Michele Fitzgerald: Winner of Survivor, the Why?

Survivor Kaoh Rong was season that was full of surprises but now it's all said and done one of the main talking point is about winner Michele. Was she the most deserving player, did her lackluster edit do her an injustice, why did the jury vote for her over the other two? In today's feature, Ozlet Alec Culver takes a look at the ways in which Michele is a deserving winner and why she deserves more credit from fans. Continue reading to find out why Michele won.

Final Tribal Council Performance

There is no doubt in my mind that Michelle gave the best final tribal council performance out of the final 3. Her getting owned by Aubry was her only flaw but then she bounced back and gave the answer that the jury was looking for. Sometimes it just comes down to how well you finish and well that could be a big part of Michele’s win. She was impressive when she had to be and when the jury went to go vote the only thing on their mind could have been the most recent thing that happened which was Michele’s performance. I don’t think that the jury was bitter at all. I just think that Michelle shined when she needed to and the jury voted for that.

She did everything she needed to do in that final tribal council. She shined and well it was good enough for her to get the votes that she needed.

Didn’t attend tribal until the merge

I don’t know why people criticize this fact with Michele. She (and Nick) lasted longer than anyone else without having to go to tribal council. The whole point of Survivor is to survive. I mean just because she never went to tribal council doesn’t mean that she wasn’t playing the game. Obviously that takes away from some air time that she could have got. However, I don’t think someone like Michelle who only had to survive 6 tribals is any less of a winner than Denise who went to every tribal council.

While I’m on Survivor: Philippines, nobody down played Skupin or Lisa’s chances of winning just because they never went to tribal until the merge but for some reason they do with Michelle. If Lisa or Skupin would have won then nobody would have criticized it. Overall, I think that it just goes to show how much better of a player Michele was that she was able to survive post merge even without going to tribal council because you need to vote together to gain that trust.

Won her way to the end

Michele wasn’t your typical challenge beast. However, in the end she turned out to be a force in challenges. She won 4 individual challenges (including the meal when she beat Jason and Scot) and then also won a couple of team reward challenges. She also was on a winning tribe where she never had to go to tribal council.

It was played up that she needed to win the final immunity challenge to make it to the end and she did that. She won when she really needed to and everyone on the jury seemed impressed with it. She wasn’t a Colby type of dominant in challenges but she did enough to make it to the end and get the respect from her fellow players.

Her great social game

Alright, all conspiracies aside Michele must have had a great social game. She was never really thought of as a target, and when she was it was only because of her great social game and not because of her strategic or physical prowess.

She must have done something right with her social game because she was able to still have great friends on the jury. People like Julia who she betrayed and voted out, still voted for her in the end because she was such a great social player. Survivor tends to really highlight the strategic players whereas the social game is underplayed which is another great reason why Michelle must have been a great social player.

Made moves when she had to

Michele never really had to make big moves. She didn’t really need to blindside people. She was a part of all of those moves but that doesn’t mean that it was her move. However, her being a part of that was her big move. She didn’t need to be the creator of the move because that wasn’t her game. That doesn’t make her a bad player at all. Sometimes coat tail riding is the best way to win the game.

However, Michele made one move that she needed to make that no one else has made in the history of Survivor. She voted off a jury member. She really needed to make that move because if Neal was still on the jury, Michele would have had to work even harder to get the votes that she needed. Even just being the only person to ever make such a memorable move means that she is a deserving winner. We will always look back and remember Michele, winner of Survivor: Kaoh Rong, was the first (and possibly only) person to ever make the move to vote out a jury player.

Conclusion

I’m not saying that Michele is one of the greatest winners of the game at all. I’m just saying that she was a deserving winner. Plus, her winning made the season even all the more unpredictable. Overall, I would love to see Michele play again just to see her prove her doubters, or myself, wrong.

What do you think the strongest part of Michele’s game was? Would you like to see her play again? Comment below to let us know your thoughts!

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