The closing of CBS' "Survivor: The Cook Islands" brought in a mere 16.43 million viewers even though it was the most controversial edition of the show.

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Contestant Yul Kwon was the winner on the closing episode of the season, which had viewership down from 21.2 million last year and 17.1 million in May, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday.

"Survivor: The Cook Islands" was deemed controversial due to the four starting teams being divided by race, the teams were, whites, Hispanics-Americans, African-Americans and Asian-Americans.

The controversy ended when they split the teams again right after the show started.

"I am so glad that the winner of 'Survivor' is going to be from a minority community," Kwon said during Sunday's show. "It speaks volumes, that oftentimes the strongest teams are the ones that have a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds."