Wanda Shirk doesn’t need a $1 million check to prove she’s a
survivor. She’s proven that her entire life.

The Northern Potter High School librarian has taken to the
public speaking circuit, seemingly extending her 15 minutes of fame
way past the time she was on Survivor:Palau in 2005.

Shirk, who lasted just one show and wasn’t asked to stay on the
island, spoke to a couple classes at the University of Pittsburgh
at Bradford about what it means to be a survivor.

“I am a survivor,” Shirk explained after running on stage
singing a “Survivor” song she wrote after she was off the show.

“I can deal with anything,” she said. “No matter what happens,
get back up. That’s what survivors do.”

For Shirk, being a survivor surpasses eating bugs and sleeping
outside. It’s an adventure, living and overcoming adversity.

The Potter County woman said she wasn’t much of a TV watcher
when she read about a new genre in television -ðunscripted reality
TV. That’s when she found out about a little show called “Survivor”
– where the person who lasts 39 days without being voted off could
win $1 million.

But it wasn’t the prize that inspired Shirk the most. It was the
adventure.

The reader of such books as “Robinson Caruso” and “Swiss Family
Robinson” thought it would be fun. So Shirk, in her 50s, took a
video camera and made a three-minute video comprised of newscasts
showing why she should be picked for the show.

She sent in the tape and waited for the call. It never came.
Although she was not picked, Shirk was not discouraged.

She went back to the drawing board and tweaked her audition
tape, making such changes as taking off her glasses.

“I didn’t get accepted; I didn’t quit.

“If you quit when you don’t make it the first time, then you’ll
never make it.”

Her perseverance paid off when she received the call that she
had made it to the next level in the application process. She was
far from being cast onto the show.

In the meantime, she worked on her swimming and running.

“I hadn’t swam in 30 years … I hate running.”

Of 40,000 tapes they receive, 800 are picked for regional
interviews. Of those, 50 go to Los Angeles for the final round of
interviews.

She had an interview in Philadelphia where she wowed the
producers with “Wanda the Great Survivor” to the music of “Rudolph
the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

Shirk also went to L.A., continuing her part as a singing
survivor.

“Casting wants people who are characters,” she said. Shirk
translated that into filling a niche – she dubbed herself as wild,
wacky, wise, witty, warm and wonderful.

The wacky part stood out.

“I didn’t realize I was being cast as wacky,” she said. “All
they were focusing on was wacky.”

All the while, Shirk was also showing how she could be a
survivor, talking about losing her home and her marriage.

During her interviews in L.A., she was asked how she deals with
adversity.

“When bad things happen, it’s a choice” how to react, she said.
“I choose to be happy … forgiveness is a choice.

When creator Mark Burnett said she sounded like a doormat, Shirk
responded, “If I don’t forgive, I am miserable, more than the other
person I am not forgiving. That’s not a happy way to live. You’ve
got to forgive.”

The interview was over. Shirk was in.

Before they left, the contestants were told to put on their
“press clothes” or clothes they would wear to work. These clothes
ended up being what they’d wear for the competition. For Shirk, it
was a matronly blue dress. That soon became just a slip in the hot
Palau sun.

Shirk’s slip also became shorter when a fellow castmate used a
piece of her slip for a bandage when he cut himself.

“It was a brand new, really nice slip at the time,” Shirk said,
lifting her skirt up for the audience to see the “Survivor
slip.”

They spent a “wonderful day” on the island, where Shirk was
“helping people, being a nurse.”

But there were times one person – asked if they found anyone
annoying – would talk with the camera. Shirk’s name inevitably
would come up.

She was especially surprised when she actually saw the edited
show when her friend Coby said her song went “on and on and
on.”

Later, he called Shirk when one of his relatives was dying of
cancer. They needed “one of Wanda’s songs.”

On the third day of competition, they were told two were going
home. Shirk’s response, “I can’t want to see which of these guys is
going home.”

However, she found out a teacher in her 50s didn’t stand a
chance. The young men wanted young women.

“I didn’t get picked,” she said. As she was leaving, some called
out “Sing for us, Wanda.”

“That was one moment in my life I didn’t feel like singing, but
I did.”

Later, someone from the production crew went up to her on his
day off to say how impressed he was that she left with a “smile and
a song.”

“I never had anyone vote against me,” she said. “That’s very
different than not being picked.”