Philly Native Wins Survivor

Wendell Holland, Philadelphia native, is now $1 million richer after winning Survivor: Ghost Island. Holland, who grew up in Ardmore, took home the grand prize on the long-running reality show after a nail-biting split decision by the jury made up of eliminated contestants. Survivor has run for 36 seasons over eighteen years, but nothing like this has ever happened before in the finale.

During the last episode of the season, the ten eliminated contestants at the show gathered around at the tribal counsel and voted on the three finalists: Holland; Domenick Abbate of Nesconset, New York; and Laurel Johnson, who is from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. In what was a tremendous surprise to even host Jeff Probst, the ten voters came in deadlocked with five votes apiece for Holland and Abbate. Laurel Johnson, who collected no votes, was called upon as the last eliminated contestant to make the deciding vote. This was taped over a year ago, but it was only last night when the final episode aired that her decision was revealed: she chose Holland.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Johnson put a great deal of thought into her decision: “I gave the edge to Wendell, because of his social game. I think you saw Dom and Wendell playing a very similar game. They made similar moves, they both won a certain amount of challenges, they both had idols. To me, it came down to the social game, and I thought Wendell had the edge socially. And there was our relationship: Wendell was like a brother to me out there.”

Holland formerly had a career in law before starting his own furniture company. What’s he going to do with his seven-figure Survivor winnings? Holland said he plans to pay off some of his student loan debt and find the best way to save or invest his money. Sounds like good strategy – something that got him to where he is in the first place – to me.