Mike Turner

Michael "Mike" Turner^[2] is a contestant from Survivor 42.

Priding himself on his loyalty and relationship-building, Mike's game was shaken up early into the season when he lost his number-one ally Jenny Kim. However, he aligned with Hai Giang and Lydia Meredith, integrating into the majority alliances of both Vati and Kula Kula before then cutting several of his allies early into the merge. Despite his status as a strong jury threat in possession of a Hidden Immunity Idol, Mike's relationship management allowed him to make the final four, where he defeated his ally Jonathan Young for a seat at the Final Tribal Council. There, his failure to own up to his trail of betrayals cost him the jury's respect as he finished as the runner-up.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

Age: 58
Hometown: Hoboken, NJ
Current Residence: Hoboken, NJ
Occupation: Retired Firefighter
Favorite Hobbies: Working out, sports, and watching great movies
3 Words to Describe You: Loyal, loud and fair
Pet Peeves: People ripping open cereal boxes and leaving them open. People who are late.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? Easy! Raising my children! I know it's cliché, but it's true. I come from the projects, not a very good home life, and I didn't know how to be a father. But I watched other good fathers, learned and raised two amazing kids and I'm very proud.
What is something we would never know from looking at you? I'm sensitive. I care. I get my feelings hurt. I'm smart (at least I think so). My heart hurts for the less fortunate. I love learning. I'm a straight arrow.
Who is your hero and why? Not sure if I have any heroes, but I have people I looked up to and who taught me about life, how to be a father, a hard worker, honest, and loyal: Capt. Stankiswiez, John O'Brien, Aunt Ruth and Uncle David.
Which past Survivor will you play the game most like? I would love to play like Boston Rob. Not sure it will work out that way but I really believe that I have all the great attributes of all the great players.
Why do you believe you can be the Sole Survivor? I honestly think I can be the final Survivor because I possess all the attributes needed. I'll be a beast in challenges, a worker in camp, yet I'll make people believe I'm not a threat until it's too late. I also have the gift of gab! People will like me (even Jeff).^[3]

Survivor[]

Mike immediately gravitated toward Jenny Kim on the Vati tribe, and then developed a working relationship with Daniel Strunk when they discovered the Beware Idol together. Despite losing his vote upon finding it, Mike decided to delay saying the phrase to activate the idol until both Ika and Taku had indicated they found their respective idols. The loss of his vote proved detrimental when it contributed to his ally Jenny's elimination on Day 7, but the aftermath resulted in Mike forming a new majority alliance with Lydia Meredith and Hai Giang. Mike felt betrayed by both Daniel (who flipped against Jenny) and Chanelle Howell (who didn't disclose she gambled and subsequently lost her vote). He finally activated his idol prior to the Day 11 challenge. Ultimately, the trio decided to vote out Daniel on Day 11, although Mike received a contingency vote cast by Chanelle. Mike was upset with Chanelle following that move, despite casting a split vote against her.

Once the three original tribes were no more, Mike's social game reached a new level. Not only did he become an integral part of a new majority alliance, he developed a friendship with Jonathan Young as they bonded over being misunderstood due to their imposing physical appearances. Mike was willing to cut loose original tribemates Lydia and Chanelle but felt terrible going along with Hai's plan to vote out Rocksroy Bailey. Attributing that plan to Hai instead of Omar Zaheer (who was equally culpable behind the scenes), Omar took advantage of this strained relationship at the sanctuary reward with Mike and Lindsay Dolashewich. Omar lied to Mike telling him that Hai viewed Mike as his puppet, which incentivized Mike to turn on Hai. The plan worked, and as the last original Vati member left on the game, Mike was banking on his relationship with Jonathan to make it further in the game. The next hurdle to overcome would be Drea Wheeler's Knowledge is Power advantage, which she planned to use to obtain his idol as the Beware Twist made it public knowledge. Omar warned Mike and convinced him to give Omar the idol temporarily, and they managed to turn the tables on Drea. Suddenly, Mike had a promising path to the Final Three.

Sensing Lindsay and Omar were planning to turn on them, Jonathan and Mike wanted to take out Omar next. Following Lindsay's Immunity win on Day 23 however, they were worried about Lindsay's Amulet Idol being played on Omar. Opting to vote for the safe option Romeo Escobar, Maryanne Oketch took matters into her own hands with her Extra Vote to seal Omar's elimination. This missed opportunity by Mike allowed Maryanne to claim ownership of one of the biggest moves of the game. While Mike would go on to win immunity on Day 24 and beat Jonathan in Firemaking, Final Tribal Council would largely be a showdown between him and Maryanne as Romeo was somewhat ignored. Both were praised and critiqued for their gameplay, but Mike's inability to justify his loyalty first approach and then his later betrayals was his undoing along with Maryanne's strong performance. Mike received Jonathan's vote as Maryanne picked up the other seven to become the Sole Survivor. Despite the loss, Mike felt proud of his achievements on this season and congratulated the winner.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Vati	Marooning	Reward	No	Lost
1		Forty Two	Immunity	No	2nd
2		Can't Find My Way Home	Reward/Immunity	No	1st
3		Spiral Architect	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost
4		Tangled Up Sled Slide	Reward	No	Lost
4		Beyond the Tuna	Immunity	No	2nd
5		Ramplified	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost
Tribes Disbanded, Day 12
6	None	Rolling Stones	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost¹
7	None	A Bit Tipsy	Immunity	Yes	Lost
Tribes Merged, Night 14
8	Kula Kula	Basket Case	Reward	No	Won
8		Can't Buoy Me Love	Immunity	No	Lost
9		Bermuda Triangles Case	Reward/Immunity		Lost
10		Walk This Way	Reward		Invited
10		Bow Diddley	Immunity		Lost
11		Uncomfortably Numb	Immunity	Yes	Lost
12		Dizzy Miss Lizzy	Reward		Invited
12		Stair Down the Walls	Immunity		Lost
13		Giant Tick	Reward/Immunity		Won
13		Simmotion	Immunity		Lost
Runner-Up, Day 26
Notes: ^1 The unchosen sit-out from the challenge (Rocksroy) was exiled. There, he was given an hourglass which he may choose to break to strip the winning team of their immunity, transferring it to the losing team and himself. Rocksroy broke the hourglass and Mike was given immunity.

Episode	Mike's Votes	Voted Against Mike
1	Vati Tribe Immune
2	Vati Tribe Immune
3	Ineligible¹	-
4	Vati Tribe Immune
5	Chanelle; Daniel²	Chanelle; -
7	Lydia	Individual Immunity
8	Chanelle	-
9	Rocksroy	-
10	Hai	-
11	Drea	Drea (x2), Romeo
12	Romeo	-
13	Lindsay	Individual Immunity
Jury Votes for Mike	Jonathan
Runner-Up, Day 26

^1 In "Good and Guilty", Mike found a Beware Advantage, making him ineligible to vote until all the Hidden Immunity Idols in the game were found.
^2 In "I'm Survivor Rich", the vote ended with a 2-2 tie between Chanelle and Daniel, forcing a revote. Mike changed his vote to Daniel on the revote.

Post-Survivor[]

On November 11, 2021, between the filming and airing of Survivor 42, Mike married his fiancé Staci. Various castmates attended his wedding.^[4]

Trivia[]

Mike is the oldest contestant to compete on Survivor 42.
Mike is the highest-placing member of the Vati tribe and the highest-placing man on Survivor 42.
Mike is the fifth consecutive contestant of his name to reach the finale episode, after Chiesl, Holloway, Zahalsky, and White. He is also the third "Mike" to reach the Final Tribal Council.