‘Survivor’ Winner Kyle Fraser Shares Achilles Tendon Updates After Medevac Removal From Season 50

After 25 years of anticipation, the premiere of “Survivor” Season 50 didn’t exactly go as anyone would have wanted — especially former winner Kyle Fraser.

The “Survivor” Season 48 champion joined the milestone celebration as one of three returning winners on the competition show’s largest cast ever, but he was heartbreakingly removed from the game at the end of the first episode after rupturing his Achilles tendon in a challenge.

“I’m doing well. It’s funny, there’s such a disconnect between when the injury actually happened and when it airs on TV. I think it was like eight months later that it finally aired,” Kyle told TheWrap this week ahead of Wednesday’s new episode. “So I’m doing really well, I’m in recovery. I just started running again. I’m actually running a marathon this fall, so life is on the up and down.”

“When I was out there on the island, I was arguing back and forth with Jeff [Probst] on wanting to stay in. One thing that kept on coming out of my mouth is if I’m playing the game, I either want to win or I want my torch snuffed,” he continued. “After the fact, I do think it’s kind of a fun little fact that I haven’t technically been voted out. It’s tough missing part of the experience of the game, but to be honest, I’m cool with never being voted out.”

Instead, Kyle is happy to root for his friends — both new and old — as he follows along at home. Not only are his fellow Season 48 castaways Kamilla Karthigesu and Joe Hunter back in Fiji, but he also made quick allies in tribemates Genevieve Mushaluk, Q Burdette and Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick upon hitting the Vatu beach.

“When I left the island, I was really, really sad. I was so upset for Genevieve, because we were managing a ton of narratives, and I know more than anybody that you need a partner to do that because I had just done it with Kamilla,” Kyle explained. “She had just found the idol and we were kind of like the glue of this thing, holding it together. If Genevieve had left the game at that moment in time where we were, I would have been freaking out. So I felt so bad for her game, but I also knew in the back of my head, Genevieve is a great player, she does not need me, but I really did feel for her. So seeing [her confessional] on TV after the fact was super nice to see.”

“When you see things that are foreign in ‘Survivor’ — not nature, but the wrapping that the idols come in — you’re like, ‘This is real, it clearly has to have come from someone.’ But then when the words ‘Billie Eilish’ came out of her mouth, I was like, ‘Why are you f–king around?'” he further recalled of learning about the Boomerang Idol. “Then I had to pretend like I didn’t know it from Genevieve. She went back and told Steph, because she found it with Steph, and then Steph came back to me and was gonna tell me behind Genevieve’s back, not knowing we were close. She was like, ‘Don’t Laugh,’ and I just started cracking up: ‘Who’s next, Beyoncé?'”

So how did his experience reintegrating into society as a music attorney at Warner Music Group differ between his two seasons?

“When you get back from ‘Survivor,’ especially if you win, you’re just lying about everything to your friends and family. You’re lying about how far you get in the game, you’re just not giving them information. There’s still a lot of secrecy. So I thought maybe this will be different for Season 50, because I got back so early,” Kyle said. “But then I realized I had to lie to everyone for eight months about how I actually tore my Achilles; I had to tell people that it was basketball — all my friends know I’m horrible at basketball. This was just such a different reintegration, because I didn’t walk for three months, unassisted at least. I’m still doing PT three times per week, so it’s just a completely different thing.”

Ultimately, the two-time “Survivor” fan-favorite is proud of how he played the game and the impact he’s made on the CBS audience.

“It’s been way better than I expected. I really did not come into it with TV in mind, I was really excited about the game. But our season was a very emotional one, a very vulnerable one. People were sharing things about themselves, big and small. So when I shared, for example, my history with incarceration, nobody knows about that in my real life. I’m an attorney, in a very great place in my career at the time — still am,” Kyle noted. “So I was terrified about how that would look on TV and how people would be receptive to me, but people have been nothing but welcoming. Now it’s this big phase of my life I can talk about normally, which I never thought I would have, so ‘Survivor’ has given me that.”

“And then with the Achilles, I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me. It’s just another example of you never know what people are going through. It’s been really cool to sort of encourage them to the extent I can, and then have them encourage me,” he concluded. “It’s just a very important reminder that you can’t assume anything about anybody.”

“Survivor: In the Hands of the Fans” airs Wednesdays on CBS before streaming on Paramount+.

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