Rebekah "Becky" Lee, 29, came in third place on "Survivor," the CBS series that puts 18 to 20 contestants in remote locations for 39 days to compete in challenges to become the sole survivor.
The show's recently completed 13th season, "Survivor: Cook Islands," began with 20 players separated along ethnic lines into four five-member tribes: the Asian-American Puka tribe, the Caucasian Raro tribe, the African-American Hiki tribe and the Latino Aitu tribe.
They were merged into two competing tribes in the third episode.
Lee said she originally was uneasy about the ethnic divisions and thought it would promote racial stereotyping.
"We didn't know before we started filming," Lee said. "I was a little outraged."
But she said she later viewed the format as an opportunity for her and the other contestants to demonstrate that racial stereotypes were not true.
Lee, born in Flushing, N.Y., to South Korean immigrants, formed an early alliance with Puka tribemate Yul Kwon, 31, who ended up winning “Survivor’s” $1 million first prize. Kwon and Lee stuck together and strategized with each other throughout the game, and ultimately advanced to the final three with eventual runner- up Oscar “Ozzy” Lusth, 25.“ We were thinking about the votes later on,” Lee said. “Every decision we made, we talked to each other about.”
The pair was together so much that they sparked rumors of a romance. Lee said they are just good friends and Kwon was like a brother to her. Both are attorneys from Korean American backgrounds, and Lee said that allowed them to click when they met. “We had this bond,” she said. “We’re very close.”
The game required the winning team or contestant to send a member of the opposing team or another contestant to Exile Island, an isolated island with no shelter. However, an immunity idol hidden there could be used by whomever found it to save themselves from getting voted off.
Kwon found the idol and later offered it to Lee to use in the final four against Lusth and Sundra Oakley, 31. Lee chose not to take the offer, then won a prolonged fire-making competition against Oakley to advance to the final three.
“That’s not my character,” Lee said about taking the idol. “After making a promise, I don’t backstab people.”
The fire contest lasted an hour and a half, and host Jeff Probst and the other contestants expressed disbelief that the women could not build a fire with flint after being on the island so long.
“We had practiced before the challenge,” Lee said. “We made fire at camp.”
Lee said the most memorable moment of “Survivor” was when the game was down to six contestants each on two teams, and her teammates Jonathan Penner and Candice Woodcock switched to the other tribe when given the opportunity.
She currently resides in Washington, D.C., but visits Pittsburgh often as her parents still live in Jefferson Hills. She is a 2004 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh Law School, and lists Shadyside is one of her favorite places to visit in the area.
Lee is active in Washington, lobbying for battered woman and stopping the trafficking of mail-order Asian brides. She said many woman from Asian countries who do not speak English are tricked into coming to America and wind up being sex slaves, battered and even killed.
A few weeks ago, Lee started the Becky Lee Women’s Support Fund for battered women. She said she also might consider making jewelry to support the fund.
She taught kickboxing in Pittsburgh for eight years and was on the women’s boxing team as an undergrad at the University of Michigan.
“I’m a competitive person, but I didn’t want people to see that,” Lee said.
Lee said being a contestant on “Survivor” was a life-changing experience.
“I’m pretty high maintenance,” she said. “I was really out of my environment.”
Lee said when she returned home she had a difficult time getting back to alarm clocks and schedules.
“It was a good experience for me,” she said. “You need time to enjoy the sunset.”
