Survivor finale

Well, that Survivor finale was… a finale. Viewers may have expected Cassidy to take home the $1 million after she won Final Immunity and knocked frontrunner ...

It’s not all that surprising that Gabler got votes in the end, but it is shocking that he got seven out of eight. Perhaps the edit did him a disservice, but perhaps there simply wasn’t footage to support his argument? This jury was ready to give Jesse the $1 million because of the massive moves he played that all players agreed would go down in Survivor history. [winning one Individual Immunity](https://www.tvinsider.com/1068230/survivor-season-43-episode-7-recap-dwight-eliminated/) against Cody (and setting a record while doing it — [Karla and Owen also set a record](https://www.tvinsider.com/1071940/survivor-season-43-episode-11-recap-karla-owen-last-gasp-challenge-record-sami-eliminated/) a couple of episodes later), but he truly wasn’t a threat for most of the season. And the jury cheered for Jesse as he played, indicating the $1 million was in the bag if only he made it into the Final Three. Owen got some votes in Episode 3 and Gabler never got one, but as Cassidy said, it’s because the strong players wanted them in the Final Three to make them look better to the jury. The jury did not, but learned of the plan in the Reunion and were moved. Gabler’s pitch was essentially that he could have played better in challenges, but chose not to to make himself look like less of a threat. The jury was so verbally in support of a Jesse win because of his season-long strategic strikes that never failed once. It was a move so big, it seemed to lock in Jesse’s win with the jury. Was it just us, or did the edit not support that pitch at all? Perhaps the Survivor edit made it clear to some that Jesse’s thrilling long game would come to a heartbreaking end in the Fire Making Challenge.

CBS | Survivor's three-hour season-ender averaged 4.8 million total viewers and a 0.7 demo rating, improving on its year-ago finale (which did 4 mil and a 0.7).

The Live+Same Day numbers reported in our ratings column do not reflect a show’s overall performance, given the increased use of delayed playback via DVR and streaming platforms, plus out-of-home viewing. These numbers (Nielsen fast nationals, unless denoted as finals) instead aim to simply illustrate trends or superlatives. THE CW [Read recap](https://tvline.com/2022/12/14/survivor-finale-recap-season-43-episode-13-gabler-wins/) and [winner Q&A](https://tvline.com/2022/12/15/survivor-season-43-winner-mike-gabler-interview-donating-money/). [[email protected]](http://[email protected]%E2%80%9D) and your question may be answered via [Matt’s Inside Line](http://tvline.com/category/matts-inside-line/). [renewed LEGO Masters](https://tvline.com/2022/12/14/lego-masters-renewed-season-4-finale-winner-fox/) drew 1.3 mil/0.3 and then another 1.3 mil/0.3 with its finale, steady week-to-week but down from its previous closer (1.4 mil/0.5).

At the top of Wednesday's season finale of Survivor, Jesse Lopez looked golden. He still had an immunity idol to carry him to the Final 4. From there, he was ...

and we’re all doing Elie!” I think Cass’s answer was Ryan and I think they clipped it at a certain point [during] me and Cody’s conversation, but our strategy ended at, “If James goes home, then Ryan goes home.” So if anybody else at that split five Tribal Council on the other side went home, it was going to be Cass. Were you ever considering keeping her, and had you done that, do you think that would’ve changed your fate? [Laughs] But I will say, I would’ve preferred to go up against anybody but Gabler in that Final 4, but he just blew it out of the water. But I spent the last few days at Disneyland in California Adventure and I got to take a picture with Loki, so I’m not a villain, I’m a trickster! I’ve written a bit about how this new era doesn’t seem to produce classic villains like back in the day. But once I saw him at Ponderosa, the first thing he told me was that he understood. Once you got to Ponderosa, what was your first conversation with Cody like? That Cody blindside was huge. It was an emotional night when your torch was snuffed and you walked down that dark pathway at Tribal. The last week has been wild in terms of people sending me messages and love and support, so that’s been incredible. Is that at least a teeny, tiny bit of a consolation prize? He still had an immunity idol to carry him to the Final 4.

WARNING: This whole thing is basically spoilers. Well, Survivor 43 is in the books and the last few weeks really built to a crescendo at the right time, ...

In fact, I think all three of them played some version of their best games, but when you have players like Noelle, Karla and especially Jesse, the final three felt a bit tepid. To answer the question I pose in the title, I guess Gabler stans are satisfied. He was the second oldest player ever to win Survivor at 51. You had a sense of that during the FTC. Cassidy had a moment when that happened and her response was “you got me” which is tantamount to surrender in the FTC. Jesse had come from nobody to mastermind and used a hidden immunity idol that no one knew he had to get into the final four. I haven’t watched every season of Survivor, but in my experience it’s extremely rare for someone to keep an idol a secret for the whole game. Nothing is right in the world when a player this gifted doesn’t end up with a cool mil. To my eye, this was a pretty weaksauce group of options. My favorite Sami moment is still when he was a talking head and said his job is to cremate dead animals, and then he quickly offered a defense in anticipation of blowback: “I don’t kill people’s pets!” If Sami gets invited back in a decade? And Sami was only 19 years old, full of jukes and a lifetime of watching other people play the game. But James was a player and a threat when he got blindsided.

The Survivor 43 finale gave fans a lot to absorb as the final five dwindled to three, with one player coming out on top with a huge announcement to follow.

In this moment during the Survivor 43 finale, when Gabler has earned the win, he makes this important and touching gesture that he’s not alone in this decision. It’s clear the jury members appreciated Gabler’s gameplay and willing to write down his name at the end, which is the opposite of what happened throughout the season as his name wasn’t written down once. One of the biggest talking points of Survivor is: You have to vote people out of a game, but do it in a way (and play a game) where people will then want to vote for you at the end. After the votes are read and fans are watching the after show, Gabler says they’re going to make history. He positioned himself with a variety of different alliances where he could go one way or another way to further his position and make it farther in the game. It’s safe to say Jesse was the favorite going into the episode, with Karla next in line after also playing an incredible game throughout the season.