Survival instincts put to the test by officer
By Daily Press Staff Writer
SANTA MONICA — The tribe may have spoken, but they don’t really have the last word on Cristina Coria.
The Santa Monica police officer, voted off CBS’ hit reality show “Survivor: Cook Islands” last week, wasn’t crowned the official survivor by her castmates. Still, Coria became one in her own right six years ago, when she was shot during a hostage situation on the Santa Monica Pier.
On Independence Day in 2000, Coria responded to a hostage situation and was shot when a murder suspect ran into the arcade and opened fire, hitting Coria in the arm and striking two other officers.
Two fractured bones had doctors telling Coria she could lose use of her arm, which might effectively end her career as a police officer.
Following 13 months in rehab, Coria was back on the job.
The incident hit close to home for Coria, 35, whose father, Luis, a retired detective, was shot and killed in an unsolved mystery at 20th Street and Olympic Boulevard in 1983. Becoming a cop was what she always wanted, but her father’s death made the career choice even clearer.
This year, Coria put her survivor instincts to work once again on season 13 of “Survivor”— the reality show that ships contestants to an undeveloped land to try and “outwit, outplay and outlast” the other players. The final contestant banks $1 million.
Wearing a bullet around her neck — a gift from her U.S. Marine boyfriend — and a Santa Monica police badge, Coria survived the competition for 15 days (or six episodes), until she was finally given the boot.
While marooned on the Cook Islands, Coria gutted fish and crab, marinating them in coconut juice and salt water. She chased after and gutted chickens, cooking everything the old-fashioned way — no cooking utensils, only sticks and leaves.
“It actually tasted really good,”Coria said. “You really force yourself to use your mind.”
What was it like to go from buying store-packed meat to cutting your own fish?
“It was disgusting having to put your finger into something that is so freaking disgusting,” Coria said laughing. “I used to work in a butcher shop and skin chicken, but the fish and crab... you really learn what you can and can’t eat.”
Contestants struggle to steer clear of the “tribal council,” which votes cast members off each episode, by winning their challenges, which can include everything from wrestling on the sand to building and paddling a boat.
Living on an island with 19 other contestants — any of whom could stab you in the back at any moment — was tough, to say the least, said Coria.
“It’s more about personalities than it is survival, because you can play clean and be the strongest person on the team, but if other personalities feel you’re a threat, they vote you off,” Coria said.
Coria was eventually voted off because the other contestants got tired of her “abrasive conduct and condescending tone,” according to CBS’ Survivor Web site.
The problem the other cast members had with Coria seemed to concern her job as a police officer. The contestants saw her as bossy whenever she voiced a suggestion.
“Once I mentioned I was a police officer, it became really detrimental because they had me on the outs,” she said.
However, SMPD Sgt. Jay Trisler, said Coria represented the Santa Monica Police Department very well on the show.
“Cristina is a great individual,” he said. “She’s very courageous. Somebody who comes back to work after experiencing something she did takes a lot of fortitude and takes some courage.”
The show’s portrayal of her is inaccurate, Coria said. One episode, in particular, showed Coria barking orders on how to cook an octopus, when in fact, the cast members asked her how to cook the cephalopod, she said.
Coria insists the portrayal in the beginning of the show was closer to the truth, when Coria told audiences that she was going to win the game by being a good role model.
“If I can’t win this game by being an honest person with integrity, morals and values, then it’s not worth winning the game,” she said.
All in all, Coria said she would do the show again in a second.
Coria remains friends with fellow cast members J.P.Calderon,of Marina del Rey,and Stephannie Favor, of Columbia, S.C. She also once dated Joel Klug of “Survivor Season 1.”
Since the show began airing on Thursdays at 8 p.m., Coria has been remade into a local celebrity, appearing on numerous radio shows,“The Late Show with David Letterman” and CBS’“The Early Show.”
Born and raised in Santa Monica, the 14-year police veteran graduated from Samohi in 1989, attended Santa Monica College and then went straight to the police academy. She spent a year as a police officer at Santa Monica College before transferring to the SMPD.
Coria watched the season premiere of “Survivor” at Yankee Doodles on the Third Street Promenade last month with 150 friends and family. She said it was odd to see herself on television, but even weirder when people recognize her now from the show.
A father and son pulled over in their car the other day when they saw Coria jogging.
“Hey, good job, we’re proud of you,” they yelled. “We miss you on the show.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 28, 2006. Read the original PDF.