Topless Sugar gives up on Survivor

BY CHRIS SCHULZ

Jessica Kiper says she will never compete on Survivor again after her top was torn off and she was accused of having an emotional breakdown during her second stint on the reality show.

Kiper, a Brooklyn singer and actress nicknamed "Sugar", was the first person eliminated from Survivor: Heroes vs Villains in a unanimous decision by the Heroes tribe. They blamed her exit on her emotional instability.

The 30-year-old had a rough three-day stint on the show in which she had her top removed during a challenge, cried endlessly after losing the immunity challenge and then appeared to keep her tribe awake at night by repeatedly hitting on tribe mate Colby Donaldson.

Kiper, who finished third in Survivor: Gabon, told Stuff.co.nz she was ready to go home and the only way she would compete again is if Survivor was set in Disneyland.

"It sucked. Samoa was so wet and the three days I was there we didn't have a proper shelter. We got rained on while we were asleep," she said.

"I imagine it probably got easier but I wasn't too disappointed to be first out because then I probably would have been second or third out and had to endure more for nothing."

Kiper said losing her top - which was ripped off during a challenge by opponent Sandra Diaz-Twine - had become a major discussion point, but competing topless had been a spur-of-the-moment decision.

"When Sandra started undoing my bra I realised what she was doing so I started shaking my head and saying, 'Don't undo my bra, don't undo my bra'.

"She was like, 'I'm a villain, heh, heh, heh,' There was a second there where she thought I wasn't going to  (finish the challenge), so I did it. I had to prove myself but it didn't help me in the long run."

She understood why Diaz-Twine had taken the drastic measure.

"She's a villain, and they're out for blood. This is all-stars, people are on their third round, everyone wants to win. I'm sure the villains are going to pull out some crazy stuff. It's pretty hardcore."

She received positive feedback from friends about her topless antics, but her mother had been less enthusiastic.

"I hung up on my mum the other day. She started saying something ... she's very right wing, Christian, Republican, so she didn't like that I ran without my top on, but what are you going to do?

"My friends thought it was awesome. Most of my family realised that I was topless in front of a tonne of people, but that at least it's blurred for television. I'm topless in a movie anyway, so they accepted it."

She also denied claims she was keeping her tribe awake by flirting with Donaldson, saying her attention was focused on James "JT" Thomas.

"I was actually trying to talk to Colby for the first time out there - I didn't mean to look like a stalker. Most people didn't have a very good night's sleep - it wasn't just because of me. We were being rained on.

"I really actually crushed out on JT."

But she admitted her emotions got the better of her after losing the immunity challenge.

"I pretty much could not stop crying. I was trying not to make a big deal out of it. I was hoping nobody would notice, but I couldn't really help it.

"I knew my head was about to be chopped off and it was just frustrating being so far ahead in that challenge and being part of the four people that blew it."

Survivor: Heroes vs Villains screens on TV3 every Thursday night. Stuff.co.nz will interview every contestant as they are eliminated.

* Did Sugar deserve to go home? Watch footage from her time on Survivor then post your comments below.

- © Fairfax NZ News