A 24-year-old student, Maryanne Oketch, has emerged the winner in the epic season of Survivor Season 42 whose grand finale aired on Wednesday, May 25, on American TV station, CBS.
The three-hour grand spectacle saw Oketch walk away with Ksh115 million (USD1 million), becoming the second black woman to win the Survivor after 20 years.
Oketch emerged the winner after seven of the eight jury members voted for her in a show that attracted millions of viewers globally.
After being named the winner of the highly-contested competition, Oketch explained that she did not capitalise on her young age to convince the jury to vote in her favour.
"When I came into the merge, I realised that there was a trend. If you were young like under 25, you seemed strategic and you would be voted out," Oketch explained.
"So, I basically had to pretend that I had no strategy, and when there were fewer people, I would then show my strategy in the game."
Her strategy paid off after she was announced the ultimate winner of Survivor 42.
Her mother was born in Kenya before moving to Canada where she raised her family.
The young winner, who is joining the millionaires club, considers herself very spiritual, and this led to her joining a seminary school.
"I think what is super important is to make sure that I'm always prepared in my spiritual side," she told Entertainment Tonight Canada in a past interview.
Oketch was born in Germany and raised in Canada. She has, however, lived in a number of countries across the world, but takes pride of her Kenyan roots.
She attended McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, where she pursued Integrated Science with a Biochemistry concentration.
