Gillian Larson, creator of the Reality Rally fundraising event for Michelle’s Place Cancer Resource Center, speaks to event participants in front of Temecula City Hall, May 7, 2022. The Reality Rally event partners people who have been cast in reality TV shows with teams of community members that race around Old Town while completing challenges and games. Each team raises money for Michelle’s Place. Valley News/Shane Gibson photo
For years, people throughout the Temecula Valley have come to know when they see Gillian Larson that it’s time to break out their checkbooks and get ready to participate in the popular fun for funds event she created while in the jungles of Gabon after being a contestant on the popular CBS reality show “Survivor” in 2008.“It all started when my flame was snuffed in the jungle of Gabon during ‘Survivor,’” Larson, who grew up in a small town just outside of Johannesburg, South Africa, said.Larson has often said that with so much spare time on her hands while wandering the jungles of Gabon after she was voted off “Survivor” on Day 6, she knew she could use her 15 minutes of fame to make a difference in her community and the idea of Reality Rally was born.“It’
