Ms Gough, a kindergarten teacher and plus-sized model, said her money was on him from the start but she also ended up taking her hat off to the oldest competitor Barbara Raos.
"I had the most amazing heart to heart with Avi standing around waiting to go into tribal. We just made this awesome connection. He is genuinely a nice guy.
"Barb straight away had a label put on her and I know exactly what that's like to be labelled. They conveniently wrote her off like she was no good for anyone and that's what happened to me."
During the finale Ms Gough spoke of her time on Redemption Island, which offered competitors the chance to duel their way back into the game.
She spent about six days there and at the finale she mentioned she was living on rice and beans.
What she didn't mention was the creepy crawlies.
"When things are hard now I say: 'Hannah, you lasted six days on an island in the middle of Nicaragua with a bug in your ear, with being stung by a scorpion, with being bit by a spider, you can do anything.'
"Redemption Island was hand over my heart the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life. I felt so alone, I felt so isolated. I was so hurt by what had happened."
Ms Gough said she was glad Survivor NZ had given her a platform to speak about body positivity.
Nathan Davis, a former-Northland policeman based in Palmerston North, also competed on the show and narrowly missed being in the final.
