We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carolyn Wiger. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carolyn below.

Carolyn, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

When Season 44 of Survivor finished airing in May 2023 I was flooded with messages from fans. I started doing cameos for fans and realized I just couldn’t keep up. I increased my prices to make them more manageable. I was still working full time as a social worker/drug counselor so I asked my boss for a 2 week leave with every intention of going back to that job. I then started to think like “what if I could make something of this?” What if I could continue helping and inspiring others who like they don’t fit in and struggle with addiction? I couldn’t get the thought of my head. People would tell me, “well Carolyn there’s going to be another Survivor season soon and what if you’re just forgotten?” I ignored the background noise and I quit my job to work independently. I knew if I didn’t try I would regret it for the rest of my life.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

For as long as I can remember I’ve had people telling to sit still or shut up. I’ve always been the weird one, the quirky one. I started experimenting with drugs and alcohol and soon became addicted. After moving 5 times in 2 years I finally realized that I cannot run from my problems because everywhere we go there we are. I got sober when I was 22 and I was determined to do the internal work needed to heal. I wanted to love myself. I wanted to be proud of myself. I wanted to be able to express myself in a health.y way. I went back to school and became licensed as a drug counselor. This past May I celebrated 15 years of continuous sobriety.
In June of 2022 I flew to Fiji to film Season 44 of Survivor. My dream was to play the game of Survivor as my authentic self. I wanted to lay it all out there, flaws and all and that’s exactly what I did. The outpour of support has been incredible.
This past summer I filmed Season 3 of Traitors (airs Winter 2025).
My whole message is authenticity and celebrating the beautiful differences we all have. I try to share every struggle I have because when we share, we connect, I don’t ever want anyone to think my life is perfect. It’s not, but most importantly I share openly because I don’t want anyone to feel like they are in their struggle alone. I am then able to connect with people one on one via zooms for life coaching sessions and I do cameos.
Survivor has been a huge part of my life and I truly love the show so I also have a podcast with my best friend, Carson called “Let’s get Tribal” where we re-cap weekly Survivor episodes.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Naturally I am a free spirit. I dance to the beat of my own drum. I am not for everyone and I am okay with that. I think most people want to put the best version of themselves out there to the world. I don’t. I want people to know my highs and lows. I want to be as real as possible. I don’t really have a method to my madness other than it’s just me being me and I am okay with that.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Being on Survivor really helped grow my social media presence, but it could have stopped there. I have continuously posted and remained engaged on social media, specifically instagram. I sometimes post and it’s a miss and other times I post and it’s a hit. I don’t focus on that. I instead just post content that I believe in and is true to myself. I don’t think about “what will this person think or say?” I follow my heart and I don’t change who I am or what I post based off of what is “trending” or “popular.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://carolynwiger.com
• Instagram: instragram.com/Car0lynr0se
• Twitter: CarolynWiger
• Youtube: letsgettribalpod
• Other: https://www.cameo.com/carolynwiger