‘Survivor’ Finale Recap: Mike Holloway Is The Sole Survivor

Mike Holloway won Survivor: Worlds Apart and was declared the Sole Survivor, and recipient of a $1 million prize, on the Season 30 finale.

Mike Holloway Wins Survivor: Worlds Apart

Mike faced off against fellow finalists Rodney Lavoie Jr., Sierra Dawn Thomas, Carolyn Rivera and Will Sims II in Wednesday night’s finale. Going into the finale, Carolyn and Mike were the front runners, having won the most challenges and proved resourceful throughout multiple allegiances. Rodney was extremely disappointed his alliance’s plan to oust Carolyn failed when she played her immunity idol, and he even had the guts to call her out for keeping her idol a secret from them.

REWARD CHALLENGE

The first challenge of the night was the reward challenge, where the contestants had to complete an extreme obstacle course that included crawling under a net, sliding tiles through a hole into a target. They will then have to pile the tiles onto a machete, transport them through an obstacle course and pair them up before unlocking their prizes: family members! Jeff Probst brought out one loved one for each contestant, the first being Carolyn’s husband. The minute the finalists saw Carolyn run into her husband’s arms, they all started crying, and the tears continued over every family reunion. The winner of the challenge gets an advantange in the next immunity challenge and will get to take their loved one back to camp with them for the entire night!

Will started out in the lead, neck and neck with Mike, but he lost his edge going into the obstacle course, struggling to balance all the tiles on his machete while competing the obstacle course, and Mike wins it.

Unfortunately for all the other contestants, their loved ones are escorted out, and Mike is the only one allowed time with his loved one. Mike’s mom, Deborah, heads back to camp with Mike. “If you take your best day, add ice cream with some cherries on top – that’s what today feels like,” Mike said.

TOP 5 IMMUNITY CHALLENGE

After a nice night at camp with his mother, Mike heads over to the first Immunity Challenge early to get his advantage. The Immunity challenge requires players picking up four medallions and the immunity idol in a course while blindfolded. His advantage is that he gets to practice on the course for 30 minutes with his mother helping instruct him to the medallions. Going out of their practice round, Deborah was convinced she let her son down, but Mike takes the win in the end.

With Mike guaranteed a spot in the final four, Carolyn goes straight to him in an effort to use their friendship to take her to the finals with him. Mike tells her that he is absolutely not going to be putting her up for elimination, saying, “I’m definitely not writing your name down – 1,000 percent.”

After speaking with Carolyn and Sierra, Mike goes to Rodney and tells him that the women are thinking of voting him out, but Rodney isn’t interested in any help Mike has to offer him. At the first Tribal Council, Sierra says she should be voted into the final four because she came the closest at beating Mike in the challenge, and Mike’s the biggest threat in the game. In the end, she is voted out.

TOP 4 IMMUNITY CHALLENGE

Now, only the final four remain: Rodney, Mike, Carolyn and Will. After the Tribal Council, Mike knows he needs to win the next immunity challenge to make it into the final three. When Carolyn asks him if she is in his final three should he win immunity, he says yes, but doesn’t reveal who else he envisions taking with them. He thinks that if she knew his entire plan, she’d go straight to Rodney and Will, and the three of them wouldn’t hesitate to push him out.

The next morning, it was time for the final immunity challenge: an insane, steep climb and obstacle course. At the top of the course are keys they need to collect and bring through another obstacle course, and use to unlock bags filled with puzzle pieces. Each contestant will need to do this three times, and then construct a lighthouse puzzle using the pieces.

It’s a long challenge, and, no surprise, Mike is the first one sprinting up the stairs of the tower, Rodney trailing far behind. Mike and Carolyn were neck and neck at the end, but Mike proved himself unstoppable, winning his fifth immunity challenge. Mike is going to the final three.

With Mike at the top, Carolyn isn’t sure she believes he’s going to take her into the final three with him. She is his biggest threat – competent in challenges and adored by all their fellow contestants, who called her ‘Mama C.’ When the final four return to camp, Mike and Carolyn sneak off to the river to have a chat and he tells her that he knows Rodney and Will will vote her out, but he still wants her in the finals with him. He comes up with a plan: if Will and Rodney vote Carolyn out and he and Carolyn vote for Rodney, then the Tribal Council will go to a fire challenge. He tells Carolyn to try to practice starting a fire on her own so that she has the advantage going in. Carolyn isn’t thrilled about the idea of leaving her fate up to fire, but she doesn’t really have any other choice.

Taking Carolyn into the final three with him is a huge risk for Mike. It’s never smart to bring your biggest threat through to the finals with you, but Mike feels betrayed by the Blue Collars, especially Rodney, and he thinks Carolyn deserves a spot in the finals. “Maybe I am making a $1 million wrong mistake, but, I would rather lose to Mama C than be the guy that just took two goats to the end and won,” Mike said.

Tribal Council goes exactly as Mike predicted, ending in a Fire Making challenge for Carolyn and Rodney. It’s an agonizing challenge, with both creating sparks but no fire in over 45 minutes. Jeff teases them, saying that they would have never survived this long in the wilderness alone. Rodney has a small flame, but it doesn’t catch, and while Rodney is losing patience, Carolyn keeps her focus, even as Rodney’s flames grows taller and taller. Rodney’s impatience sends him home, as Carolyn takes her time, building a sustainable fire.

And then it was down to the final three: Mike, Carolyn and Will. No more challenges, no more immunity. All three were left to plead their cases to the Jury. Many of the Jury members were open to being swayed one way or the other, but others were more hard-hitting in their questions. Tyler Frederickson accused Mike of “looking to destroy everything that he touches,” and called Carolyn out for turning her back on him. Jenn Brown, on the other hand, throws all her weight behind Mike, telling her fellow Jury members that they all know Mike played the best game, and he should be rewarded. Meanwhile, Shirin Oskooi made an impassioned speech against Will.

The jury votes, and as Jeff reads the votes, it’s a race between Carolyn and Mike….but, Mike is in it to win it and takes the lead, and the $1 million check.

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.