Jenna, Survivor's Amazon Queen

Pittsburgh Swimsuit Model Leaves Rain Forest With $1 Million Prize

(CBS)  Jenna Morasca wasn't expecting to be the newest "Survivor" millionaire when the ballots were finally tallied.

"I had no idea it was going to turn out the way it did. The vote that obviously surprised me the most was Christy," the 21-year-old swimsuit model said on the CBS News Early Show. "I thought she hated me."

Morasca was declared winner Sunday over Matthew Von Ertfelda, a 33-year-old restaurant designer from Washington, D.C., on the live finale of "Survivor: The Amazon."

Morasca said that in December she returned home to Pittsburgh from her adventure expecting that the sealed vote had gone Von Ertfelda's way: "He embodies everything a survivor is. He's an amazing guy.

"But I'm so proud of myself," she added, "and happy that I won."

On this, the sixth season of CBS' hit adventure game show, it was an upset victory (and a blowout vote) for Morasca, who since "Amazon" premiered in February had been generally regarded as good-looking but spoiled and lazy.

During the months she waited to learn her fate, Morasca said she rested, hit the gym "to get back some of the muscle that I lost," and regained 20 pounds dropped during the rugged ordeal. "I stuffed my face with chocolate," she confided.

For beating 15 others in the competition, which was taped during 39 days last fall in a remote rain forest on the Amazon River, Morasca collects the $1 million prize as "sole survivor." Runner-up Von Ertfelda wins $100,000.

Now what will she do with the money? Pay school loans and take her mom on a vacation, she said. "Then we'll see if there's anything left."

Sunday's broadcast began with four finalists, but middle school principal Butch Lockley and Rob Cesternino, a computer projects coordinator, were eliminated before the final tribal jury. The 6-1 vote for Morasca, sealed since December, was handed down by a jury of seven ousted "Amazon" castaways.

Widely considered the best "Survivor" season since the original that aired Summer 2000, "Survivor: The Amazon" began with a fresh wrinkle: For the first time, the castaways were divided into male and female tribes.

Then another bit of history was made: Morasca and the equally fetching Heidi Strobel stripped naked on the memorable seventh episode, in exchange for a much-desired snack of peanut butter and chocolate.

The episode that aired Thursday had a dramatic twist: a smoldering fire left unattended consumed the camp site, destroying most of the castaways' clothes and other belongings.

In its first 12 airings, "Survivor" tied for seventh place in viewers with "Everybody Loves Raymond," according to Nielsen Media Research.

On Sunday's finale, the setting for the next edition of "Survivor" was announced: the Pearl Islands off the coast of Panama. It premieres this fall.