Pleasant Grove native Todd Herzog is now a million dollars richer as the "sole survivor" on the CBS television series "Survivor: China."

A jury made up of contestants who had previously been voted off the show chose Herzog to win the show's grand prize. After the result was read live in Hollywood Sunday night, Herzog jumped off the stage into his family's arms.

"I knew the second I got out there that, no matter what it took, I would do everything possible to win this," Herzog said after winning. "I had all of these people in my mind that would help me get here, and I can't believe it worked."

The people he's referring to include Amanda Kimmel and Courtney Yates, who were in the final round of voting with him. Herzog said early on in the game he picked the two of them to form a strategic alliance.

"Day one, when we got to camp, I looked at Amanda and we had some sort of connection, immediately," Herzog said.

That connection carried them through 39 days in the Chinese jungle, near Zhelin Lake in China's Jiangxi Province. The 16 original castaways competed in various challenges and voted one person off every three days.

Even before Sunday's show, Herzog said his friends and family were full of excitement.

"Everybody's losing their minds," Herzog said.

Many of Herzog's friends and fans gathered at Vibe Performing Arts Center in Lindon to cheer him on.

Jesse Woodcox, who said he has been best friends with Todd since high school, attended the event and was thrilled to watch his friend win.

"We were all jumping up and down and screaming. I'm shaking right now," said Woodcox to a friend on his cell phone after the announcement. "We were freaking out."

With his $1 million prize winnings, Woodcox said Herzog planned "for sure" to buy a car and take his friends to Walt Disney World.

"I just sent him a text saying 'Send us to Disney World,'" Woodcox said.

"Pandemonium. Pandemonium," said family friend Brett Steinaker after hearing Todd's name announced as the winner. "It's crazy. It was a surprise. We knew he loved Survivor more than anything. But I don't know if any of us knew, we hoped, until it actually happened."

Michelle Dennison, a longtime friend of the Herzog family, has known Todd since he was 4 years old. She said at least 150 close friends gathered at Vibe for a major Survivor party to root for Herzog.

Ear-splitting screams filled the theater where friends were watching the finale when Survivor host Jeff Probst said Herzog's name. They jumped, hooted and hollered in euphoria for the Pleasant Grove man.

"We're just so proud of him," Dennison said. "It's kind of like the Super Bowl, you know."

Linda Chipman, another longtime family friend, said Herzog was the life of this season of Survivor and its most dedicated fan. She said it was well known when Herzog was a student at Pleasant Grove High School that every Thursday night was reserved for Herzog's big Survivor parties, complete with tiki torches and a Survivor logo painted on Herzog's car.

The whole experience was a dream come true for Herzog, 22, who has faithfully watched all 14 previous seasons of "Survivor." This season was the second time he had auditioned to be on the show.

"I've wanted to be on 'Survivor' since I was 16," Herzog said. "So as soon as I saw on the Internet that they were looking for people, I sent in my application."

Herzog calls himself an "openly gay Mormon" and believes the producers cast him on the show because he has lived a very interesting life. CBS casting director Lynne Spillman said before the show that Herzog was chosen because going through the struggles on the show requires a good sense of humor.

"He was hilarious," Spillman said. "He had some really funny life stories, a really interesting childhood. And, really, he's just hilarious. He's really, really funny and that's why we picked him."

To prepare for the show, Herzog spent weeks practicing making fire and tying knots to help him get ready for the show's challenges. He said he did a lot of hiking and reduced his diet to shrink his stomach. He took swimming lessons and quit his job as a flight attendant.

"It was kind of weird because I had a great job," Herzog said. "But it was worth every second."

When he came back, Herzog worked for a while at Winger's Diner as a server. He has quit that job now and can focus on enjoying his $1 million prize.

Reporter Mike Rigert contributed to this story.