Lawrence.com

New York — Tina Wesson, the sweet-talking nurse from Tennessee, joined Richard Hatch in the "Survivor" millionaires club on Thursday.

The 40-year-old mother of two from Knoxville outlasted Colby Donaldson, the heartthrob Texan, to become a future pop-culture trivia answer as the winner of the Outback edition of television's favorite game show.

Wesson watched live in a Los Angeles studio as the votes from fellow contestants were counted and she was the winner.

"Oh, my God," she exclaimed after winning the 4-3 vote.

She was hugged by Donaldson, whose final miscalculation � picking Wesson to be the finalist with him � ultimately cost him the million-dollar prize. Donaldson won $100,000.

While not the phenomenon the original "Survivor" was last summer, the series has been a ratings giant again � and a giant-killer against NBC on Thursday nights. CBS already has plans for a third edition to air in the fall.

Once again, the network managed to keep the show's winner a secret, despite filming last fall. This time, fewer people were trusted with the secret. The final votes were to be counted live on the air Thursday; even the contestants weren't sure who would take the $1 million prize.

Host Jeff Probst carried a container with the final votes into a Los Angeles studio for the count.

"I never thought I could get this far," Wesson said when she was one of the three remaining contestants with Donaldson and Keith Famie, the chef from West Bloomfield, Mich.

Her fellow contestants knew better, praising her strategy in surviving although Donaldson won five straight immunity challenges.

"She really played the game," said fellow contestant Alicia Calaway. "It wasn't winning seven or eight challenges to get this far. It was using her brain. She's a smart woman and I think she deserves it."

Macho Texan Donaldson, 27, said he enabled Wesson to join him in the final two because they became very close in the Outback. Famie, the chef who couldn't cook rice to anyone's satisfaction, was voted out after losing the final immunity challenge � a trivia quiz about the ousted contestants.

None of the three made quite as indelible an impression as Hatch, the "Naked Fat Guy" from the original "Survivor" who schemed his way to victory. Actually, Hatch and Wesson aren't the only "Survivor" millionaires. So is executive producer Mark Burnett, likely several times over.

Burnett planned to reveal the destination for the third "Survivor" on Thursday night's followup discussion show. It's expected to be in either Africa or South America.

Fifty-one million Americans tuned in to watch the final "Survivor" episode last August, second only to the Super Bowl last year. "Survivor: The Australian Outback" wasn't likely to match that number and, unlike last summer, viewership slipped as the weeks went on.