Two ‘Survivors’ get a kick out of J-Bay
From The Weekend Post
By Brian Hayward
They’ve outwitted, outplayed and outlasted the competition and now Survivor winners Ethan Zohn and Jenna Morasca are visiting the Eastern Cape as part of a whirlwind tour to promote a soccer charity co-founded by Ethan.
Jenna, 24, and Ethan, 31, who shot to fame after winning separate seasons of the US reality show, have become a celebrity couple.
Relaxing outside Jeffreys Bay’s Surfrider Cafe, the two looked very much in love and said they were enthralled by the Eastern Cape.
Postcards from J-Bay
“It’s so beautiful,” said Jenna. “It’s like a postcard. We are just in awe of the environment and the surroundings here.”
Ethan and Jenna arrived in South Africa on Monday and have been meeting prospective sponsors to expand the Grassroot soccer initiative, starting with Johannesburg and Cape Town.
The rest of their time has been spent sightseeing and relaxing with friends.
“We are planning to go horseback riding and would also like to visit a game reserve (in the Grahamstown area),” Jenna said.
Rich romance
She revealed that the relationship between herself and Ethan had actually begun about three months before they appeared together on the Survivor All Stars series, which was broadcast in South Africa in 2004. “I went to the finale of Survivor Amazon (in May 2002) and that’s where I met Jenna,” Ethan smiled.
“He gave me half a beer and said, ‘Nice to meet you’, then walked away,” Jenna recalled.
At that time she had just heard that she’d won Survivor Amazon, netting her $1-million (about R6-million). Ethan netted the same amount for winning Survivor Africa.
The Big Apple
Previously from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jenna now lives with Ethan in New York. Originally from Lexington, Massachusetts, he relocated to New York five years ago to coach soccer at a university there.
Jenna now works for US television station CBS, broadcasting a live internet talk show in which she interviews contestants straight after they have been voted off Survivor. She also owns her own modelling business.
The family visit which usually forms part of every Survivor series was a highlight for her while in the Amazon.
“People never really understand what we go through. Getting a chance to bring them (a family member) into our world (the Amazon) was really cool,” she said.
Life-changing moment
A life-changing moment for Ethan came during Survivor Africa when he played a game called hackey-sack in a rural Kenyan village with children he later found out were all HIV-positive.
“That’s when it clicked for me. I was in the middle of this game, playing for $1-million and these kids were living like that every day of their lives – and they’re HIV-positive,” he said. “At that moment I thought, ‘Something’s got to be done about this’.”
Now Ethan has an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of thousands of children around the world.
After winning Survivor Africa, he returned to the US where he and soccer friends Kirk Friedrich and Dr Thomas Clark began Grassroot soccer. Thanks to his newly won capital and fame, he was able to raise both funds and awareness .
AIDS awareness
It is an international programme whereby soccer stars in countries like Botswana, Zambia, Uganda, Liberia – and now South Africa – are trained to visit schools and spread HIV and Aids awareness among the youth.
Ethan first went to Zimbabwe in his “pre-Survivor days” to play for the Highlanders soccer team in the Zimbabwe Premier League. There he met and stayed with the Herskovitz family, who now live in Jeffreys Bay.
Ethan also heads Kick Aids, a sister project to Grassroots [sic] soccer, in the US.
Ethan and Jenna say they have no immediate plans to tie the knot and are happy with their lives at the moment.