--- 66. JOANNA WARD ---
HALLELUJAH!! OH GLORY!1 Joanna is definitely the most aggressively religious contestant ever to appear on Survivor. She's most famous for refusing to touch the immunity idol because it's called an "idol" and that's forbidden etc but what I remember her for is for being a complete and total HBIC. Joanna is a tall, outspoken woman and was apparently very threatening to the men and some of the women, which makes me like her. At the same time...she was a little intense. I think if I were around Joanna for an extended period of time, especially in a "survival" situation, I would be afraid of the bible passages she would use to justify my dismemberment. Whatever, she was very entertaining in her short time on Amazon and I appreciated her ballsy nature. I wasn't totally in love with how she treated Christy (specifically putting her hand in front of her face) but Joanna swears she was provoked and was very unapologetic. Joanna claims she was the victim of editing but idk, I read some of her post boot interviews and she seems even more batshit than editing made her out to be. But whatever, crazies <3
On Joanna's personality: Joanna is a very intense woman, as I mentioned. She often cites her religious views if any take issue with her behavior, claiming that she's too "of Christ" and they're intimidated by her relationship with Jesus and so on, which is really just a variation of "they're just JEALOUS", popularized by Heidi and Jenna in that same season. That kind of focus and self-certainty makes for an interesting contestant and a scary human being (not because she was Christian, but because she often used her Christianity as a rationale for anything and everything she did, and was thus above reproach. "I'm right because God says I am, and you obviously can't handle that"
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On Joanna's gameplay: I'm not sure that Joanna was an intentional schemer, but she did come out of the gate hard and fast and played with her entire heart, which I appreciate. Few women really go balls out the way Joanna did, so that makes up for any strategic prowess she might lack.
On Joanna's placement: Part of me wanted to put Joanna's higher because of how unique and driven she was, but the rest of me wanted to put her here because she wasn't very nice and it was only funny some of the time. The cartoonish level of self-righteousness she exhibited ALMOST qualifies her for "outrageous caricature" status, but I settled for this. I do feel like if they had showed a softer side of Joanna (assuming one exists) that I might have liked her more. She was definitely interesting, and that's why she made it here! HALLELUJAAAAAAH.
