Sole Survivor: From underdog to top dog
Survivor: Worlds Apart, the 30th season of the reality game show Survivor US aired from San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, concluded last May 21, with oil driller Mike Holloway from Texas winning as Sole Survivor. Mike rose from “underdog to top dog” to bag the much- coveted $ 1M prize.
The 38- year- old castaway really wanted to win and he wanted it bad. He won in five immunity challenges and now joins a most elite group of individuals who completed the arduous tasks in a single season ( Tom Westman, Terry Dietz, Colby Donaldson, Ozzy Lusth).
Joining Mike in the final three were corporate executive Carolyn Rivera from Florida of Masaya tribe ( White Collar) and YouTube sensation Will Sims from California of Nagarote tribe ( No Collar).
From Nicaragua, the final three castaways were moved to a California studio, where they were joined by the “Trib- al Council,” who ultimately voted for Mike as the winner. In the audience was Mike’s mom Deborah, who earlier joined him in Nicaragua to complete the last challenge.
The fourth show that aired from Nicaragua was a season of “excitement and controversy” like no other. On Day 35, the last five castaways included barrel racer Sierra Thomas and general contractor Rodney Lavoie Jr., both from Escameca tribe.
When Sierra was voted out, the final task ended up with Carolyn and Rodney facing off in an on- the- spot challenge to build fire. Although they’ve been doing the task daily for days, it took them nearly an hour to accomplish it, with Carolyn making it to the Top 3.
After Mike was awarded his check, the castaways for Survivor: Second Chance ( 31st season) in Cambodia were announced. Viewers actually voted for their favorite returning castaways — 10 men and 10 women who are non- winning contestants from previous seasons. Two from Survivor: Worlds Apart — jewelry designer Joe Anglim from Arizona of Nagarote tribe and Yahoo! employee Shirin Oskooi of Masaya tribe — made it to the cast next season. Then, there are four from Survivor: Cagayan — Spencer Bledsoe, Tasha Fox, Woo Hwang and Kass McQuillen.
From Blood vs. Water, there are Vytas Baskauskas and Ciera Eastin. There are three from San Juan del Sur (Nicaragua) — Jeremy Collins, Keith Nale and Kelley Wentworth and two from the Australian Outback — Kimmi Kappenberg and Jeff Varner.
There’s one representative each — Abi-Maria Gomes from the Philippines, Terry Deitz from Panama, Stephen Fishbach from Tocantins, Peih-Gee Law from China, Monica Padilla from Samoa, Andrew Savage from Pearl Islands and Kelly Wiglesworth from Borneo.
Survivor is hosted by Jeff Probst and airs on Jack TV.