By Sandra Gonzalez, Sara Smart, CNN
(CNN) — Being a “Survivor” winner means joining a strange club of hyper-ambitious humans, bound by both the surreal experience of reality television fame and knowing what it feels like to suddenly come into a good chunk of cash.
When the show’s 50th season concludes on Wednesday, one person will walk away with $2 million — a surprise doubled pot courtesy of Internet sensation and superfan Mr. Beast.
Before this year, the $1 million prize money may not have technically kept up with inflation, but an informal poll of winners shows whether you won in early seasons or later ones, the real value of victory sometimes does not come from the money at all.
Take, for instance, Season 12 winner Aras Baskauskas, who spent 39 days starving and sleep-deprived off the coast of Panama to earn his million at the age of 24 and used it to start a hat business, through which he learned “how not to succeed in business.” Five years after he won, he was $50,000 in debt.
The married father, who with his wife owns successful sustainable clothing company Christy Dawn, likes to say he spent his prize money on a very expensive, non-traditional education.
“By the time you’ve opened the aperture wide enough to really start to enjoy the riches, there’s nothing left,” he said. “It’s a fascinating experience at that age.”
But he’s zen about it now and tries to share that feeling with other winners and castoffs alike, recently doing so in a text exchange with Season 50 contestant and five-time player Ozzy Lusth, whose heart-led game play resulted in his torch getting snuffed in a recent episode.
“There’s some idea that having a million dollars improves your life,” Baskauskas said. It doesn’t. “It just changes it. And whatever problems you’re gonna find yourself in, you’ll find them with or without that money.”
Here’s more of what winners told CNN when asked how they spent their prize money.
Ethan Zohn (Season 3)
After Zohn won “Survivor: Africa” in 2001, he was approached by two former teammates from Zimbabwean football club Highlanders FC about starting a charity that later became Grassroot Soccer, which for the last two decades has helped educate teens worldwide on issues like HIV prevention and mental health through the sport.
“I was all in and donated the funds to help co-found the organization,” Zohn said. “Of course I splurged a little bit! I bought both my brothers a car, took my mom on vacation and bought myself a pair of those BOSE Noise reduction headphones.”
“Survivor” changed his life for many reasons, “and it wasn’t just about the money,” he said.
“It gave me lifelong friends, introduced me to a community I love being a part of and it gave me the opportunity to jumpstart something I was truly passionate about, Grassroot Soccer.”
Danni Boatwright (Season 11)
“I had one big splurge and that was I spent 10 grand on getting my dog Hondo. He had hip dysplasia, and I knew he needed it but couldn’t justify spending that much money. And that was my motivation for my final immunity challenge, ‘Gosh, if I win this, I could go get Hondo a new hip.’ So as soon as I won, I took him down to Kansas State University, they gave him a new hip and he lived 14 wonderful years. Best money spent.”
Earl Cole (Season 14)
Another benevolent winner, Cole took some of his winnings and started the Perthes Kids Foundation, which helps children with Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease, a degenerative hip bone disorder. He also started the SMART Tire Company that in 2023 was featured in TIME’s Best Inventions for its airless bicycle wheel.
He also gave money to family, traveled to over 60 countries and “invested wisely,” he said via email.
“I guess one weird and crazy thing I bought was ONE shot of Macallan 56 at the top of the