Pia Miranda responds to Survivor controversy: ‘I had no reason to cheat’

Following intense fan scrutiny, Survivor star Pia Miranda has finally broken her silence about this season’s most controversial moment.

Australian Survivor star Pia Miranda has addressed the controversy surrounding her challenge win on Monday’s episode of the reality series, insisting she had “no reason to cheat”.

The Looking For Alibrandi star, 46, was awarded her first immunity win of the season after a gruelling 90-minute challenge in which contestants had to hang from a bar using both hands — and as the task wore on, using one hand only.

Viewers were divided about the final seconds of the challenge, many insisting Miranda had grabbed the bar with both hands before contestant Luke Toki dropped out, which would’ve made him the winner instead.

The moment that had everybody talking.

Following intense pressure from Survivor fans — some of whom labelled her a “cheat” and accused the show of being rigged — Miranda broke her silence via Instagram last night.

“I just wanted to address the messages I have received from fans about my immunity win. In regards to the edit showing me apparently changing arms, I was changing them throughout the challenge when it was 2 arms to give each one a rest. I can only assume the vision came from that period of the challenge,” she wrote.

“As for me grabbing the bar with two hands at the end of the challenge, it was a complete surprise to me as I would never intentionally cheat to win, I love the game too much. The boys told me the challenge was mine and that they were dropping out, so on their call to drop I then grabbed the bar in excitement. I was declared the winner on the day and was so thrilled about it so it was a shock to me that there was any controversy. Honestly, I wasn’t tired so I had no reason to cheat. After so many days in the game and over 90 minutes hanging in a challenge I would hate for my whole experience to be defined by a debate about a split second as I respect and love the game of Survivor so much. I love the fans of Survivor (as I am one too) and so I hope this clears things up a bit.”

Pia Miranda: “I had no reason to cheat.”

Survivor’s production company Endemol Shine Australia firmly backed the actress in the wake of the controversy, telling news.com.au earlier this week that “Pia was the winner of the challenge. All that were there saw the win play out this way.”

Miranda’s references to the challenge edit mark the second time this week an Australian Survivor star has spoken out to clear up confusion apparently caused by the editing of the show’s challenges.

Host Jonathan LaPaglia launched an impassioned defence of the show on Wednesday after another controversial challenge win, while also conceding that “this challenge did not play out as depicted in the edit.”

“Sometimes things are rearranged in the edit to make it more exciting for the viewer. That doesn’t mean it’s rigged. In this case it means the editing wasn’t as sharp as it could have been,” LaPaglia revealed.

Australian Survivor continues 7:30pm Monday and Tuesday next week on Ten.