Survivor Season 44 has finally found its winner. The highly successful series reached its conclusion on Wednesday on CBS and announced the name of the survivor who took away a cash prize of $1 million.
A total of five contestants entered the finale: Lauren Harpe, Carson Garrett, Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho, Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt, and Carolyn Wiger. The jury members then voted for the survivor of their choice and the winner was decided by the majority. So who won Survivor Season 44? Read on to find out.
Survivor Season 44 Winner Declared
After 26 days of facing intense hardships in the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji, Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho was announced as the winner of Survivor season 44. The 31-year-old salon owner beat Lagares-Greenblatt and Wiger in the final jury vote and won the title of Sole Survivor by 7-1-0.
The Puerto Rico native was a part of the Tika tribe since the beginning of the show. While the tribe faced troubles with frequent vote-outs and injuries throughout the season, Arocho formed a strong alliance with Wiger and Garrett, known as the Tika Three. The trio supported each other through the series until they were pitted against each other in the final four.
‘I am Surprised and Grateful,’ Says Arocho
Arocho appeared for an interview soon after his win and revealed that he was surprised by the outcome but quite grateful. “I am still surprised! Because I’m very grateful. And I love everybody that is around me. It’s not a thing of like, “I don’t think I don’t deserve it.” Because, hell, I went through it, and I played, and I played hard,” he said.
“They’re just so many amazing people around me. I’m still very humbled by everything that happened. But after Heidi won that fire-making challenge, I couldn’t sleep at night, I was just still thinking about everything that I’ve done. I was like, If I’m gonna be able to show anything, it has to be about my game.”
“So I was going through every single vote in my head, what I was going to do, who did I talk to, where I voted, why I voted the way I voted. So I made sure when I talked to them that everything I did had a purpose, and I was able to put it into words. So to win after being so nervous about it, I was relieved, surprised, happy, and grateful,” he continued.
The Season was Shot in June 2022
The filming for the 44th season of the reality series took place in June 2022. The show premiered on CBS on March 1st, 2023, and aired 13 episodes till May 24th. Apart from the five finalists, the rest of the contestants included Bruce Perreault, Maddy Pomilla, Helen Li, Claire Rafson, Sarah Wade, and Matthew Grinstead-Mayle.
The series also featured Josh Wilder, Matt Blankinship, Brandon Cottom, Kane Fritzler, Frannie Marin, Danny Massa, and Jaime Lynn Ruiz. A 45th season of Survivor is already in the works, as confirmed by host Jeff Probst. However, the premiere date has not been announced yet.
Congratulations to Yamil Arocho on becoming the Sole Survivor! Stay tuned for more news and updates.