Outwit. Outplay. Outlast. Outspeak.

Note: This piece contains spoilers about Survivor Season 42.

Maryanne Oketch started Season 42 of Survivor at the bottom of her tribe (this piece uses the same terminology as the show), on the cusp of getting voted off the island. Twenty-six days later, she was crowned Sole Survivor by the very people she had helped cast out. In the words of the Survivor motto, Maryanne outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted all the rest — but that’s not why she won. Maryanne prevailed because the most powerful tool on Survivor isn’t a hidden immunity idol — it’s persuasive speaking. And Maryanne outspoke her competitors in the moment it mattered most.