Official Ten SurvivorAU: 2017 bio excerpts (July, 2017):
"If anyone knows how to handle tough situations, it is Joan. Pregnant at 16, she found herself temporarily homeless but she never gave up.
“I have fought my whole life and for everything I believe in. When I was 16, I fell pregnant and my parents kicked me out of home. I slept at a bus stop for three days and could have given up, but I went back to school and faced the challenges. I gave birth during the summer holidays and later graduated. I fought to the end and that’s what I will do again on Australian Survivor.”
Now a mum of three, Joan runs escape rooms with her partner Frank where they design and run games and puzzles for people to participate in. Joan is confident that experience will help her in challenges,” she said.
“I’m a big fan of the series and it’s been my lifelong dream to be part of Survivor. I think it is part of the reason behind the job I do. I want to design games like the ones I have seen on Survivor.”
A former school debating champion, Joan is not afraid to tell people her opinion but as a fan of the series, she also knows that sometimes less is more. “I will need to learn to not be so loud when I am there and tone down my opinion. I believe in myself but can come across as overconfident, so I need to learn to fly under the radar a little bit,” she said.
“The hero in me wants to shout from the rooftops that you can go out and achieve anything you want, but the villain in me wants to step over anyone to get what I want. I can’t say whether I’m a hero or a villain. It’s 2017, can I be a hybrid?”
In anticipation for her time on the island, Joan has been doing boot camp, weight training and learning to ration her food. She admits her husband Frank thinks she is crazy for applying, as he thinks she loves food too much to survive on rations.
While leaving her family at home will be the hardest thing she has had to do, Joan knows the reasons why she is there. “It has been a lifelong dream of mine to be on Survivor. I tell my children to always follow their dreams so I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t try this.”"