By: John Powell – GlobalTV.com

He was just declared the winner of Survivor: Ghost Island but Wendell Holland is ready and willingly to work hand in hand or go toe to toe with his alliance mate Domenick Abbate.

“I would like to go on anything with Dom. We have a great relationship. It is always hilarity and lots of friendly competition. I would do anything with him. I have been to his parent’s house in New York. I met his kids and his wife. If I were to go back out there I know Dom would probably try to get me out early. (Laughs) I know how great of a player he is. I think we would either try to get each other out early or have some kind of agreement we will get each other past these first few votes but then let’s take the gloves off sooner than last time,” Wendell chuckled.

While the two players worked well together and formed a strong bond as friends and as rivals, Wendell knew he was being overshadowed by Domenick’s loud gameplay and character. One of his Survivor regrets is that he, for a short time, began playing Dom’s game.

“I started realizing that was the type of game he wanted to play. He wanted to be flashy and make big moves and have everyone see all of his moves. That’s not the game I wanted to play but I found myself falling into that trap a little bit,” he admitted.

When Dom flashed his idols at Donathan Hurley at tribal council, Wendell followed suit but regretted the move soon afterwards.

“I thought…that’s not me and that wasn’t my game. I was playing Dom’s game when I shouldn’t have done that and didn’t have to do that. I should have stood behind my game, the game that I was playing as a more of a silent assassin. I should have let Dom be this loud, boisterous character with the big voice. We could then own up to our own games at the end. I saw what he was doing and I understood what he was doing. That has won people the game of Survivor in the past but also being a nice guy has also won Survivor,” he said.

Just as fans were last night, Wendell was shocked by the first ever tied vote at the final tribal council although he was pretty sure that Laurel Johnson had his back as she had for the entire game.

“Oh my goodness! It was almost too close for comfort, man! At final tribal I was against two tremendous Survivor players. Either of them could have won many seasons going against me and I found a way to get one more vote than Dom. I got the same votes as him but the deciding vote was someone I was so close to throughout the entire season. She saved me once again. Laurel really took care of me,” said a grateful Wendell.

Wendell has nothing but praise for Laurel. He appreciates the brother, sister relationship they formed on the island. It is a relationship that has continued outside of the game.

“She reminds me so much of my big sister. We got so close after the first swap at Naviti 2.0. We did a lot for each other and not everything was shown. We were there for each other a lot, even if it was just the hug the other person needed,” he said.

One relationship that didn’t make it to air, we didn’t see much of, was his bond with Kellyn Bechtold.

“Kellyn and I were very close out there. They didn’t really show much of that. Early in the game, I wanted to go far with her. There were swaps and we really couldn’t play together. We had a very close relationship. She is a very good player and she ended up really helping me out as a juror,” said Wendell also revealing he built about 30 things out on the island and wished they would have shown more of his handiwork.

As for the hardest decision he had to make playing the game, Wendell says it was giving up the reward with his dad to go to Ghost Island and claim the advantage. Wendell only got to see his father for 20 minutes but once he gave him a look, he knew he had the greenlight to claim that advantage.

Besides paying off some law school loans Wendell is approaching his million dollar windfall as prudently and thoughtfully as he did his Survivor game.

“I would like to use the money as a tool. I would like to invest the money and not really spend the money. I want to find a good place to invest it so it works for me,” he said.

The 37th season has been announced as Survivor: David vs. Goliath. A tribe of underdogs will compete against a tribe of overachievers. Professional wrestler Johnny Mundo (AKA: John Morrison and Johnny Impact) will be on the Goliath Tribe. Survivor: David vs. Goliath was filmed in Fiji and will premiere Fall 2018 on Global.