Survivor 43 made big news when it announced its winner. Mike Gabler, who had spent most of the season remaining low and not making major moves, had won by a vote of 7-1-0. Gabler had snuck under the radar for most of the season, only to explain his game-winning strategy at the final tribal.
In an interview with Parade, Gabler talks about many things, like his game plan, life on the island, and his historic decision to donate all the money. Any Survivor fan should get to know the latest winner in the show's history by reading up on some interesting tidbits about Gabler.
He Is A Superfan
In today's world of reality tv, viewers never know how much the contestants care about the show they are on. There are many instances where producers recruit people who have no idea what the show is.
This is not the case for Gabler. Even though he is a big character and, at times, people thought he had no idea what he was doing, Gabler has watched every season. He knew exactly what to do to win. He never made any flashy moves because he knew that those types of moves would have made him target number 1 and would have been bad for his low-key game.
He Wanted To Play Like Sandra
Sandra is, without a doubt, one of the greatest players to ever be on Survivor. She was the first two-time winner.
Sandra is one of the sneakiest players of all time and is a great person to mold one's game on. Gabler used a method that Sandra famously implemented, which was called the 'anybody but me' strategy. Since Gabler had many different alliances and routes to the finale, he used this technique. He did not care who went and at what time because he always had a different plan, so he could call an audible at any time.
He Has The Record For Fastest Fire
The fire-making competition has been around for a decent while now. It brings matters into each contestant's hands as they can bring themselves to the final tribal council after the final 5.
Gabler went up against Jesse, the assumed favorite to win it all coming into the finale, in the fire-making challenge, and it was not even a competition. Gabler was so good he broke the old fire-making record. The new record for making fire is at about 4 and a half minutes after Gabler won himself into the final tribal council. This was one of, if not the most impressive challenging performances of the season.
He Is The Only Oldest Contestants In A Season To Win
Gabler came into Survivor 43 at 52 years old and was the oldest contestant on his season. This is the first time that a season's oldest castaway has won.
There were a few other older contestants who made it far, like Rudy Boesch from season 1. Or older winners like Bob from Gabon were not the oldest in their season. Gabler's maturity was seen throughout the season as he never let himself get look too far ahead, and it can be credited to why he won.
He Was Confident He Was Going To Win After Final Tribal Council
One's final tribal council performance can make or break their chances to win, even if one played a great game. It is hard to articulate 26 days' worth of moves and strategy, but Gabler did it.
Gabler did not want to be a zero-vote finalist. He coherently explained his strategy of being the 'Alligabler' to the jury. Based on the jury's reactions to what he said, he could tell they respected his game. He was so confident that he had one that he was surprised James voted for Cassidy. He expected to get all the votes and get a perfect game.
He Takes Some Credit For Jesse's Big Move On Cody
The biggest move of the season was when Jesse used Cody's idol to get him out. Gabler believes this move would not have happened if not for one conversation.
Gabler talked to Cassidy and Jesse at the fire one day and told them essentially that it would be hard to differentiate their games from their closest allies, Karla and Cody. Gabler believes this conversation is what got the ball rolling for Jesse to betray his number one ally at the final 6. This conversation was aired and was on episode 12, "Telenovela".
He Wants To Do The Amazing Race With Sami
There are many times when former contestants of one CBS reality show try their luck on another one. Gabler wants to be one of those people and go on The Amazing Race with Sami.
Sami and Gabler were close from the beginning of the season as they were both in the Baka tribe. Unfortunately at the final 7, Sami was exposed as a flip-flopper, so he was the next target to go. One of Gabler's best moves was not sticking his neck out for Sami, since it was already set in stone. The two had a great connection and had this entertaining father-son dynamic that would work well on The Amazing Race.
He Thought The First Few Days Were The Toughest
Survivor is no walk in the park as not eating or sleeping well for about a month can take a toll on a person. Gabler cited the first couple of days on the island as the toughest.
In his interview with Parade, he mentioned many obstacles that made the first few days the hardest. For starters the body is not used to running on no food, so that is when it starts to crash. Also, the bugs were bad the first week since that is when the castaways' blood had the most sugar in it. Gabler says he had bug bites on top of bug bites. Add the sunburn and Gabler's older age, and that is a recipe for some major body fatigue, but he never gave up.
He Did Not Think He Could Win The Eve 6 Challenge
Gabler only won one immunity in Survivor 43. It was the Eve 6 challenge and was the first challenge in the merge portion of the game.
In the final stage of the challenge, Gabler had to hold 20% of his body weight in the bucket. He cites how in the first few minutes he thought he was not going to last long at all. However, when he started to shout out people who inspire him, he thought he could hold that weight all day long. This moment was one of the most emotional and moving in the entire season.
He Knew He Wanted To Donate The Money Before He Went On The Show
In the reunion-after show with the castaways right after Gabler was crowned as the winner, he pulled a historic move. He vowed to donate the entire prize money to charity.
Gabler says in the interview that before he even went on the show he knew he wanted to do something historic. He saw all the terrible stuff in the world and wanted some positive news to come out. He showed his genuine sole and how little the prize money meant to him as the veterans needed it more than him. Fans also liked how he did not mention his plans to do this to try and swing votes at the final tribal.