54% of ‘Survivor 44’ viewers say Carolyn Wiger should have won [POLL RESULTS]

One of the quirkiest people to ever play “Survivor,” Carolyn Wiger, was deemed to be a threat by her fellow Season 44 castaways at numerous times during the game. But alas, she didn’t receive a single jury vote at the final tribal council. (Read our minute-by-minute finale recap.) Instead, her Tika bestie Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho earned a leading seven out of eight ballots, making him the 44th winner, while Soka’s fire queen Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt won over the remaining juror (Danny Massa).

In Gold Derby’s overnight poll, we asked “Survivor 44” viewers to name who should have won $1 million grand prize, and Carolyn received a majority of the poll results, at 54%. As for the others in the Final 3, Yam Yam came in second place with 24%, while Heidi was close behind at 22%. Do YOU agree with the poll results of your fellow fans? Be sure to sound off down in the comments section.

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For much of the season, Carolyn talked openly about being an “emotional player.” And that emotion no doubt helped her get to the very end of the game. When host Jeff Probst asked her at the reunion how it felt to receive zero votes after playing her heart out for 26 days, she spoke about the self doubt she juggled all season and not understanding how she was being perceived by everyone else. Frannie Marin told Carolyn that she genuinely changed her life because of how “unabashedly yourself” she is on a daily basis. Lauren Harpe echoed that sentiment and urged Carolyn to be proud. All together now: awww!

Based on what we learned at the pizza party/after-show, Yam Yam won over the jury thanks to two key reasons: complexity and control. Frannie explained how he pulled apart the complexity of the game during his final tribal council speech. And Kane Fritzler revealed that Yam Yam had enough control during the game to change the trajectory in his favor. As for why Danny voted for Heidi to prevail, he noted that her “big gutsy move” to make fire touched his heart.

Season 44 may be over, but the sapphire anniversary of CBS’s long-running reality TV show, aka the landmark 45th season, will debut (with 90-minute episodes!) in Fall 2023. Watch the “Survivor 45” video trailer.

The network will officially announce the identities of the 18 cast members for Season 45 at a future date. As has been reported, Carolyn’s old tribe mate Bruce Perreault will return to the island after being medically evacuated during the first episode of “Survivor 44” due to a head injury.

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