After 36 seasons of Survivor, something happened on the latest season finale that has never happened before.
In the final tribal vote for Survivor: Ghost Island, the members were split and the vote was tied. That left the ultimate decision up to one person to decide who would take home the cash prize of $1,000,000. But with it coming so down to the wire, does the Survivor runner-up gets a prize?
Domenick Abbate, Laurel Johnson, and Wendell Holland were the final three contestants standing on Survivor: Ghost Island. When the final tribal council came together for a vote, the result was a tie between Domenick Abbate and Wendell Holland.
That meant, for the first time, the winner would be chosen by just one person. Laurel Johnson was a finalist and not involved in the tied vote. Instead, she was tasked with picking the winner.
At that point, both the audience in Fiji and seemingly everyone watching from home was in shock. Laurel also seemed surprised at the outcome. After turning in her ballot, she told Domenick and Wendell, “I hate that I had to do that, guys.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJhWsoOh_Xg
During a live broadcast, it was revealed that Wendell Holland was the winner. Almost immediately, Twitter went into riot mode as fans who thought Domenick deserved the win vented their frustration.
Dom deserves to win that jury vote from Laurel, Wendell only won cause they had a stronger personal connection and it had nothing to do with the gameplay, sad. Laurel hands down one of the worst survivor players of all time #SurvivorGhostIsland #Survivor
— Aj Grover (@AjGrover1) May 24, 2018
i call bs on how survivor winner was decided..#SurvivorFinale
— cindy kerrigan (@cindraloo) May 24, 2018
#SurvivorGhostIsland Dom was robbed … Best player this season and Wendall's best buddy got to decide the winner. Boo hiss !!!!
— Jackie Schramm (@jackie_schramm) May 24, 2018
The shocking Survivor: Ghost Island announcement caused a pretty big upset among viewers, who apparently wanted to make sure Domenick Abbate got something for his efforts.
It turns out he will, but not nearly as much as the winner. In fact, all the contestants on Survivor will earn a paycheck, with those who make it farther in the game earning more money.
It’s already known that the Sole Survivor wins a million dollar prize but what about second place? International Business Times reported that the second place winner of past seasons takes home $100,000 while the third place winner scores a respectable $85,000.
It turns out that everyone who competes on Survivor pulls a paycheck. Though they don’t make the actual pay amounts public, it has been reported that even the first person to get sent home takes home at least a few thousand dollars.
Even the second place winner’s $100,000 is nothing compared to that cool million awarded to the winner. It’s still not chump change for a few months of gameplay, though.