In a week where four Survivor winners are joining new reality shows, Michele Fitzgerald, another former Survivor winner, just finished runner-up in The Challenge season 40.
Fitzgerald, best known for winning Survivor: Kaôh Rōng and besting fan-favorite Aubry Bracco at the Final Tribal Council, actually finished in second place in The Challenge season 40 after the last competition. She was stunned to learn that she was bumped to third place with the controversial Karma vote before Jenny West and Rachel Robinson tied for first place. So, basically, Michele was the first runner-up during her fifth time competing on The Challenge.
Despite performing well in the final competition and crushing it all season, Michele was definitely done dirty by the show and her fellow contestants with the Karma vote and how they treated her this season.
Michele isn't totally satisfied with how the season played out, either. Michele spoke to Entertainment Weekly about how the season ended and hared her thoughts on the Karma vote twist that dramatically impacted the winners.
Here's what Michele told EW:
"Yeah, I would've loved for them to split their first place and then give me second place, give Tori third. That sucks. I would've placed third out of everyone if it was not divided male and female. Me, Jenny, and Jordan were top three for majority of things. But Jenny won $400,000 without the Karma vote and now she has to split that, so I'm trying to look at it as we're all sort of taking some Ls here. Like Tori won nothing, so it sucks. I'll find ways to cope."
I don't totally understand how The Challenge works, but I am partial to how Survivor ends the season. There's something about winning a vote from your peers that feels better than whatever this is. Michele reiterated that she feels " no real ill will towards anybody" following the season.
If there's anyone from Survivor who knows about the epic highs and lows of winning and losing in the final moments, Michele is near the top of that list of players. Michele won a narrow vote over Aubry in Survivor: Kaôh Rōng to win the season. She also finished second runner-up to Tony Vlachos and Natalie Anderson in Survivor: Winners at War. I feel like Michele's gameplay during Winners at War changed some of the perceptions of her as a player and maybe shifted some opinions about her win over Aubry.
It's clear that Michele has a knack for making it to the end of these competition reality shows. In three of her eight times playing Survivor and The Challenge, she either won or finished in third place.
It will be interesting to see if Michele moves on to other popular reality TV shows after competing on The Challenge. We've seen The Challenge and Survivor players move on to Deal or No Deal Island and The Traitors, most recently. Michele would be a fantastic addition to the cast of each series.
Michele is another player who has been mentioned as a possible contestant in Survivor 50. Obviously, we're still waiting for more information about the epic 50th season of the best reality series of all time, but there's definitely fans who would be in favor of Michele's inclusion.
We'll just have to wait and see how it all shakes out! Stay tuned for more news about Survivor 50! The new season of the series, Survivor 48, premieres on Wednesday, Feb. 26.