"Survivor 47" Contestant Teeny Chirichillo Talks The Addiction Of Reddit

Dan Lalonde
Mar 25
2 min read

Updated: Mar 25

Have you ever thought about the fact that the most offline experience of your life, which was those 25 days in Fiji, is somehow the foundation for the most online experience of your life?” That’s what Stephanie Berger said to Survivor 47 castaway Teeny Chirichillo recently—and the question stopped them in their tracks. Teeny recently wrote an article on Reality TV Newsletter about their experience after the show about the online world.

Teeny, who describes themself as both a student of the game and a deeply entrenched fan of Survivor’s subculture, has been thinking a lot about that intersection. As Survivor 48 approaches its merge, the point where gameplay sharpens and public opinion becomes bloodsport, Teeny is using their post-show clarity to examine the strange dual reality of playing the world’s most offline game and becoming, overnight, a very online personality.

In Teeny's own words, there’s a Kinsey Scale of Survivor internet behavior. On one end: castaways like Genevieve, who kept her Instagram private and skipped the Reddit and Twitter cycle entirely. On the other: Teeny themself, obsessively refreshing the # Survivor47 hashtag, diving into Reddit commentary, and consuming every post-episode podcast imaginable.

Now, with a bit of distance, Teeny’s found value in the middle ground. The healthiest way to manage the post-show online whirlwind? Humor. “There’s no part of the contestant rulebook that says you can’t make fun of yourself,” they say—and the best alumni content often does just that. Whether it’s Brandon Donlon cracking jokes or their castmates meme-ing their jury outfits, laughter has a way of reclaiming the narrative.

But not every online space is so generous. Teeny compares r/Survivor to a bad weed habit—easy to overindulge, hard to moderate, and occasionally destructive. The attention feels like a drug, and the comments—equal parts hilarious and harsh—can quickly consume even the most self-aware player. After their own experience being heavily scrutinized for things said in hunger or heat, Teeny eventually made the healthiest choice: logging off.

Teeny emphasizes the importance of engaging with the good-faith fans—people who send heartfelt DMs, whose kids rooted for them, or who saw themselves in their story. Those are the interactions that matter, the ones that linger after the hashtags fade.

Ultimately, Teeny’s message is simple: the internet is loud, but the game ends. Life continues, and most people won’t remember your confessional count or challenge stats. They’ll just think it’s cool you were on Survivor. That, Tenny says, is what keeps them grounded.