57-year-old Bob Crowley emerges as sole 'Survivor'

[December 15, 2008]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Bow-tied schoolteacher Bob Crowley beat "Survivor" rivals Sugar and Susie to emerge as Sole Survivor on Sunday's season finale.

At age 57 the oldest winner in "Survivor" history, Crowley will take his $1 million prize back home to Portland, Maine. Bearded, wiry and professorial-looking, he teaches high school physics in nearby Gorham.

"My plan was to fly under the radar as long as I could ... and be a nice guy, so that people would like me," Crowley summed up shortly after his name was announced by host Jeff Probst, on a post-game special aired live from Hollywood.

Runners-up were Susie Smith, the gabby 47-year-old hairdresser-homemaker from Charles City, Iowa, and 29-year-old Jessica "Sugar" Kiper, the blond pinup model from Brooklyn.

The winner was chosen by a seven-member jury of previously expelled contestants, to whom the three finalists appealed during their all-important last tribal council. In that voting, Bob edged out Susie, 4 votes to 3, with Sugar snagging no one's support.

"I had to lie -- and that's part of the game -- several times," Sugar acknowledged while pleading her case between giggles. "And I'm sorry."

Sent packing earlier in the finale were Kenny Hoang, a 22-year-old professional video gamer from Westminster, Calif., and Matty Whitmore, a 29-year-old personal trainer from Pacific Palisades, Calif.

This, the 17th edition of the CBS strategy-endurance game, was set in the West African nation of Gabon, where 18 castaways had come together when the season began.

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[Associated Press; By FRAZIER MOORE]

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