Chelsea Townsend

Chelsea Townsend is a contestant from Survivor: Ghost Island.

Because of her laid-back nature and positive attitude, Chelsea was able to slide through the pre-merge portion of the game unscathed. Following the merge, Chelsea joined the majority Naviti Alliance to eliminate players who stood in their way. However, after back-to-back Immunity Challenge wins worried the tribe's men, they promptly eliminated Chelsea after swing votes Donathan Hurley and Laurel Johnson sided with them.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

Age: 24
Hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah
Current residence: Los Angeles, California
Occupation: EMT/Pro Cheerleader
Hobbies: Hiking, camping, and enjoying time with family and friends.
Pet peeves: People with constantly pessimistic or negative energy.
Three words to describe you: Outgoing, dynamic, and driven.
What's your personal claim to fame? Graduating college. I grew as a person and learned a lot about dedication and self-motivation. It gave me the foundation to continue my education and pursue a career as a physician assistant.
Who or what is your inspiration in life? My family. I have the most supportive and loving family. They constantly challenge me to be the very best version of myself. I love being able to pursue my passions and dreams knowing they will always be there to help me along the way.
If you could have three things on the island, what would they be and why? A mattress to get a good night's rest, a toothbrush because I can't imagine not brushing my teeth for more than a day, and definitely food because nobody likes starving.
Which Survivor contestant are you most like? Parvati. I think I could use my charm to build relationships, and I think I have the competitive spirit and wit she had.
What's your reason for being on Survivor? It is the experience of a lifetime. You get to push yourself to your absolute limits and challenge yourself in a unique way. I believe I will learn a lot about myself and become a stronger person physically and mentally. The money would of course be helpful as well. I am looking to attend graduate school in the near future and it would be nice to not have any student loans after school.
Why do you think you'll "survive" Survivor? I have the traits needed to make me successful. I am a hard worker who is extremely driven to reach my goals. I am agile and athletic from a background in dance and gymnastics. I am personable and get along well with people of all backgrounds and ages. I am a competitor and love a good challenge.^[2]

Survivor[]

Chelsea was initially placed on the Naviti tribe, which won the first two Immunity Challenges. This proved crucial when a Tribe Switch happened on Day 7, as she, Bradley Kleihege, Desiree Afuye, Kellyn Bechtold, and Sebastian Noel were switched to the rival Malolo tribe. Kellyn formed a Naviti Alliance to stay strong and pick off the original Malolo members after losing the Day 12 and 14 Immunity Challenges. Despite herself and Sebastian being considered by Brendan Shapiro and Michael Yerger as potential flippers whom they saw as being on the bottom of the Naviti Alliance, she and Sebastian remained loyal to Naviti and joined in voting out Brendan, and then Stephanie Johnson at the next Tribal Council.

When another Tribe Switch occurred on Day 15, Chelsea and Bradley were switched back to Naviti. Despite Naviti still having the numbers against original Malolo members Donathan Hurley and Libby Vincek, Bradley's condescending and bossy nature rubbed several of their tribemates the wrong way. When Naviti lost the Immunity Challenge on Day 19, Bradley considered targeting Libby for her role in Morgan Ricke's blindside on Day 9. However, Chelsea talked with Libby about targeting Bradley for his negativity around the camp. At this point, Chelsea and fellow original Naviti Domenick Abbate became the swing votes between either Bradley or Libby. At Tribal Council, Chelsea and Domenick flipped on Bradley and joined Donathan and Libby in blindsiding him unanimously.

When the tribes merged into the Lavita tribe on Day 20, the original Naviti Alliance intended on using their 8-5 numbers advantage to pick off the remaining original Malolo members. However, Domenick's rivalry with fellow original Naviti member Chris Noble reached a boiling point, so Chelsea and most of their alliance joined forces with the Malolo contingent in blindsiding Chris. At the next Tribal Council, she joined the rest of the tribe in splitting the vote between Libby and Michael, with Libby being voting out after Michael played a Hidden Immunity Idol. Following Libby's elimination, Chelsea, Angela Perkins, and the remaining Malolo members were tapped by Desiree Afuye to form a new voting bloc to overthrow the original Naviti majority. However, Laurel Johnson was skeptical and leaked Desiree's plan to Domenick, who then told Kellyn, shocking her. After Chelsea won the next individual Immunity Challenge, Kellyn confronted Chelsea and Domenick about them wanting to turn on her, but this caused Desiree to chew Laurel out in front of everyone. At Tribal Council, despite voting with Desiree, Chelsea was blindsided when Desiree was taken out for being untrustworthy. Chelsea managed to win the next Immunity Challenge for the purple team as part of the Split Tribal Council twist, though failed to outlast Domenick for the right to attend Tribal Council second. She then stuck with her Naviti allies Angela and Sebastian in voting out Jenna Bowman.

However, Chelsea's back-to-back immunity wins caused her to become a target by the Naviti men. At the Reward Challenge on Day 31, Chelsea failed to win and was even more upset when Sebastian picked all of the men to go on the Family Visit reward with him. The women became even more bitter when Wendell Holland chose to give up the reward to go to Ghost Island for an advantage at the next Immunity Challenge. Back at camp, Kellyn rallied the women and Donathan together in targeting Wendell. But unbeknownst to the Naviti women, Donathan and Laurel had been working with Domenick and Wendell in a cross-tribal Final Four Alliance. After Chelsea failed to win the next Immunity Challenge, she was targeted for being a physical threat. Laurel weighed the pros and cons about turning on her allies as she and Donathan became the swing votes. At Tribal Council, the women stuck with their plan in voting Wendell. However, Donathan and Laurel sided with the men, resulting in Chelsea being blindsided in a 5-3 vote, becoming the sixth member of the jury.

At the Final Tribal Council, Chelsea voted for Wendell to be the Sole Survivor. However, host Jeff Probst immediately read the votes, revealing a tie for the first time in Survivor history between Domenick and Wendell. The second runner-up, Laurel, ultimately cast the winning vote for Wendell to win.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Naviti	Open	Reward	Yes	Lost
		Sled Zeppelin	Immunity	No	Won
		Coming Up for Air	Reward/Immunity	No	Won
Switched Tribes, Day 7
2	Malolo	Along the Watch Tower	Reward/Immunity	No	Won
3		Water Slaughter	Reward	Yes	Lost
3		Cell Block Sea	Immunity	No	Lost
4		Rod Screw-It	Reward	No	Lost
4		Hitch A Ride	Immunity	No	Lost
Switched Tribes, Day 15
5	Naviti	Sir Duke	Immunity	No	2nd
6		Discy Business	Reward	No	1st
6		Cruel Sea	Immunity	Yes	Lost
Tribes Merged, Day 20
7	Lavita	Audio Slave	Immunity		Lost
8		Gone Shootin'	Reward		Won
8		Fijian Feast	Immunity		Lost
9		Caged Tigers	Reward		Won
9		Take the Reins	Immunity		Won
10		Crocodile Rock	Immunity		Won
11		A Quick Affair	Reward		Lost
11		The Ball Drop	Immunity		Lost
Voted Out, Day 32

Episode	Chelsea's Votes	Voted Against Chelsea
1	Naviti Tribe Immune
1	Naviti Tribe Immune
2	Malolo Tribe Immune
3	Brendan	-
4	Stephanie	-
5	Naviti Tribe Immune
6	Bradley	-
7	Chris	-
8	Libby	-
9	Michael	Individual Immunity
10	Jenna	Individual Immunity
11	Wendell	Domenick, Donathan, Laurel, Sebastian, Wendell
Voted Out, Day 32
Voted for Sole Survivor	Wendell

Post-Survivor[]

Chelsea got engaged to her fiancé Ethan Leiter on December 5, 2020.^[3] The couple got married on November 19, 2021.^[4]
- On June 12, 2022, the couple announced on Instagram that they were expecting their first child in October 2022.^[5] Chelsea gave birth to their daughter, Laina Jo Leiter, on October 13, 2022.^[6]