"Survivor: The Amazon" began in February with 16 castaways in two primitive camps on the banks of a piranha-infested river in the Brazilian jungles.

It ends tonight as the winner of the $1 million grand prize is revealed in a two-hour finale at 8 p.m. on CBS-TV. Will it be Butch? Matthew? Jenna? Or Rob?

But that might not be the only surprise this evening, says contestant JoAnna Ward, a South Carolina State University athlete and graduate who until recently lived in Orangeburg.

Ward is a personal trainer and motivational speaker and former middle school guidance counselor. "Everybody's like, 'How did you get there from little old Orangeburg?' Anything is possible. I think positive," she said.

She plans to join the other 15 Amazon castaways for the reunion program that will be broadcast live from New York tonight.

In the first four episodes, JoAnna, 31, and Jeanne Hebert, a 41-year-old marketing director from Massachusetts, were acknowledged as two of the hardest-working members of the women's tribe.

They were the ones who caught the fish, organized the camp, engineered the election of a leader for their tribe and rallied the women to victories in tribal challenges against the men's tribe.

But Deena, Heidi, Jenna and Shawna formed an alliance and booted JoAnna off the show. The move surprised "a lot of people, I mean a LOT of people, even some of the producers," JoAnna said.

Meanwhile, Jeanne took revenge.

"She put bugs in the food - worms and ants and mildew. She cooked it up real good with the manioc (flour). Because she was like, 'This is for JoAnna,' for them voting me off," JoAnna said.

None of the other castaways knew of Jeanne's dirty trick until it was aired on television, JoAnna said. "They'll probably be mad at her at the finale, because she had them eating maggots and stuff."

JoAnna said she hasn't watched too many episodes since the one in which she got voted off, "since I've been so busy," but "I've had people call me and say so and so got voted off .... 'Yeah, Deena finally got it. Oh, I'm so glad she got voted off.'"

"Did you notice they changed the whole dynamic of the game after I left? Did you notice that? It was no longer the men against the women. They didn't even have a challenge the next time," JoAnna said.

Critics have said JoAnna lacked the ruthlessness to play to win at any cost, but she's unrepentant. "I knew the game was a tricky game," she said.

"I figured it was 15 losers in the end, and one winner, so the only way I could win, really, was to go out there and just make sure I was me and I was representing my highest level and I was as strong as I possibly could be," she said.

"You go out there being fakey and come back here and (potential employers will say), 'You took your clothes off. I don't want you at my school. You lied and you cheated and you stole. I don't want you working with my students!' I had to look at that."

"My son was watching. He was like, 'Mommy, I'm glad I didn't see you bathing out there,'" she said. "I'm glad I didn't go out there and sell my soul for the possibility of winning."

The most controversial scene involving JoAnna that viewers watched was "that episode with Christy" Smith, the 24-year-old children's adventure guide from Colorado who stunned her teammates by announcing she's deaf.

"They tried to make it seem like I was attacking Christy, but they never showed anything else or how that came about or anything," JoAnna complained.

As evidence that footage was spliced together, she pointed out an impossibly quick wardrobe change: she was shown wearing a bathing suit one moment and a rain jacket the next.

Another interesting fact JoAnna pointed out was that the producers held off showing footage of her finding two pineapples growing wild in the Amazon jungle.

"When they (cameramen) saw us find that, they were like" astonished, JoAnna said. "Pineapples in the Amazon?! Oh, come on, what is the likelihood?

"They didn't want to show that while I was on the show, because I had told them earlier that God was going to feed me, that I was not going to starve, I guarantee that!" JoAnna said. "I ate! I did not starve to death while I was out there. I had food."

JoAnna is best recognized for breaking out in song: "Hallelujah, O glory; hallelujah, amen!"

"Only JoAnna on 'Survivor' sounds like that!" she said with a delighted laugh. "Did you notice when I was on the show, before every break, they played my 'Hallelujah O glory' as they faded out to a commercial?"

"In South America the people ... heard me singing and they started going 'Hallelujah!'" she said. "Everywhere I start singing that, everybody starts singing 'Hallelujah!' There's just something about it."

She says her "cheer" was "one of the first things" she recorded on her audition tape and "it's what kept me strong out there" in the Amazon.

"Whatever keeps you going, use it," she said. "Some people need coffee. Others need to listen to music. Whatever. My thing is praising the Lord, and it makes me strong and powerful. ... God is my strength."

But the way she chose to express her deep religious faith sometimes puzzled, or even irked, her competitors on "Survivor: The Amazon."

"Even Ryan (Aiken, a 23-year-old model from Maryland), one of the guys that got voted off ahead of me, he's like, 'Hallelujah is the highest praise and the most exotic feelings I can have, and you're saying that while we're getting voted off, really made me upset. I liked you saying it but it was bothering me that you were cheering while we were being defeated. It wasn't right, JoAnna.'"

"And I said, 'Oh, well, it wasn't right for who'?" she grinned.

International fame has changed JoAnna's life, but it hasn't changed her too much. She gets mobbed for autographs, but she patiently honors as many requests as her schedule allows.

Fame has made her life "a little more exposed, I guess" to public scrutiny and media attention, she said. There was even an article in the National Enquirer tabloid a few weeks ago.

"It was a nice article: 'Survivor beauty faces greatest challenge ever.' It was a good story (compiled from) bits and pieces from different newspapers and magazines," she said.

"It was absolutely inaccurate. They had some very bogus information in it. But it wasn't a humiliating article. Thank you, Lord! They didn't butcher me up, so I thank God for that," she said.

"Next to mine, they had ("Survivor" executive producer) Jeff Probst in a very negative article," claiming that he had become ill while on location. "That was not right!" she insisted.

Speaking of rumors, JoAnna was asked if she had bought a jet-black Hummer. "Why do they keep saying that? Why would someone tell you something like that?" she asked.

"See, what it is, I'm in the process of trying to do some marketing and promotions for Hummer, since I have car experience with Ford," said the former on-camera talent for the Pulliam-Wray dealership in Columbia.

A Hummer offers an incredibly enjoyable driving experience, she said, and "it's only $50,000. ... That's my vehicle of choice; you can quote me!"

What else might be in JoAnna's future? Personal training, speaking engagements and maybe other, more scripted roles in front of the camera. And "I'm really strongly considering going back to some aspect of education, even if it's just on a part-time basis," she said.

"The show was funny, but - thank you, God - I got out. I didn't die or get malaria or worms," she said. "I'm back home; I've got peace of mind; I'm blessed!"

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