Who is Nick Wilson from ‘Survivor: David vs Goliath,’ and why is he so controversial?

From becoming the “Sole Survivor” of Survivor: David vs Goliath as a public defender in 2018 to becoming a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives in 2021, Nick Wilson has had quite the transformation when it comes to his career.

As far as his journey on the beloved competition series goes, Nick’s failure to help out his tribe around camp resulted in talks of him becoming the first boot of Survivor: David vs Goliath, however, when Pat Cusack was medically evacuated prior to the first tribal council, he was able to see another day. The Kentucky native then formed numerous alliances with members of both the David tribe and the Goliath tribe, most notably an alliance with Angelina Keeley and Mike White that caused the trio to secure their spots in the final tribal council (but the journey was far from smooth sailing).

Using numerous advantages to further his position in the game, Nick became a massive threat to take home the title of “Sole Survivor” and the million-dollar cash prize, however, he managed to avoid elimination after elimination due to his ties to both Angelina and Mike, as well as his ability to win the last three challenges. His social, strategic, and physical game was seriously top notch!

Blowing the jury away during the final tribal council, Nick Wilson beat Mike White and Angelina Keeley in a 7-3-0 vote, prior to returning for Survivor: Winners at War in 2020.

Nick’s journey on Survivor: Winners at War was far less impressive than his journey on Survivor: David vs Goliath, despite finding himself in a powerful position due to his pre-merge alliance with Sophie Clarke, Wendell Holland, and Yul Kwon. Much like the champion of Survivor: Winners at War, Tony Vlachos, Nick found himself to be the swing vote time and time again, flipping between alliances to further his position in the game, however, his duplicity caused him to be blindsided at the final six, ultimately leaving the game in seventh place.

Despite playing a phenomenal game during Survivor: David vs Goliath that resulted in zero votes cast against him all season long, Nick’s reputation went downhill after his journey on the hit competition show came to a close, making some rather controversial decisions as a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, one of which occurred on Tuesday (January 16). Keep scrolling to see for yourself…

Nick Wilson recently received quite a bit of backlash after filing a bill that would have legalized sexual intercourse in between first cousins on Tuesday (January 16), later deeming the decision to be a mistake. According to the Kentucky General Assembly’s website, he withdrew the bill the same day, however the damage was already done.

Because of this, Nick took to Facebook to apologize, as well as explain his initial thought process:

“I filed HB 269 yesterday. The purpose of the bill is to add ‘sexual contact’ to the incest statute. Currently, incest only applies in cases of intercourse. So sexual touching/groping by uncles, stepdads or anyone with a familial relationship is not included in incest. My bill makes that kind of sexual contact a Class D Felony, unless the victim is under the age of 12, then it increases the penalty to a Class C Felony. During the drafting process, there was an inadvertent change, which struck ‘first cousins’ from the list of relationships included under the incest statute, and I failed to add it back in. During today’s session, I will withdraw HB 269 and refile a bill with the ‘first cousin’ language intact.”

The two-time Survivor player concluded:

“This is a bill to combat a problem of familial and cyclical abuse that transcends generations of Kentuckians. I understand that I made a mistake, but I sincerely hope my mistake doesn’t hurt the chances of the corrected version of the bill. It is a good bill, and I hope it will get a second chance.”

This is not the first time one of his decisions has been under fire, previously supporting SB 150 in March of 2023, which banned gender-affirming care for transgender youth, which was ultimately viewed as dangerous to the LGBTQ+ community.

Nonetheless, to see Nick Wilson’s journey to becoming the “Sole Survivor” and securing the million-dollar cash prize, fans can stream Survivor: David vs Goliath (as well as the other 44 seasons of the hit competition show) via Paramount Plus.