Kyle M.

**Kyle M.** was a contestant of SurviVARs: Evolution.

## **Profile**

**Discord:** megamind

**Gender:** he/him

**Timezone:** EST

Kyle’s story this season is hard to pin down. I have to admit I’m biased because Kyle is a good friend of mine. Yet, putting that aside, I don’t think it’s fair to argue that Kyle was anything but the best strategist of the season. He was a villain to the core, but this just made him more captivating to watch. He was playing to win, but having fun at the same time. It’s fair to say he had too much fun at certain points, and the parchment fiasco seriously hurt his chances to win, but I don’t think this shows any actual lack of character on Kyle’s side (lack of judgment or foresight is not the same thing). Where Kyle struggled with jury management, he absolutely crushed with strategy. Sacrificing Jordan was a massive play that basically guaranteed him a spot in the F2, and he had worked Jordan so well that he still earned his vote to win. Kyle was responsible for toppling Hope and Shelby’s regime, and he may also be the only player in SurviVARS history to vote correctly every single time. This is even more impressive because of how chaotic and unpredictable this season was. People were constantly being blindsided, but Kyle was always on the right side of the numbers. He played a perfect middle game, and honestly gives Izzy a run for her money in terms of being the best middle game we’ve seen. He may not have been the season’s winner, but he was absolutely the season’s strategist extraordinaire.

### **Nominations**

**Best Duo (With Jordan)**

This duo was formed almost on day one, and lasted all the way until Day 30, when Kyle flipped on Jordan. Prior to this albeit questionable move from Kyle, this pair was inseparable. Jordan was dedicated to Kyle through thick and thin, and showed a level of loyalty rarely seen in Survivor. The two of them were able to vote together, and vote correctly for every single round of the game, and that is an insane feat. Jordan was much less strategically active than Kyle, who was pulling all the strings, but his unwavering loyalty allowed Kyle to pull off pretty much all of his successful moves. To top it all off, Jordan still voted for Kyle to win even after his heartbreaking betrayal. Now that is a duo if ever I’ve seen one.

**Best Move (Drew's Blindside)**

Anytime someone goes home with an idol in their pocket, it’s impressive for the players who pulled off the blindside. It’s even more impressive when the player with the idol is on top of the tribe and is situated to take the game by storm. Drew had been subtly influencing every vote he participated in, while using players like JC to buff his threat level. It wasn’t long before someone caught on to this, and his immunity idol made him even more of a target. After the chaos of the Sorbet vote, and then the unanimous Jack vote, an organized blindside against Drew was the last thing anyone expected (especially Drew). He went from a dark horse contender with a real shot to win to an early juror with an idol in his pocket.

**Best Move (Kyle's Extra Vote)**

Every UTR player needs a big move to prove that they were genuinely playing an intentional UTR game and not just skating to the end. For Kyle, it was his Extra Vote move against Shelby. He found the advantage early on, and didn’t tell a soul. Not even Jordan, his #1. He held on to it until the very last second, when he surveyed the tribe and decided to take a shot at the frontrunner to win it all. He used the underdog, Megan, and his #1, Jordan, and didn’t need anything else because of his EV. He pulled this off so smoothly that nobody even knew that the EV was definitely his until his FTC speech. This move almost guaranteed Kyle a spot in FTC if he played his cards right, and changed the entire trajectory of the endgame.

**Best Move (Serbet's Blindside)**

It’s really a shame that this was the Tribal Council with the parchment fiasco, because it overshadowed what is easily one of the most interesting Tribal Councils in SurviVARS history. We’ve never seen a 5-3-2-1 vote before, and that alone earns it some recognition. This round was insane to follow, but that’s part of why it was so fun. No player knew everything this round, and even the UTR power players like Hope and Kyle were left in the dark. Arceus wasted an idol, Hope received her first votes all season, Drew was almost eliminated with a single vote if more idols had shown up (because Serbet would’ve idled and Drew was planning to idol Hope if that happened), and then ultimately Serbet went home despite being a top contender and major force within the season. Serbet had an idol that he didn’t use, and a cross-tribe alliance took him out in the middle of the arc where tribal lines were deeper than ever. This round was so chaotic that Jack wound up being robbed just as much as Serbet, because people wanted an easy vote after so much chaos. This vote was chaotic, iconic, and ultimately a VERY good move for the five players who took out Serbet.

**Voice of the Season**

Kyle was a great confessionalist for a bevy of reasons. His sense of humor certainly isn’t for everyone, but you can’t deny that he has a strong personality that comes out in everything he says and does. His video confessionals were excellent breakdowns of the game and all of its players, and most of his reads were dead on. He ran this game for a reason, and he was always willing to share these reads with the spectators. From a recap perspective, half of our notes seemed to come from Kyle’s confessional. He always had his finger on the pulse of this game, and his updates were as entertaining as they were accurate.

### **Awards**

**Villain**

Yeah. We all knew this nomination was coming. I won’t talk about the obvious stuff, and honestly that has nothing to do with this nomination. I don’t nominate villains because they made people angry or made questionable decisions. Otherwise, Hot Al would’ve ran away with this award. This isn’t the “bad person” award. I love Kyle deeply, and he knows this. I’m nominating Kyle for villain of the season because he was a cold hard bitch that did everything he could to win. He started off being placed in every alliance that was made (literally) without ever starting one himself, and then proceeded to cut every single ally he had ever made. Amree trusted him? Gone. Shelby trusted him? Gone. Jordan trusted him? **Damn**, that one was savage. Kyle was willing to make any move he could if he thought it would benefit him, and he never held back. He was the driving strategic force behind the majority of this game, and he did it with a savagery that is rarely seen to this level.

**Player of the Game**

Kyle was the most strategic player of the season by a mile. He may not have won the game, but he came damn close despite the things holding him back. His game wasn’t always clean, and he made some glaring mistakes that he couldn’t recover from. Still, he voted right at every single tribal council, and that’s not just luck. He was always the middle man, and always pulled more strings than he was given credit for. The only vote he received was from a pre-juror, and he didn’t even need immunity wins or advantages to protect himself. All he needed was social game, strategy, and shields, and he used all three to his advantage. He cut every single ally he had, and burned too many bridges to win the title at the end of the day, but you have to respect the absolute mastery he exhibited in navigating this season.