Trading Secrets - 254: Kyle Fraser: Survivor Season 48 winner dives into his careers in education and law, brutal behind-the-scenes realities of competing on Survivor, & how he is spending his $1M prize money

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

This week, Jason is joined by Survivor season 48, Kyle Fraser! After 26 days of outwitting, outplaying, and outlasting one of the most grueling reality competition shows out there in television history, Kyle walked away with the 1 million dollar prize and the title of soul survivor. Known for his strategic gameplay, clutch immunity wins, and ability to build trust in even the most cutthroat situations, Kyle’s season has been called one of the most exciting in recent memory.  Kyle takes us behind the scenes of his Survivor journey and life after winning $1,000,000. He shares the unforgettable moment he told his wife he’d won, how fast the prize money hit his account, and the first splurge—Taylor Swift tickets. From navigating starvation, sleep deprivation, and drastic weight loss on the island, to the strategy of amping up his personality, hiding his real career as a lawyer, and why winning rewards can actually hurt your game, Kyle reveals what it really takes to stand out among fierce competitors. He also dives into his dual life as a teacher and lawyer, the realities and pay gaps between both professions, the critical role intent plays in court, and how his investigation skills served him better than reading people. Finally, Kyle opens up about life before and after Survivor: the judge who helped him balance work and TV, what he would bring to a deserted island, how he’s spent his winnings so far, and why keeping a safety net is non-negotiable. Kyle reveals all this and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss! Host: Jason Tartick Co-Host: David Arduin Audio: John Gurney Guest:Kyle Fraser Stay connected with the Trading Secrets Podcast!  Instagram: @tradingsecretspodcast  Youtube: Trading Secrets Facebook: Join the Group All Access: Free 30-Day Trial  Trading Secrets Steals & Deals! Leesa: Leesa mattresses are meticulously designed and assembled in the U.S.A. for exceptional quality - plus they back it all up with free shipping, easy returns, and a 100-night sleep trial.Go to Leesa.com for 25% off mattresses PLUS get an extra $50 off with promo code TRADINGSECRETS UpWork: Posting a job on Upwork is easy; with no cost to join, you can register, browse freelancer profiles, get help drafting a job post, or even book a consultation. Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free.

Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. I'm your host, Jason Tardick, and in this intro, I have David Ardoin with me, the Curious Canadian. He always does the recaps with me. We always go over the full episode at the end, gives his take. We're doing that this episode. We're also doing an intro. This episode is a great one. We have the winner of Survivor.

He talks about when the money hits his bank account, all the moving parts of Survivor. Questions like, hey, do you even get a toothbrush? You know, can you use toilet paper? All the ins and outs. But David, you and I talk about all that stuff in the recap. I want to give you the chance to come on the intro right here. Everyone listening, we ask that you follow us on YouTube, follow us on Instagram, give us five stars. But David, what do you got for the Money Mafia before we get into this episode?

Yeah, you hit them with some great teasers there. And some of those things that he dropped, a la the toothbrush and some other amenities that you may think they get on the show. Think again. Look forward to breaking that down and maybe seeing what's in your bag of if I'm on a deserted island. I get to bring five things. I'm very curious if Hair Joe makes the list for you, Jay. But other than that, no, it was a great episode. I love it.

David, quick, quick, quick question for you. You're always on top of all things pop culture. What are you thinking right now? What's moving in the headlines? What are you watching on the TV set? Well, you know I'm watching Love Island Games. So I'm only two episodes into that. But, you know, I'm happy.

It's back on my screen. Some familiar faces. Some I like. Some they're going to have a chance to get me on their good side being on my TV the second time. Some familiar faces. It's good. It's always Love Island Games. It's light.

It's an easy watch. What do you got for you? Interesting fact, David. I was actually going to possibly go out to Fiji to film the after show with one of the episodes. And then they ended up making a last minute decision that they're not. going to have any bachelor alumni on but they reached out like you know it wasn't like something we sought out and i was very excited about doing that i understand that decision the decision also like tells me a little bit like i don't i'm sure they're only going with love island alumni which

makes sense i also think it's cool to get different perspectives from different shows but um i don't know you know that's a bummer but you can't win them all it's going to be good uh just like this episode and i got to say before we kick it to the actual uh actual interview with kyle And to me, it is the OG reality TV show. I remember watching it when I was like, you know, probably 10 years old, 11 years old, where you're really watching really like the average Joe on a TV screen trying to compete for millions of dollars. I can't personally remember the last time.

I think I might need to fact check this before we get on the recap, but I think it was even before the real world MTV. Like that was also another classic old school reality TV show. I just hear when I hear 50 seasons, it blows my mind that it's still on a TV screen. and obviously it must still do well with ratings. That's insane. But I too remember being in like middle school and in high school and watching it. So that's good stuff.

We'll get into this episode before we do. Let's do a couple of personal updates, David. I am getting excited this week. I'll be heading to New York. Yeah. The new place is locked in. I'm going to Ryder Cup. They sold over 50,000 tickets.

Next recap, we'll do some breakdowns of where pop culture meets money. I think last episode was absolutely incredible with Bobby Bones, talking about how much you made in American Idol. Dancing with the Stars, all the moving parts, and also had my parents here this past weekend, which was just awesome. So it's been a good week. I feel like my tank is fully, fully charged.

I'm excited to be in New York this weekend. What do you got going? Yeah, I'm jealous of you going to the Ryder Cup. You know, I'm in full hockey swing. Season's underway, three weekends in a row, traveling for my first weekend up to Boston this weekend. So I'm doing that. You know, I'm trying to be the man around the house

while I got the wife in the third trimester and trying to take care of business here. and never a dull moment in the Ardwin household. Let's just say never a dull moment, but always good to be on here catching up with you and getting a recap another great episode. I love it. Going into the trimester,

you are an absolute stud doing your thing. And when I think about trimester and having a baby, we got to give a shout out to John and Alex. Congratulations on their baby girl, Lucy Gray. I'm so excited for them. But you know what, David? This intro, it's time. It's time to get into Survivor,

the trading secrets of a reality show we have never talked about on this entire podcast with Kyle. Let's ring in the bell. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today we are joined by Survivor Season 48 champion Kyle Frazier after 26 days of outwitting, outplaying, and outlasting. In one of one of the most grueling reality competition shows out there in television history, Kyle walked away with the one million dollar prize in the title of Soul Survivor. Known for his strategic gameplay, clutch immunity wins and ability to build trust in even the most cutthroat situations. Kyle's season has been called one of the most exciting in recent memories. Today, we are going to unpack the strategy, the mindset and my favorite, the behind

the scene moments that ultimately led to his victory in what life has been like since leaving the island. I'll tell you what, Kyle, a lot of action. You were a teacher, now a attorney, now a survivor winner, and you won a million bucks. Thank you so much for sharing secrets. Dude, thank you, man. That was awesome. Yeah. I appreciate it. There's so many things that I got with this. Like, I don't even need my notes here, but I'll look at them. Why not? Because I'm so interested in the behind the scenes of Survivor, you know, how production plays. if they do play, what kind of food do you get all that. But we're a money podcast.

So we've got to come out swinging right from the get-go. Do it. I saw an awesome video. If you guys are here, go follow Kyle on Instagram. It's this video where you are surprising your wife about the fact that you want a million bucks. And you're telling her, like, I want it. I told you I would make this happen. I told you we would find wealth.

And it's like the most beautiful thing in the world. You're telling me in that video, she truly had no idea. I swear to God, hand to God. So that was in my brother's basement in L.A. So when you fly back from Fiji, you come back to L.A. And then everybody has a connector, you know, go home. My brother actually, like, I think five, six days before I went out for Survivor had had his second kid. I hadn't got a chance to meet him yet because I had to fly to L.A. and then go to Fiji, whatever.

So I come back and I was like, I'll stay in L.A. for a couple days. So I'm in his basement. Got to meet the kid after like, you know, 26 days of the jungle, like holding new life in your hand. But long story short, my wife, Maggie, then fiancé, she had flown into L.A. and came to her brother's place. And I didn't tell anybody before I saw her. Yeah. Came downstairs. I don't know what possessed me to put the phone up. But I put it in a little corner. It's a little blurry. And I wanted to make her guess at it. And she just, she hates guessing at things. So she was like, can you please just tell me? And I was like, screw it. Like, I want a million dollars. I mean, unbelievable. What a surprise

that must have been for her. Let me ask you this. You know, it's a 26 day survivor challenge. As everyone knows. You're out there for a long period of time. You win the million bucks. Do they pay you immediately? Do you have to wait a certain period of time? Do you have your million bucks yet? I got my million. I got my million. That money hits your bank account the day that the moment the finale ends. Wow. Yeah. So, you know, May 21st, I want to say was our finale. I open up my bank account after watching the episode with all the production people and all my castmates and friends and family are there. And there's just, like, I have a Charles Schwab bank account. It has like a little graph in there. And it just went from like this to just shooting off the screen. Next thing, you know,

I'll get like, Mr. Fraser, we're so glad you're banking with us. I'm like, what the fuck is going on? Like that, I mean, we talked about it in this podcast. That had to be like 10x what was in your bank account. For sure. For sure. Yeah. Embarrassed what was in it before. You're a hard, you're a hardworking individual. We'll talk a little bit about your professional life. Before we do that, though, in this video, everyone's a critic. Everyone's got comment about something. And you said in the video, we're now millionaires. And then, of course, all the comments were like, well, after taxes, you're not a millionaire, $400, dot, dot, that. So I want to ask you, do when they give you that amount, do they take the taxes out for you? Or do you have to plan for that yourself now? No, it's pre-tax.

So I had to plan for it myself. So it's just a million dollars. You get a million dollars. I don't know why. I'm like, that's awesome. It's actually really interesting. that I won't bring up. But yeah, it's pre-taxed million dollars, and then you have to plan for that yourself. So I actually, you know, I've been working on that the past couple months, you know, different investments, how yield savings account, yada, yada, yada, yada. But I think between, you know, federal tax and New York State and New York City, it comes out to like $3.59 that you get taken out. But, you know, what are you going to do? I actually earned the money. When I went on Survivor, I was living in Columbus, Ohio. So I was kind of wondering, like,

can I pay the Ohio taxes, but I'm not going to screw around. I'm just going to do what I got to do, you know. That's that smart right there. All right. So the million bucks is kind of reminds me, like, the way you were envisioning it of, like, going to Charles Schwab and seeing that money go up, it's reminded me of squid games. Like, obviously a different concept. Yeah.

When he looks at the bank account, there's all this money in there. One of the biggest questions, the money mafia, that's who listens to the show, was asking is, what do you do now? Like, you've got to splurge on something. You got to buy something that's maybe an outline thing. Where and how are you going to treat yourself? So it's funny. So, you know, maybe, I know you're not supposed to do this money mafia, but I was planning

in advance. So maybe I, you know, used a little bit of money beforehand. My wife and I got married September 14th, which was about a month and a half after I got back. And probably one of the largest purchase I ever made. I bought us Taylor Swift tickets. So we went to Toronto. I want to say a month or two after our weddings and the end of the Ares tour, I think it

was like the second's last concert. So that was a splurge. How much for those tickets? I want to say that. I want to say all in all, this was like an $8,000 to $9,000 endeavor. You had like front row seat. We were in there. But going to Toronto, doing a couple different things.

I remember it being like, okay, like we are, we're going all in on this. And I mean, it was every penny was worth it. Like she's a massive Taylor Swift fan. You know, I obviously respect the music and we had a great time. I love it. Good stuff. I'm going to throw a party. I've always said if I ever like hit gold, I would throw a massive party.

So I'm working on that too. Okay. Good stuff. You're going to do it. It's going to happen. Million bucks is now in your bank account. For other people that are playing the show, like, are you at all paid to be on the show at all? Is there any other type of financial compensation that maybe we wouldn't know behind the scenes or anything like that? So I think it's pretty common knowledge that second place gets $100,000. And then I think it sort of goes from there. There's certainly not, I mean, I can get into production stuff too much, but there's certainly not like any sort of appearance fee or

anything like that. Gotcha. But like, you know, there's prize money for each place to you. Yeah. And I think that's pretty, it's pretty settled.

Everybody knows about the million. Everybody knows about second place. And then from there, kind of moves, moves accordingly. Okay. Gotcha. One thing that people,

if they saw the show, they know, if they didn't see the show, they might not know. Michigan grad, you were a teacher from being a teacher. You went back to school. You are now,

you define it as a white collar criminal defense attorney. Yep. White collar. That I know that. Okay. So that's a big, big, career pivot for you. After you won the million bucks, was there any part of you that said,

like, I'm going to take some time off work? Yeah, you know, I, so it's funny. When I went on Survivor, I was actually working for that judge in Columbus, Ohio. So it's called a clerkship where you get a year off of your normal job and you go and work for a judge. If you're a litigator like me, you help them decide cases, you know, advise on different issues that come up in their cases, travel with them. It's a really awesome, really awesome gig. You sort of learn how the sausage just made behind the scenes. Then you come back and you become a better litigator. So I came back from Survivor. I was ending that clerkship with the judge who was incredible for even letting me go on the show. And then I came back to my firm in New York. So since winning Survivor, I've

now come back. But the funny thing is, it hadn't aired yet. So I'm like working my job at this white collar litigation boutique that I love. And everyone's like, oh, yeah, you're on reality TV show. And so they're slowly realizing that I have a shot at this thing, which was a really cool process to watch. But to answer your question, I think there's always, I'm always going to want to be a lawyer. Like, I have other interests. I like to write. I've always wanted to teach again. I used to teach. But I just love being a lawyer. I love sort of problem solving. I think that that was shown on the show a lot. And I think that those skills definitely helped me a ton. But I'll always be a lawyer in some shape or fashion. You talked about the fact that your superpower is your charm and that you're a

people person. You also talked about that fact you're a little impulsive. But one of the things you probably had to keep close to your chest is the fact you are a litigator because litigators are quick you are sharp you know how to do your research and you do diligence and then you know how to execute with your delivery is that something that you kind of kept close to the chest intentionally while playing the game yeah i actually told people that i was a teacher so the way that i sort of looked at my strategy like i really wanted to come across as non-threatening as possible so i rewinded my life about three years three four years and i said that i was teaching i used to teach at a boarding school so it's exactly what I said I did. I met my wife there instead of law school. And it's really funny because

on Survivor, it's a trope. When you're a lawyer, you don't tell people that you're a lawyer. Very rarely do people ever say it because for whatever reason people think lawyers are like skeevy or they're trying to get one off of them. And listen, those lawyers exist. I certainly think it's hilarious because we have to follow like the bar and the rules, ethical rules. And it's funny though, I think that while my like legal problem solving skills definitely helped me, I want to say my teaching skills really kind of got the job done because I really played a people-oriented game and just teaching and being in the classroom and knowing what each and every kid needs and sort of tailoring your lesson plan to that. It was huge for me because I really feel like I was able to develop relationships with

tons of different people on that island. But the legal skills and the persuasion, that obviously came into time. That makes sense. We're going to get into some of the details of Survivor. That is coming soon, but I am curious as far as litigation. What is one thing when it comes to litigation, you know, us back home and me personally just talking to right now, what is one thing we might not know? Give me a trading secret behind litigation. Maybe it's a tip, maybe it's a trick, a strategy that you deploy, but like what's something in that world we wouldn't know otherwise asking you? Yeah, I mean, I hope this doesn't come across as far fetch, but it's just the creativity. When I went to law school, I was, am I selling my soul? Am I sort of giving up this

side of myself to just follow this rule-oriented profession? But being in, being a litigator, means being creative. You find all these cases in precedent that allow you to, like, argue your case to the best of your ability. And a lot of times you feel as if you're pigeonholed by that president. But there's so many different ways to interpret a case. There's so many different ways to utilize precedent and interpret in a new ways that can make for very compelling arguments. And I feel as if, especially working as a clerk and seeing so many cases from that side as a neutral arbitrator, I feel as if the best litigators are one who are creative, who take chances, who like try new arguments instead of playing exactly by the book every single go. You know what I'm saying?

Like you really have to think outside of the box. And I think some of the coolest, the coolest issues I've ever worked on are ones where I've had a chance to really think about the law in a creative, different way. Interesting. We've had Savannah Christie on the podcast. She talked a lot about her parents who were sentenced to 12 and 8 years for what's considered white collar crime, I'm pretty sure. Yeah. And they, of their pardoned by the president, but one of their biggest arguments, in that case was that they weren't aware of what was being done by their accountant or their attorney. And this is more of a blanket question. But when you're litigating in white collar crime and you are in a defense position, do you find that majority of these people aren't aware

of what's actually happening? Or is it more often than not they know what had happened and then you have to work around that? Yeah. I mean, obviously it depends on the case. But there are, I mean, intent is such a big, plays such a big role in these criminal cases and even civil prosecutions and things of that nature. There are so many times you see where somebody knows that they're doing something wrong, but they don't know exactly what they're doing wrong. So when they get hit with the book, it's so different than what they expected. There are people who genuinely are going about their business and they don't know that they were doing something wrong because a lot of these regulations and laws are in confusing manners. They're spider webs sometimes. Even as a, if, think about it,

if you get charged with some obscure criminal case and, you know, it takes me as your lawyer some time to figure out exactly what's going on and why you were prosecuted with this. I think about the person who's going about their everyday business. You know, that said, I think there are some times when people know they're doing something wrong. It's just, you know, point blank, cut and dry. But I see so many cases, and I think everyone in this profession would say they see so many cases where people don't know what they were doing or didn't even intend to do the exact wrong thing that they were doing. Okay. Have you ever been, people talk about white collar criminals that go to jail. And they talk a little bit about, it's like a little bit of a fluffy, fluffy jail, right?

It's like, it's cushy in there. Have you ever actually been to a prison that is for white collar criminals? And if you have, like, what does that look like compared to like a state prison? Yeah, no, so it's so interesting. I mean, I don't, I think that that's sort of a trope. Okay. A lot of times when people get charged with crimes, they go to the same jails and prisons that other people go to. It's funny, you're talking to the right guy. I don't know if this came up at all. But I actually have history with incarceration. I did see that. Yeah, so, you know, I've been incarcerated three different times, you know, nonviolent

misdemeanor offenses off my record, et cetera, et cetera. But it's so interesting. I mean, yeah, people are put in the same. It's all the same box for the most part. You know, there might be instances where somebody needs to be put in protective custody. They're well known. They might need a little bit more of a different population age is like obviously a factor in a lot of ways.

But a lot of times it is the same place that everyone goes. Yeah, okay, interesting. So that is a little bit of a trope. That's, that's fascinating stuff. I know you talked about it on the show and you had mentioned it here. Did you, have you at all specifically disclose what you were arrested for or no? Yeah, you know, I had a drunken disorderly charge that, you know, I think that was in large part in relation to, you know, not to get into hot button topics, but racial profiling, you know, underage possession of alcohol is something. I had two of those. And I think that a lot of those were just in relation to me being very young. I grew up in sort of

a small town area where individuals, you know, you start drinking at a very young age and, you know, drinking amongst other things for other people in my community. But I had a lot of contact with the criminal legal system growing up. I'd say like, you know, of course, I take accountability for anything that happens in my life. But a lot of that dealt with just me looking different than the people that were around me too. You know, I played lacrosse in college, was there on a scholarship. I went to a private school and in high school on scholarship as well. But I grew up in sort of an urban black community, rural white community, and then went to school amongst, you know, affluent white individuals. So I've kind of always viewed myself in

many different spaces that, that have, have always sort of allowed me to navigate in different ways. But yeah, it's definitely an interesting background, especially being a lawyer and where I'm at today. And it's really cool to sort of be where I'm at, I guess. Yeah. And it's, it's such important messaging to use platforms, whether it's Survivor, podcasts, wherever, to continue to speak about that and your experiences and everything you've learned from that. So I think that's awesome. And look where you are today. Yes. Now you're an attorney.

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L-E-E-E-S-A.com promo code trading secrets for $50 off. Be sure to enter our name and let them know that we sent you as it helps the show out. Just go to Lisa.com, promo code trading secrets for $50 off. Now, talk to me before we move into Survivor, we talk money here from a teacher perspective, going into law work. What's the difference in pay? Dude. So when I started teaching in 2016, I was teaching at an all-boys boarding school in North Carolina. I want to say that the pay there was $28,000. I think maybe the second year I was there, I think I got up to like 31. The catch there was I was in the boarding school. So I lived on campus, got free housing, free meals a day. I was coaching football on lacrosse. So that was what

that was. But that's a tight budget. Yeah. We're living off 28,000, $31,000. That's tight. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I have obligations to my family, too. You know, my brother and I have always, our parents took care of us, and we've always made sure to take care of them, even back then. Yeah. Went to law school, took on more debt and wasn't making any money then. And then I got out, and I think at the time going into big law. I worked at a big law firm before I moved to my boutique. I did labor and employment litigation. I want to say the base salary for a first year was 190. Wow. And then I think in the middle of my first year, year it bumped up to 205, which, I mean, literally, I mean, I think it, what is that, quadrupled,

you know, quintupled, whatever the word is, my salary. Yeah. So it was insane, man. Six, seven times. That's unbelievable. Just so you do your three years at a great school, right? So Michigan, go blue. And then you're hired, is there a bonus potential when you're, when you work as an attorney at like a big firm like that? Yeah, there's always a bonus. You know, the pay is lockstep for these firms. So there's, you know, how many AM 100 firms, even more so. And especially in the markets like New York, Chicago, L.A., they're all the same. They're all lockstep. So everyone. What is that for someone that doesn't understand that? Like me. What if lockstep means? Yeah, it means that everybody's getting paid the exact same thing across the profession in that specific role.

So like first year law students in that firm, no matter where you are, you're making a buck 90. One, buck 90. Got it. Yep. And then when one firm moves up to 205 in the middle of the year because they want to come across is better than all the other firms, sure. The other firms all move up to 205. Interesting. So you know where you're getting paid. You know, bone. But bonuses, for the most part, are very similar to that. There are a couple firms that, you know, have black box earning potential and don't necessarily tell people what their bonuses are going to be. But for the most part, those bonuses across all of those firms are lockstep too. Interesting. Okay. So bonuses too. All right. That's, I mean, that's a huge step up from teaching.

Now you're making a couple hundred grand. And then, like, once you get, if you, if you, and I'm going to go to Survivor. My Survivor fans, I'm going in just a one second. But when you continue to work up the ladder in a big firm like that, two questions I have for you. is what is like earning potential look like, just high level. And then also, how many hours a week are you working when you started off? So when I started off, I mean, I was working a lot of hours. It's a demanding job. Yeah. I mean, it's really-60-70, sometimes 80.

Wow. That'll get you ready for Survivor. Yeah. And it's different, right? It's different because there's the corporate roles. I'm a litigator, right? So my schedule is a little bit more, a little bit more or like structured. I sort of know what's coming down the pipeline.

But when you're a young associate, you know, you're at the whims of everybody at the firm. You're working amongst senior associates. You're working for partners. And then you're working for the client at the top, right? And so, yeah, you know, something could pop up. You're doing the groundwork. You're doing the grunt work. So you work in 70, 80 hour weeks a lot of times.

And the difference for me, especially with my friends who weren't in that environment, they don't know that, you know, my phone is on all the time. It's not a nine to five. You're answering emails anytime they come in. You miss something at 10.30, you could get in trouble for that. Now, that's not always the case. People are reasonable, but it's possible. And so you're working really hard. Interesting. All right. Well, we're going to transition into Survivor. It's so cool to learn about other industries. You decided to go on the show, 26 days off. Was there any risk that you might have lost your job when you made this decision? So when I was clerking, I was clerking for an awesome judge. And, you know, at first,

I was really scared to bring it up to him, especially because clerkships, it's a one-year position. There's only three people. they're, you know, not trying to brag, but they're really prestigious. And I was a federal appellate clerkship. I was working on the Sixth Circuit. And it's great experience. So the deal that I made with my judge, he actually almost had somebody go on the, on the Bachelorette one clerk. So there was some precedent for this.

No way. But the deal that I made with him, because Survivor was going to be at the last month of half of my clerkship, with the appellate cases, you get it, you get the entire record. So like, you know, it's already gone to trial. The lawyers have already done their thing there. And now I as a clerk get to see the entire record and then make a decision with my judge, of course, the judge makes a decision, but you get it in advance, about a month and a half,

two months in advance. So I made a deal with my judge for about a month and a half. I just grinded and got all of my cases done in advance so that by the time that sitting would come around, I would be in survivor, but the cases would have already, in theory, you know, we've already gone through the process. He would have decided them already. So it was weird. It was a grind because, you know, clerkships are typically viewed more as that nine to five, but we sort of turned it into this like high pressure thing where I needed to get all this work done. I didn't want to let down my co-clerks, my coworkers, and didn't want to let down the judge first and foremost

and do my civic duty because of government employee. So it really worked out because I don't know if in another job it would have necessarily gone that way. I hope that judge looks back today and says, wow, thank God I let him go. He's pumped up. I think he threw a survivor birthday party. Hell yeah.

I love it. I love it. All right, well, let's go back to where we started. And where we started was the video of you telling your wife, you want a million dollars. In that video, you also mentioned, I am chiseled because she's saying you lost some weight. So you're there for 26 days.

How much weight did you lose? Yeah, I lost 28 pounds. I want to say when I went into Survivor, I bulked up just a little bit. I put on a little, you know, intentionally, right? Yes. Knowing that you're going to lose weight.

Yes, yes. So I bulked up, I put on some fat, I like got as strong as I could be trained for strength, and then I put on extra fat about two weeks before I went out there. I want to say I was at 193. And then I know for certain that I was down 28 pounds at the end of the game. And I was just a skeleton. there's a picture of me holding my newborn nephew who I'd mentioned, and I just look gaunt. And so when

Maggie saw me, she like almost started crying just because, like, how skinny I was. How hard is that? I mean, we know that there's the struggle for food on this season that you guys essentially are given no food at all. That's like a reality. Like, there's not even like a producer here and there, throws you an orange or vitamin, nothing like that. Like, you actually have no access to food at all. No, man, no access to food. You have to go get it yourself. You know, I caught a fish. You win fish in gear, it caught a fish. We dug in the ground for different roots and, you know, starches and things like that that we were able to find because we had a survivalist on my initial tribe. Coconuts are a huge source of, you know, calories.

I mean, the amount of calories that you can get in them is minuscule, but you sort of use them to hydrate and stuff like that. But yeah, no food unless you earn it. Was there any time that you felt like you were going to like literally pass out from? Oh, all the time. I mean, that's the thing about starvation that I just wasn't aware of. And like, I use this term starvation loosely because at some points in the game, I did earn food. But when you're at your limit with food, every single time you try to get up, you feel like you're going to pass out. It's actually insane.

I've never really dealt with anything like that. You know, sometimes my wife will be like, oh, I feel a little like, like I might just like, you know, pass out. I stood up too fast. I've never felt that before until then where at the point you're making strategic decisions every time you sit down because you know how much energy it's going to take for you to get back up. That's pretty crazy. Unbelievable. At any point during the game, and I know it's very frowned upon. in the community, but is there any point that you're like, I might tap out? And did any of your peers

feel that way? I did not. I absolutely, you know, I'm not even trying to sound like a tough guy because all that stuff sucks physically, but at the same time, it's just the time of your life. I'm getting to know, I mean, I went on Survivor because I wanted to get to know, I love being a lawyer, but I felt as if it's a very insular community sometimes. My wife is a lawyer. All of our closest friends are lawyers for the most part. That's what my life is here. And I wanted to sort of get out, meet new people, learn new things because I just love, like I said, you know, when we're talking about other things, I like to be a part of different communities and just not feel pigeonhole. And so I was having the time of my life out there. What do you mean? I get to hang out with a blue collar firefighter who's

a single mom from Chicago. And like, I get to learn from her. I get to learn from a woman who, you know, talks about her autism openly but plays ice hockey. Like all of those conversations, all of those moments. And then I get to go compete on the show that I fucking love. Yeah. It was an incredible experience, an incredible, incredible experience. And I, you know, sometimes you just embrace the suck. Yeah. Yeah, that's, I like that line. Sorry, I got to get pumped up about it. Just embrace the suck. I know, you get fired up thinking about it. When you think about all these different personalities, different stories and backgrounds, I'm always curious and I ask this pretty much on anybody that comes on this show from any reality show. Is there anything peculiar about the casting process that you

look back on, you're like, huh, that was a weird question. Or I had to do a thousand question survey with a psychologist. Is there anything peculiar through the casting process? Yeah, I think it's just, I just think it's the process in general. Like, I watched your episode with Amanda. Yeah. And my wife and I were huge fans of Summerhouse. Yeah. And I remember you mentioned that, you know, like, you didn't think you were reality TV guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that was definitely my experience. I always talk about, it's a miracle that I got cast on the show. I guess I have, you know, some pretty interesting things about my

background. Yeah. But I'm just not that guy and like I think that was a large part of the criticism of me that season was like this guy's not the best TV sometimes. So all that to say in casting, and I'm the interested if you ever dealt with this, but you feel like you're kind of ratcheting up your personality 30%. 100%. And it feels inauthentic at first, but you get used to it. But you also have to tell, you have to talk about yourself all the time. And that's just not my MO. I guess now it kind of is. But like you have to talk about your all the time, ratchet up your personality, and sell the most TV-oriented things about yourself. And that was really weird for me. And it still is really weird for me, but I hope

that sort of answers your question. Well, it's so funny he said that because I just, a friend of mine is getting casted for a show. And this friend was asking me, you know, what are your thoughts and what should I do and what are some things I should think about? I said, we're going to take your personality and you're four out of five when you and I are just sitting there. I said literally verbatim. I go, we're going to dial it into like an eight or not. We're going to be extra animated, a little bit more vocal, and we're going to tell our stories with a lot more emotion. And it's just the reality of, like, if you want to get picked for these shows, you have to give them a show because all they care about at the end of the day is storytelling and ratings. That's what it is, right?

Exactly. That's what it's all about. Let's go into this. You got 18 people there. You know, your likelihood of winning going into that's roughly around 6% or so. Day one, you're looking around, are you thinking, pun intended, just survive? make the next cut, get to the top 10, or do you really, in your mind, believe you are going to win this thing?

I, up until the point that we got to the island, when the game started, I thought I had, I've always thought that I've had an awesome shot at winning. Now, the people around me, like, in Survivor, people who are conventionally athletic or people who are seen to be social butterflies and stuff, they get to a certain part of the game, the merge, but then they usually get cut.

And so everybody around me was terrified that I probably get cut right around the middle of the game. I, you know, the ego that takes to go on to reality TV, I was like, I know I can do this. I know I can play this game, just be myself, talk to people, like get to know them and like let them get to know you. That said, the moment we hit that beach and I was ready to go into that first challenge,

I was the most nervous I've ever been in my life. I am not that much of a nervous person. You know, I argued a trial in law school on behalf of a kid facing felony allegations. Giving that opening was the best moment of my life. I was having so much fun. I don't get chills that much. I was terrified going out on that beach.

And my first day is historically one of, I think, the worst starts for a winner, certainly. You know, I had like a tough go-out in the first challenge, something that I should have been able to do easily. Then I lost to a guy in a one-on-one challenge who just dislocated his arm, and I broke my challenge. So that first day humbled me.

So I broke my jug that, like, did the challenge essentially disqualified myself. That essentially like put me down to planet earth and I was terrified I was going to be voted out first, which, you know, fortunately I wasn't. I won the game, but it was definitely tough. What do you think if you had to attribute one thing to your success in the game, making it all the way to differentiate yourself, what do you think that game plan was? What was the big differentiator? Yeah, you know, it sounds redundant, but I said my motto going in there was people first. Yeah. A lot of people think that Survivor is this strategy game I mean, it is. There's so much intricacy to it, but you cannot, it's not chess. You have to get

to know people first before you can freaking play the game. So that, but I think just listening and kind of just listening instead of talking and just knowing, I mean, I was hyper aware of what's going on. I think that like, not to go on a tangent here, but the way I grew up, I was constantly navigating between sort of black environments and white environments. And I sort of developed this skill that can sometimes be harmful where I'm hyper aware of things. How am I coming across? How do these people perceive me? Am I being the person that I need to be right now? And I think that that sort of sensitivity that I've had my entire life suited me perfectly for a survivor. So interesting. Yeah. One of the decisions you made towards the end, which I thought was really interesting,

is you took Joe to the final three. Was that decision based on loyalty or calculation to win? It was both. It was both. Joe and I had talked about that. I knew. that I had a very strong chance of winning. At the same time, I wanted to take Joe to the end. I knew that I could beat the person who people told me that I couldn't beat. I knew I could do it if they just knew my game if I had a chance to explain it.

I think that's the conundrum that a lot of people get into Survivor. You'll see these people play these games, but then they don't necessarily have the chance to explain it fully or they don't get the tools, they don't have the tools to explain it fully at the end of the game. I knew, like, speaking is my bread at butter. So I knew that I could pull that off. Interesting.

So we talked about a little bit of starvation. What about sleep deprivation? How hard is it to sleep in those circumstances and how big of an impact did that have? Oh, it's pretty tough. It's pretty tough. I think that on top of just the conditions, just being away from, you know,

a lot of people go to sleep next to their loved ones, some people go to sleep in the most comfortable place, you know, that you have none of that. You're with just strangers in the jungle, which is obviously pretty difficult. Very difficult to sleep, though I do okay without that much sleep. I'm early morning, early riser, which I think is another reason that did me well in the game.

But it was really tough. Some people had a much harder time than I did, I would say. And we had some issues over storing and stuff like that. That was pretty funny. If you had to guess how many hours on average you slept the night? What do you think? Oh, man. I would say three and a half four.

And it's interrupted three and a half for it. Because I was waking up at least every 45 minutes. You're lucky if you get like an hour and a half straight. And when you wake up, you're thinking about the game. Is somebody else talking behind my back? Am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing? and just running through all the conversations I had that day, and then you calm your mind down,

you go back to sleep. But it's tough, it's tough out there. Obviously, you won, so you're the champion, but looking back at your time playing the game, what's one move you would have made differently? So winning rewards. So like I said, there's no food. So as you get later into the game,

you have chances to win rewards. And if I were to write a book on Survivor and things not to do, I would say don't win reward. because when everyone else in front of you is starving and you have the power to literally, in my instance, feed them fried chicken and waffles, go have beers on a boat,

go, like, stand on, you know, this awesome island elsewhere. I literally pissed off everyone else on that island. I upset some of the people that I did take on the reward. It was still an awesome time. But I think that's the one moment, if I ever thought that I might be in danger. That was the one moment that I thought might affect my game. Scaling your business requires the right expertise,

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Because there had to be high points and there had to be at least one low point. you know there was a scene towards the end of the game it was actually the the day before the finale and i had won the final immunity challenge and i ended up taking joe to the end and my number one ally camilla who was obviously big competition for me i think everybody at that point was big competition but camilla had been with me the entire game and making that decision not only did i put camilla my number one ally who i'd been with the entire game into fire. So that was very difficult emotionally decision. Eva and I have an extremely close relationship. She's like a little sister to me. We had, and we were very tight out there. We talked

for hours every single day. She's like, she's my best friend, you know. She's a best friend of mine. And, you know, putting her into fire and seeing what she had to go through in that moment was incredibly difficult for me. They showed a little bit of it on the show, but she had an episode and she got through it. And she, the moment that I picked her to take fire, I wanted to take it back because I knew how much pain it had put her in. But she refused to let me take it back.

And she refused to let anybody else take it from her. And she went in and she did this challenge yourself. And it was impeccable, both of those women, even Camilla. But I felt like I had wronged two people that I was incredibly close with when I had to make that decision. And, you know, it got better, but that was a really tough decision to make. You had a secret alliance with Camilla for people

that did not watch the show. But one thing I'm curious is you're constantly playing the game. And the game also connects to lying and sometimes backstabbing. So what did you learn about trying to read people as they're lying or potentially backstabbing? Did they have tells? Was there certain information you started to pick up on? How did you start to see when people are trying to manipulate you, lie to you, or even

backstab you? Yeah. I think this is what makes Survivor an amazing game. because, of course, some people have tells, but what I learned about reading people is that you're foolish if you actually think that you can read people. No, I'm a defense attorney.

Like, you know, you hear all these cops say they can read people or that they're better investigating or not, but then a lot of these people get things wrong. Yeah. But on the island, especially when you're starving and when you're struggling, you know, everybody's telling some sort of lie. Everybody's telling something.

So what I learned to lean on was, of course, I'm going to try and read people in the moment, but part of what made my game great, I think, is that I had this social capital to talk to everyone. I knew what was going on for the most part with everyone. Instead of trying to read people in their tells, what's the information you're giving me? What is the information this person and this person's giving me? I'm going to cross-check it just like I do as a lawyer. I'm going to look at all the documents in front of me and then I'm going to come to a

decision on my own. I think there's a lot of people who are out there and they say like, oh, I can catch people. My first job was at a bar, bartenders, you know, I was a bar back when I was 16 and they always used to say like, look to the left, people look to the left on their line. I just don't think it's true. I think that you have to use your investment. investigative skills and actually get facts and information and then use it. And I think that's what makes good survivor players. Okay. Speaking of good survivor players, we are going to ask you a little bit about who you would hire and fire. So if you could think about all the survivor cast out there, okay? You can either, we'll let you do it your season or it could be any survivor alumni.

We're going to start with the easy one. You can hire one person when you start your next business venture, whatever it might be. Who from the Survivor franchise or from season 48 would you hire knowing you get one hire? I think I would hire, I'm going to hire the season 47 winner. Okay. Rachel Lamont. She just came out with this incredible speed-based puzzle game. Okay. She's a graphic designer. And I think that everything that like she does is just really kind of eloquent. Yeah. And she's got, yeah, she's already got the graphic designer skills. I feel like I'm somebody who has a, I have a lot of ideas, but I need people who can actually bring them to life and make them look good. So I feel like that would be a,

great partnership between Rachel and I, you know, so I'll go, I'll go Rachel, a graphic designer. I wanted to be, get out of my season, I think that she would be solid. That's who you're going to hire from your season. You got to fire one person. So they'll assume they all hire for, they all work for you for your business. You got to fire one person who you fire it. On my season? Yep. Oh, this is going to be awesome. I'm firing Camilla. Camilla talks so much trash. Yeah. I'm firing Camilla and she's going to sue me and take me for everything I own. Okay. I love it. But I love it. But I'm firing Camilla. Okay. Even though I think we'd be good business partners too.

Okay. I like it. Make sure you have good business insurance in case she does. All right. So here's my question for you. These are some questions and things that we were wondering if you guys get behind the scenes, if production provides you or what it looks like. Okay. Here's tell me what you can and can't share. But the first one we're curious about is sunscreen. I can't go into it. Unfortunately, I'm sorry. No way. Okay. All right. So all so none of those. Like can you share if you get toilet paper? No, we definitely do not get toilet paper. We are in the ocean, you know, it's called aqua dumps. You know, don't have to get into it too much. But, like, here's where I don't know that it's called aqua dumps. Oh, yeah, man. It's like, it's one of the first things you learn. You think everybody thinks they're going to pick up leaves and stuff like that, and you have to, you have to.

But, you know, not with getting into it too much. Yeah. You know, a lot of times when you go to the bathroom, you're just going out in the ocean, you just, you just there and you got to figure it out. Okay. I think this one's fair game to ask. And you can tell me no, if it's not, but it seems like a fair game. What about, like, toothbrush toothpaste?

No, no. Like, so this is the thing. It's like, people think you get things. You just don't. Yeah, I think we all just assume you get some kind of kit or something. No, no, no. I mean, like, I think that it's pretty well known that if people have something like medication or something that doesn't give them an advantage, but they can, you know, they can still compete if they take it and allows like somebody who otherwise wouldn't be able to. I think that's pretty well known. Yeah. But otherwise, like, I'm telling you the truth, you're just out there. Like toothbrushes, we take a little sticks, you twiddle them down and then every morning you brush your teeth. And, like, the thing about that that's tough is, is, like, I didn't even think it was going to be worth it to try and brush my teeth, but you really feel the gunk if you don't. Of course. Yeah.

So, it's brutal out there, man. I'm trying to, like, it's so funny how many people will come up to me, be like, so did they slip you some food behind the scenes or neutral grain bar? That's what we all think. And I'm like, no way, man, this is really hard. Or, like, like, insects repell it. There's none of that. Oh, no. Now, you rub different stuff on you.

Like, sometimes you, like, boil coconut oil, you know, coconut and stuff like that and, like, use that for hair grease and stuff like that. but no. Did you know any of that going into this or did you learn it? Like, did you prepare yourself by becoming a mini survivalist? I did. I tried my best. I'll tell you that. I mean, I was really fortunate that we had somebody on my tribe, David, who was really great at the survival stuff. But I tried my best to sort of educate myself on like what I could use out there. You know, what specific to Fiji. And I'll tell you, like, the preparation was certainly helpful, but there's just nothing like being in it. And the feeling you go from day one where it's so foreign to even day five, you're like still trying to figure it out but today

we're fortunate enough like they you know 15 16 you start to really think that you're like a pro at it and I'm sure we're not but it's it felt it felt that way like we really kind of we really kind of learned how to survive out there that is totally crazy now one of the one of the questions I think most

people ask people if they're going on a date or they just meet them or they're doing an interview it's a layup like you go on an island and you got to pack five things what do you pack it and that's a basic question but I think for someone like you that has been through what you've been through in one survivor, I am very, very curious of your answer. You now go on a deserted island. It's just you. You got five things you could throw in that suitcase. One of the five things you're

throwing in, especially known for 26 days you had next to nothing. Okay. I'm going to go some sort of backpack to like suitcase. Sorry. I'm going to go some sort of backpack, something that I can like continue to carry things with. Go machete for sure. Go flint just to make fire easier. backpack machete flint i go mp3 player well no crap no batteries thinking a little hypothetical here real quick on that thought process was it like music for mentality

yeah just to have something if i'm i'm there by myself man i mean the people are what gets you through it yeah so if i don't have any noise that's gonna be pretty brutal okay but i bring a tarp okay i bring a tarp and then i mean honestly these are just survivor supplies i'll bring i bring a spearfish Okay. Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah. Backpacked, carry around things, machete, machete, flint, tarp, spearfish. Okay. Interesting. All right. I asked a lot of questions

behind the scenes, but what is one thing behind the scenes we might not know? I'll give an example. In the Bachelor franchise, we don't eat our food when we go on the dates. That's one. They give us dinner before. The food just sits there. I remember one for hometown dates. The only time you get to see and talk to your parents is when they're filming because they don't want any kind of particular chatter happening and influence without the camera seeing it.

What's one thing maybe behind the scenes that people would find kind of interesting about survival? Yeah, you know, you spend time on boats. When I watch the, when I watch the show, it goes from a challenge to, you know, or camp life, then to a challenge and then to tribal council. And one thing that I kind of, you always just kind of think it's all linear and like you're just walking from place to place. But there's many different islands. You know, you're not on the same island as the other tribes of the beginning of the show to get to challenges. They're on different islands, different places, things like that. And you're constantly going from place to place on boats and things like that. And like, you know, people get seasick. Like, it's the real deal. So I think that that's one thing behind the scenes that people don't really. I mean, certainly not me. I definitely thought that like people were literally just walking everywhere. But yeah, you know, you spent a lot of time on the ocean on Survivor. I love it. All right. Well, let's conclude with this. We talk money on this podcast. You wake up 26 days. You got a million in your bank account. There's a lot of people

listening to this that feel as though if a million hit their bank account tomorrow, it would significantly change many, many aspects of their life. So being someone that has, like you said, you were grinding, you had some debt and your balance wasn't as high as you thought it would be. Now you got over a million in that bank account. How has your life changed? And what are some things that maybe you might tell your old self who didn't have that million bucks or someone listening today that's like, boy, oh boy, do I wish I just had a million bucks at my account like that? Yeah. You know, in terms of how I've used the money, it's been awesome just to wipe away debt to be able to know that, you know, I have support for the people around me who

I care about, also invest it just like to have a safety net for the first time of my life. In terms of rewinding and telling myself something or someone else, you know, my brother and I talk about this all the time just because of the way that we grew up. My brother's also a lawyer. He's my, you know, biggest role model more so for him than me, but we've always felt like even though we're at this place in our life, that everything at any point could always just get, you know, pulled from right underneath you. And I think that we both sort of live with that mindset. And for the first time in my life, because of this million, I feel like it's not going to happen. You know, he's not taking my advice, but it's not going to happen. And to have that

sort of security for once and also know if something happened to him or anyone else, you know, that we have this protection is huge. But all of that to say, though, if I could rewind and tell myself something, I'd say, dude, like, just keep on doing what you're doing and don't worry about it as much like live life in the moment which sounds so cliche but it's it was even hard to do that you know and conceptualize that million dollars when it first hit still didn't feel real and in a lot of ways it still still doesn't but I'm so happy for it man so so so happy good for you do you think at all like there's a chance you might step away from being an attorney like you have some cushion you're on season 48 they did announce I know we can't speak to it they announced

you're on season 50 is there any part of you that says you know it might be dream is to walk away from this attorney work. I want to do something else. You know, I love being an attorney man. That said, there's so many different things that I want to do. I'm a well-rounded guy. I think that that was sort of showcased on the show. I didn't even necessarily realize it about myself until I was watching it back, but I'm just somebody who likes to do so many different things and try new things and meet new people. And if any opportunity arose, that would allow me to sort of branch out and continue to sort of be this, you know, creative person or, you know, polymath or whatever the heck the term is, that would be so cool. You know, I want to teach again. I

want to work with kids again. That was, as much as I love being a lawyer, I was so passionate about teaching. You know, I want to build something of my own. I really want to own something one day that I can look at and say, like, I did that, you know, maybe I employed a couple people. Like, I helped somebody, you know, further their life. I just have a ton of things that I want to do. Yeah. And so it's an awesome question, and I don't know exactly what the answer is. I want to write a book. I'm writing, you know, some fiction right now, you know, but I don't know the answer, but I think, I think I'm going to be attorney for, for a while, but who knows? Who knows? Who knows? More to come. We'll see what happens. You know, I just have a couple more

questions for you. Finance podcast, million bucks. You mentioned investing. You got any investment tips? You got anything that you think you're definitely going to invest in, or you're working with the financial advisor to do that. I'm working with the financial advisor, you know, max out those retirement plans, traditional RAs, Roth RRAs, you know, high index fund, the traditional stuff. I'm not going to, you know, I think the good thing about having Maggie, my wife in the life, is that I'm the risk taker. Yeah. And I don't know how it would have been with a million dollars. Maybe I put some money on the bills. That'll be an investment. Go bills. Bills. We gave a bills in here, buddy. Love that. Let's go. But I'm going to keep

it traditional right now. Just so I could keep that safety net that I was just getting emotional about. Okay. Keep that safety net. That's a beautiful insurance plan. No one can take it from you. The last question I got for you. Survivor, it's been done. Do you want to go on another reality show? If so, what would it be? Wow. You know, I always said that Survivor would probably be the only reality TV show that I would go on. Just because I love the game so much. That's truthful.

That's truthful. It's Survivor, man. I'll be honest with you. Who knows? Maybe if I was single, I'd go on, like, Love Island or something. But I think I'm a stick with Survivor for now. Yeah, no, exactly. Maybe something like a Big Brother, maybe Amazing Race.

I like those shows are all cool, but they're just not my speed. I think the Survivor is a show that was made for, like, or maybe I was made for Survivor. I'll put it that way. I really felt like that. When I saw it, the moment I saw that first episode, I was like, that is for me. That is for me right there. So it sounds cliche. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but that is the show for me.

Unless Kyle is 26 days in survival mode, losing about 30 pounds and sleeping on average, three and a half hours, brushing his teeth with wooden chips that he finds on the floor, he's out. Survivors is game and he's a survivor champion. Kyle, I appreciate you coming on trading secrets, but we got to wrap with the trading secrets. So it's a secret that is specific to your experience, what you've undergone, what you have continued to grow and develop to with all your different aspirations. It's Kyle Frazier's trading secrets. What can you leave this with? Yeah, yeah, man. I think that you just have to open yourself up to people wherever you are. I've lived in rural places, urban places, taught, you know, gone to jail.

I've played on an island with 18 other people in an incredible game. I'm an attorney. You know, I've lived with people who don't have a dollar to their name and some people who have a lot more than that. And I think the only thing that's allowed me to be successful and also be who I am is just not judging and opening myself up to the people around me and just trying to learn. So, you know, that's my trading secret. I love it.

I love it. And I think my biggest trading secret learning from you is, yeah, every single, stop that you've gone through in life, it feels like you've been able to acquire an ability to grow through those experiences, right? And then use those experiences and growth to help you today. And it feels like survivor was set up for you. Because like when you talked about just always being hyper aware of your surroundings and seeing what's happening and how it's happening to put yourself in the best position to just win in life and also make impact around you, it's pretty cool and to also see the way that like you talked about different areas and lifestyles they grew up in

but also to see that you also pivoted so dramatically in a career which is so hard to do it's fascinating so it's like you live a life of starts and stops and restarts and but through all of them it's constant growth which is really fascinating so thank you for coming on trading secrets it was really cool to learn from you congratulations on a million bucks how about that to wake up after 26 days and just have a million million bucks in your bank account. It's pretty damn cool. Kyle, where can everyone find everything you have going on? Yeah, thank you. I appreciate you having me on here. Yeah. Just give me a little bit more credit, but thank you. You can find me on Instagram at Kyle Fraser, K-Y-L-E-F-R-A-S-R. There's no E in it, unfortunately. Couldn't get that tag.

And then on TikTok, Kai Frazier. All right, Kai Frazier, Kyle Frazier, TikTok, and Instagram, go give him a follow and make sure you check out that video of him surprising his wife. It is unmatched, unbelievable. Kyle, thank you for being on this episode, showing secrets. Thank you, man. Great being with you, Jason. Thank you. Ding, ding, ding. We are closing in the bell with the one and only, the curious Canadian, who in rare form join me in the intro. I kind of enjoyed that. David, what did you think about this episode after listening to it? Always curious about your thoughts. I mean, here's my take on Kyle listening to it. I didn't watch the season of Survivor, to be honest. I haven't watched the season and Survivor in a long time. That's why when I keep hearing about it and seeing about it, like I said in the intro, I just can't believe how long it's been in this.

success that it has. And you know, we've talked about ratings and especially homed in on the Bachelor franchise, how they're always trying to change things to stay relevant and keep up with views. If Survivor wasn't performing, it's fair to say, Jay, it wouldn't be on our TVs. Is that correct? That's correct. So that itself was wild. And I got to say, Kyle, um, is someone that after listening to the episode all the way through, I don't think he's someone that I would ever doubt what's coming out of his mouth. He sounds so sure about what he's talking about. He sounds so aware of his surroundings. He's got a great self-assessment. He's got a great, you know, a great viewpoint on life and how his upbringing affects his current life and his strikes and his weaknesses. He's a very convincing guy. Maybe that is the lawyer in him, but I also think it's just a good human being who's just giving it to you how it is in a really kind of soft and meticulous way. I really enjoyed just listening to him. So I thought that he was a great, great guest. I think we see at a lot of these contest shows, Survivor, traders, all of them. the importance of communication is like everything, right? And so I agree with everything he said. Like when he was

talking, I was locked in. I was believing what he was saying. I was very interested. I wanted the conversation to keep flowing. And I think in life, like it's weird how some of those skill sets actually translate. Like some skill sets that you need in survivor, like, you know, just mentally being able to push through overcoming adversity, thinking strategically, communicating effectively, being able to sell people on like your beliefs and what you think is true. Like it's interesting how like Survivor does dictate a lot of these skill sets that are required to succeed in life and professional world and even like discipline with the financial world.

I think Survivor's got to be. I think it's way harder than people think. Like let's get right into it. I mean, they he said it's like, no, you're just there and you're there. And it's like you got to fend for yourself. No deodorant, no toothbrush, no tooth. pace, no toilet paper, which to me, like, that is the one thing. I'm like, okay, well, they got to be able to do that. Like you, he even said, here's, here's my curious mind.

He goes, I got a spear and he goes, I got a fish. Okay. Who's filleting that thing? Yeah, you got slay it. Okay, you caught a fish. Great. Are you just chomping into it? Like, it's sushi. Like, who? Like, that's my thing. It's like, I could probably go on that beach and catch something. But once I catch it, like, I'm screwed. Like, I don't know. Like, that's, to me, it's like, it just blows my mind, Survivor. It's, it's real. It's as real as it gets for TV shows that sometimes don't appear real.

Like you were saying, the behind the scenes of The Bachelor. That is probably my biggest take. The two things from this episode that, I mean, there's a lot of takeaways, especially like life lessons, stuff like that. But the two things about the show, the trading secrets that surprise me the most is the speed at which they get paid. Like, that's crazy to me. That like, boom, they get paid like that.

The other thing was, like you said, this show, there is no fluff. Like, no toothpaste, no toilet paper. You're, you know, however many days, it's, you know, he lost, what, almost 30 pounds? Like, you have to go through the starvation. There's not much production. Like, I was, those are the two things that kind of blew me away. All right. So, and I know Survivor used to be 40 days.

Now they got it down at 26. So that's probably a strategic business play more than anything. Here's a question to you. What, what did you think would be the hard? part about being on Survivor for you, for Jason Tardick, knowing what you know from Kyle. It's a great question, David. The two things I can operate off little sleep because I kind of already do. But after a while, that deprivation would really mess with me. I think that would like really, really break me down. And then I think the second one would be the like the hunting part

of it. I've never hunted anything ever in my life. And I really don't intend on doing that. It's not my thing. So like the idea of the food thing. Like I can deal with like the mental anguish of not eating. I'd lose a lot of weight. I can game out. But like if I was like, if I was on an island by myself and I had to find a way to like hunt and kill something and then eat it, I'd be fucked. But so I would try and use like my game strategy. Oh, I got a good question for you because I want to know what your strategy would be after this. So that question's coming but I can use different like game tactics to be able to be like hey this is my strength this is yours you go do that and I think that way I would eat but that would be my biggest

one what would yours be and then I got a question for you yeah no I think like I actually think the food thing would be okay for me like I've been I've been fasting for almost 10 years and I'm on like a one meal a day like plan so like I think I could adjust to that really well I think it would be like I would be so incredibly useless as like a man on that. I can't build shit. I'm not like, I'm not a hunter-gatherer. Like, what am I good for?

And I just think that that I honestly think the biggest, like it would be like the ego blow of like, now I'm there. So getting there is like, like you said, it was great when the interview was you talk about the audition and having to put on a show and you kind of build yourself up and then you get there. And he said he got

humbled in his first day. Like, I'd find a really hard time probably maybe finding my way amongst the whole thing. Because I, like you, I think I can listen really well. I'm a really good people person. That would be my strength. It was like,

okay, now how else do I? How else do I provide? And then I think the challenges would be fun, though. But I think I'd be off. Like, you're down playing this part. For anyone that doesn't know, David is a very strong man.

So you would be able to like move bricks and lumber. Like you'd be able to contribute that way. Let me ask you this question. Now we're going from Survivor to a crazy life scenario. This will never happen. Knock on wood. Imagine you get sensitive. sentence to some form of prison sentence, okay? Let's just say it's six months a year, two years,

three years, okay? Won't happen. Knock it would. But let's just say it does. If it does and you're in the state prison, what is your survival tactic? What are you doing to survive? Oh, man. We went around the, we went around the fire pit the other day and we all answered this question. I'll go first. Yeah. I would do one of three things, I think. One thing I would definitely do is for like a value add system I would teach finance I'd be like everyone here I will help you I'll help you with the taxes your finances I will help you with every form of money any money questions you have like I'll be your professor like give me some professor angle I like that I like that yeah the second angle would be massive trade so I would use cash I have outside I would find a way

to get it in and then I would buy all the different goods that I could in there to like be like, okay, for protection, I'm going to give you two packs of cigarettes. For this, I got the ramen noodles. Like, it would be a trade of protection. And then the last one would be if I got stuck, like I know odds and gambling and all that stuff well. So I would like run a gambling ring and help like run some kind of like, I'd be like the blackjack dealer, the poker dealer, the sports better. And I'd like help run that. Those would be my three ways of like, because I'm not fighting.

No, no, no. I got to find protection enough. Well, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not showering ever. I'm just going to forego the shower. So I'm just going to stay out of that scene and then I'm not fighting. So I was going to like, initially I was like, I'm going to be the fitness guy. Like I'm going to, I'm going to write everyone a fitness plan. And I'm going to find out every macronutrient of every food that we get from the kitchen staff.

And I'm going to like help guys do what they want. You want to bulk up. I'm going to try and sweet talk the kitchen staff so, hey, my boy here needs double protein. I know we get some slop here. And then this guy and he's, got a fast. He's got to skip this. I'll get the, I'll get the black coffee going. Maybe even giving your protein up because you get fast. Exactly. Yeah, and me and you will team together and we'll

get some more protein in here, some more like, you know, we'll get, we'll get that going. So I'd be that guy. I'd also probably be like game night guy, like trivia. Like, I'm, I'm providing fun here. Like, I'm like, all right, we're doing like today, we're doing NFL 1990s trivia and we're just like, Bobby Barker. Parker. Oh, yeah. What's his name? Bob Barker. Parker. Yeah. So I'm probably the host of the Trivia night. I got I got to add some entertainment value for sure. So I think I'm going to that realm, like get my coaching background, do a little, do a little like health and wellness, then let's add some fun to this because everything else on the

physical side, I know you just said I can move bricks and shit, but I'm not, I'm not, I don't have refs to get in my fight. I don't have protective gear. Like I'm not, I'm not doing that. So, you know what I'm, like, there's someone I know that has been to state prison, uh, in a state that is not a state prison. you want to go to and he was telling me about like how when like when fights happen and if someone like challenges you he's like I know at times I would have got the shit kicked out of me but the

biggest thing is like you have to step up like you yeah oh yeah because otherwise it's like a game of boundaries like if your boundaries get pushed then you have to uh then they adjust and then they you're conditioning people to stay at the boundary level and they keep pushing it so he's like there times I knew either I had to show up to a fight and know there would be no fight. It was just that I showed up or that I'd have to fight and kind of get the shit kicked out of me just so they know the next time I'll also show up, which is a crazy concept. It makes me think we're talking Survivor. Maybe there's some angle in the prison system. I'm a big true crime guy that we can have an angle of podcast. Like, you know, training secrets. But like there's something

there. The hockey, the sport of hockey is actually pretty similar to what you're saying. Like there's a code in hockey. If you hit someone from behind, like you're going to get jumped and like you can't not fight like you got to kind of pay for your action or step up to the plate and then if you become a reputation of someone who's just going to turtle and cower like that stays with you so yeah there there there is no bigger um you know social experiment than i think a prison yard um and survivor is so interesting because like you said whatever your strengths are no one has all the strengths right like even kyle admitted like he's he doesn't have all the strengths but I absolutely loved his like people first approach his listening approach I just thought that was fascinating like you said the speed at which he gets paid incredible incredible just realization there and I heard you talking after about some of the other shows so can you confirm when you guys stopped hitting record can you refresh the people's memories at home like squid games for example squid games you don't get paid right away I

think it was a year and a half after. So some of these other shows, it's interesting how they kind of delay the payment and Survivor, just like that you do the finale and then you show up and you have a million dollars in your bank. Like, that's wild. Yeah, we've talked about a lot of shows where you're the lead, the reality shows, like you'll get paid the day you sign, like a quarter of it, you know, the first episode, the last episode, a period after the last episode.

So it could be like a full year or two. We know it's like an ongoing joke with Gabby Winby. I think we talked about, like, how she never got, or she did get paid on traders. It just took a while. By the time she was, like, doing press, she's like, can I get through people like, what's it feel like to win this way? She's like, I don't know. Like, you tell me.

You know, I think, yeah, there's a bunch of them out there. But I think just in general, I actually don't know if I know one show that pays immediately. And I'll even like give you, let's go a step further. And the talent management agency, we run a lot of deals that we are doing. Payment terms can sometimes be like 90 days. So, like, you know, you might do it. Like, I might execute a deal tomorrow with, let's call it, Listerine. And there could be a chance that I don't get paid 90 days until invoice.

Now, of course, our job is trying to negotiate that to be less. But there are some agencies and brands out there who won't do less than 60. So to get paid like this amount, like a million bucks, like almost instantly, that's unheard of. When I was thinking Squid Games, I was thinking to the actual show. Yeah. Oh, yeah. gets out and he goes into his bank account. There's like billions of yen.

Like that was crazy. And what's crazy, too, about the million dollar cash price is it's been the same since season one. I mean, season one was a million dollars. Yeah, Survivor, like inflation. Get with it. Get with it, Survivor. So that was really interesting.

You know, I'll have the question here. What would you do if you had a million dollars in your bank account tomorrow? I think it's something that we've probably asked on the show before. Is there something that you would do if you had a million dollars in your bank account tomorrow? Hmm. I think what I would recommend, I don't know, man, I'm so boring. I would say if you got a million bucks, I use it as like a financial plan, like a financial

safety net. If you can make 5 to 10% off that, you got 50 to 100k of income a year. It's boring, but when you really look at it and everyone really let that sink in, I mean, when you really think about it, he said 359,000 had to go to taxes. So you're really looking at just under 650 here. You could do a lot with that that would make it last a lot longer. and going, you know, buy house. And then it's like, okay, well, how are you going to afford the house?

How are you going to afford the utilities in the house? Now you've got a mortgage or you can't afford. Interesting. Okay. And there's a lot of different tax strategies, which we could talk about on maybe another episode, getting closer to tax season, but like you can take, if you have a million bucks, you can take like a certain amount, say 100K, K, put it into a trust that could be used for non-for-profit only.

You could start your own foundation. Now you're only taxed to 900,000. If you own an LLC, section 179, you can buy a car over 6,000 pounds. appreciate up to 70% of it. Like, there's all these different tactics. Listen, you're, listen to your prison game. It's already just kind of, you're already kind of wheel and deal in the prison game right now.

Shosh and redemption, 2.0 right here. All right, David, anything before we wrap? This is a really cool episode of Survivor. I love the where it went. You guys go ask your friends at home if you were in prison, how would you survive? And you tell us in the reviews, give us five stars. Let us know in the reviews. How would you survive?

And whoever gives the best answer, I got a little giveaway for you. But David, anything before we wrap? No, just I really, like I go back to our guess. I really, really appreciated Kyle's view. I even appreciate his trading secret. Open yourself up to people wherever you are. I just think in today's day and age, in today's society, in today's climate, we turn on the news.

You just don't see that. And I just, I really, really appreciated that. I really appreciated how he was able to connect his upbringing to how he kind of, you know, the difficulties and also the successes that he's had in enacting. that experiences into his current life. Really, really, just a really good, humble guy. And, you know, seems like a very worthy winner of Survivor. So good to get Survivor on the podcast, too.

Always good to represent on the shows. Survivors on the podcast. Another Bill's fan is on the podcast. A lot of action happening in the market out there. One, I'll talk about on the Instagrams and socials and stuff. But in general, it's a wild world we're living in that we are seeing interest rates get cut while markets are at all-time highs. We know right now, typically what happens is when markets are struggling and the economy

struggle a little bit, then you'll see market cuts, but this is all proactive planning or so they're saying from the administration. So we'll see what happens. I mean, there's a lot of moving parts right now. I was out with a realtor this past weekend. I said, what's your take on what the future is? She said, this is the first time in my career. I can truly say, I don't know.

That's because there's so many different moving indicators. But one thing that's great is markets are at all-time high. So don't be sitting on cash because your cash is losing money by the second. Make sure it's invested. But enough of the finance talk. Thank you for tuning into another episode of Trading Secrets, one you couldn't afford to miss. Thank you.