Warning: MAJOR spoilers for Survivor 43 ahead. There are Survivor Veterans, and then there are IRL Veterans who’ve competed on Survivor. Mike Gabler, Season 43 contestant, is neither. He’s a first-time player and part of a legacy military family who has a big heart for the military and isn’t afraid to show it. More like this:Veteran TV Competitors: Reality Shows Featuring Veterans

Mike Gabler: Survivor Contestant and Heart Doctor

Mike Gabler isn’t a United States Veteran, but he serves his country in a different way. He’s a military brat and a heart valve specialist who lives in Idaho and works for a company called Edwards Lifesciences. In an interview with Parade, Gabler went into just how intense his job can be: "I play a role on a heart team, working with top surgeons and top cardiologists. I'm a clinical specialist myself, but we're in a very diverse team of people, a very multicultural group of people. But we all have one focus, and that is to take care of the patient… And it's in high-pressure situations sometimes. To be able to communicate and work effectively and get good outcomes for patients with that team, I think that's probably going to really help me out here when it starts getting really dicey." The nature of his job perfectly sets him up for success in the high-stakes, paranoia-ridden game of Survivor. But his job isn’t the only thing helping him succeed.

Where Does Gabler Get His Strength and Inspiration?

In the first half of Season 43, Mike Gabler, Survivor stand-out, seemed to not be long for the game. He’s the oldest contestant of the season, and the lack of food and nourishment was really getting to him. However, post-merge, which marks roughly the halfway point of the game, he excelled in the first individual competition against all odds. During the nearly hour-long challenge, setting a record for the show, Gabler announced his minute-by-minute inspiration that helped him make it through the challenge. During a series of monologues throughout the tough challenge, he explained that he gains strength by thinking about the military members who are currently fighting, as well as those who’ve passed, who’ve sacrificed so much for him and everyone in the nation. “Let’s do this next minute for Lester Tenny. He’s a war hero, passed now, survived the Bataan Death March, went to a prison camp, five years in captivity, made it home, found out his family was told he was dead. His wife remarried. He had to remake his life. Lester was one of our patients. We fixed him. I got to know Lester for six great years. I could do this all day for Lester.” He then went on to talk about the strength of all military members, comparing his and his fellow castmates’ time competing in tough challenges running through the mud, sand, and water and pushing their bodies to the limits to the realities of military service. “Lot of heroes served in our military. We do this for fun; they do this for real.” A poignant and apt comparison. During and after the challenge, other shout outs to the military went to his friends from high school who served in the Navy. He won the record-breaking challenge.

Gabler’s Military Ties

After he claimed his prize for the challenge, the iconic Survivor immunity necklace, he went on to say, “During that challenge, I was so inspired by the people I was channeling because I’m playing Survivor for Veterans who are suffering from traumatic brain injuries, who are suffering from PTSD.” “The Veteran community has been very special to me my whole life… Veterans are 1% of our population that take care of our 99%, so if I can give 100% for them, then I’ll be very proud and happy about that.” Gabler might not have served in the military, but he does come from a long legacy of military members. As he explained in Episode 7, “My dad served and my uncles, so I have a military family background.” His dad was a Green Beret and is Gabler’s self-admitted lifelong hero.

Gabler’s Future in the Game

From the get-go, Gabler was a stand-out contestant for his strong personality. His presence has been a bit divisive among fans and fellow castaways (another common term used for Survivor contestants). He started off playing the game strong and sometimes butted heads with those on his tribe early on. When the halfway point of the game came, he found himself airing a lot of the dirty laundry from his previous tribe, which landed him in hot water for some and gained him respect from others for his ruthless gameplay. When getting voted off the island, one contestant even aimed criticism directly toward him, saying, “Y’all see what trusting Gabler will get you?” Others have called him a “bull in a China shop.” Given that he’s gotten a lot of screen time thus far, many fans think he’s gonna last in Survivor season 43 for a while. Since he’s doing this all for the military and Veterans, we’d love to see him go far and see what he does with the money if he wins. This is, of course, barring any controversy or bad behavior from him, as has been plaguing the show from various contestants in the past few years. Speaking of, if you’re not a Survivor fan, you might be asking, “Do Survivor contestants get paid?” Of course, the answer is yes. The Sole Survivor, a.k.a. the winner of the season, will receive a $1 million prize. Those who attend the reunion also purportedly get $10,000. In more recent years, pop icon Sia, who’s a huge fan of the show, has given one contestant each season $100,000.

Check Out His Journey Every Wednesday Night This Fall

Mike Gabler, Survivor winner or not, you have our gratitude for bringing awareness to Veteran causes on a national level. If you want to follow Gabler’s journey, the Survivor air date is every Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m. ET/ 7:00 p.m. CST.

Update: Your Survivor 43 Winner Is...

Who won Survivor 43? Against all odds, Mike Gabler: Survivor Winner is now all over headlines. Going into the final three on the finale night, no one expected Gabler to be able to get any votes against powerhouse player Cassidy or underdog hero Owen. Gabler's subtle gameplay and self-appointed Alli-Gabler strategy (his play on his name and an alligator, since he had to sink below the radar to avoid being voted out) impressed the jury members, and he got all but one vote to win the million-dollar prize in a 7-1 split. Gabler is the second-oldest winner in the history of the game, but he made Survivor history in another way during the after-show when he revealed how he was gonna spend the million dollars. Long story short, every penny of his winnings is going to help Veterans in need, a cause that's incredibly close to his heart. Here's some of what he had to say: "Season 43 is a special season... because we're gonna make history another way... There are people that need that money more, and I'm gonna donate the entire prize - the entire million dollars - in my father's name, Robert Gabler, who's a Green Beret, to Veterans in need who are struggling from psychiatric problems, PTSD, and to curb the suicide epidemic." Cheers, hugs, and high-fives ensued from his fellow castaways. Ryan Medrano, another castaway whose father is a Veteran, was holding back tears at the gesture. He said, "I've been there seeing, you know, somebody that's been at his [father's] wedding not come home, and somebody that I knew, not come home. And the fact that he's [Gabler's] giving it all to the Veterans that served our country... There's so much that we don't know that they go through, they're over there, and they're fighting for us, but yet they can come back and not have a job or be disabled and not cared for. The fact that he's giving that all for them... it touches me..." Congrats to Mike Gabler, Survivor 43 winner. You can watch the epic finale right here, and be sure to watch next season this spring for more inspirational stories. Suggested read:PTSD Awareness Month Highlights Shocking 75% Veteran PTSD Rate

Image: CBS