Meridian’s Survivor Champ: Remembering His Million-Dollar Impact

The 45th season of Survivor is officially coming to an end, as the season finale is scheduled to air on CBS tomorrow night, Wednesday, December 20th, at 7pm MST. With the latest season wrapping things up, we thought it would be appropriate to look back at last year's winner from Meridian.

The 52-year-old Aneurysm and Heart Valve Specialist, Mike Gabler, captivated viewers with his resilience and strategic gameplay. The Survivor finale, which took place on December 14th, 2022, saw Gabler crowned the "Sole Survivor," ultimately winning the $1,000,000 prize.

But Gabler made Survivor history in 2 different ways...

1. He is the 2nd oldest contestant to ever win Survivor

2. He is the first ever winner of Survivor to donate ALL of the money to charity

In a historic move, he became the first Survivor winner (ever) to donate the entire prize money to military veterans. This heartfelt decision reflects Gabler's commitment to giving back. Additionally, he is the 2nd winner of Survivor from the Treasure Valley! Ben Driebergen (Boise) won the “Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers” season in 2017.

During the finale episode, Gabler announced that he will be donating all of the money to military veterans, and the host of the show, Jeff Probst, highlighted this moment and commended Gabler for the amazing gesture; But then he asked him what a lot of viewers at home were probably wondering about...

"Are you rich at home?"

Gabler responded, "I've worked very hard and I've been very fortunate, but I've realized going through this experience... I am rich at home. I have an amazing life at home. I have an amazing family. I have amazing friends." He continued...

"To take this million dollars in this time period where there's so much going on in the news that people don't like to look at — that's why we watch Survivor because amazing things happen on this show, and we just did another one on Season 43, and we're going to help veterans in need and we're going to donate the entire million dollars to them and I'm forever grateful that we did this."

Get to know Mike Gabler more by watching the above audition video he posted on YouTube.

Read about Kuna's Amazing Race finalists here.