During the first few days, Herzog made an alliance that lasted the whole game with Amanda Kimmel and Aaron Reisberger until the tribe swap.

Herzog and Kimmel had found the immunity idol and Zernow, Denise Martin, and Courtney Yates were informed of the discovery.

The original Fei Long members, both old and new, planned to vote out the new arrivals: Peih-Gee Law, Jaime Dugan, and Erik Huffman.

Law was targeted in the next vote, but her immunity win forced Herzog and his alliance to eliminate physical competitor Zernow.

In a 4–2–1 vote, he defeated allies Yates and Kimmel to win the million dollars and title of "Sole Survivor."

Subsequent to winning Survivor: China, Herzog was on the cover of December 2007's issue of Instinct, advertised as the "Million Dollar Man".

[12] Other Survivor contestants, including close friends Courtney Yates and Sandra Diaz-Twine, offered encouragement and support to Herzog.

[13] In 2017, Herzog told journalists with Stat News and The Boston Globe that he was not intoxicated when he arrived at the Dr. Phil studio but he was given a bottle of vodka and a Xanax pill before his TV appearance, which the production company denied.