In the Survivor 42 finale, Mike Turner accomplished it all. He won the massive final five immunity competition, defeating a challenge beast in Lindsay Dolashewich, who had an advantage going into the competition. He handed away an idol of immunity. He defeated Jonathan Young in the final four fire-making challenges. HOBOKEN POINTS WERE SCORED BY HIM!
Mike, on the other hand, was unable to earn the million-dollar prize. The former New Jersey fireman came up short in his effort to be elected Sole Survivor, receiving only one jury vote in the final three, compared to Maryanne Oketch's seven (and Romeo Escobar's zero). Was Mike surprised by the jury's decision? Which of the votes startled him the most? And, in the end, did the 58-year-integrity old's platform doom him?
Mike spoke with us immediately after the finale aired to get his thoughts on everything that happened, including the falsehood Omar Zaheer told him about Hai Giang gloating about controlling him like a puppet and who he would have voted for to win if he had lost to Jonathan at the fire. (Don't miss our entire episode recap as well as our finale interviews with Maryanne, Romeo, Jonathan, and Lindsay.)
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First off, how much pizza did you actually eat during that after-show?
TURNER, MIKE: I'll tell you right now that I couldn't get enough of it. Listen up: I'm from New Jersey. In Jersey, pineapple pizza is forbidden, but they merely brought pineapple. "Give me three pies," I said. I continued to fill my face. I ate a lot of pizza. When the program was over, I had dropped roughly 32 pounds. I had gained around 15 pounds by the time I finished the pizza.
Let's get into the final vote. You said that if you won at the fire, you were going to win the game, so obviously you must have been feeling pretty confident heading into that final Tribal Council.
Yeah, I was extremely confident, and to be honest, I believe it was my demise. From day one to day 26, I put a lot of effort into the game. And when I got the fire, I let my guard down a bit. "What could they say about me that isn't true?" I ask. When you're standing in a room, though, you may not realize that it's unclean. I didn't realize my room was dirtier than it had been until I walked down and heard them discussing it.
And compliments to Maryanne, who came in with her guns blazing and delivered a powerful speech. I wasn't quite as well-prepared as I had hoped. I wasn't expecting the difficulties, but that's why you have to play every minute of Survivor till the finish.
It looked like you went into final Tribal on the integrity platform, and then once the jury kind of called you out on that a little bit you lost your footing in terms of presenting your case. Did it feel that way to you?
That is exactly what occurred. Because I should have mentally prepared myself to reply, "You are correct. 'Oh, you said you'd be with me, and then you blindside me,' Hai may remark. 'You're my friend, and then you go against me,' Omar may say." And I had all kinds of good justifications in my head for doing so. I still think I had to do it. I don't think I would have made it to the finish if they hadn't been removed. But perhaps I shouldn't have built my entire platform around its integrity.
Again, we're playing Survivor, so I may have misinterpreted their reaction. And I expected them to look at me as if to say, "Hey, Mike is a good man, but he's also playing a game." When I play poker and have a pair of deuces and another player has a full house, and I bluff him with deuces, he becomes irritated. He's also irritated with himself. "I'm pretty upset Mike, but I have to say, you got me good," he adds, looking at me. We became buddies after that. And it's possible they didn't see it that way. I should have approached it from their perspective.
What was going through your head as you felt everything slipping away in real-time?
Do you have any idea what it's like? It's like if you're going down a cliff and see the last small vine hanging off the edge, which you reach for and grasp. However, you soon find there's oil on that vine, and you begin to slip. You slide and tumble over the mountain before you realize it. And that's exactly how it felt out there.
I felt like I had things under control. I had it in my hands. And as time went on, I found myself nearly unable to keep up with what was going on outside. And, to be honest, I was still hungry. I was battered. I was exhausted. I didn't go into the meeting expecting to be questioned in that manner. And, to tell you the truth, who am I to blame? I'm the one to blame. It's me, by the way. I should have planned ahead of time. They posed the appropriate questions. They had the right to ask such questions, and I was unprepared to answer them. And, to be honest, Maryanne put up a decent fight. She deserves a lot of credit.
It's interesting because usually in Survivor, those votes are locked before the final Tribal Council even starts, so it's very unique to see all those hands at the after-show go up and say they were leaning your way and switched. Was that hard? I know you're stuffing your face with pizza at this point, but as you're hearing people say, "Hey, I actually was thinking of giving it to Mike and I didn't"?
If I'm being completely honest, I don't think all of those folks felt that way coming in. Some of them, I believe, were already locked in. I believe it looked fantastic when they raised their hand, but I believe some were already locked in, and I don't blame them. It makes no difference whether they raised their hands or not. What occurs happens, at the end of the day. And there's a purpose for everything. As a result, I understand. Is there a way I could have handled it better? Probably.
I just spoke with Maryanne and I asked her if any of the votes surprised her. She said the Rocksroy vote surprised her. Do any votes surprise you?
Lindsay's vote caught me off guard. Lindsay reminded me of a Jersey gal. We put forth a lot of effort together. When I selected Jonathan over her, I believe she took it very personally. I understand. That was the only one that took me by surprise. Others, I believed, might have gone anyway. I thought I stood a chance of getting Rocksroy's vote. I thought I had a chance of getting Omar's vote. That's for sure, I didn't believe I'd be able to start from scratch. I believed there were votes out there that I couldn't obtain, but I believed I could win by a margin of five to three.
Let's say Romeo takes your suggestion and puts you against Maryanne at the fire and you beat her. How do you do in the final three against Romeo and Jonathan?
I believe I will easily win. Jonathan, I believe, does not receive the votes of the females. Jonathan is one of my favorite players, and I felt he played a fantastic game. I'm not even suggesting the girls were wrong about Jonathan. I'm only stating the obvious: I know they didn't like Jonathan. Romeo, in my opinion, did not play the game well enough to win. That's why I was confident that if I went up against them, I'd easily win. And I'm not saying that just because the jury may have believed I was the best player in the game. I was simply attempting to be the best of the last three players.
Let's say you lose at the fire to Jonathan, who gets your vote for the million dollars?
Jonathan. From the beginning of the merger, Jonathan was extremely devoted to me. He informed me about the Omar nullifier, which changed the course of the rest of the game since I realized Omar wasn't telling me the truth. Then I realized Lindsay wasn't being completely honest with me.
Lindsay was aware of the nullifier. I offered her three or four chances to tell me about the nullifier, but I couldn't tell her since she'd tell Omar if I told her. But she kept it a secret from me. She stuck by Omar, which is why I couldn't give her the idol I promised Maryanne when it came down to the final five.
You didn't win the game, but you had so many cool moments, just in the finale alone! I could see the emotion on your face winning that final five challenge.
We've been watching the shows for the entire season, and I've been getting texts from my friends: "Do you think you'll ever win a competition? What the hell is going on here? You're terrible at these challenges!" "You know, I'm not very good at these tasks," I say. But I'm prepared for what's to come. I understand that this is the season's most difficult struggle, that fire will erupt, and that I will triumph.
So I'm telling you to just wait it out. I shrugged it off. I said, "I don't know, it's a difficult one. In any of these difficulties, how could I possibly defeat Lindsay and Jonathan? They're fantastic." Meanwhile, I'm preparing for the conclusion since I know what's going to happen.
When I won that challenge, and I remember it like it was yesterday, I thought about my wife and kids, and how proud they would be to see me out there, vulnerable, battered, and tired, and yet I was able to reach deep and, quite frankly, beat two of the best challenge beasts we've seen on Survivor in a long time.
So what's the deal with you and the fire? Were you not making it out there at all?
No. That was definitely a plan. So we arrive in Vati, and no one can light a fire. "I don't want to start a fire," I said, and it fell to them. But no one was lighting a fire! It I said, "All right, I've got to produce fire; we need fire." I did so quickly, and it was noted. And I made the decision right then and there that I would not manufacture fire again unless absolutely necessary.
And, as weird as it may appear, I was always thinking about the fire-making task, that if they find out I can produce fire, it will cost me in the end. As a result, I never created another fire. And it was difficult not to since Jonathan adored lighting fires. Maryanne had started a fire. They didn't put it on me since they were all making fire.
To make the correct spark, all they needed to know was the angle of the knife against the flint. I knew it was pinewood thereafter I got the spark and lit the maize husk because it burned quickly. Because Jonathan was used to the wood we used at camp, he utilized little pieces. It was a collection of little, moist fragments of wood. As a result, we had to work more to foster [it]. Pine seemed to burn more quickly to me. So, as you can see, I threw a lot of husks, which created heat, and then built the tepee, which caused the air beneath it to move, resulting in a large flame.
I spoke with Hai and he said he didn't even know the true depths of Omar's lie to you about Hai saying he was controlling you like a puppet until he saw it on TV. When did you find out and what was your reaction?
That was something I was viewing with my brother and his family, as well as my wife and kids. "Oh, look at my kids, look at this," I said as my relatives arrived. Then Omar says something, and I'm like, "Oh, my goodness! Omar was kind to me and helped me out." "It was a lie," he says afterward. I was literally knocked out.
"I had no clue," I say as everyone glances at me. It was a shock. You may be angry about it, or you can embrace it and go on. "Good move, Omar," I thought, "you made me appear quite gullible there." But I'd rather be the guy who believes in people and is naive than the one who questions everything, which I began to do after that. I began to question everyone who spoke to me, suspecting that they were lying.
So, in Survivor, you just must be prepared for everything. That was possible that it was the truth. Jonathan revealed the truth about the nullifier and the Knowledge is Power concept, both of which we had never heard of before. And I trusted Jonathan because I had faith in him, that what he said was true, and that I was correct. So it was appropriate to hand up the idol to Omar because I knew he'd have to return it due to the nullifier. On the one hand, it made me believe in others, but on the other hand, it may have harmed me. But isn't it part of the fun of the game?
You and I could talk Wesleyan University all day since our sons both went there, but were you specifically wearing that sweatshirt because you had to miss graduation to go play Survivor?
That sweater was worn in honor of my father, who was also my son's wrestling coach. When my kid wrestled at Wesleyan, his wrestling coach took excellent care of him. And I knew I'd be unable to attend the graduation. And I recall being terrified on the day he received his diploma. And I've never missed a thing in my children's lives, from kindergarten to that point, I've never missed a single significant event in their lives. So I wore the sweatshirt to thank Coach and to represent my son for all he has done, including graduating from Wesleyan University, which is a terrific institution. My kid graduated from Wesleyan University, which is one of my proudest accomplishments.
Would you play again?
Without a doubt. I mean, how could you not? It is the most well-known game in gaming history. Every day, as a human, I would go out and play chess. It's a difficult task.
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