‘Survivor 40: Winners at War’: Fans Are Living for Yul Kwon’s Social Media Antics
When Yul Kwon first won the thirteenth season of Survivor, he exhibited a smart, calm demeanor with nearly no personality; hence the “Yulebot” jokes circulating back then. However, right before Kwon returned for Winners at War, he created social media accounts where he is “letting his nerd humor free,” and fans are living for it.
Yul Kwon on ‘Survivor 40: Winners at War’
For the first time in 14 years, Survivor: Cook Islands champ Yul Kwon returned for Winners at War to compete for another title and a record-breaking $2 million grand prize.
In the premiere episode, Kwon identified himself and three others, Sophie Clarke (South Pacific), Nick Wilson (David vs. Goliath), and Wendell Holland (Ghost Island) as free agents, or players without any pre-existing connections.
Before entering the game, he researched his opponents and realized Tyson Apostol, Rob Mariano, Jeremy Collins, and Kim Spradlin-Wolfe competed in a poker tournament together last year.
During the competition, Apostol told the others they would be the “power alliance” if they played together again. Therefore, Kwon spread the information, placing targets on their backs, causing his tribemates Apostol and Spradlin to scramble.
Eventually, they decided on eliminating Amber Mariano, who was a part of the poker alliance by default. Kwon had a small segment in the most recent episode where he told Sandra Diaz-Twine that Apostol wanted to vote her to the edge.
Some fans see that as his potential downfall, mainly because the latter two were talking in a preview for the next episode.
Fans are living for Yul Kwon’s social media antics
Right before Survivor 40: Winners at War premiered, Kwon created an Instagram and Twitter account where he shares his thoughts about the season.
He’s very responsive to fans, and his answers are usually funny, witty, and, or insightful. One fan tweeted Kwon telling the Cook Islands champ they’re “enjoying how down to earth and hilarious” he is.
The California-native explained that during his first season, he watched what he said due to the racial theme, but now he doesn’t “feel the same pressure, so I’m letting my nerdy humor free.”
On Instagram, he posted a picture of himself giving Wilson rice with the David vs. Goliath champ seemingly staring at Kwon’s crotch. The Cook Islands winner captioned it, “Hey Nick, my eyes are up here.” Several fans commented they thought the caption was hilarious and are glad to see Kwon on social media.
The 45-year-old also played around with Twitter polls, which received a lot of engagement from his fans and flexed his Photoshop skills to insert himself into a picture with his “role model,” Winners at War co-star and Africa champ Ethan Zohn.
Most recently, someone on Reddit pointed out the fact that the other players don’t interact with Kwon’s Instagram as much as they do others. The Cook Islands champ posted a screenshot of the hypothesis to his Instagram and captioned it, “I feel like the nerdy kid at school who realizes who he has no friends after someone writes on the chalkboard, ‘Yul has no friends.’”
Several of his co-stars responded to the post, jokingly commenting they “never heard of him.” Out of all the Winners at War competitors, the majority of fans are enjoying Kwon’s social media presence the most.
Watch him on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.
