Michele Fitzgerald

Kaôh Rōng

In 2015, Fitzgerald was selected as one of 18 castaways to compete on Survivor: Kaôh Rōng, the 32nd season of Survivor. Though Kaôh Rōng was the 32nd season to air, it was the 31st filmed, having been shot before Survivor: Cambodia, which aired first; the two seasons were filmed back-to-back in the same location.^[5] As the season’s theme was Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty, Michele Fitzgerald was assigned to the Beauty tribe, Gondol, at the start of the game. On Day 12, the tribes were reshuffled, and Fitzgerald moved to the Chan Loh tribe alongside fellow Beauty member Nick Maiorano. After the tribes merged on Day 17, Fitzgerald and Maiorano found themselves in a swing position between the former Brains and Brawn alliances. Ultimately, they chose to align with the former Brawn members: Cydney Gillon, Kyle Jason, and Scot Pollard.

On Day 19, the first post-merge Tribal Council was canceled after Neal Gottlieb was medically evacuated from the game. Fitzgerald and Maiorano attended their first Tribal Council on Day 22, having previously avoided Tribal Council by consistently being on tribes that won immunity. At that vote, Fitzgerald joined the other women and Joe Del Campo in blindsiding Maiorano. At the following Tribal Council, Debbie Wanner was unanimously voted out by the remaining players, including Fitzgerald. On Day 27, Pollard was blindsided in a vote that Fitzgerald and Julia Sokolowski were not informed about beforehand. After Fitzgerald and Gillon won the subsequent reward challenge, they chose to bring Aubry Bracco with them in order to repair and strengthen their alliance.

At the Final Four Tribal Council, Fitzgerald attempted to vote out Bracco, who tied with Gillon. In the resulting fire-making tiebreaker, Bracco defeated Gillon to advance to the Final Three. The season’s final challenge was not for immunity, but instead for the power to remove a juror from the jury. Fitzgerald won the challenge against Bracco and Tai Trang, and later chose to remove Gottlieb from the jury. In his exit remarks, Gottlieb stated that he did not believe Fitzgerald would win the game.

At the Final Tribal Council, Fitzgerald was criticized for appearing strategically passive early in the game, but she was also praised for improving her gameplay and social positioning as the season progressed. In the end, Fitzgerald won the title of Sole Survivor in a 5–2–0 jury vote, receiving votes from Wanner, Pollard, Sokolowski, Jason, and Gillon. Bracco received two votes, while Trang received none.

With her victory, Fitzgerald became the first winner in Survivor history to be born in the 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

Winners at War

For winning Survivor: Kaôh Rōng, she returned to compete on Survivor: Winners at War.^[6][7] Starting on the Sele tribe, Fitzgerald attended Tribal Council three times but remained in a comfortable position within the tribe. She helped orchestrate the eliminations of fellow winners Danni Boatwright and Ethan Zohn. After the tribe reshuffle, Fitzgerald remained on Sele alongside fellow tribemate Parvati Shallow. Although they were outnumbered 3–2 by the original Dakal members and Shallow was voted out on Day 16, Fitzgerald survived the next two Tribal Councils and reached the merge.

Throughout most of the merge, Fitzgerald found herself on the wrong side of the vote. On Day 22, Shallow and Boatwright, who were living on the Edge of Extinction, sent Fitzgerald an advantage that allowed her to flip a coin for immediate immunity at any Tribal Council up until the Final Seven. On Day 29, she gave the advantage to her ally Jeremy Collins so he could protect himself at Tribal Council, but he ultimately chose not to use it and returned it to her afterward. Fitzgerald eventually played the advantage at the Final Seven, and the coin landed on "safe," granting her immunity for the vote.

On Day 34, Fitzgerald became a target of Tony Vlachos’ alliance, but she secured her safety by winning her first Individual Immunity Challenge of the season. Two days later, she came from behind to win her second immunity challenge. On Day 37, Fitzgerald received votes from Vlachos and Ben Driebergen, but survived the vote as Driebergen was eliminated instead. After Natalie Anderson won the Final Immunity Challenge, she chose to bring Fitzgerald to the Final Tribal Council.

By reaching the end, Fitzgerald became the only contestant in Survivor history to play multiple seasons, win at least once, and never be voted out. She also became only the second returning winner in the show’s history not to be voted out, after Jenna Morasca, who quit Survivor: All-Stars due to a family emergency. At the Final Tribal Council, Fitzgerald was praised for her ability to play from the bottom and maintain a strong social game, though much of the jury’s attention centered on Vlachos and Anderson. Fitzgerald ultimately received no votes to win, losing to Vlachos in a 12–4–0 jury vote.^[8] She became the only Survivor winner to play multiple seasons and never be voted out.^[9]