Australian Survivor: Kylie's loyalty to the power alliance proves her downfall
Taking in the details Nick spilled about the Fia Fia hierarchy before his torch got snuffed, those at the bottom were torn between believing him (Jennah-Louise) and doubting him (Matt). Flick quickly tried to bring Sue into her voting bloc while Matt retreated to his high school outsider feelings.
At the immunity challenge, the four who did not complete the rope-bridge construction obstacle — Sue, Lee, Flick and Matt — were sent to Exile Beach, where they were given a clue to a hidden immunity idol there but no access to the rest of the players until tribal council. In a close finish at a Skee-ball-meets-billiards obstacle, Jennah-Louise triumphed.
With that, Kylie, who was safe from the vote the last time, became vulnerable this time and got the boot.
WHO spoke to Kylie Evans, a 38-year-old firefighter and mum of three from Melbourne, about becoming the fifteenth person to leave Australian Survivor and the second member of the jury.
Q: When you got to the Jury Villa, you kept remarking on how much muscle mass you lost. Did you realise that would become one of your main worries?
A: [Laughs] No, it was interesting. My husband had a good laugh at that. It's amazing in what seems like such a short space of time, not only do you lose a lot of your body fat, and get corroded by that malnutrition and deprivation, but muscle atrophy happens very quickly, and it wasn't so much I was obsessed with having lose so much muscle, it was that I had lost so much shape. I was worried that my girls would look at me like a skeleton or see me as scary from being away for so long. So the biggest image in my head was that fear of them not wanting to jump on me and hug me and give me everything I needed the second I went home.
Q: In real life, you wear your heart on your sleeve. Did you plan to play that way or did it just come out?
A: No, I went into Survivor knowing it's a game where ultimately many of the people who win need to deceive and manipulate and essentially lie to get there. I gave myself permission going into it, knowing it was a game, to play the game as long as I could sit next to my girls when I got home and own and justify and explain why I did everything I did. Having said that, I thought I would be seen more as an asset. I thought people would take advantage of my physical capabilities and of my teammate-ship and also of the fact that I am a caring person. I thought they would suck me into a false sense of confidence and essentially use me as far as they could get, then try to cut me off when they didn't need me any more, but from the get-go, and I don't know if it's a generational gap, or if it’s a female thing, but from the moment the girls had seen me as more of a threat than an asset to their game, I had to fight every day to stay alive.
Q: You have some fans cheering for you to upend the core alliance of Brooke, Flick and El, and you had some opportunities, like when Conner and Kate came over. Why didn't you?
A: Yeah, look, I absolutely tried. With the limited airtime, you don't get to see 100 percent what's happening in every conversation and every action that happens around camp and around challenges. In a numbers game, you need to be able to convince the numbers to make change happen, and I did try to swing that power as much as I could, but unfortunately, a lot people that were in the game at that stage were purely playing to stay alive one more day and not looking at the big picture. It was extremely difficult to pull people away from a place where they felt secure for one more tribal into a place where they potentially had to risk that spot to play for a greater good.
Q: Kate disagreed with you when you said a person's position in a hierarchy could change. Do you understand Kate's position, or prefer the power of optimism?
A: I'm happy with being that optimistic person. I think it's really an important characteristic and quality in life to be able to see the positive in anything and that gives us hope and that hope gives us strength. Whether in Survivor or in real life, I stand by that attribute and think it's innately part of who I am.
Q: Being physically strong and socially likeable — those are hard traits to mask! Do you see yourself as a role model to your daughters?
A: Absolutely! One of the biggest things I've achieved through this whole experience is that self-acknowledgment that not only do I have a strong support network around me who see those traits in me and are inspired by those traits, but now those traits have actually motivated a wider community and that's more than anything I could have hoped to achieve.
Q: Do your daughters enjoy seeing you on television?
A: They love it! Even the little one. She's not even two yet, but every time the Channel 10 logo or the Survivor music comes on, she jumps up and down and screams, 'Survivor! Survivor! Mummy! Survivor!' It's really exciting and it's been a fabulous opportunity for them to experience something different.
Q: Now we know you can put out fire, but did you learn to make fire? What did you learn from Survivor?
A: The physicality of it all was just brilliant. Being able to make a shelter from nothing, understanding what it takes to build that fire from scratch, not just the elements that are needed for that fire ignition but actually having to deal with the elements and how they factor into that. Also, those basic processes of life, like the time it takes to get the water and set the fire and boil the water before you can cook the food. These are things we take for granted so dramatic. Those were great skills to establish and I can't wait to take the girls camping and start to teach them those little things.
Q: Now you and your husband are competitive with each other. Was he proud with how you played and how would he have done?
A: Look, I went into this game to inspire my girls and motivate a wider community and make the people closest to me proud. I can walk away with my head held high knowing I achieved all that and hearing those words from him just reinforced everything that every hardship was worth it. He's proud of me and excited to see the show is going so well and hoping for an opportunity for season 2 so he can put his hand up!