Survivor December 14, 2022 Winner Revealed In Finale Episode (Recap)

Hey, Survivor” fans. Tonight, December 14, 2022, the very last, finale episode of Survivor season 43 did hit the air, and we finally found out who won this thing.

Tonight’s finale episode kicked off with Jesse talking to the private cams about how he blindsided the heck out of his main buddy Cody at the last tribal council meeting. After that, the remaining five contestants got an envelope that told them it contained a clue to another secret advantage. To get the clue, they had to unscramble some words that were contained in the envelope.

Cassidy told the private cams, “I want to get Karla out. So, I hope she doesn’t get the advantage.” Surely enough, Karla unscrambled the word-phrase first and got a head start on searching for the advantage. Owen unscrambled it right after Karla and caught up to her, but Karla just edged him out to find the advantage. At that point, the advantage revealed to Karla that it would give her a slight advantage in the next immunity challenge.

From there, host Jeff Probst showed up with the next immunity/reward challenge. During it, they had to maneuver a buoy through obstacles in the water. Then, they had to transport puzzle blocks to a table by walking over a teeter totter, balance beam and solve a word phrase puzzle for the win.

Karla’s advantage allowed her to start with ten of her puzzle blocks already at the finish table, which allowed her to save a little bit of time during the transporting of them, but it didn’t really make much of a difference as everyone was pretty fast in getting all their puzzle pieces to the table. In the end, Owen pulled off the win to claim immunity. His reward prize was a trip to the sanctuary to enjoy steak, baked potatoes, veggies and wine. He got to choose one person to join him, and he chose Cassidy.

We got footage of Cassidy and Owen’s reward feast. Cassidy told the private cams, “My focus is on Karla as a target. I don’t trust her at all.” She told Owen that, and they both seem to agree. They even toasted to it.

Meanwhile, Karla told Jesse, “We need to flip the vote on Cassidy.” Jesse told the private cams, “I’m going to play my idol.” Karla told the private cams, “I actually want to target Jesse because he just made the biggest move of the season with getting Cody out.”

Karla campaigned to Gabler to get Jesse out. She also campaigned to Owen to get Jesse out. Owen told the private cams that Karla is one hell of a talker. Karla campaigned to Cassidy to get Jesse out. That conversation didn’t go so well as Karla ended up threatening to not give Cassidy her vote if she makes it to final 3.

Cassidy obviously didn’t like that, and she went and told Jesse that Karla’s been pitching for him to go all day. He obviously didn’t like that, but he told the private cams that it was a better strategic move for him to get Cassidy out over Karla because he thought Cassidy has a better shot at winning the final immunity challenge.

At the tribal council meeting, Karla and Jesse called out each other’s games. Karla said, “We should definitely take out Jesse.” Jesse pulled out Jeanine’s idol bracelet from earlier in the season. Jeanine was shocked because she didn’t know he had it. Her jaw literally dropped while sitting on the jury side of the room.

Eventually, Karla and Jesse actually got up and talked alone. Then, they talked with Gabler about getting Cassidy out. Then, everybody started getting up and talking, making it one lively tribal council meeting. Finally, everyone casts their votes. Jesse played his immunity idol. So, all votes against him did not count.

Jesse got 1 vote, and Karla got 3 votes. So, with the 3 votes, Karla was voted off. She said, “That’s how you play a game, guys. Good luck, guys. I love you all.” Karla told the private cams, “I think I played a good game. For people to think I was a huge threat is a great honor.”

Next, the final 4 went straight into the final immunity challenge. During it, they had to maneuver a bowl through a spring channel and stack the bowl on top of it. The first one to stack 15 bowls on top of each other without them dropping won immunity. Cassidy ended up winning it to guarantee herself a spot in the final 3 and the decision to choose who has to win the fire-making challenge. Cassidy told the private cams she wants to see Jesse make fire ,and she just needs to figure out who can beat him in it.

Owen told the private cams, “I will try to get into the fire-making challenge,” and he campaigned to Cassidy to put him in it. Jesse actually campaigned to Cassidy that she should give up her immunity and challenge him in the fire-making challenge to prove herself. Cassidy told the private cams, “There’s no way I’m giving up my immunity. I earned this.”

Cassidy approached Gabler and asked him to show her how well he is at making fire. He didn’t do too well because he said he’s been feeling weak as of late. Cassidy told the private cams that she would rather Gabler make fire because she didn’t want Owen to get that win added to his resume in the finals.

At the tribal council meeting, they talked about all the pitches that were made to Cassidy and how no one actually pitched to not be in the fire-making challenge. Ultimately, Cassidy decided to take Owen with her to the final 3. That left Gabler and Jesse to compete in the fire-making challenge. Gabler won it with no problems. Jeff actually said it was the quickest fire that’s ever been made in a fire-making challenge.

Jesse got emotional during his loss and said, “This is hard because I don’t feel like I have a safety net back home. However, I think I set a great example for my kids out here.” Everyone gave Jesse encouraging words. Cassidy told Jesse, “I put you in the challenge out of respect. I need you out so I can win.” Jesse told everyone, “Thank ya’ll. It was so much fun” on his way out.

Next, the final 3 got to eat a feast before heading into the final tribal council meeting. During the final tribal council meeting, the final three pleaded their case to the jury.

Cassie pitched that she always knew where the votes were going. She was always on the right side of the vote. She helped get their alliance into the merge. She got people out of the game that were trying to get her out of the game. She explained why she chose Gabler to do the fire-making challenge because she didn’t want Owen to get the competitive boost he needed for the final 3. She persuaded people to get Ryan out.

Owen pitched that he had to claw and dig his way out of a hole most of the time. He played with determination and hard work. He brought up a time that he used Noelle to make a big move. He said he wasn’t the leader in getting anyone out, but he proved that he could be a key part of the votes.

Gabler pitched that his game was relationship based, and he was someone who could be counted on. He had multiple alliances. He went 21 days with no one ever writing his name down to be voted out. He took a low profile after getting Elie out, and that helped him get deeper in the game with more options. He did things to make people not perceive he was a threat. He again brought up that he persuaded everyone to vote out Elie.

After all of that, the jury casts their votes. Then, Jeff Probst read them off right there on the spot. Cassidy got 1 vote, and Gabler got the rest of the 7 votes for the win! So, Gabler is your Survivor champion for season 43.

Afterwards, the jury said Gabler definitely persuaded them to vote for him during the Q&A session. Gabler made the shocking announcement that he’s donating his entire $1 million dollars to an Army veterans charity. So, that was very noble. How do you guys feel about Mike Gabler winning season 43 of Survivor? Let us know in the comments section.

Also, the new season 44 premiere date was revealed. It’s going to premiere on March 1, 2023. So, we’ll see you guys then.

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