He was hiding in plain sight all season long, but when the time to attack came… the AlliGabler struck.
Mike Gabler was crowned the winner of Survivor 43 on Wednesday night, capping an improbable ascent from a player who at one point asked his tribe to vote him out on day three to an undisputed reality TV champion. Gabler’s remarkable rise was cemented when he set a Survivor record with the fastest Tribal Council fire making ever (4 minutes, 9 seconds), sending favorite-to-win Jesse Lopez to the jury.
The 52-year-old heart valve specialist then pitched his case at the final Tribal Council, highlighting the fact that he had never had a single vote cast against him while also taking credit for his bold move at the merge of heavily targeting Elie Scott. The jury agreed with him, giving the AlliGabler a 7-1-0 victory over Cassidy Clark and Owen Knight. And they did so not even knowing that Gabler was planning to give his entire million-dollar winnings to the Veterans in Need Foundation, which he revealed later at the after-show.
How did Gabler do it? We caught up with the newly crowned champion just minutes after the finale ended to get the scoop on his shocking win. You can watch the entire interview above, or read it below. (Also make sure to read our finale recap and finale Q&A’s with Cassidy Clark, Owen Knight, Jesse Lopez, and Karla Cruz Godoy.)
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Considering how everything turned out, are you glad you didn’t go through with your request for your Baka tribemates to vote you out on day three?
MIKE GABLER: [Laughs] I sure am. There’s so many emotions that go through your head when you’re on Survivor, and when you’re sleep deprived, you’re hungry, you’re thirsty, there’s so much going on. And then we lost a tough challenge. And I work in a realm where accountability is very important and I felt partially responsible for our loss. And I didn’t feel it was good to hide behind my idol. But Elie, of all people, Elie pulled me aside and she looked at me in the eye and she goes, “Gabler, pull it together. We need you.” And I was like, “Yes, ma’am. I got you.” And then we continued to play on.
And the rest is history. We talked about the beginning of the game, now let’s talk about the end. We saw Cassidy say on the show that she felt really good going up against you and Owen at the end. I’m sure you were also doing jury math in your head before you walked into Tribal Council, so how did you see the votes shaking out before final Tribal started?
My game the entire time was a relationship game. And the edit showed a lot of it, but also left out a lot of it. I actually thought the season’s edit was fantastic because it left everybody guessing. No one knew exactly who was gonna go into it. There were a lot of strong players in the final. I mean, the final five was five sharks in a bowl together trying to make it out. I felt pretty good no matter who I went up against. I had a strong story to tell because I had been playing the entire time.
I mean, if you go back even to the Elie vote that day on Baka Beach, I was immune because our team won where they split us into two teams. But I had my idol that was still valid from my second Tribal Council. And I looked over at James. I was trying to make new friends, trying to make new relationships and alliances. And James asked me for my idol. I shook his hand, I looked him in the eye and I said, “I’ll give it to you, James.” And I gave it to him.
But then, a couple of hours later, I had to come back to him right before Tribal Council and I said, “James, I gotta have the idol back because I gotta be able to show it to Jeanine right before Tribal Council so that she won’t play hers for Elie.” So there’s a lot going on. I don’t know if it was exactly shown, but it was powerful stuff.
Did any of the votes surprise you at that final Tribal?
The only vote that surprised me at Final Tribal Council was James, because I thought James — with our relationship — would’ve voted for me, because I’d never voted for James. I was always truthful and honest with him. But out of total respect for James, he did have a very close alliance with Cassidy from day one, and he honored that. So I can’t say it was a surprise, but I did feel looking across the jury, whether it was Noelle, Ryan, Cody, Jesse, Sami, I felt that my game was strong enough throughout the entire game that I was going to get their votes. I really did.
And there was only one vote the whole season that had me nervous, and that was the Cody vote. I felt pretty safe except for that one because there was so much going on and everything had to go just right — otherwise, it was me, Owen, and Jesse on the chopping block. That was pretty dicey, and everything worked out the way we thought it might. In Survivor, you take big chances. Hey, those who dare, win.
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