Survivor 48 was filled with ups and downs.
The season looked highly promising from the get-go, with vivacious characters, solid duos, hilarious villains, and a few players seemingly waiting for their moment to rise. However, the season's momentum came crashing down for most once the merge hit, particularly after the jury phase began, where voting round after voting round, it seemed there was no end for the majority alliance to continue its steamroll. Fortunately, the season's ending was bright, as Kyle Fraser was crowned the winner, and it wasn't smooth sailing for him either.
Kyle underwent multiple shifts throughout the season, including a tight and secret alliance with fellow Civa member Kamilla Karthigesu and a more public and well-layered majority "Strong members" alliance with David Kinne, Joe Hunter, Eva Erickson, and Shauhin Davari. Kyle often struggled with caring for his fellow tribemates, but also knew that, to be strategic, he would need to make the necessary cuts when the time came.
After realizing the true roadblock for him to win was his long Civa bestie, Kamilla, as opposed to the public duo of Joe and Eva, once he won the final individual immunity challenge, Kyle opted to "make a move" against Kamilla, as he decided for her and Eva to make fire at the Final Four. Once Eva won the fire-making challenge, Kyle, Eva, and Joe faced the jury, and Kyle ultimately won the game.
While the votes might have landed in his favor, Kyle was still surprised by where some of the votes fell.
During his postgame interview with Dalton Ross for Entertainment Weekly, Kyle disclosed that he didn't feel as confident as one would think when sitting down next to Joe and Eva, as Kyle had heard them publicly speaking out beforehand. When asked when he felt the momentum swinging his way, Kyle stated that he knew Shauhin would be the pivotal person to convince if he wanted to win, as Shauhin held a lot of influence over his fellow jury members. However, it was Mary Zheng's jury vote that surprised him the most, as she was apparently the most undecided juror.
"She was a massive threat and I don't think people realised that going in. And before Mary got voted out, she actually told me, 'Kyle, are you out here playing the game that you want to play?' And I couldn't tell her about my game. So it made it very scary in my mind."
As Kyle didn't know what Mary's thought process would be, he was wary of losing her vote, which Kyle ultimately did as Mary's vote went towards Eva.
Another interesting tidbit regarding the jury was that every person voted out headed towards the jury, starting with Chrissy Sarnowsky, asked him if he was handing out the game to other people, mainly Joe and Eva. This was another reason why Kyle never felt too comfortable during the Final Tribal Council, as any finalist had a shot at claiming the win.
"Every single person starting with Chrissy leaving that game told me, 'Are you going to hand X person a million dollars?' Sometimes it was Joe, sometimes it was Eva, sometimes it was somebody else. And I knew my game was great, so I owned it, and the Shauhin vote was to make sure that I assured my place with a check on my name, basically because I knew the game that I played, but sometimes I've seen players who haven't been able to explain it."
As to the big reveal, had Kamilla reached the end alongside him, she would've made a clean sweep of the jury. Kyle nonchalantly replied that he wasn't surprised in the least, as he and Kamilla had played the same game.
"If she had gotten to the end, I know that she would've gotten those votes over me, and that's why she had to go."
Kudos to Kyle for truly recognizing his ultimate threat to win the game instead of who we all thought would be.