Survivor: Ciera Eastin Reveals She Got Bell’s Palsy After Returning Home
Former Survivor contestant Ciera Eastin revealed that she contracted Lyme Disease from a tick bite, which resulted in her developing Bell's Palsy after returning home. The alum first competed on the long-running reality competition series in season 27, subtitled Blood vs. Water, which aired in the fall of 2013. The twist of that season involved returning Survivor castaways competing against their own family members, with Redemption Island also returning. Among fans, she's best known for voting her mother, Survivor: Samoa's Laura Morett, out of the game. Eastin ended up in fifth place. When Tyson Apostol, Monica Culpepper and Gervase Peterson were the final three competitors, she voted for Apostol, who ended up winning the million-dollar grand prize.
Eastin returned two more times, for Survivor: Cambodia and Survivor: Game Changers. But she never did nearly as well as she did during the Blood vs. Water season. In Cambodia, she was voted out in 10th place, joining the Survivor jury once again. At the final Tribal Council, she voted for Jeremy Collins to win the game, which he ended up doing in a unanimous vote. Eastin's worst game play occurred on Survivor: Game Changers, where she was the very first castaway to be voted out of the game, when the Mana Tribe lost the first Immunity Challenge.
In an interview with EW, Eastin revealed that when she returned home after competing in her first season of Survivor, she developed Bell's Palsy. "In Blood vs. Water, I had so many big bites, I ended up getting Bell's Palsy when I returned home. Turned out I got Lyme Disease from that tick bite!" Bell's Palsy can be a symptom of Lyme Disease and results in temporary facial paralysis. Lyme Disease has been talked about more in recent years as such celebrities as RHOBH star Yolanda Hadid and singer Avril Lavigne have opened up about their battles with the disease. Eastin didn't provide any additional details, so it's assumed her condition wasn't as chronic as Hadid's.
Eastin also admitted that adjusting to life again after playing Survivor was "extremely rough." For example, she "struggled with food, always having to keep food in my purse or keep a snack on hand at all times." Despite that struggle, she said she would absolutely play the game again if the producers invited her back. "I have a serious need to win this game...And I feel like the stage of life I am in right now, I could make it happen," she admitted. But Eastin hopes that Survivor goes back to being more of an "old-school" game that fans were used to in the early years, with "less tribe swaps, less rewards, less gimmicks."
Eastin might get her wish. CBS recently confirmed that Survivor will no longer use subtitles going forward. Many fans think this means the various gimmicks and twists that the reality show has employed in recent years are going away--or at least being pared down--resulting in a more simple game for the players. After 20 years of building up this show into the phenomenon that it's become, which culminated in the epic Winners At War milestone season, now seems like the right time for the producers to refresh the show in a more simple manner before building it back up again. Along those lines, it would probably be best to stick with brand-new contestants for the time being. But if Survivor brings back returning players again, Eastin is ready for her invitation.
Source: EW