Still in the Game

It’s been a few years since Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick ’02 came out of her self-described “reality-show retirement.” She was in her early 40s when she got a call from the producers of “Snake in the Grass,” a new reality TV series that debuted on the USA Network in 2023. It had been more than a decade since the last of her three appearances on “Survivor,” and with her kids in school and her husband retired at home, she finally had the flexibility to say yes. It was only a three-day commitment. She had no idea it would bring her all the way back into the game.

Sometime in early 2026, LaGrossa will appear alongside 23 other “Survivor” alu ni when the iconic series debuts its highly anticipated 50th season. It’s a fitting return for the former Hawks lacrosse standout, who has forged an on-and-off reality TV career from an abundant natural reserve of competitiveness, toughness, and willingness to embrace a challenge.

Those traits were honed during a blue-collar upbringing in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, where LaGrossa grew up the youngest of five siblings. “With four older brothers,” she says with pride, “I’ve always been a fighter, and I have very thick skin.”

Long before her reality show days, those qualities served her well as an athlete. She was recruited to Temple for lacrosse and started for the Owls as a freshman but eventually decided the Philadelphia school wasn’t the right fit. Looking for a transfer destination, the girl who had spent summers growing up on the Jersey shore found her home in West Long Branch. Among her new Monmouth teammates was Rebekah “Beka” Immit ’02, who will never forget her first impression of LaGrossa.

“Our first preseason event was a timed mile,” Immit recalls. “She was rooming with the track and field girls, and she rolls up in this full-body spandex outfit. In true Steph fashion, she committed to it—she joked with us about it, she was confident, and of course she ran a great time. You knew right away she was just unstoppable.”

Today, LaGrossa calls her decision to transfer “the best move I ever made.” She would go on to captain the Hawks lacrosse team before graduating in 2002, leaving with a double major in marketing and management and a crew of lifelong friends. (She and a half dozen or so of her former teammates maintain an active group text.)

Pharmaceutical sales proved a good fit, but by 2004, with some money saved and a condo in Toms River, the lure of adventure led her to apply for a slot on “Survivor.” “I was always a huge fan,” she says of the show. “I remember watching and thinking, ‘I’m not a fisherman, I don’t go camping, but between my competitiveness and the social aspect of the game, I know I could kill it.’”

She was one of 20 competitors (out of roughly 800 applicants) to earn a spot on “Survivor: Palau,” the show’s 10th season, which was filmed in late 2004 and aired in the spring of 2005. She resigned from her job, flew to the Micronesian island for filming, and made it to the show’s final seven; more important, she made an impression.

She had just finished training for a new sales job a few months later when she got the call asking if she’d be interested in returning for the next season, set in Guatemala. In a move that she jokes got her “banned for life from the pharmaceutical industry,” she said yes, and she proved adept enough at the show’s array of schemes, alliances, and mental and physical challenges to finish as Season 11 runner-up.

“I knew that she was going to attack that game with the same fierceness that made her a successful Division I athlete,” Immit says. “It was a venue that really showcased her stamina and athleticism, but she’s also a really great communicator, and I think she reads a room really well.”

Reality TV fame led to more opportunities in the spotlight: modeling and event hosting, commercials, even a couple of soap opera cameos. But celebrity, LaGrossa insists, “was never why I did ‘Survivor,”’ even though she wasn’t sure what might come next. After the end of LaGrossa’s brief marriage to her longtime boyfriend, one of her brothers offered something that felt like a fresh start: partnering with him to buy a small restaurant and lounge in Philadelphia, in which she invested some of her “Survivor” winnings.

They owned the place for nearly seven years. “It was a hole-in-the-wall spot with good food and good music,” she says, and among the regulars were players from Philly sports teams—including a young Phillies pitcher named Kyle Kendrick, who quickly made it known he was smitten with her.

She was reluctant at first—“I was 27 and divorced; the last thing I need is to get into a relationship with a 23-year-old baseball player”—but eventually, love blossomed. Over the course of a few years, Kendrick won a World Series ring with the Phillies, LaGrossa made her third “Survivor” appearance with a short-lived turn on Season 20, and the couple married, moved to Florida (convenient for spring training), and had the first of their three kids. Marriage and motherhood suited her, but even then, she had a hunch she might not be done with her own competitive career.

“Even before we had kids,” she says, “I told Kyle, ‘I’m going to drop it all, reality TV and anything else, because I love you, your career comes first, and I’ll support you. But when you’re done playing and we’re at a point in our lives that something comes around for me, I’m going to take the opportunity.’”

Some of those opportunities came before she was ready: calls from shows like “The Amazing Race” and “Dancing with the Stars,” tempting offers that didn’t make sense while Kendrick was still pitching and their kids needed a parent at home.

But Kendrick retired in 2017, the kids were busy with school and activities, and when the offer came in 2022 to join “Snake in the Grass,” the short commitment made it a relatively easy call. A few months later, she was asked to join the cast of “The Traitors,” which debuted on Peacock in early 2023 and quickly became a hit for the streaming platform. For LaGrossa, the show’s success was confirmation: The timing was right, and she was still up to the challenge.

Not long after, she was invited to join the cast for an upcoming season of “Australian Survivor,” an offer that was made moot when producers of the American version contacted her about a spot on “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.” She waited more than a year for confirmation that she’d be one of the two dozen contestants.

“I didn’t find out for sure until probably six weeks before I was leaving, but I had worked out and trained and prepared as if I was going,” LaGrossa says. “The first time I was on, I was 24, a Division I athlete. Now, I’m in good shape for a 45-year-old mom, but I’m 45. I’ve had shoulder surgery. So, I trained like a lunatic. I thought, ‘If I’m going to blow out a knee, I want to do it now, not on the show.’”

She cannot, of course, share details from her time spent filming last summer in Fiji. What she can share is perspective on the very specific sort of celebrity that she’s experienced, largely on her terms, for more than 20 years. Receiving messages from viewers who’ve been inspired by her on-screen resilience. Learning how to handle online criticism from a fanbase that is deeply invested in the show’s participants and outcomes.

And accepting what it means to age in the public eye, like when she met a fan on a recent “Survivor” cruise who was just 10 years old when she rooted for LaGrossa on her first season—or the fact that she’s now old enough to be some contestants’ mom.

Age aside, in some ways, she’s still the same woman she was 20 years ago— unsure of what comes next but open to whatever might prove a worthwhile challenge. She’s excited for her children to be able to see her compete, and she loves the idea of appearing on a show that might someday allow her to team up with one of them. Appearing with her husband most likely won’t happen—he’s not too fond of the idea of being on reality TV—but LaGrossa can easily imagine competing alongside her son, Kyle Jr., in the future.

As for “Survivor?” She guesses she’s “probably done” with the show that gave her a start and her first taste of stardom. “This is my fourth time,” she says. “It’s like, ‘Come on, how many times are you going to do it?’” After a pause, she adds, “But who knows? If they do a 60 and I’m still in good shape…”