As ‘Survivor 44’ ends, we say goodbye to our favorite twunk and hello to our queer winner
*Spoilers ahead for the entire 44th season of Survivor.*We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Survivor has been for the gays ever since Richard Hatch walked his naked *ss to a win way back on the reality competition show’s first season—23 years ago.But we’ve been especially obsessed with Survivor 44, which kicked off in March, and featured one of the long-running show’s queerest casts ever.Well, this week, the tribe has spoken once again, and we’ve got our exciting new winner: Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho, the first-ever QPOC to claim Survivor victory!The 36-year old salon owner from San Juan, Puerto Rico deftly balanced the show’s social game with its strategic game, claiming a decisive win with seven votes for the jury members/his fellow castaways. (Meanwhile, the runner-up, Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt, made a strong case for herself, but only wound up with one vote.)Actually, Arocho’s win has made all sorts of history.
As writer Mike Bloom noted on Twitter, he is the first-ever player from an American territory to win, the first LGBTQ+ victor of the series in 15 years, and the single player with the most “confessional” clips in the “new era” (post-pandemic hiatus) of the show.
In other words, the show knew he was a star, and gave him all the screen time he deserved.Congrats, Yam-Yam! You really did outwit, outplay, and outlast with the best of them!IMO, this is when Yam Yam clinched the win in #Survivor44.
I can't think of a better way to vocalize how to use emotional intelligence as both a social tool and a way to sniff out other people's deception.
