Maryanne Oketch is officially Survivor's season 42 winner.
Following a grueling and emotional season, the jury voted for the 24-year-old seminary student in the May 25 finale. After revealing she had a secret immunity idol, Maryanne secured a vote of 7-1-0, beating out runners up Mike Turner and Romeo Escobar. Lindsay Dolashewich and Jonathan Young were also in the final five.
While the Survivor contestants seemingly underestimated her throughout the entire season, Maryanne was confident she was going to come out of the tribal jury a victor, telling Entertainment Weekly, "I felt as if I probably was gonna win."
"I really could feel the momentum swinging," she continued. "I feel as if the clincher was when I whipped out that hidden immunity idol and then people were like, 'Oh my gosh! All the pieces are coming together. This makes sense. She's been thinking this whole time.' And I had tangible evidence that I was."
Ultimately, almost everyone on the jury voted for her, save for Jonathan, who gave his vote to Mike.
Maryanne was blown away by the show of support, saying that getting Rocksroy Bailey's vote meant a lot to her. She described him as "the king of physicality."
"I was very shocked and very happy because I might not be physical in the challenges," she explained, "but I really feel as if I put in the work at camp life."
This is the first time that Maryanne has been able to publicly discuss her win, which took place 11 months ago. As difficult as it was to keep this a secret, Maryanne said she was grateful to have this time of reflection and to gain the confidence to face the public.
"When I came back from Survivor, I was an emotional wreck crying every day, just sleeping on the floor, just a mess having that time to reintegrate into regular life, and then also to see what's next?" she recalled. "Like, I finished this dream. This dream's now done. What do I figure out in my life?"
For now, she's taking it one day at a time and enjoying life as it happens.
What's more, she has someone to enjoy life with after appearing on Survivor. She revealed that a past acquaintance reached out while Survivor aired and they are now dating—but don't expect a wedding to happen anytime soon. She shared, "It's a new relationship, so I think it's a little too far ahead to thinking about that so no, the winnings will not be paying for any wedding."