By Sara Donnellan | NJ.com
nj.com
(TNS)
The winner of “Survivor 50” took home the biggest prize in the show’s history—but how much of the winnings will they actually get to keep?
Warning: Spoilers ahead for “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.”
Aubry Bracco was crowned the winner of “Survivor 50” during the Wednesday, May 20 finale. Thanks to a twist devised by popular YouTuber and longtime “Survivor” fan MrBeast, Bracco won $2 million instead of the usual $1 million prize.
The money is certainly life-changing, but Bracco will have to fork over a significant portion of the $2 million to the government. Income exceeding $626,351 is subject to the highest federal tax bracket, which is 37 percent. That means around $697,000 of Bracco’s winnings will go to federal taxes.
Then there’s state tax, which varies state by state. Bracco currently resides in her home state of New Hampshire, which is one of nine states that does not have a state income tax.
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Bracco lived in Los Angeles when she competed on “Survivor: Edge of Extinction,” which aired in 2019. If she’d won that season, she would’ve been subjected to California’s state income tax, which can be as high as 12.3 percent.
After federal taxes, Bracco will likely be left with around $1.3 million of her $2 million prize.
The winner of “Survivor 49,” Savannah Louie, recently revealed that about $380,000 of her $1 million prize went to taxes.
“It was like a punch to the gut,” Louie said on the May 6 episode of the “Financial Tea with Mrs. Dow Jones” podcast. “Because that’s more money than I have ever made in a year, by far.”
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A resident of Georgia, Louie acknowledged that her tax bill would’ve been worse if she lived in a state like California, New York or New Jersey.
“To sign a check over, essentially, for that high, it was unreal,” she said. “It hurts.”
“Survivor” is available to stream on Paramount+.
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Tags: "Survivor", competitions, Income Taxes, prize money, reality TV, Taxes
