SURVIVOR Winner Mike Gabler Donates $1 Million Prize to Veterans

Published: December 19, 2022

SURVIVOR Winner Mike Gabler Donates $1 Million Prize to Veterans

By Movieguide® Staff

Mike Gabler recently became the winner of season 43 of CBS’ hit competition show SURVIVOR.

However, Gabler quickly revealed that he would donate the entire $1 million prize to veterans.

Gabler, 52, made up his mind early on in the season that if he won he would donate all the prize money.

“There are people who need that money more,” Gabler told SURVIVOR host Jeff Probst. “And I’m going to donate the entire prize — the entire million dollar prize, in my father’s name, Robert Gabler, who was a Green Beret — to veterans in need who are recovering from psychiatric problems, PTSD, and curb the suicide epidemic.”

“We’re going to save lives and do something good,” he added. “Season 43, all of us did this. A million dollars is going to them. We made history guys,” he said, adding of his fellow competitors. “We all have the chance of a lifetime out here, the adventure of a lifetime. What we all learned from each other is priceless. It all made us better.”

This season, SURVIVOR contestants landed in the Fiji Islands. With Gabler’s victory, he became the second oldest person to win.

Despite his success on the show, Gabler said that the time away from home made him realize that his true gift in life is his family.

“No I’ve worked very hard, I’ve been fortunate,” he said. “But you know, I realized through this experience, I am rich at home. I have an amazing life at home. I have an amazing family. I have amazing friends. I need to be a better husband, I need to be a better father, I need to be a better brother, I need to be a better son. I’m going to do all those things just like all of us are going to do that when we go home.”

“And to take this million dollars in this time period where there’s so much going on in the news that people don’t like to look at, and we go, ‘Well that’s why we’re watching Survivor, because amazing things happen on this show, and we just did another one on season 43,” he continued. “We’re going to help veterans in need and we’re going to donate that entire million dollars to them. And I’m forever grateful that we did this. We did this guys.”