“Survivor” contestant Cassandra Anne “Angie” Jakusz is dead at age 40 after a three-year battle with cancer. She passed away on Friday, January 8, 2021, according to her New Orleans obituary. Angie rose to fame in 2005 by starring on “Survivor: Palau,” the reality TV show’s 10th season on CBS.
Angie is now the eighth person from “Survivor” to pass away, following Jenn Lyon (2010), B.B. Andersen (2013), Caleb Bankston (2014), Dan Kay (2016), Ashley Massaro (2019), Rudy Boesch (2019), and Cliff Robinson (2020). See more info on all of these memorable players by clicking through our photo gallery above.
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“Whether she was sewing, painting, drawing, doing nail art or makeup, costuming, reading, snorkeling, scuba diving, traveling or just raising hell, she did it lovingly and with laser precision,” her family wrote in her obituary. “She is survived by her husband of nine years, Steven Calandra; her parents, Linda and Wayne Jakusz; her brother, Jon Jakusz; a niece, Addison Calandra and a nephew, Leo Robert Probst-Jakusz.”
Angie was almost voted out in the first episode because she was seen as a weak link in the challenge, but Jolanda Jones received more votes at tribal council. She rebounded in the second episode by being solely responsible for winning the fishing gear reward for her Ulong tribe. Angie didn’t have her name written down again until the fifth episode, when she and Bobby Jon Drinkard tied at two votes apiece; she was sent home on a re-vote.
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“Survivor: Palau” remains in the history book for being the only season in which a tribe was completely decimated. Angie’s Ulong tribe lost so many immunity challenges that Stephenie LaGrossa eventually found herself alone on her beach, at which point she was absorbed by the Koror tribe.
While Angie never returned to play “Survivor” again, three contestants from Season 10 came back in later editions of the show: Stephenie and Bobby in “Survivor: Guatemala” and Stephenie and winner Tom Westman in “Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains.” See the “Survivor” winners list.
