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Christy Smith (born September 13, 1978) was born in Aspen, Colorado to her parents, Bob and Glenda Smith. Christy was a premature baby who weighed less than two pounds (1 kg) at birth. Christy pulled out her air tube as a baby, and she ended up losing 90 percent of her hearing.^[1] Christy is deaf, and she is skilled in lip reading and American Sign Language. Although Christy is skilled, most other proficient lipreaders can only get 25%.^[2]

Christy attended high school and college in Washington, D.C. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology/criminology from Gallaudet University in 2000. Christy is a Children Adventure Guide for the Deaf.

Christy was the first deaf contestant on the CBS reality television series Survivor: Amazon in the spring of 2003. Christy's reasoning for going on the television series was to bring awareness of deaf culture.^[3] Christy shocked her tribe members on the first day when she announced that she was deaf. Christy and JoAnna Ward locked horns earlier on in the show when JoAnna overheard Christy telling Jeanne Hebert that JoAnna's rant about the immunity idol was "stupid". The argument resulted in JoAnna casting a vote for Christy at the next tribal council.

On Day 33, Christy was approached by two different alliances asking her for her vote. Christy, the swing vote, did not tell either alliance which way she was voting. However, the two separate alliances joined forces and voted for Christy instead. Christy was voted out in a 4-2 decision by Jenna Morasca, Heidi Strobel, Matthew Von Ertfelda, and Rob Cesternino. Christy got sixth place and was the fourth member of the jury of seven that would decide the winner of the show.

When addressing the final two, Christy did not appreciate Jenna saying that Jenna was handicapped because she was beautiful. However, Christy shocked many when it was revealed that she had voted for Jenna to win the million dollars.