Facts Of Life Star Lisa Whelchel Competing On 'Survivor: Philippines'
Aug. 20 2012, Published 10:05 a.m. ET
Lisa Whelchel is best known for portraying spoiled rich girl Blair Warner on '80s sitcom The Facts of Life but now the actress is set for a whole new adventure.
The 49-year-old mother-of-three has signed on to compete against 17 others on Survivor: Philippines to win the million dollar prize.
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Lisa is now a prominent Christian author and jumped at the chance to do the show because she is a longtime fan of the challenging reality series.
"I've watched it from the very first episode and had Survivor parties with my family," she told Entertainment Weekly.
"A friend of mine said, 'Let's just film a little iPhone video of you and you can put it on your Twitter and ask all your followers to retweet it. And maybe they'll contact you and know you want to be on the show.' And that's what happened!"
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Lisa added that she already has a strategy in dealing with her famous past as a teen star.
"I'm not going to volunteer it, but at the same time, even though there are a lot of young people and I'm sure they have no idea who Blair Warner is, there are some older people and even if only one knows it certainly will get around, so I won't deny it," she shared.
Former National League MVP Jeff Kent will also by vying for the top prize alongside two beauty pageant winners (Miss Delaware and Miss Teen Utah), a sex therapist, a seminary student and a cosmetologist among others.
Survivor: Philippines premieres on September 19 on CBS with a 90-minute special.