Survivor New Zealand winner Lisa Stanger's secret weapon

Lisa Stanger took out the title of Sole Survivor in Survivor New Zealand Season 2. Photo / Scott McAulay

Survivor New Zealand season 2 winner Lisa Stanger says her $250,000 win "hasn't sunk in yet".

The Christchurch-based school librarian took out the title of Sole Survivor after a long battle which saw her rise to the top as one of the most competitive players.

A self-confessed "Survivor super-fan", Stanger came into the game with the strategy of coming across as non-threatening - only to later orchestrate some of the game's biggest blindsides, including the elimination of Matt, one Survivor's strongest players.

Her secret weapon? Stanger says her young son was her main motivator during the later stages of the game.

"I went on Survivor for me, because I'm such a fan, but then when I thought I could have a chance of winning, it changed," she says.

"I was like, 'tone it down, you just need to play the game to win, because I can get the money, and I can spend time with my son'. He's only a child for a certain amount of time, and I really want to have the freedom to spend time with him.

"One of the things he said to me when I won (was), 'This is going to be really good for my popularity!'"

Stanger says she feels "overwhelmed" by her win, because "there are so many variables in Survivor. The type of challenges, who the people are on your tribe, all sorts," she says.

"At the tribe swap... I could see a few ways I could get to the end. And then I was really trying to think about, 'Okay, what can I do?' That's when the pressure really sort of amped up."

In regards to the prize money, Stanger hopes to spend it on her family, and to make a contribution to the school library system.

"I'm going to do some travelling with my son," she says. "I really want to get overseas with him - he's never been overseas, and I really want to show him the world, because it was really revelatory for me, experiencing that stuff, and I want him to as well.

"I've also got a school library project I've had in mind for a while, which is getting up-to-date technology books into school libraries. At the moment what can happen is, a kid could want to be a computer scientist or a game developer, (they) go to their library, and the book they get is 20 years out of date... so that's something I'm really keen to get going."