Jerri Manthey

In 2001, Manthey appeared on the television reality show Survivor: The Australian Outback.[1] Manthey was sorted into the Ogakor tribe alongside Amber Brkich, Colby Donaldson, Keith Famie, Kel Gleason, Maralyn Hershey, Mitchell Olson and Tina Wesson. At the beginning of the game, Manthey formed multiple conflicts with the rest of her tribemates, notably Famie over his cooking skills which put her on the chopping block but she was spared from elimination due to her tribe winning the first immunity challenge.

After Ogakor lost the second immunity challenge, Manthey was on the chopping block over her personality rubbing people the wrong way, yet she was spared after she accused Gleason of having snuck beef jerky into the game and having the majority believing her and voting Gleason out. Manthey later confessed that she was attracted to Donaldson, which helped her survive the next two tribal councils Ogakor attended.

On day 19, the tribes merged into Barramundi after Michael Skupin's evacuation left ten players in the game, 5 from each tribe. While the Kucha tribe targeted Donaldson, the Ogakor tribe smartly targeted Jeff Varner as he had previous votes, which allowed Donaldson to win the tiebreaker, sending Varner home, and allowing Ogakor to have the majority. Alicia Calaway from Kucha was voted out at the next tribal council.

At the final 8, Manthey and Brkich were told to target Elisabeth Filarski, but Wesson, Famie and Donaldson decided to turn on Manthey as she annoyed them and they would still have the majority, sending Manthey home on day 27 as the second member of the jury in a 6-2 vote.

At the season's final tribal council, Manthey voted for Wesson to win over Donaldson as she felt betrayed by the latter. Wesson would go on to win the season in a 4-3 vote.

In 2004, Manthey was cast in the show's eighth season, Survivor: All-Stars[3] Where she was initially cast on the Saboga tribe alongside Rudy Boesch, Rupert Boneham, Jenna Lewis, Tina Wesson, and Ethan Zohn. Initially, Manthey attempted to improve her game by not being overly opinionated. She once again got into multiple arguments on the Saboga tribe, Particularly with Boneham during a shelter-building challenge, however she was spared from being eliminated after Saboga lost the first two immunity challenges due to Wesson's status as a past winner and Boesch's challenge weakness making them targets first.

On day 13, the tribes participated in a reward challenge where the tribe that finished last would be absorbed into the other two. Saboga lost, meaning Manthey and Zohn were drafted into the Mogo Mogo tribe, now containing them, Colby Donaldson, Richard Hatch, Shii Ann Huang, Lex van den Berge, and Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien. The new tribe lost the three following immunity challenge, with Manthey surviving every tribal council as she aligned with van den Berghe and Vavrick-O'Brien to vote out larger threats in Hatch, Donaldson and Zohn.

On day 22, at the final ten, an unexpected second switch left Manthey on the Chapera tribe, containing all her fellow former Mogo Mogo members in Huang, van den Berghe, and Vavrick-O'Brien and former Chapera member, Amber Brkich. After Chapera lost the following immunity challenge, Manthey was initially confident she would be safe as Brkich was the outsider on the tribe, however, a deal struck by van den Berghe and Mogo Mogo member, Rob Mariano saved Brkich and eliminated Manthey in tenth place on day 24 in a 4-1 vote.

Manthey returned for her third and final time in the show's tenth anniversary and twentieth season, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains as a member of the Villains tribe alongside Tyson Apostol, Randy Bailey, Sandra Diaz-Twine, Danielle DiLorenzo, Russell Hantz, Rob Mariano, Parvati Shallow, Coach Wade and Courtney Yates.[4] Manthey initially formed a bond with Wade, which fellow tribemates teased the two about being in love.

After the both tribes had to attend a double tribal council, a plan was hatched by Manthey's alliance (including Apostol, Diaz-Twine, Mariano, Wade, and Yates) to split the votes between Hantz and Shallow, but after Apostol ruined the plan and got idolled out, Manthey joined DiLorenzo, Hantz and Shallow's alliance to vote out Mariano, Wade and Yates after the villains' initial winning streak ended.

The tribes merged into the Yin Yang tribe on day 25, with both the Heroes and the Villains having 5 members each. The Villains voted for the percieved leader of the Heroes, J.T. Thomas, while the villains voted for Manthey. However Shallow played a hidden immunity idol, saving Manthey from a tie and eliminating Thomas. The villains would go on to vote two more Heroes at the next tribal councils, Amanda Kimmel and Candice Woodcock.

At the final seven, Hantz turned on fellow former villain DiLorenzo as he felt she and Shallow were too close, with Manthey as the swing vote in the plan. While she seemed unsure throughout the episode, she would vote out DiLorenzo after she accidentally revealed that Manthey was at the bottom of the alliance. The Villains then voted out Boneham and Donaldson, the last two heroes remaining, leaving the final four being ormer villains Diaz-Twine, Hantz, Manthey, and Shallow.

After Hantz won the final four immunity challenge on day 38, he helped vote Manthey out as he saw her as the biggest threat of the three as she was the only non-winner and he feared that her social game would gain her jury votes. So on day 38, she was voted out 3-1, gaining 4th place, becoming the final member of the jury.

At the final tribal council, Manthey initially planned on voting for Hantz, but switched her vote to Shallow after her answer to Manthey's jury question. Shallow would go on to lose to Diaz-Twine in a 6-3-0 vote, making Diaz-Twine the show's first two-time winner.

Following her appearance on Survivor, Manthey appeared on the reality shows Blind Date, The Surreal Life and The Joe Schmo Show.[3]