It was a bitter sweet victory for "Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X" winner Adam Klein as he revealed that his mother died two hours after he got into a plane when they wrapped up shooting for the series and him winning the 33rd season of the series was the dying wish of his mom. He revealed what he plans to do with his $1 million winning.
Us Weekly reported that "Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X" aired its finale on December 14 and Klein said that apart from his childhood dream, it was his mother's dying wish come true that he won in the reality show. The 25-year-old said that while he was competing on the CBS hit show, his mother, Susie, stopped receiving treatment for her lung cancer, which was already at its fourth stage.
Klein continued to reveal that after "Survivor" wrapped up, he got into a flight to San Francisco because he felt that his mother needed him. Two hours after he returned to where his mother was, she passed away. Susie was 60 years old.
In the interview of Klein with the publication, he said that he only has two options, which are to mope around and feel sorry for himself or live his life the way he knows that his mother would want him to live. He said that he will be loving people, laughing, traveling, dancing, and do so much more just like what his mother did until her last days.
As for his winnings, Klein said that he will be donating $100,000 to Stand Up to Cancer because it is his way of honoring his mother's legacy and furthering research in order to help look for better treatments regarding the deadly illness, People reported. He shared, "More people die from lung cancer every single year than the other top four cancers combined, and yet it gets a fraction of the funding." He noted that anyone could get lung cancer because his mother was very healthy when she contracted the disease.
As for the rest of his "Survivor" winnings, Klein said that it will go to his savings. "Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X" was shot on an island in Fiji.
