elimination of all of her original tribemates in a single season. During, she successfully voted out 7 of her Ulong tribemates and defeated Bobby Jon Drinkard in a tiebreaker.
 * Stephenie later voted out Bobby Jon during, making her also the first player to vote out all of the other players on one of her starting tribes (over multiple seasons). In , John Cochran became the first player to vote out all of his starting tribemates during a single season.
 * Stephenie is the only contestant in to be on multiple tribes during the season.
 * Stephenie is the highest-ranking member of the Ulong tribe.
 * She placed 7th, making her one of the lowest-placing contestants to be the highest-placing member of their original tribe, along with Jefra Bland.
 * Stephenie is the only member of the Ulong tribe to be a jury member in.
 * She is the first female contestant to be the sole representative of their starting tribe on the jury.
 * Stephenie and Bobby Jon are the first returning players to be placed with a tribe of first time players on their subsequent attempt at Survivor. They were followed by Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz in, Ozzy Lusth and Coach Wade in , and Michael Skupin, Jonathan Penner, and Russell Swan in.
 * She is the only female returnee to compete in a "one returnee per tribe" format.
 * Stephenie is the first female player to compete in two consecutive seasons.
 * Stephenie is one of eleven castaways to compete in back-to-back seasons (the others are Rupert Boneham, Bobby Jon Drinkard, Amanda Kimmel, James Clement, Russell Hantz, Malcolm Freberg, Shirin Oskooi, Joe Anglim, Zeke Smith, and Michaela Bradshaw).
 * Stephenie started on a blue tribe in all three of her seasons.
 * Stephenie is the first returning contestant to participate in the Survivor Auction more than once. She did so in and.
 * Stephenie is the first castaway to have the most confessionals in two separate seasons. She had the most confessionals in both and.
 * Stephenie is the first returning player to become a finalist and be defeated by a new player.
 * Stephenie is the first player to be the highest-ranking member of their original tribe in two separate seasons.
 * Stephenie is the first player to make it to the Final Tribal Council in one season (Guatemala), and finish 19th in another (Heroes vs. Villains). The second player to do this was Tony Vlachos.
 * Stephenie has the worst challenge win-loss ratio (10:39) of any contestant to play multiple seasons.
 * Stephenie is the first castaway to experience all three phases of the game: being voted out pre-jury, serving on the jury, and becoming a finalist. She was voted out pre-jury on, became a jury member on , and made it to Final Tribal Council on.
 * Stephanie is the first person to be voted out on the third try.