‘Survivor 42’, a season that some claim has resurrected the entire franchise with its stellar cast and much better editing, has aptly been won by one of the most entertaining players to ever grace our screens.
Maryanne Oketch, the 25 year old Kenyan-Canadian with a very obvious true love for the game is now $1 million (USD) richer after winning the title of Sole Survivor on Wednesday.
On the whole, viewers are pretty darn happy for her.
‘Survivor 42’: A New Winner is Crowned!
Maryanne burst onto screens with a million watt smile and proved to be a shining light of positivity and encouragement for her fellow castaways all season long…even when she was languishing at the bottom (for the better half of the season).
Its this rise up story that had fans cheering at their televisions when Maryanne talked her way into a million dollar win.
So, how did this happen?
‘Survivor 42’: Chatty Cathy and the rad resume
I’m not going to lie. Being on a tribe with cheerful and chatty Maryanne would have killed me when I was starving and freezing and wet and fatigued so it wasn‘t a huge surprise to see the “big guys” turn on her and leave Maryanne clawing from the bottom post merge.
For a couple of weeks it seemed like Maryanne was just another goat, but everyone’s favorite goat, so she’d be ‘allowed’ to stick around until all the other goats were lead to slaughter.
But Maryanne got game.
After standing with Drea Wheeler and playing her idol out of an absolute refusal to allow a third person of color in a row to join the jury, Maryanne immediately found another hidden immunity idol and did something that hasn’t been done in many , many seasons of Survivor. She kept it hidden!
It seems simple, but this excellent game play cemented her win at the very end, especially after getting Mike to play his idol for her, unnecessarily. The useless idol (seeing as she had Mike’s) almost came to bite her in the butt when she felt her heart strings tug and she wanted to play it for Lindsay Dolashewich. Luckily Maryanne learned to put herself first and kept that baby hidden.
However, that’s not the only arrow Maryanne had in her quiver.
Besides a “welp, we’re here on the bottom, may as well play together” alliance with Romeo which saw her skip making fire and move to the final three, Maryanne pulled off one of the biggest moves in the game.
Blindsiding Omar Zaheer.
Without the support of Johnathon Young or Mike Turner, Maryanne put her own plan in place, knowing the threat Omar was. After rallying Romeo and playing her advantage second vote, the “clear winner” was ousted. This then led to the next “clear winner”, Lindsay’s demise. This led to Maryanne securing her win.
However, one of the best things Maryanne did was completely turn her “sloppy” social game into her piece de resistance and Chatty Cathy herself into winning the 7 (Maryanne) -1 (Mike) -0 (Romeo) vote.
Maryanne owned her short comings, spoke eloquently (as she had at every tribal council) showed her true self and continued to charm home viewers and, evidently, the jury.
Well done, Maryanne, you were a long shot for a long time, but a long shot this Survivor fan was happy to see come up trumps!
Here’s hoping Survivor 43 can live up to the outstanding season that was 42.
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