Meltdown leads to double eviction

BIG CALL: Kathleen Sleckman bowed out of Survivor: Fans vs Favourites after suffering a meltdown.

GOING HOME: Tracey Hughes-Wolf says she has no idea why she was eliminated in last night's episode of Survivor.

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Survivor contestant Kathleen Sleckman has promised to never leave her family again after a major on-air meltdown led to her shock decision to leave the reality show.

Sleckman wasn't the only person to leave Survivor: Fans vs Favourites last night, as Tracey Hughes-Wolf was eliminated at a tense tribal challenge.

Sleckman chose to leave Survivor after spending another rainy night in a bug-ridden cave and suffering a breakdown, despite her tribe and host Jeff Probst trying to persuade her to stay.

She told Stuff.co.nz in an exclusive interview the bad weather, being ostracised by her tribe mates and a series of stints on Exile Island compounded into her meltdown.

"Mentally, my brain just completely shut down. It was almost like having an infection in my brain. I hit a wall, and it broke me. It surprised the bejeezus out of me that I got to that point."

Sleckman, an Illinois golf course employee who has seen every Survivor episode ever made, said watching last night's episode was upsetting.

"I actually cried watching that girl - whoever the heck she was. She looked like she was really suffering. It made me sad. It reminded me of how horrible it was."

Despite making her daughter so mad she refuses to watch Survivor, Sleckman said she didn't regret her decision to go on the show.

"I got to live my dream, I wanted to be there as badly as anyone else. I just didn't know I would stink at my dream.

"Maybe there's a lesson in there that family means more than money. You could have the million dollars but if you don't have a family you're just an empty person with better stuff."

Hughes-Wolf, a Survivor "addict" whose new-look tribe opted to vote her out at tribal council, says she could have persuaded Sleckman to stay if they had still been in the same team.

"It was horrific. It was awful. I wish I had 10 seconds with her before she decided to quit. (I would have said), ‘your ass is staying in the game. You're not going anywhere. You didn't come this far to quit.'

"She was really an outcast. No one talked to her (because) she had so many questions. She was always asking questions and everyone just wanted to go ‘shut up'. But I love her."

Hughes-Wolf admits she has no idea why she was chosen to leave the show.

"I can't believe it turned out the way it did. I am stupefied that it didn't play out to get Ozzy (Oscar Lusth) off."

She believes experienced Survivor competitor Parvati Shallow will win the show's $US1 million prize.

"I think Parvati is going to take it far. Smiles and flirts can take you a long way in the game. I don't want Ozzy to win. He is a dictator, he needs to go to Cuba and hang out with Fidel (Castro) and leave everyone alone."

*Survivor: Fans vs Favourites screens on Thursdays, TV3 at 7.30pm. Stuff.co.nz will interview every contestant as they are eliminated.

- © Fairfax NZ News