Earl Cole Wins "Survivor: Fiji"

(CBS/AP)  Nice guys finish first — at least on the most recent edition of "Survivor." After a series of twists and turns, Earl Cole walked away with the million-dollar prize for outwitting, outlasting and outplaying all the other "Survivor: Fiji" contestants.

The votes were tallied during a live broadcast from New York on Sunday night, in the finale of the 14th season of the popular CBS reality show.

Cole, an advertising executive in Los Angeles, received all nine votes cast by his TV tribemates. Host Jeff Probst says that's the first time they've had a unanimous winner.

At the end of the program, Probst announced the next edition of Survivor will be held in China.

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Blog: Jenna Morasca On "Survivor"

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The $1 million check was presented to Cole on Monday's The Early Show.

The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith also welcomed the rest of the finalists -- Andria "Dreamz" Herd, Cassandra Franklin, Yau-Man Chan and Kenward "Boo" Bernis.

The major controversy on the show this season involved a bargain struck between Dreamz and Yau-Man; when the latter won an expensive pick-up truck in a challenge, he offered it to Dreamz in exchange for immunity down the line. But when it came time for Yau-Man to collect from Dreamz, Dreamz refused to honor the the terms of their deal.

Several jury members -- though, surprisingly, not Yau-Man -- were outraged by Dreamz' actions and blasted him during the portion of the final tribal council when the jury can ask questions of the final contestants.

Dreamz had justified his actions by figuring that the others would have done the same thing had they been in the same position. "Other people lied and cheated, and slithered -- snakes, rats, weasels -- so it's not going to play on my mind," he said. "I'm going to sleep comfortable tonight knowing I have a shot at a million dollars tonight."

But it was not to be and the vote was unanimously for Earl -- and against Dreamz. "I was ecstatic about it. I was surprised that all the votes were for me," Cole said on The Early Show. "I'm glad they respected the way I played the game."

Later, Smith tried to figure out Dreamz' motives. "You're going into the final three -- did you think you had any chance whatsoever against Earl?" he asked.

"No," replied Dreamz.

"Then why bother? You could have walked away with your honor intact," asked Smith.

"I left my honor at home with my family," explained Dreamz -- a remark that was met with a burst of laughter from the other contestants.

The well-liked and respected Yau-Man, who might have won had he remained in the competition, said he was taken aback by Dreamz' refusal to honor their agreement.

"I thought he would be good for his word," said Yau-Man who, at 54, was the next-to-oldest contestant. "Up to the very end, I thought he would give me the immunity necklace. I had a little doubt towards maybe the last couple of seconds, but by then I was too stubborn to change my mind and say, 'Hey, let's make a different deal.'"

After last year's experiment with dividing the cast into tribes based on race, the "Survivor" twist this season was about class.

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Photos: "Survivor: Fiji"

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"So we took all 19 (contestants), put them on the boat, sent them to the beach," Probst said in February, prior to the show's premiere. "So we give them everything they need to build a gigantic place. Then we divide into two groups. The winning group gets to live there. The losing grip gets a pot, a machete and a cave."

In the end, the accomodations didn't make a difference -- Earl was initially part of the Ravu tribe, which had the bare-bones camp. Dreamz and Cassandra were both from Moto, home of the first-ever "Survivor" sofa and outhouse.

[blondieblk]

CLAP!
CLAP!
CLAP!
What you are saying is really profound!!
MOROON!

[blondieblk]

OJ SIMPSON IS THE ONLY ONE IN AMERICA THAT GOT AWAY WITH MURDERING SOMEONE, RIGHT? YOU ARE SO STUPID GO A READ A HISTORY BOOK, YOU IGNORANT FOOL!! WHAT NATIONALITY ARE VIOLENT SERIAL KILLERS? WHAT NATIONALITY ARE THOSE CAMPUS SHOOTERS? DUH there Aren't Black Dummy.

[blondieblk]

OJ SIMPSON IS THE ONLY ONE IN AMERICA THAT GOT AWAY WITH MURDERING SOMEONE, RIGHT? YOU ARE SO STUPID GO A READ A HISTORY BOOK, YOU IGNORANT FOOL!!

[jeannec3]

nigrAPES

As everyone can see your written comments. You yourself have proved my point about sick minds. As you yourself seem to have one. There is help out there for you. But you won't get help as you yourself don't seem to think anything is wrong with you. Just as Dreamz also saw nothing wrong with how he thought of things. And sence you don't seem to be black,because you seem to hate them so much,you just proved my point that it doesn't matter what color you are,to have a sick mind.

[jeannec3]

The color of a person has nothing to do with how good or bad a person is !!! And I'm not all that sure it matters on where a person is raised by a parent. Or what area of town or country you live in. You could have the best parents and have loads of money and still turn out to be bad. What you make of your life is all in your personality and temperment. Dreamz just has a messed up personality and his mind just doesn't compute right from wrong in the right order.

[blondieblk]

Why is it?
When I read the first comment race was the main issue. You guys are always saying Black people always play "the race card", when you guys always bring up race any chance you get. Dreamz was an individual who was a coniving, scheming, low-life, liar that just happens to be black. I'm so sick and tired of everyone blaming all Black people for what one individual does.
Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!
I don't beleive all white people are cannibals like Jeffrey Dahmer, and I don't think all Asians are going to go on a College campus and shoot everyone like that Cho guy.
Dreamz did something unethical just like other players on reality shows--When Doctor Will did it on Big Brother it was called "good Strategy, when Johnny fair- play said his mother was dead it was funny! But when someone like Dreamz does it who happens to be Black he is called a ngr! Do you see your blatant hyprocrisy?This is so freakin annoying to me.

[vjones71]

I agree Cassandra was a waste. She had to know that she had no chance whatsoever and just aligned with the right people.

I was so upset when Yao-Man got voted out. I understand that Earl had to do what he did or he wouldn't have won, and obviously Yao-Man understood that it was strategy or wouldn't have voted for him. But it was so horrible that Yao-Man really put all his faith in Dreamz keeping his word. And even though I hate what Dreamz did he was right in the fact that it is all a game apart from real life, and Yao-Man should've realized that in the midst of him having a good heart. I totally agree with your ideas of him keeping the key and trading it for immunity in the end. Dreamz definitely wouldn't have wanted the car then. Hands down Yao-Man should've won. He surprised everyone with his abilities and is an awesome man!

Congratulations to Earl and another great season of the show!!

[vjones71]

I totally agree that Dreamz did not deserve to win. But clearly the people on this site who are using racial slurs and making ignorant comments are missing the whole point of this site. It's to discuss the strategy and opinions about the game. Earl and Cassandra are both African American, so regardless of who it was, an African American would have won a million dollars. Maybe that's what's bothering you. They both lied and cheated and manipulated people as well, and you're not commenting on their race. It's not a factor so please leave that out. There have been many past survivor players who swore on their family or lied that their grandmother was dead and racial comments weren't made about them!! And if you want to go there Earl raised the bar for AFRICAN AMERICANS because he played a great game of strategy and made all the right moves.

Back to the game- I think what Dreamz did was horrible. I don't believe him when he said he was planning to go against the deal from the beginning. I feel that with all of the hype of the car he really did feel that he would keep the deal but the chance of a million dollars got to him, especially when he found out that 3 people were going to the finals.

[borismrm]

Kudos to you, vjones71. I totally agree with you. I personally didn't like what Dreamz did, but no one really knows, what they would do or would have done if placed in this situation.

After all it was a game of SURVIVAL!.. In the end,I would have given the truck back.

[borismrm]

No, gary-hamm. This only proves how much of a COWARD you are. It's trash like you that can only get their views across by hiding behind a computer. You should talk about can't be trusted! Maybe you should research your own history. That's if you can read. You sound just like a hillbilly from West Va.

Oh, I almost forgot. Don't you think it's about time for you and your N-word users to come out with a new word, because the N-word is tired and played out.