Danni Boatwright Wiegmann (born Danielle E. Boatwright; July 13, 1975) is an American actress, TV host, sports journalist, model and beauty queen who won $1,000,000 on ''
Survivor: Guatemala'', the eleventh season of the reality television show ''
Survivor
Survivor(s) may refer to:
* one who survives
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series
* ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...
'', and finished in 19th place in the show's 40th season ''
Survivor: Winners at War''.
Boatwright was born in
Tonganoxie, Kansas. She represented
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
at the nationally televised
Miss Teen USA
Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant that has been run since 1983 by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19 years old as of January 1st of the competition year. They must be US citizens, and cannot have been married, pregnant, or ...
and
Miss USA pageants,
and is one of the most successful delegates to compete in both competitions.
Pageantry
Boatwright is an accomplished model, having worked internationally, and is also an athlete: in 2003, she ran the Country Music Marathon in
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
. Boatwright's first major pageant title came in late 1991 when she won the
Miss Kansas Teen USA title and became the first representative of the Vanbros pageant group. Boatwright represented
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
at the 1992
Miss Teen USA
Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant that has been run since 1983 by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19 years old as of January 1st of the competition year. They must be US citizens, and cannot have been married, pregnant, or ...
pageant in
Biloxi
Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, bordering the city of Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport to its west. The adjacent cities ar ...
,
Mississippi
Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
and placed second behind
Miss North Carolina Teen USA Rachel Adcocks in the preliminary competition. During the final competition, Boatwright placed second in the interview and evening gown rounds and fourth in the swimsuit portion. Overall, she was ranked second going into the final stage of the competition, but dropped a place and so became the second runner-up to the eventual winner
Jamie Solinger of
Iowa
Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
.
Four years later Boatwright won the
Miss Kansas USA 1996 crown, and represented her state in the national
Miss USA competition, broadcast live from
South Padre Island, Texas
South Padre Island is a resort town in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Brownsville, Texas, Brownsville–Harlingen, Texas, Harlingen Brownsville-Harlingen metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population w ...
. In that pageant, Boatwright won the preliminary competition and also the interview and swimsuit competitions on finals night. She finished first runner-up to
Ali Landry of
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
, making her one of the most successful delegates to compete in both competitions.
Modeling
During the
Miss Teen USA
Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant that has been run since 1983 by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19 years old as of January 1st of the competition year. They must be US citizens, and cannot have been married, pregnant, or ...
pageant, Boatwright was introduced to an international modeling scout and started a career as a model. She has traveled as an international model in different countries including
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, and
Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
. She appeared on ''
Star Search'' at the age of 17 as a spokesmodel and contestant, the youngest ever to appear in this category. She has also appeared in numerous television and print advertisements, most recently in ads for BioSilk.
''Survivor''
''Guatemala''
In 2005, Boatwright competed in ''
Survivor: Guatemala'', the 11th season of
reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
show ''
Survivor
Survivor(s) may refer to:
* one who survives
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series
* ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...
''. She was initially placed on the Nakúm tribe. On Day 9, a tribe switch landed her on the Yaxha tribe. At the post-merge Survivor Auction, she bought herself an advantage at the next immunity challenge. After the challenge, she made connections with
Rafe Judkins and Lydia Morales, even forming a Final Two deal with Judkins. At the Final Four immunity challenge, Boatwright failed to win immunity, losing to Judkins. However, she convinced him that it was in his best interest to keep her over the much physically weaker Morales. Judkins agreed and Morales was unanimously voted out. Boatwright then won the final immunity challenge and, after Judkins released her from their earlier Final Two agreement, she chose Stephenie LaGrossa to bring to the final Tribal Council because she viewed LaGrossa as easier to beat and as equally deserving as Judkins. At the final Tribal Council, the jury was very angry with LaGrossa for her devious gameplay. Boatwright won the title of Sole Survivor in a 6–1 vote, only losing Judkins's vote.
''Winners at War''
After a 15-year and 29-season hiatus from the series, Boatwright returned to compete on ''
Survivor: Winners at War''. She quickly aligned with
Rob Mariano,
Parvati Shallow
Parvati Shallow ( ; born September 21, 1982) is an American television personality, best known for competing on multiple seasons of the reality game show Survivor (American TV series), ''Survivor''. She was the winner of ''Survivor: Micronesia, S ...
and
Ethan Zohn as a member of an "Old-School" alliance on the Sele tribe. However, after accidentally revealing the existence of the alliance in a conversation with Zohn and
Ben Driebergen, Mariano felt she couldn't be trusted, and she became the third person voted out of the game. On day 35, Boatwright became a permanent member of the jury after failing to return to the game from the Edge of Extinction. She voted for
Tony Vlachos to win the title of Sole Survivor, which he accomplished in a 12-4-0 vote.
Professional and personal life
Boatwright lives in
Tonganoxie, Kansas and is an on-air personality for
KCSP, also known as ''610 Sports'', in Kansas City. She is the co-host of "Sports Rap" every Sunday from 10:00 to noon. She also appeared on ''
The Fantasy Show'' on ESPN2. Boatwright was the first host of CelebTV.com, an entertainment news website. In 2006, she became a spokeswoman for
Coleman products. She can also be seen in online promotional videos for the
Trackstick GPS tracking device. She also started a sports clothing label called Sideline Chic.
Boatwright was once married to
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
singer
Wade Hayes, and appeared in the music video for his 1998 single "Tore Up from the Floor Up." She is now married to
Casey Wiegmann, a former NFL
center. They have two sons, Bo, born on October 8, 2007, and Stone, born on November 1, 2010.
Kansas City Star
References
External links
*
Danni Boatwright biography
for '' Survivor: Guatemala'' at CBS.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boatwright, Danni
1975 births
Living people
People from Tonganoxie, Kansas
20th-century Miss Teen USA delegates
Survivor (American TV series) winners
Miss USA 1996 delegates
20th-century American people
Survivor (franchise) winners