Survivor : Caramoan crowned a winner on Sunday night, and it may surprise you who contestants picked. Formerly pasty-white John Cochroan was picked in a unanimous vote from all eight jury members.
While his first day on the island may have been a near-disaster, Cochran wowed his opponents enough that they gave him $1 million.
Cochran burned so badly the first day that it was painful to watch him. And all season he built the image of himself as an underdog who couldn’t really compete with the others.
However, he started winning the physical challenges, mental contests, strategic tests, and ultimately the grand prize for Survivor: Caramoan . Cochran, a Harvard law student who once wrote a these on the strategy of Survivor, stated of the win, “It feels incredible … I’m kind of speechless.”
Cochran previously competed on Survivor: South Pacific . When host Jeff Probst asked Cochran what advice he would give to players of Survivor , the newly-crowned champion responded :
“You have to be calm without being complacent, and be vigilant without being paranoid. It’s a constant tightrope balancing act.”
Using his own strategy, John Cochran was able to go the entire season without having a single vote cast against him. The turnaround was remarkable for a person once berated as disloyal and mocked for his inability to win challenges during Survivor: South Pacific .
As was tradition, the final episode on the island ended with a tribal council, where the final eight members to be voted out nominated their choice for the Survivor winner from the remaining three contestants. But the vote wasn’t read that night. Rather, the votes were finally tallied in Los Angeles, where John Cochran came out the winner of both $1 million and the title of Sole Survivor.
Were you surprised to see Cochran win the latest Survivor series? Was he your pick for Sole Survivor? If not, who was?
