By Liz Oakes
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NEWPORT - The only question: Would Lillian Morris be the $1 million Survivor?

No.

Boy scouts with troop 617, the troop run by Scoutmaster Lillian Morris, react after she missed winning a million dollars on the final episode of Survivor Sunday. (Craig Ruttle photo)

"Big Lill" made it to the final round of the hit reality TV show by balancing on a small raft. It drove the 230 Boy Scouts, friends and family, gathered around a dozen TVs at Newport on the Levee Sunday night, wild.

"Lill, Lill, Lill," the crowd shouted.

"Your torch will never die with T-617," one sign read in a reference to Scout Troop 617, led by Morris, 51, of Deerfield Township.

But by a vote of 6-1, fellow contestants of Survivor: Pearl Islands chose Sandra Diaz-Twine, a 29-year-old office assistant from Fort Lewis, Wash., over Morris.

Still, the Scouts were philosophical.

"If it wasn't a game, I'd feel bad," said Drew Shick, 16, of Maineville. "It's a game based on lying and cheating," and in the years he's known her, he's never known her to lie or cheat, the teen said.

"I'm proud of her," said Morris' sister Catherine Wilson, 46, of Loveland. Wilson, a merit badge counselor with the same troop, said she would have liked to see Morris win but "I think she did a great job."

Looking exhausted and gaunt, Morris said in the show's final moments that she would explain to her Scouts that it was a game. "I did the best I could with what I have and the person I am," she said.

Scout David Leever, 17, of Maineville, said Morris did not let the Scouts down.

"I agree with her, it's almost impossible to play the game and keep your honor and integrity," he said.

The once-banished, then restored Morris was easily identified on the show - she'd been dumped overboard in her Scout uniform and wore it for the duration.

Morris and her husband, Lonnie, have two children: Clayton, 22, and Megan, 18.

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E-mail loakes@enquirer.com