The medically evacuated player says nobody from his tribe would have voted him out, even with the bad leg.

Injured Survivor 50 star Kyle Fraser argued with Jeff Probst to stay in the game

The medically evacuated player says nobody from his tribe would have voted him out, even with the bad leg.

By Dalton Ross

Dalton Ross is a writer and editor with over 25 years experience covering TV and the entertainment industry. *Survivor* is kind of his thing.

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February 26, 2026 12:51 p.m. ET

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Kyle Fraser on 'Survivor 50'. Credit:

Robert Voets/CBS

Kyle Fraser said he thought “constantly” heading into *Survivor 50* about becoming a two-time *Survivor* winner. And the *Survivor 48 champion* — whom the competition watched win just two weeks before playing against him — miraculously appeared to be in a rock solid majority alliance in his tribe pretty much immediately.

And then came the immunity challenge. Kyle got himself to the top of the ramp, but when Colby Donaldson could not get up as the last man down, Kyle went back down the ramp to help his tribemate back up. Then Kyle attempted to leap up himself, and everything went bad.

In what was originally thought to be an ankle injury, Kyle appeared to have major damage to his Achilles tendon. The challenge was temporarily shut down as the medical department examined Kyle. They allowed him to continue on, and tribemates helped him get up the ramp, but a further examination on day 4 by Dr. Joe revealed the potential for serious long-term damage if not treated immediately. Kyle was therefore pulled from the game.

Even for a recent winner, it was a brutally tough result, as Kyle will now never know if he had what it took to enter that rarefied air of a two-time winner. We spoke to the patient to get all the intel on what happened after he was medically evacuated, and what could have been had he not run into that damn ramp.

Kyle Fraser on 'Survivor 50'.

Robert Voets/CBS

**: Take us through what happened after you got on that boat to leave the game?**

**KYLE FRASER:** I had one night at Ponderosa. I got there, Jenna was there. We had a lovely night together. I spent the following morning there and I was out back to the United States immediately. We flew to L.A., I got to see my brother in the airport lounge for maybe 30 minutes, and then I was back to New York within, I think, 32 hours. I went to the doctor immediately, got checked out. They confirmed that it was a full tear in the Achilles and that I needed surgery. And I believe I had surgery probably four to five days later, because you have to get it done as quickly as possible.

**I've been on those flights from New York to Fiji. That's not fun with a good leg. That couldn't have been very comfortable getting back.**

Yeah, CBS had to send an escort with me because I couldn't do anything. I had to be wheeled around everywhere. I couldn't carry my bags. I was so grateful that they were able to do that. Got to fly first class, don’t normally do that.

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**Silver lining alert! So Jeff pulled you out of the game. Didn’t give you a choice. That seems pretty clear. What would you have done in that moment *had* he given you the choice?**

Yeah, I would've stayed. Jeff obviously had my best interest at heart. Same with Dr. Joe. It was clear that I needed to go. But I argued with them for quite some time. Jeff will tell you. I mean, we argued for a *long* time. I told him I'm a lawyer, I'd sign a waiver. I wanna stay out there because I think my tribe was definitely going to keep me.

I even argued about James [in *Micronesia*] how his tribe got to vote him off. Like, I wanted my torch snuffed if I was gonna leave that island. And I said that there was precedent with James, but they were ultimately right. I would've stayed and gone for as long as possible though. Even when the doctor was doing that test, I was trying to wiggle my toes because he was explaining the test to Jeff and I thought maybe that would get me out of it.

Kyle Fraser of 'Survivor 50'.

Robert Voets/CBS

**Wow, always gaming. What was it like watching both the point of injury back on TV, and also the medical examination and all of that?**

For the point of injury, it was weird. I think for just sake of time, they had to rearrange things. You were actually there, but Q ran up the wall first, then I immediately ran up the wall. So I actually did get up the wall myself. We were the first two to actually do it. I think the other person who did it on the island was Joe. And we started pulling people up, and Colby was at the bottom lifting people up, doing the heavy lifting that you have to do. Colby unfortunately, I mean, you know, the guy's a beast, but he's older, and I actually came back down to give Colby a lift. So I had to get Colby back up, and then I went to go back up the wall a second time.

But now it's covered in mud and you have to put more force into it. So it actually was *three* attempts to get up the wall. The first one I was successful, and then there was a second one. And then the third one is actually where I tore my Achilles, which my doctor told me was from putting force into the wall immediately back-to-back-to-back.

So watching that was trippy, but I completely understand why it had to go that way in terms of what it looked like in the show. The medical examination was tough. Everybody was crying when they came back up. They were all so gracious and welcoming to me, and I loved that tribe. So it was hard to watch that and see where I was at in the point of the game and know that maybe I had some more time and some more game in me. But it was also really kind of validating and reassuring to watch it back and to just sort of see my experience come to a close.

6:45 The Survivor 50 Cast Vote Snubbed Players Onto The Island

**There's gonna be a line of thought that goes, “Oh, that really sucks, but he just won a million dollars two weeks before this and if it had to happen to someone, this is the guy for it to happen to. I'm sure you've heard that sort of line of logic, but how does it feel for you to hear something like that?**

I think the positivity underlining that logic is appropriate, but I don't like the actual logic itself because I do think I've learned a ton from this injury. I've come out completely stronger. I'm stronger than I've ever been. My wife is pregnant, we're expecting a girl in two months. I have a new job. I'm a music attorney now for a major record label. And you saw me playing that game. Life is only on the up and up. When I was out there, I hadn't even a chance to spend a dollar of my million dollars yet.

So I like the underpinning of the positivity, but I think that the message is a little bit different. It didn't need to happen to me, but I've learned so much from this injury. We talked about this in the pre-game. The critical reception of my season, season 48, by the time I was leaving for 50 wasn't the greatest. And I thought that I played a great game. I played idols, I won challenges. Everyone wanted to work with me. I was never in a vulnerable position in the game. And I loved the hell out of my experience, but I didn't quite understand if the fans got it yet.

So when I was going into 50, I said: You know what? No matter what people say this time, they're gonna know that I love this game and that I can play this game well. And that's what I sought out to accomplish. So I missed out on that because I really wanted people to understand just how much I get this game and how much I love it. I tried my best to do that.

Colby Donaldson, Genevieve Mushaluk, Rizo Velovic, Angelina Keeley, Quintavius "Q" Burdette, Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick, Kyle Fraser, Aubry Bracco of the Vatu tribe on 'Survivor 50'.

Robert Voets/CBS

**People saw you win this game two weeks before leaving for Fiji, and yet you seemed to be in this pretty rock solid alliance with Genevieve, Colby, Stephenie, and Q. How did that come together so quickly?**

The first two people, Colby and I, were working on the shelter for a long time. We were doing some cool stuff with the fire, and I really got along with him. And so as we were working together in the shelter, we were talking, everybody would walk off and he would be like, “Hey dude, what are you thinking?” And we just kind of clicked, like we had that sort of moment.

I really get along with Colby very well. And obviously I expected for him and Stephenie to be working together. So they talked about maybe doing a threesome, and then you saw quickly they actually like Genevieve as well. And Genevieve was somebody that I wanted to approach, but I didn't want people to think that me and Genevieve had anything going on. Not like Kyle and Kamilla per se, but I knew that people would be freaking terrified if they saw me and Genevieve being close. So Genevieve and I kind of clicked, and what we decided was to make it seem like Colby and Stephenie sort of brought us together. So that came together very quickly.

I was very wary of Rizo. Aubry was a little sketchy sometimes, and Angelina I liked a lot. So I actually had a thing with Angelina, but we kind of saved that final spot for Q also, because we just wanted to see what it would look like. And then obviously you saw me when I got the chance to go off with Q, we clicked instantly. I had only met Q once before in real life, and honestly didn't have but like three words with him.

I was kind of sketched out by him, to be honest, but in the game, he's a completely different person than what you see on TV. And so we kind of naturally formed that vibe and I felt like I was at the middle of it in a lot of ways, or at least Genevieve and I certainly were.

Kyle Fraser on 'Survivor 50'.

Robert Voets/CBS

**So who was in the most trouble on your tribe? It sounds like it was Rizo or Aubry.**

You know, at first it was Rizo, but he really did start to integrate himself into the group quickly. So what happened was, Genevieve and I immediately started off with Colby and Stephenie as a four, and then we added Q onto a five, but me, Rizo, and Genevieve actually formed a little bit of a three. And then Q sort of tacked down that. So Genevieve and I are in the middle of these two foursomes, essentially new era and old era.

And then essentially because we thought that Angelina and Aubry were together, we sort of organically formed this six that said, *Hey, you know, if push comes to shove, we have to think about what that's gonna look like*. Even though we both liked Angelina and Aubry a lot personally, we sort of needed to figure out what that would look like. But Rizo started to integrate pretty quickly once we started to know who he was.

**So let's play a little game of What If? Let's say that you stayed out there with the huge leg injury and you obviously sit out the next immunity challenge and you guys lose. Do you think they vote you out then if you're still out there with a bum leg? Or do you think they keep you for the numbers in the alliance?**

I have to be careful here because I don't want to come off with any sort of ego, but absolutely not [do they get rid of me]. Just because there were conversations about it. The moment that my injury happened, everybody, including myself, was trying to think optimistic. And we were thinking about contingency plans. I mean, you saw Genevieve even bring me the idol when she first found it. And the plan for the vote at that time was between Angelina and Aubry. And ultimately Genevieve and I were sort of trending towards Aubry.

I didn't even see that conversation until the episode, but I think that we would've sort of made a push to go for Aubry, which I would've been morally conflicted about because I didn't know how long it would last in the game, but  I thought I could tough it out for as long as  anybody. At that time, we were kind of having conversations: If Q and Colby both lose their votes, we might need to throw a challenge, even with this injury, to get these votes back. But I don't think anybody on that tribe would tell you that they would vote me out.

9:15 The Survivor 50 Cast Pitch Their Original 'White Lotus' Characters to Mike White

**Whom were rooting for to win the season after you got eliminated? Someone from your tribe? Or Kamilla or Joe? Someone else entirely?**

I would say at that moment I was really close to Genevieve. So she was right there. Kamilla was right there, like honestly equal pairing. As I was leaving that boat, I told myself if one of those two can pull this thing out, then I'll be extremely happy. Obviously, there's so much history that I have with Kamilla, and I thought me leaving on this boat is the best thing for her game, and that was a silver lining that really meant a lot to me. And then Q helped me a ton. Even after that challenge, I couldn't walk in the sand, it was hard for me to move, and he was there with me all the time. So I would say those three were at the top of my list at that time.

**Kamilla before the game told me how upset she was that you were out there because how bad it was for her game. I'm sure she was navigating that on her tribe. Did you feel like you had to navigate that on your tribe in terms of lowering the threat level should you and Kamilla both make it to merge or a tribe swap?**

That was my biggest fear going into the game. Everybody kind of came clear about their season, in the same way Savannah talked about her win, Rizo talked about it, and then people were like, “You and Kamilla.” So I said, “Here's the deal. Kamilla and I played a good game. I had to look over my shoulder with her to manage that relationship. but we're friends in real life., I'm terrified that she's out here. I truly don't know what's gonna happen. But to be honest with you guys, I have no ill will towards her. I don't think she has any ill will towards me.”

And I would always insert Joe into the conversation too, because that was a realm where I could sort of say that somebody might have some bad blood towards me, but it was always like, “I don't know how it's gonna shake out.” And that was a mostly truthful answer. And I think that my tribe was able to see that. And if a tribe swap happens or I'm on a merge beach with Kamilla, Lord knows there would be way more Kamilla management with that narrative to be had.

Kyle Fraser of 'Survivor 50'.

**What’s something that happened out there that didn’t make it to TV that you wish we had seen?**

I had a very close relationship with Angelina, and as the game progressed, Angelina and I had a long conversation at night where essentially she told me that I was her number one and that to me provided another option. So then me, Angelina and Aubry actually formed a three. And I also had a very good relationship with Rizo.

At that point, I truly had a working relationship with everyone at the beach and I saw it as a hierarchy of me and Genevieve with Colby, Stephenie, Q, and Rizo. And then me having my own little three with Angelina and Aubry that I told Genevieve about, because I wanted to be transparent there.

But I felt as if we had the options. In this game, you're not looking for the next step. You're looking for the step after that. So if we went into a tribe swap, I needed Aubry and Angelina knowing that I'm with them. So I was in the middle from a strategic standpoint, and also from a personal standpoint, I wish they would've shown my relationship with Angelina because I really, really enjoy her as a human being too.

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