Survivor 43

Survivor 43 is the forty-third season of the American reality television series Survivor. The show was filmed from May 2 through May 27, 2022, in Fiji, for an eleventh consecutive season; it premiered on September 21, 2022, on CBS in the United States and Global in Canada. The season concluded on December 14, 2022; Mike Gabler was named the winner of the season, defeating Cassidy Clark and Owen Knight in a 7–1–0 vote. Gabler, aged 51, was the second oldest winner, after Bob Crowley, who was 57 years old at the time of winning Survivor: Gabon. Gabler has stated he intends on donating the one million dollar prize to charity. This is the first season in Survivor history where the oldest contestant of the season was the winner.

Production
On March 9, 2022, CBS renewed Survivor for its forty-third and forty-fourth seasons. Like the previous two seasons, Survivor 43 was contested over 26 days, being shortened from the traditional 39 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CBS required all cast and production members to be fully vaccinated. Filming began in May 2022.

It was initially broadcast from September 21 to December 14, 2022, on CBS.

Contestants
The cast was announced on August 31, 2022, and consists of 18 new players divided into three tribes: Baka, Coco, and Vesi. The tribe for merged players was called Gaia, a name suggested by contestant Cassidy Clark. Among the contestants was Paralympic 100 meters runner Noelle Lambert.

Future appearances
Outside of Survivor, Cassidy Clark competed on the second season of The Challenge: USA.

Season summary
Eighteen new castaways were divided into three tribes of six: Baka, Coco, and Vesi. The tribes fared relatively equally in challenges, but Baka and Vesi teamed up in the later ones against Coco, who had yet to see Tribal Council after three eliminations. Tribe dynamics saw Elie and Jeanine in the minority of Baka, Ryan on the outs of Coco, and two pairs on Vesi (Cody-Jesse and Dwight-Noelle).

At the merge, Baka and Vesi initially planned to join forces, but a series of votes left Baka in the minority instead. Cody and Jesse then took the reins, orchestrating the blindsides of various threats. Jesse, who had obtained advantages from other castaways, then blindsided Cody using the latter's own idol. This ultimately made him a big threat, and he was defeated in the firemaking challenge by Gabler from Baka.

At the Final Tribal Council, former Coco Cassidy highlighted the moves she made, but many jurors called her out for making those moves behind other player's shadows. Owen was criticized for never having control, and Gabler's social game earned the jury's respect. Thus, Gabler was named the Sole Survivor in a 7-1-0 vote over Cassidy and Owen.

Voting history

 * Notes

Reception
Survivor 43 was met with mixed reception, with many praising the cast as well as the removal of panned twists present in the previous two seasons such as the "Hourglass" twist; however, winner Mike Gabler's 7–1–0 victory, as well as his intention to donate the winnings to veterans' support organizations, was seen as shocking by many. Entertainment Weekly's Dalton Ross ranked this season 25th out of 44, praising the cast and citing Gabler's victory as "certainly interesting," but criticized the season for its lack of "knock-your-socks-off" moments. Game Rant's Jillian Unrau gave the finale a rating of 3.5/5 stars, stating that Gabler's victory "felt like a blindside on the audience when he won. Unexpected twists are fun, but not when they come at the expense of wrapping up a narrative in any sort of satisfying way." Andy Dehnart of reality blurred stated that while he was glad to be surprised by Gabler's win, he also felt that Gabler was "failed" by the season's edit.