‘Survivor’ star Kyle Fraser thinks ‘constantly’ about joining two-time winner club

You know what’s better than winning Survivor? Winning Survivor… TWICE! Only two legends of the game, Sandra Diaz-Twine and Tony Vlachos, have ever accomplished that remarkable feat, but Kyle Fraser aims to up that number by the end of Survivor 50 (which premieres Feb. 25 on CBS), saying it is something he thinks about “constantly.” He’s got his work cut out for him, though.

The last thing the cast of Survivor 50 saw before they left for Fiji was Kyle lying through his teeth with a nice-guy smile to completely deceive the competition and take home the $1 million prize on season 48. Why on earth would a batch of returning all-stars allow him to do it again? Unsurprisingly, Kyle — who describes himself as “a good person who can do bad things” — has a plan for that.

It involves employing a “charm and disarm strategy” and assuming a “friendly defensive posture” towards former secret Survivor 48 ally Kamilla Karthigesu. It also means listening to your mother! And not only did Kyle’s mom warn him about one player in particular, but that person of interest just happens to be on Kyle’s tribe to start the game. Intrigue!

The Survivor champ laid it all out for us when we sat down in Fiji just days before filming, and we’re still not sure how much to believe from the 32-year-old master manipulator.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Kyle, why are you going to win Survivor 50?

KYLE FRASER: I’m going to win Survivor 50 because charm and disarm. I’m the most recent winner that people have seen, but I still think people are going to underestimate me. Like any reality TV contestant, I have a massive ego, but I think one thing about me that’s different is I can swing wildly the other way and suppress my ego and sort of put that behind me, and I think people are going to underestimate me because of that. They just saw me win $1 million. I was hiding in plain sight, and I think I can do it again just in a slightly different way.

Give everyone the big life updates since you played last time.

I left the game, and a month-and-a-half later, married the love of my life, Maggie. Then we moved back to New York. I started a new job, which was my old job, so I’m working in the law firm again. Had a lot of life changes.

You won your first time. You could have just gone out on top. Why come back and do it again?

I mean, it is the best game on Earth. I am back here in Fiji. It just feels like I belong here. So the experience again sounds awesome. I don’t think I have anything to prove, but there are things that I want to prove, if that makes sense.

Explain what that means.

I played a very middle oriented game. I was a part of a dominant majority alliance, I played idols, I won challenges, I did all of these things, yet I still think that people don’t know exactly what type of player I am. I sometimes wonder what type of player I am. Am I strategic? Am I social? Am I physical? I want to come back to play a different game, and I want to win that way so people can look at me as I think one of the most well-rounded complete Survivor players that the game has seen in a long time.

When I came out for Winners of War, it was all winners obviously, so it was amazing to me how many people felt like they were playing for respect, that maybe viewers didn’t fully understand or respect their game and that they felt like they needed to sort of prove themselves a little bit. Do you feel that way at all, or that you want to put yourself in an upper echelon that maybe you feel like you’re not seen in that way?

Yeah, it’s tough. I mean, my game just ended, right? I just watched myself win literally last week. So I haven’t had a chance to really look at what the critics are saying, but I’d be lying if I said that there were points during the season where I didn’t think people were respecting or understanding my game. And listen, I am used to that in the real world.

People constantly downplay my accomplishments. I’ve gotten to so many different places and achieved things that I’m proud of with the help of family and friends. And people, for whatever reason it may be, still look at me as like I’m not that great, and I’m cool with that. That’s how I won Survivor. I was doing everything in front of people’s faces that should have sort of put up big red signs saying, “This guy’s going to win the game.”

Yet people didn’t think about it until I was there at the end. From a viewer’s perspective, I think I got the respect that I want, but part of your question is exactly right. I want to go into the next tier. I think I played a great game. I’m proud of it and I think it’s time to show everybody just how great I can be, and if I fail trying, then so be it. But that’s what you got to do. You don’t win a championship and then just call it quits right after. You go forward.

Do you think there’s a recency problem for you, in that people just saw you win the game right before they came out here?

Yeah, I definitely do think there’s a recency problem. I mean, listen, there are a lot of things that are going to put targets on my back out here. Recent winner, two of my closest allies out here in Joe and Kamilla, and I played a complete game. I think people are going to see that and be scared, but there’s two things that sort of combat that. The first thing is there are a ton of targets out here. I was just on a boat with Cirie, right? One of the most dangerous players this game has ever seen.

There are other social players out here too, and if you look at the game that I just played, even though I did have that secret thing going on with Kamilla, people just watched me go through emotional turmoil as to betraying an alliance, which I ultimately didn’t do. I rode to the end with a group of people and won the game, and people haven’t seen that be done in a very long time. Maybe the Reba four, but even that was a little secretive.

So I think there are all these targets on my back right now, but at the end of the day, it’s a game of relationships, and that’s my superpower. You have to build a foundation in this game, and if you give me one or two days, I can build connections with people, I can form alliances and I can ride that farther into the game as well this time.

How much do you daydream about joining Sandra and Tony as a two-time winner?

Oh, man. I think about it constantly. The moment I left the game the last time, I was super, super proud, super excited, but I was like, Okay, when do I get my shot again? I did not think it was going to be 50, but here I am and I think I have a chance. If you look at my season, people said it’s the most athletic season of Survivor we’ve seen in years. I think having guys like David, having guys like Joe, having people like Eva, even Shauhin and Mitch, all of these athletic threats allowed me to hide in plain sight and I think I can’t do it to the same degree here.

I got Jonathan Young on this island, I got Joe, I got Christian Hubicki with the puzzles, Chrissy Hofbeck. I think that there are bigger, shinier targets out there that will allow me to go farther in the game and that’s why I can pull off the Sandra of the Tony game, because in the same seasons they won twice — Heroes vs. Villains, Winners at War — there are so many shiny objects that the medium guys get overlooked a little bit.

Anything at all you regret on a personal level from the last time you played?

I think the big glaring regret from just a personal level, Mitch was somebody who I was very wary of at the beginning of the game, which is funny because if you remember my first day, it wasn’t shown as much, but I was really down and out. I haven’t been that down and out in a long time, having failed in losing the first challenge and breaking the jug.

And it was actually Mitch that first night, and we had many awesome conversations just about life and who he is, and the next night when he decided to take up space, and I related to that on a different level because of certain things I’ve gone through in my life. He was the person who pulled me out of that hole, if you will. We played the game together far and we were playing up until the end, but there are points in time where I really betrayed his trust in a way that I think was hurtful. And it is tough looking back when you’re playing a game this hard to know that you can hurt somebody like that. We’re good now. Mitch is a really good friend of mine, but personally, that was one of the harder things.

How do you think other players are evaluating you?

I’m still trying to figure out exactly what type of player I am, but I think they think I’m a nice guy, a good person who can do bad things in this game. And by bad, I mean the things that need to be done to win. I think that’s what I saw on the TV screen, was somebody who was constantly contemplating very tough decisions, struggling building relationships, and ultimately doing just enough to sort of make sure that he could get to the end and win and feel good about himself.

But that might be worse than just like Russell Hantz, right? Because at least Russell’s going to do bad s—. You don’t know about me. I think a lot of people are going to be attracted to that and I think a lot of people are going to be very scared of it.

What’s your biggest weakness in this game? I know you like to say you’re really well-rounded, and I think that’s accurate, but what do you need to worry about?

I think that I can be too much of a people person, and that’s not like the Kaleb “I’m too likable” thing. I do have blind spots in terms of if I get in with somebody who I really trust, they could betray me. And that was the beauty of my last game with Kamilla being so dangerous. We had this implicit trust, but she could have got me if she needed to at some points. I think I made it very difficult for her because I wouldn’t give her enough to finally get me, but she could have, so I think it’s being too trusting in some regard.

Do you wish there were more winners here?

We got Dee, so I actually think that it’s not going to be that bad. I don’t wish there were more winners here. Maybe one or two would be nice, but I am not scared of it because I know the game that Dee played. She played one of the best games I think people say of the new era we’ve ever seen. I think that’s going to be just as big of a target on her back. Also, these returning seasons, they’re run by themes. I think there are many other things that put targets on back, like the clumps of three that I’m also a part of.

Yeah, let’s talk about that. Do you think that helps you or hurts you?

I ultimately think that most people would be scared of it. I am very much hoping that I’m not on the same tribe as Kamilla or Joe at the beginning. That certainly hurts me, but I think that it can be something that actually protects me. There are a lot of people who are affiliated kind of like in a mafia way. With these clumps of three, every single vote matters. If I take a shot at somebody from David vs Goliath, somebody across the bow might be thinking, “Okay, we need to take a shot at the 48ers.”

I think people are smart enough to realize that, and think maybe we should get rid of these people who aren’t affiliated… Listen, I like Aubry, I like Rick Devens, Genevieve to a degree. There are tons of people out here who are unconnected — like the 49ers — and it might be easier at the beginning of the game to just sort of pop them first. Let’s see if we can all get in there. So what other people think is a problem I see is a problem, but I’ll figure out a way to turn it into something beneficial to me.

How do you publicly distance yourself from Kamilla, or do you not try to publicly distance yourself from Kamilla?

This is a big conundrum for me. Again, I very much hope I’m not on the same starting tribe as Kamilla. I think that that would be a significant problem and one of us probably has to take the hit there. Hopefully, that’s not me. Let’s say I bump into Kamilla in a tribe swap or merge situation. I think what’s problematic is that what we were able to achieve is complete secrecy up until final Tribal. There were some points in which David almost sniffed us out, but we nipped that in the bud.

So there’s nothing you can really do now, because if people see us talking, they’re going to think we’re doing something. If people don’t see us talking, they’re going to assume we’re doing something. I think my strategy would be a friendly defensive posture. I don’t have any intentions of developing enemies before the game starts, including Kamilla, because I know how good of a player she is. So I think I’ll be friendly to her, see how people are playing the field, and then if I need to be defensive either with respect to her or other players, that’s how I’m going to play it.

How much pre-gaming did you do before the season?

None.

Don’t lie to me.

I’m not lying.

You’re a good liar!

I’m not lying! I’m not lying!

Come on.

Well, I don’t have any people to pregame with, right? 48 ends, and I think that the critical reception to my season was that people are like: “This is the sort of gameplay we want to see from Survivor.” So in my mind I’m like, there’s absolutely no way when I get the 50 call that anybody else is going to be out here from my season. Lo and behold, two of my closest allies are out here. Now with pre-gaming, if you mean going to events, I was contacted late for 50, but I was at all the watch parties.

I bumped into tons of people out here. I bumped into Charlie before, Dee was at my birthday party months ago before she was in contact for 50. So I bumped into people. I’ve had good conversations with people that maybe hopefully carry into this game. That’s what I’m hoping, that people saw me be a nice guy on TV. Hopefully they see me be a nice guy in real life too, and that carries into here.

You’re telling me you and Kamilla and Joe didn’t talk about this?

Absolutely not.

Come on.

No, no. I assumed Kamilla or Joe would be a part of it, one of the two possibly. I thought maybe Kamilla, but I wasn’t going to bring that up to them. Plus, they owe me nothing. I won the game.

Who do you want to work with and who are you scared of?

I will start with who I’m scared of. Charlie is somebody who I wanted to imitate in terms of playing. I got to see all of Charlie’s season before going out to play mine and the guy just oozes social intelligence. I mentioned ego and a lot of people who, because of their ego, will be willing to see past me, but he’s one of those guys who can look you in the eye and you can tell he is reading you in a very unassuming way. I’d love to work with him, but if that’s not the same for him, he’s somebody that really, really scares me.

Genevieve is somebody who is very scary too. My mom was like, “You need to watch out for that Genevieve.” But I think she’s got all the tools, and if she had a number one like me, she could have won that game last time. So I would love to work with somebody like her. Emily Flippen is another one of these people who are scary and I’m attracted to because if you can get scary people on your side, you can do scary things.

How do you handle these two season 49 players you know absolutely nothing about?

I don’t like it at all. You got Rizo. I guess he just played, but he’s very, very skinny. So to me, I’m like: Why is he out here? He’s not a straightforward guy. He’s out here looking for idols, he’s doing things, he’s lying. He’s young, but he looks very smart. So he scares me in that regard.

Savannah, she is locked in. She’s locked the freak in and she looks like she’s ready to play the game. If I’m being completely honest with you, it’s very hard to build consensus votes on these returning seasons. So if one of them are on my tribe, this theme of „we don’t know anything about them“ is exactly what I would try to employ. Just get him out of here. I mean, we got JT writing love letters to Russell Hantz because they don’t know who he is. Why let that happen again?

You mentioned critical reaction to your season earlier. How do you feel about reaction to your season? Does it bother you that some people didn’t love it? It’s always interesting to me how much players really care about how their season is perceived by fans.

Yeah, I did care about it a little bit, so I was on the internet probably more towards the beginning of the season, and then I just fell off right around the time people started to be like, “What is this? It’s a majority alliance. It’s boring.” At first, it frustrated me, but then it kind of made me happy because I’m like, “This is exactly what you want! Boring Survivor wins!”

I don’t know if that’s boring Survivor. There were so many elements in our season that made it incredible. People get mad at the way Tim Duncan plays for the Spurs, but you win championships. If you want to complain, that’s fine. I’ll laugh to the bank with my $1 million.

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Other Survivor 50 deep dive player interviews:
• Survivor 50 star Ozzy Lusth opens up about hitting ‘rock bottom of my life’
• Survivor 50 star Aubry Bracco opens up about the ‘freedom when you fall from grace’ 
• Colby Donaldson reacts to playing Survivor for the first time without Jerri
• Angelina Keeley refused to do Survivor 50 unless they gave her a jacket
• Survivor 50‘s Coach goes deep on evolving from an ‘arrogant ass’ into the… Tide Walker?
• Survivor 50 star Jenna Lewis-Dougherty is ‘here to f— you over in every way, shape, or form’
• Cirie Fields says winning The Traitors does not take sting out of Survivor loses
• Mike White on how he is handling Survivor 50 castmastes angling for White Lotus cameos
• Chrissy Hofbeck opens up about controversial season 35 finish and being bashed by previous cast
• Rick Devens explains why he is a lunatic that wants to play with other lunatics
• Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick wants to prove that ‘mom really is a badass’
• Christian Hubicki wanted to tell Survivor 50 pre-gamers to ‘f— off’
• Genevieve Mushaluk on why watching Survivor 50 will be more terrifying than playing it
• Dee Valladares welcomes being one of Survivor 50‘s biggest threats: ‘I want them to come for me’
• Q Burdette reveals ridiculous things he did to prep for Survivor 50
• Kamilla Karthigesu feared she would be cut from Survivor 50 for pregaming
• Emily Flippen says ‘If I win Survivor, something crazy has happened’
• Jonathan Young shares the Survivor lessons Boston Rob gave him before season 50
• Tiffany Ervin reveals her plan to manipulate Q’s ego on Survivor 50
• Charlie Davis says he will ‘in some ways never get over’ his shocking Survivor 46 loss
• Joe Hunter reveals his wife helped him scout the Survivor 50 competition