SurvivorAlum Jonny Fairplay's Grandmother Dies — Over 2 Decades After He Strategically Claimed She Already Did

Mar. 15, 2025

Jonny Fairplay poses for a photo with his grandmother, Jean Cooke, at the season finale of ‘Survivor: Pearl Islands’ in December 2003.Photo:Kevin Winter/Getty

Kevin Winter/Getty

SurvivoralumJonny Fairplayis mourning the loss of his grandmother, now 20-plus years after strategically and infamously faking her death for sympathy on television.

On Saturday, Feb. 8, the 50-year-old reality star shared on social media that his grandmother, Ellen Jean Hauser, had died the day prior. Fairplay notably lied about his grandmother’s death for an advantage onSurvivor: Pearl Islandsin 2003.

Jonny Fairplay on ‘Survivor: Micronesia’.Monty Brinton/CBS via Getty

Fairplay added that Hauser “loved the exposure and attention” she got from his big lie onSurvivor, which made him one of the show’s most notorious villains in order to get an advantage during a reward challenge.

At the time, Fairplay arranged for a friend to break the news during a loved ones visit that his grandmother had “died,” subsequently earning him both sympathy from fellow competitors and an eventual reward challenge victory.

He then told audiences in a confessional that his grandmother was actually not dead but rather “sitting home watching Jerry Springer right now.”

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The scheme, according to serieshostJeff Probst, was the “greatest lie ever told onSurvivor.” He added on finale night that year that the lie “guaranteed Jon a spot in theSurvivorvillain hall of fame.” (Fairplay, whose real name is Jon Dalton, eventually returned forSurvivor: Micronesiain 2008.)

“Her dying words were something like, ‘Jonny, I want to see you onSurvivor 50,The TraitorsandDeal or No Deal Island,'” Fairplay toldEWof Hauser. “I had no idea she had so many streaming services.”

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Fairplay later took part in a memorial for Hauser with theReality After Showpodcast, in which he confirmed that she was “really no longer with us.”

Speaking withEWin 2020, Fairplay revealed he doesn’t regret his “dead grandma” strategy onSurvivor, which he admitted was in an effort to “create the first reality villain.”

source: people.com