On tonight’s finale of Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders, Shane Gould was voted the Survivor winner.

With five votes to four, the Australian Olympic champion was crowned Sole Survivor by her fellow contestants, defeating criminal barrister Sharn Coombes to take home $500,000.

In the game of reality TV competitions, there can only be one winner. One person goes home victorious, the other, empty handed.

From what we’ve seen from past seasons of Survivor, it’s always a floater who takes home the half a million dollars. A quiet player who wasn’t physically strong in challenges and didn’t always do a lot around camp, but shielded themselves with louder, fiercer competitors.

But this season was different.

What a moment ????

Stick around, the Reunion is up next! #SurvivorAU pic.twitter.com/i52W40pu3l

— Australian Survivor (@Survivor_AU) October 9, 2018

Instead, we were given two very different, but equally strong and impressive women, neither of whom flew under the radar.

Neither Shane nor Sharn were ever the most physical players. In her whole 51 days, 61-year-old Shane never won a single reward or immunity challenge.

But not once did the Olympic legend use her age as an excuse not to contribute, and although her moves were played discreetly in the background, she was instrumental in sending home some of her games toughest threats.

Sharn, on the other hand, played the ultimate social game. We watched as she used her intelligence and communication skills to build the relationships that would get her to the final two.

Multiple times, the Victorian mum-of-four managed to lift herself, and Shane, off the bottom of the pile to the top of the pack, which is no small feat.

While Sharn and Shane were very different players with different game play styles, the thing they have in common is they never let someone else determine their fates in the game. They took control, and that’s what got them to the finale sitting side by side.

When it comes down to it, both women were equally deserving of the winner's title. Both women, in our eyes, outwitted, outplayed and outlasted everyone else.

Ultimately, Shane is the person who will go down in the internet's history book as the 2018 winner of Survivor.

Thank you, Australian Survivor, for finally giving us the finale we deserve. One we can walk away from happy, knowing someone who truly deserved it won.

Do you think Shane deserved to win Survivor? Who was your favourite player this season?