Jonny Fairplay has some sad news: His grandmother has died, for real this time.

The Survivor alum lied about his grandmother dying in a notorious, pivotal moment on the Pearl Islands season of the show in 2003, attempting to drum up sympathy from his fellow players. Now he says the news of his grandma’s death is true.

“I’ll miss her every day,” Fairplay tells Entertainment Weekly. “It’s easy to think she was just part of one of the biggest lies in TV history, which made me famous, but I look at her place in my life as a loving grandparent who only wanted the best for me in my life and would do anything to help me get it. Which she did.”

Fairplay’s grandma was named Ellen Jean Hauser and went by her middle name. Born in 1934, Hauser dated Grand Ole Opry host Faron Young and had a fling with Robert Goulet, her grandson says. She died on Friday, Feb. 7, at Embrace Hospice House in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Hauser seemingly embraced her Survivor notoriety, as she had a custom license plate that read “DEAD GMA.”

“She loved the exposure and attention from Survivor,” Fairplay says. “It didn’t hurt that she thought Jeff Probst was one of the most handsome men on the planet. Jerry Springer invited her on his show as a guest, which she turned down because she was scared of his audience.” When Fairplay revealed that his grandmother was actually still alive on Survivor, he said she was “sitting home watching Jerry Springer right now.”

Fairplay also made light of his grandmother’s final moments. “Her dying words were something like, ‘Jonny, I want to see you on Survivor 50, The Traitors, and Deal or No Deal Island,'” he says. “I had no idea she had so many streaming services.”

Fairplay told EW that he didn’t regret his dishonest strategy. “The ‘Dead Grandma’ lie is still considered one of the greatest moves in the history of not just Survivor, but reality television as a whole,” he said in 2020. “I wanted to bring an outside element to the game and create the first reality villain. There had been ‘bad guys’ prior to me on reality TV, but they never sought out that personification. They claimed bad editing or creative storytelling. I embraced the role and reveled in it.”

The former player thought the way he was portrayed in Survivor ended up being “perfect” for his goals.

“It was me,” he said. “When I explained to production that I wanted to be the heel, they were elated and gave me every opportunity to run with my notorious ways. It was like getting a permission slip to do evil. My heroes growing up were Roddy Piper and Ric Flair. I got to bring all of their villainy to the world of reality TV.”