Million-dollar winner uses unusual strategy of loyalty, friendliness to win back-stabbing reality show with unanimous vote.
 
Stephen and JT, showered.
From the minute 24-year-old James "JT" Thomas opened his mouth on the CBS reality show Survivor, there was something so… likeable about him. In a game where deceiving, back-stabbing, and slandering are the norm, a player who is simply a good guy/girl is often nothing more than an easy target.

JT and his Southern drawl won the latest cycle of Survivor handily, receiving a unanimous vote from the jury of castoffs in last night's three-hour finale and beating his in-show best buddy Stephen Fishbach in the finals to take home the million-dollar prize.

Getting there wasn't easy though. JT's toughest decision came at the beginning of the show, when he and Stephen broke their alliance with Taj and voted her off in fourth place. It was a rare moment of treachery from the Alabama native, but it was unavoidable with only four contestants left.

An even tougher decision for JT came in the next round, when he had two options after winning the final immunity challenge. He could either vote in Erinn to the finals with him for an almost guaranteed million dollars, or honor his alliance with Stephen and risk losing out on the big prize as Stephen was also well liked among the jury.

It turns out it didn't matter, as JT's natural charm and honest decisions resonated with his former competition, and made him Survivor's most admired champ since Ethan Zohn.

JT told TV.com that he would be using his winnings to set up a college fund for his nieces and nephews, and hopes to parlay his friendship with Stephen into business opportunities.