Kyle Fraser joined the Survivor club of two-time players who have never been voted out of the game. Unfortunately, the second time was because an injury derailed his journey on the show’s milestone 50th season in the very first episode.
At the first immunity challenge, Fraser tore his achilles tendon while running up a wall covered in mud. At first, he thought it was an ankle injury and was allowed to continue the game, but a second look from Dr. Joe the following day revealed that something much worse was likely happening. Jeff Probst revealed that it was too much of a liability for Fraser to stay in the game without getting further medical attention.
Although Fraser put on a brave face, he tells TV Insider he was “in a significant amount of pain the whole time,” adding, “I was preparing so much for Season 50, I’m like, I’m not going to let something like this hold me back. … It was always in the back of my mind [that I might have to leave], but I started playing optimistically to make sure I could stay. Unfortunately, I couldn’t, and it just shakes out that way.”
Eight months later, the Season 48 winner says he’s “doing well” and even started running recently, which he notes is a “big milestone” in his recovery. “When it happened, I had to fly back home immediately, so I didn’t get to stay at Ponderosa. I got surgery about four or five days later. It was a full tear in the achilles. I started from there. You don’t walk for two months, then you get in a boot, then you start walking with the cane. It’s a progression, but it’s a good progression. I’m sort of close to the end of it, so it’s good.”
Robert Voets/CBS
During his short time on Survivor 50, Fraser managed to form a tight alliance with Genevieve Mushaluk. They also teamed up with Colby Donaldson and Stephenie LaGrossa, as well as Q Burdette, to have the dominant alliance in their tribe of eight. Despite being named the winner of the season that aired right before the returnees left to film Season 50, Fraser says that, on his tribe, he was able to “escape” the target that should’ve been on his back.
“I was able to build personal relationships,” Fraser explains. “I think people take stuff like that for granted. … You have to show people who you are first to make people think they want to play this game with you, which is an incredible and beautiful game. I think my social game, just by virtue of being who I am and being able to hear about people and learn about them and them learn about me, I was honored they wanted to play the game with me, and I do think I escaped that target. I think because of that, I was thinking ahead, like, I need to be good with everybody, so if we go to a swap, that same kind of charm and disarm and social perception will now permeate a little bit more because I made friends who can talk good about me, too.”
Scroll down for more from our interview with Fraser, including how his alliance with Mushaluk came to be, why he thinks his injury was the “best” thing for his Season 48 ally Kamilla Karthigesu, and more.
I really would’ve liked to see what would have happened if you [and Mushaluk] worked together. What made you want to play with her, and how did that relationship come about?
Kyle Fraser: I had never met Genevieve. I met a lot of people on her cast, and they all spoke very highly of her, but I never had a chance to interact with her. I knew that she was somebody I wanted to work with, and I knew it was a 50/50 shot of that being the best thing that could happen to me in the game, or the worst thing because she could pull the wool over my eyes and get me. But I knew she was genuine in that when I saw her on the island. We had a conversation in the woods, the one you saw, where I told her things were happening, and she’s like, “I want to play with you.” It just made me pumped up, so I’m like, I’m going to go for it. You know what, you can never trust anybody explicitly, but in that instance, I had to put my eggs in that basket so we could manage the narratives going on around us, or the ones that we’re going to build around us. It was phenomenal working with her. She’s incredibly smart, has all the tools of a great Survivor play, and more importantly, she’s a great person.
Were you planning on keeping the relationship under the radar like you did with Kamilla on your last season?
It’s not something that we said, but we were doing it just sort of intuitively. When Q asked me about Genevieve, I said, “Go talk to Genevieve and let me know what you think.” Like, feel her out about as if I’m weary, but in reality, I want him to come to that conclusion himself. Colby and I sort of link up, and, of course, I’m like, you probably like Stephenie, but we need to think about a fourth, knowing that I want Genevieve, but they came to that conclusion themselves. Because of that, “Maybe there’s a little bit of luck there,” but we took advantage of it. We took a step back and were like, “OK, maybe let’s not act too close. We’ll do things in tandem, we’ll always feed information to each other, but we don’t need to be buddy-buddy out here.”
Who, at that point, was your alliance targeting?
It probably would’ve been Aubry [Bracco] that we were targeting. Genevieve and I had a conversation about that. I had not known, at the time, the conversation that they had out there. I could see why Genevieve would want to target Aubry. Aubry, I think, was also targeting Genevieve at that time. On top of that, I also developed a very close relationship with Angelina [Keeley]. Not to say I didn’t like Aubry, Aubry and I got along great, but Angelina and I kind of took our relationship to the next step, both personally and strategically, too, so at that point, Aubry, for my game, made the most sense for me to target, and I think for other people’s games, including Genevieve, made sense to target Aubry, too.
You had a powerful message for your tribe before you left and called on one of them to win, but what about your girl Kamilla?!
Of course, I was pulling for Kamilla. I think one of the first things I told Jeff and one of the first things I told Jenna [Lewis] at Ponderosa was that me leaving was undoubtedly one of the best things for Kamilla’s game, at least in my mind, at the time. Of course, I don’t know how it shakes out, but I was like … this is nothing but good for Kamilla. So Genevieve is my 50 work wife, Kamilla is my 48 work wife, and I would be very happy if either of them won. I really did love everybody on my tribe. Of course, I want Kamilla to win first and foremost, and then Genevieve, as well, but after that, I would not be upset if anybody on my tribe won, I’d say that.
Do you think you and Kamilla would’ve been able to work together if you made a tribe swap or merge?
I think, realistically, for my game, I probably would have to. Kamilla’s phase of the game that she has to get past is the beginning of the game. She can do the puzzles, but she’s not as much of a physical threat, so the tribe might be more likely just, historically, to axe a woman at that point. But if we get to a merge, I’m a little bit more of a physical threat. Although, Kamilla has won two challenges, so I don’t have a basis to say she’s not as much of an immunity threat as me. But people are probably, at that point, more willing to get rid of me instead of targeting her. So I think for my game, I would actually probably really need Kamilla to be on my side. For Kamilla’s game, it’s a little bit more up in the air depending on the relationships she built early on in the game. She might not need me as much as I need her if we get to a merge. If it’s a swap, then it’s all hell breaks loose, and I don’t know how it necessarily plays out. I would always try to work with Kamilla, to be honest with you. I would not want her to work against me.
Related‘Survivor 50’ Preview: On Set With Jeff Probst and the Cast (Exclusive)
What was your reaction when you saw Jenna was the first boot?
I was surprised because Jenna is a lovely person. She’s easy to get along with, she’s very fun, bubbly. I think, because of the challenge, people think, should it be Cirie [Fields]? I did not expect for it to be Cirie. I’ve seen this game, I’m a student of this game, [I have] no doubt Cirie is making it to the next day and the next day. But I was surprised to see Jenna because in a lot of ways I thought it would be so easy for people to kick out a Savannah [Louie] first because they don’t know her. That’s what surprised me, that Savannah had integrated herself seamlessly.
Was there anything that we didn’t see in the edit that you wish viewers had more insight into?
Not necessarily wish, but the way my injury happened was actually pretty interesting. What actually happened is, I had ran up the wall already. Q ran up the wall, and I ran up the wall, and we pulled people up. Now it’s covered in mud, and Colby was doing a lot of the heavy lifting and needed a boost up. So I went back down and lifted Colby up. What you saw was actually my second attempt going up the wall, which is merged with my third attempt. Because I actually tore my achilles after one more time, but what you saw was my second attempt, and the wall was covered in mud. The doctors essentially said that from putting my foot in the wall back to back to back, which is such an unorthodox, not a normal interaction to have physically with your body, that’s when I actually tore the achilles. So it was a little bit more nuanced, but what are you going to do, there’s only so much time that you have in the edit, so I thought it was a pretty good depiction. I’m grateful just to be on the season.
Well, there’s a ton going on in your personal life right now, but if you got the call for another shot at Survivor, would you play again?
I think that the fans deserve to see a more diverse cast since they’ve seen a lot of me in the last few years. That said, anytime I get a call from Survivor, I’m likely to go … with the caveat that I need to be at home and spend time with my baby girl when she comes for a good amount of time, a couple years. I’d love to play Survivor again. Maybe it will be when I’m in a different sort of stage in my life, but I’ll never dishonor the game by saying no. But I’m excited about the things coming up in my future, as well.
Survivor, Season 50, Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS
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