Shannon's Humger Games Mentally, I Wasn't There!

The gutsy Survivor player is back with her favourite tribe.

- Sebastian Van Der Zwan

When Woman’s Day visits Survivor NZ contestant Shannon Quinn on the job at Auckland Zoo, the animals are not playing ball. The red pandas refuse to budge from the top of their tree, the spider monkeys require treats to come out of hiding and Blake the macaw flies off at the sight of our camera equipment.

“Honestly, handling these animals is trickier than working with the players from Survivor!” laughs the zoo keeper, 24, from Geraldine. “They’re much more challenging and difficult. The animals are so smart, you always have to be at the top of your game. A lot of them try to test you or catch you off guard just for fun. They all have such interesting personalities and really keep me on my toes.”

Shannon has also worked with “mischievous” lemurs, as well as kunekune pigs, which she jokes remind her of fellow contestant Avi Duckor-Jones “because they’re lovely, clever and know what’s going on”.