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Michael Anthony "Mike" Loving Holloway is the Sole Survivor of Survivor: Worlds Apart.

A workhorse around camp, Mike was the unofficial leader of the 'blue-collar' Escameca tribe. His social game was up-and-down, as he sometimes championed the cause of ostracized tribemates, but other times irritated his allies with his overbearing conduct around camp and at challenges. Through the three-tribe and tribe swap phases of the game, he was able to secure a tight majority alliance going into the merge. However, a bold move at the Survivor Auction, as well as his ill-considered call-out of Rodney Lavoie Jr.'s secret sub-alliance, caused his allies to turn on him. Despite this setback, Mike's numerous Immunity Challenge wins and use of the Hidden Immunity Idol allowed him to make it to the end. His aggressive gameplay and ultimately benign social game won him the title of Sole Survivor in a 6-1-1 vote.

Profile

Retrieved from CBS.com

Name (Age): Mike Holloway (38)
Tribe Designation: Blue Collar
Current Residence: North Richland Hills, Texas
Occupation: Oil Driller
Personal Claim to Fame: Paying off my house in 2 ½ years. It took a lot of Ramen noodle nights, but to see the focus and drive pay off, was priceless.
Inspiration in Life: Don Couch-He is the man and I call him "Dad." Even though we are in no way related he took it upon himself to teach me how to be man. He is a man of morals and values and he is a man of his word. He means what he says and is who he says. What a mentor.
Hobbies: Disc golf, running and picking up the ladies! Haha!
What is your favorite sport? When I was younger, it was playing football because the sound of someone losing their air is awesome. Now that I am older, it is disc golf because I love the challenge of me against the course.
Pet Peeves: People who are bad at time management. If you say you're going to be somewhere at a certain time, be there! Also spelling, I can't stand it when someone can't spell.
3 Words to Describe You: Loyal, Ambitious and Clever.
If You Could Have 3 Things on The Island What Would They Be and Why? 1. Any ball because I can make a game out of anything, MacGyver-ish in this case. But it would be nice to have a ball. 2. Toilet paper because it kind of stinks rubbing your bum with your hands. 3. Toothbrush because it's refreshing not having yuck mouth.
SURVIVOR Contestant You Are Most Like: Cochran, because he knows the game and how to move pieces; Ozzy because that dude has the best posture of anyone and he's a bad ass; and Rob because he takes over and gives 110% at everything.
Reason for Being on SURVIVOR: There's a competitive fire inside me. I can't get enough. I live to compete daily in my own life. If you guys let me loose on the challenges you will see. Also, I want to see if I am as good of a manipulator as I think I am.
Why You'll "Survive" SURVIVOR: I have a never-quit attitude. If I have to die, I will before I quit! I am also confident in who I am and what I can do and can't do. The ole 'fake it till you make it' applies here. I also am a leader; people naturally flock to me because of my outgoing attitude on life.
Why Will You Be the Sole Survivor: My life is constantly changing. At work, I must adapt to what the oil well is doing and sometimes drastic measures need to be taken. In my personal life, I have had to overcome being molested and bullied when I was young and not having a father. Learning to be influenced by the right people has been no easy chore. I have grown into my own skin - I know who I am and what I am about. My faith has made me whole, my family and friends have me strong, and my experiences have made me adapt. Let's get it on!!!![1]

Survivor

Being a blue-collar laborer, Mike started off on the Escameca tribe. He initially formed an alliance with Kelly Remington and Dan Foley, and he was viewed as the leader. However, he began to earn the ire of his other tribe members Rodney Lavoie, Jr., Lindsey Cascaddan, and Sierra Dawn Thomas when he repeatedly insisted that the tribe do more work around camp. Nevertheless, the tribe did well in challenges. They won the first three Immunity Challenges so they avoided going to Tribal Council for the first eight days. During that time, Mike's reputation became more favorable as Dan's antics and Rodney and Lindsey's rivalry took the attention off of him. However, the blue collars finally lost their first Immunity Challenge on Day 11. After the challenge, Mike, Dan, and Kelly aligned with Rodney. Rodney wanted to vote for Lindsey for her outbursts at camp, but Mike and Kelly thought about voting for him. But at Tribal Council, they stuck with Rodney. The four of them split their votes between Lindsey and Sierra and eliminated Lindsey in the revote.

On Day 12, a tribe switch occurred. Mike remained on the blue collars tribe with Rodney, Dan, and Sierra but lost Kelly. However, he gained white collars Tyler Fredrickson and Joaquin Souberbielle, and no collar Joe Anglim. However, Joaquin and Rodney started bonding which scared Mike and Dan. They won the next Immunity Challenge. On Day 16, Mike decided to throw the Immunity Challenge to save Kelly. So the blue collars threw the challenge. After the challenge, Rodney, Joaquin, and Tyler targeted Joe because he was the biggest challenge threat but Mike and Dan wanted to get rid of Joaquin because his friendship with Rodney was too strong. Joe joined them in order to save himself. Then they tried to get Sierra on their side because she was the swing votes but she was unsure. At Tribal Council, Sierra sided with Mike and Joaquin was blindsided in a 4-3 vote. Later that night Mike explained to Rodney why he got rid of Joaquin but Rodney was still angry.

On Day 17, the tribes merged and Kelly joined Mike's side again. He was also able to gain former white collars Tyler and Carolyn Rivera and former no collar Will Sims II. Joe won immunity on Day 19 thwarting the blue collar's plans of getting rid of him so Mike targeted Jenn Brown. However, at Tribal Council, Jenn played her idol negating the seven votes cast against her blindsiding Kelly in a 4-1-0 vote. After Joe received a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol he showed it to Tyler but Mike caught them. Then Tyler told Mike about the clue to keep the Blue Collars' trust. Though Joe couldn't find the idol, Mike decided to frame him by claiming that he saw Joe find it, which sidelined Joe from continuing his search; Mike continued looking, and eventually found the idol. Joe won immunity again on Day 22, so the alliance targeted Hali Ford and she was blindsided in a 7-4 vote.

Tyler won immunity on Day 24 ending Joe's immunity streak. Joe then tried to trick Mike into keeping him by showing him a fake Hidden Immunity Idol claiming it was the real one. Despite having the real idol Mike still asked Joe to give him the fake one. At Tribal Council, Mike played the fake idol on Will and learned it was indeed fake. The votes were split between Joe and Jenn, but Mike used Shirin Oskooi's swing vote to send Joe to the jury. The next day Mike overheard Rodney's inner alliance consisting of Rodney, Carolyn, Tyler, and Will plotting to vote him out next. At the Survivor Auction, Holloway held out from participating in order to have all of his money for a game advantage. Though all of the castaways agreed to purchase letters from their loved ones at Shirin's suggestion, Holloway sneakily reneged; after earning the ire of his tribe-mates (most notably by Carolyn and Dan), but Holloway relented and subsequently lost the lottery to earn the advantage, which went to Dan. After the auction, Mike blew up Rodney's four-person alliance to everybody, however, this resulted in him getting kicked out of the alliance and becoming public enemy #1. However Mike saved himself by winning immunity on Day 27. At Tribal Council, Jenn was eliminated.

He won immunity again along with Carolyn on Day 29. At Tribal Council, Mike bluffed about giving the idol to Shirin so the others would switch their votes. Will and Tyler switched their votes to Dan, but Mike did not give the idol to Shirin and she was sent to the jury. On Day 30, Mike, Sierra, and Carolyn were teamed up for reward. They initially had a lead due to Rodney forgetting to bring the balls with him on the obstacle course, losing a lot of time for him, Dan, and Tyler, but they later caught up. However, Mike managed to win the Reward Challenge, but his team did not give it up to Rodney which made him mad because it was his birthday. During the reward trip, Carolyn considered teaming up with Mike. After getting back from the Reward Challenge Rodney acted like he wanted to quit so Mike would not play his idol but Mike knew he was lying. Carolyn won immunity but Mike was safe due to him having the Hidden Immunity Idol. Mike wanted to get rid of Tyler and try to convince Carolyn to vote for him which she pondered over. At Tribal Council, Carolyn and Sierra sided with Mike. Mike played his idol negating the four votes cast against him blindsiding Tyler in a 3-0 vote. That night Carolyn told Mike about Dan's advantage and they decided to get rid of Dan next. Mike, Carolyn, and Will won the next Reward Challenge and during the reward, Mike proposed a final three deal with them which Carolyn considered. On Day 35, Mike narrowly defeated Sierra to win immunity. After the challenge, Rodney asked him if he was voting for Dan which he thought about. He then told Carolyn and Sierra that Dan, Rodney, and Will are voting for Carolyn. At Tribal Council, Carolyn played her Hidden Immunity Idol, negating the five votes cast against her, and her and Mike's votes sent Dan to the jury.

On Day 36, the final five met their loved ones. Mike saw his mom. Then the final five competed in a Reward Challenge. Mike won, and then he got to spend time with his mom and got an advantage for the next Immunity Challenge. He told his mom that everyone is targeting him and he is glad that she is here. The next day, Mike and his mom go to the location of the challenge. His advantage was that he and his mom get thirty minutes to practice for the challenge. However, they did not make any progress which worried both of them. Nevertheless, Mike was still able to win the Immunity Challenge. Then both he and Carolyn decided to vote for Rodney. Sierra joined their side. Then he talked to Rodney and Rodney told him that Sierra has done nothing to upset the jury. So Mike was unsure whether to vote for him or Sierra. However, at Tribal Council Sierra accidentally told everyone that she was a threat so she was blindsided in a 4-1 vote. Mike won the Final Immunity Challenge. After the challenge, Rodney told him to vote for Carolyn but Mike wanted to take her to the end. Then Mike told her that tonight there will be a tie between her and Rodney and so there will be a fire-making tiebreaker challenge. Then he starts prepping her for the challenge. At Tribal Council, both Carolyn and Rodney were tied with 2 votes so they had to compete in a fire-making tiebreaker challenge. After an hour Carolyn won and made it to the end.

At the Final Tribal Council, Mike was praised for winning numerous challenges and making it to the end despite being public enemy #1 but was criticized for playing a bad social game. In the end, Mike received six votes and won the title of Sole Survivor while Carolyn and Will received one vote each. He received votes from all the no collars, all the white collars, and Dan the only blue collar.

At the Reunion Show, Jeff Probst polled the jury on who would vote for Mike or Rodney if Rodney made it to the end instead of Carolyn and four people said they would have voted for Mike, so Mike still would have won. He revealed that he has repaired his friendship with Dan. He was also one of the thirty-two contestants eligible to return for Survivor: Cambodia. While he was one of the top ten males, his victory on Worlds Apart disqualified him from returning. 

Voting History

Mike's Voting History
Episode Mike's
Votes
Voted Against
Mike
1 Escameca Tribe Immune
2 Escameca Tribe Immune
3 Escameca Tribe Immune
4 Lindsey;
Lindsey1
-
5 Escameca Tribe Immune
6 Joaquin -
7 Jenn2 -
8 Hali -
9 Joe -
10 Jenn Individual Immunity
11 Tyler Individual Immunity
12 Tyler Dan, Rodney,
Tyler, Will
3
13 Dan Individual Immunity
14 Sierra Individual Immunity
Rodney Individual Immunity
Jury Votes
For Mike
Dan, Hali, Jenn,
Joe, Shirin, Tyler
Sole Survivor, Day 39

^1 In Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner, the vote ended with a 2-2-2 tie between Lindsey, Rodney, and Sierra, forcing a revote. Mike did not change his vote on the revote.
^2 In The Line Will Be Drawn Tonight, Jenn used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Mike's vote against her.
^3 In Holding On for Dear Life, Mike used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating 4 votes against him.

Post-Survivor

  • Since December 2015, Mike Holloway has been in a relationship with Big Brother 17 houseguest Meg Maley.[2]

Trivia

Mike Holloway Second Chance

Mike's publicity photo for the voting of the Cambodia cast.

References

Preceded by
San Juan del Sur
S29 natalie t
Natalie Anderson
Sole Survivor Titleholder
Worlds Apart
S30 mike t
Mike Holloway
Succeeded by
Cambodia
S31 jeremy t
Jeremy Collins
Survivor: Worlds Apart Castaways
 Carolyn
Masaya
S30 carolyn t
 Dan
Escameca
S30 dan t
 Hali
Nagarote
S30 hali t
 Jenn
Nagarote
S30 jenn t
 Joaquin
Masaya
S30 joaquin t
 Joe
Nagarote
S30 joe t
 Kelly
Escameca
S30 kelly t
 Lindsey
Escameca
S30 lindsey t
 Max
Masaya
S30 max t
 Mike
Escameca
S30 mike t
 Nina
Nagarote
S30 nina t
 Rodney
Escameca
S30 rodney t
 Shirin
Masaya
S30 shirin t
 Sierra
Escameca
S30 sierra t
 So
Masaya
S30 so t
 Tyler
Masaya
S30 tyler t
 Vince
Nagarote
S30 vince t
 Will
Nagarote
S30 will t
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