John Cochran

Soon afterward, all other former Savaii members were voted out in succession, with Lusth, Jim Rice, Dawn Meehan, and Whitney Duncan all being sent home. However, once Cochran was the last Savaii member left, the former Upolu members turned on him and voted him out by a vote of 5–2, with only Cochran himself and former Upolu member Edna Ma voting for Rick Nelson instead. After losing the Redemption Island duel to Lusth, Cochran came in eighth place, having lasted for exactly 31 days; he became the fifth member of the nine-member jury. In the final Tribal Council, Cochran voted for Wade to win, along with Nelson and Ma. These three votes made Wade the runner-up to Sophie Clarke, who received the other six votes.

Biethman was considered to have ridden coattails to the end, and Meehan was criticized for her emotional instability. Ultimately, Cochran won a unanimous 8–0–0 vote. He became only the third winner in Survivor history to win a unanimous vote, after Earl Cole in Survivor: Fiji and J.T. Thomas in Survivor: Tocantins. He was also only the second winner to win a unanimous vote while also never receiving a single vote against him in any Tribal Council, after Thomas.

After Caramoan ended, Cochran was inducted into Xfinity's Survivor "Hall of Fame," as part of the class of 2013, alongside Kim Spradlin and Jonny Fairplay. Several years later, in the official issue of CBS Watch magazine commemorating the 15th anniversary of Survivor, Cochran was voted as the seventh greatest player of all time. Additionally, in a 2015 interview shortly before the premiere of the 30th season, host Jeff Probst declared Cochran to be his favorite season winner ever.

John Martin Cochran (born January 17, 1987), also known by just his surname Cochran, is an American reality television personality and television writer. He first appeared on the 23rd season of Survivor, Survivor: South Pacific, and came in eighth place. He returned for the 26th season, Survivor: Caramoan, and ultimately won the title of Sole Survivor and the $1 million prize. He later went on to become a writer for various CBS sitcoms, including The Millers and, more recently, Kevin Can Wait.

Cochran showed up on the reunion show for Survivor: Blood vs. Water, the show's 27th season. Jeff Probst asked Cochran about new developments in his life, and even presented a comedy sketch starring Cochran and actor Will Arnett. Cochran later appeared as a guest on the fifth episode of Survivor's 34th season, Survivor: Game Changers, where he visited exiled castaway Debbie Wanner to give her advice.

Cochran returned for the 26th season, the second season to be subtitled "Fans vs. Favorites," and was placed on the "Favorites" tribe, Bikal. He was joined by fellow South Pacific contestants Brandon Hantz and Dawn Meehan. Cochran once again aligned with a majority of his tribemates, under the alliance name of "Stealth R Us," named so by the unofficial tribe leader Phillip Sheppard. Even after the tribal swap in Episode Six, Cochran still remained on the Bikal tribe, along with Sheppard, Meehan, fellow returning player Corinne Kaplan, and newcomers Julia Landauer, Matt Bischoff, and Michael Snow. The new Bikal tribe focused on eliminating all of the new players on the tribe, successfully voting out Bischoff and Landauer before the merge came. However, when Sheppard was eliminated due to a blindside by Malcolm Freberg, Reynold Toepfer, and Eddie Fox, Cochran became the default leader due to being viewed as Sheppard's right-hand man.