Hours after she went from castaway to castoff, Christine Shields Markoski may be out of the competition, but she hasn’t lost her sense of humor.

What’s next for this 40 year old teacher and mother of two from Merrick, LI?… Survivor, Merrick?
Actually, “2 loads of laundry, cupcakes for the fall festival and I have to buy a birthday present for a party next week”.

Yes, life after Survivor still has its challenges.

And if you think life here on THIS Island doesn’t compare to the drama of battling it out against 17 other contestants for a 1 million dollar prize, then Christine says you haven’t been on the Southern State Parkway in afternoon traffic. The strategy is the same, she says. “You have to focus. You need patience. It’s very similar”.

Sure, the win and the million dollars would have been nice. But in the end, Christine says she’s proud of what she accomplished. After all she’s been through, she’s learned that 40 is the new 20. Talking about her time alone on Redemption Island— 14 days to be exact—“it was tough at first”. And she learned a lot about herself, by herself for all those days. “You feel like you have these hurdles and it looks daunting, like you can’t make it to the other side. You have to dig deep and push yourself… I did it. A 40 year old woman, mother of two, wife, teacher. You think you hit 40 and you kind of go downhill, but I proved it wrong. I hope that women everywhere can see that, hey, 40 years old is still young. We still got it”.

For a competitive soul like Christine, losing the competition may be a bitter pill to swallow, but not quite as bad as the some of the meals she had to endure during her time on the show. What was the worst thing she had to eat while battling it out to be the sole survivor?
“Snails and hermit crabs”. Mmm, mmm, good. Yes, as her mother used to tell her when she was a kid, “when you’re hungry, you’ll eat anything”. And Christine now agrees- “It tastes better when you’re starving”.

As we took a look back at Christine’s time on the show, I asked her about her best and worst moments in the South Pacific. Making fire rated number one. Christine recalled starting a fire for her tribe on the second day of the competition. That night, instead of sushi, they had broiled fish. It was a great beginning… and the perfect metaphor for Christine’s tenure on the show—she was tough, smart, and had lots of fire.

The worst thing? She says she killed a gecko and a skink (whatever that is!) “I really thought I would be able to eat them, but I couldn’t find the meat on them, so I used them for bait. I never killed anything in my life”.

And after all that roughing it on a deserted island, yes, Christine is planning to take a well deserved vacation with her family, who supported her and gave her the strength and inspiration to play the game. But on this next trip— running water WILL be one of the requirements. “So I don’t get any flashbacks”, she says.