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Mellisa McNulty was cast for Survivor: Fiji but withdrew moments prior to the marooning.

Although Mellisa arrived on location and was present during pre-production, she suffered panic attacks prior to the game starting. Without an alternate contestant to replace her, the game started with only 19 players.

Profile[]

Due to Mellisa not participating, her CBS profile was never published. However, in an interview, Mellisa revealed that she was raised on a farm in California until she was 14 years old. Since high school, she resided in Los Angeles. For ten years, she worked as a fashion model, and after ten years of working, she founded her own modeling agency, MCM Management.[2][3]

Survivor[]

As one of 20 intended contestants for Survivor: Fiji, Mellisa was brought on location with the rest of the participants. During the traditional survival-training period that occurs prior to the beginning of each Survivor competition, she appeared to be physically and emotionally ready to play. Present during pre-production, she also took pre-game promotional photos, including the cast photo in which she was cropped out from after she withdrew, and had pre-game interviews as well.

On the actual day of filming, Mellisa became overwhelmed and suffered panic attacks. Minutes before the actual marooning, she consulted the on-set psychologist. It was decided that she was not mentally conditioned to undergo the rigors of the game and was removed. Due to Mellisa leaving on the actual first day of filming, the producers were unable to find a replacement, thus the game started with the 19 remaining cast members.[4]

She was briefly referred to, although not mentioned by name, in the opening sequence of the season's premiere.

In an interview, Mellisa stated, "My number one trigger [for panic attacks] is being in a situation where I can't get out. I get a claustrophobia kind of panic, I had multiple panic attacks in one day, which I've never experienced before. I tried to pull myself together".

Post-Survivor[]

  • Despite her abrupt removal from the game, Mellisa still received a mild notoriety for her affiliation with the show, including an FHM spread and an interview with TV Guide. A brief portion of her pre-game interview was shown on TV Guide Channel's Survivor: Fiji preview.
  • On August 13, 2016, Mellisa married her fiancé Aaron Vaughan.

Trivia[]

  • The now-defunct Survivor: Fiji lie-detector online game still included Mellisa's lie and truth as a bonus.
  • Like all of the players of Fiji (with the exception of Gary Stritesky, who auditioned), Mellisa was recruited.
  • Despite her not competing, she was still sequestered along with the pre-jurors.
  • Mellisa was cropped out from the pre-show images that feature the complete Fiji cast after she was pulled out of the game.

References[]

Survivor: Fiji Castaways
 Alex
Moto
S14 alex t
 Anthony
Ravu
S14 anthony t
 Boo
Moto
S14 boo t
 Cassandra
Moto
S14 cassandra t
 Dreamz
Moto
S14 dreamz t
 Earl
Ravu
S14 earl t
 Edgardo
Moto
S14 edgardo t
 Erica
Ravu
S14 erica t
 Gary
Moto
S14 gary t
 Jessica
Ravu
S14 jessica t
 Liliana
Moto
S14 liliana t
 Lisi
Moto
S14 lisi t
 Michelle
Ravu
S14 michelle t
 Mookie
Ravu
S14 mookie t
 Rita
Ravu
S14 rita t
 Rocky
Ravu
S14 rocky t
 Stacy
Moto
S14 stacy t
 Sylvia
Ravu
S14 sylvia t
 Yau-Man
Ravu
S14 yauman t
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