Lisa Whelchel, otherwise known as Blair Warner from the old sitcom “The Facts Of Life”, joined the “Survivor” cast in March, and while such an extreme move came as a surprise to her fans, she says she had a very good reason for doing so: a painful divorce.

“The divorce was final on March 1, and [I] went out to be on Survivor on March 10,” Whelchel said. “Going out to Survivor was helpful for me, to divert my attention and not just dwell on the loss…It was painful to realize that it wasn’t going to work out.”

The former actress was married for 24 years to Steve Cauble and has three children with him, but unfortunately things ended earlier this year. She says the split was amicable enough, but losing that relationship was still extremely difficult.

Whelchel says that because of bad investments when she was younger, much of the money she earned as an actress was gone years ago, and is keeping a low profile while on the show in the hopes that none of the other contestants will recognize her and assume she’s already a millionaire.

The season premiere of the show aired on Wednesday night.