Myles Kuah Crowned As First Queer Winner Of Australian Survivor
Image: Image: Channel 10/CBS
Overnight season ten of Australian Survivor Brains V Brawn 2 came to a dramatic conclusion, crowning their first ever queer winner, Myles Kuah.
Season ten of the hit show wrapped up with Myles Kuah, AJ Antonios and Kaelan Lockhart battling it out to be the sole survivor.
After a tense final tribal council a historic winner was crowned.
A first for Australian Survivor
Over ten seasons Australian Survivor has seen a range of different LGBTQIA+ contestants on the program, each with a different story to tell.
From Craig I’Anson in season one, through to iconic players like George Mladenov and Kirby Bentley in recent seasons.
However unlike the US season which has seen four openly queer winners, including season one champion Richard Hatch, no queer player has ever snatched the title in Australia.
This year saw three openly queer players in Paulie Michael, Laura Noonan and Myles Kuah who represented three very different parts of queer life.
Monday nights finale saw Myles Kuah as the last remaining queer contestant make it to the final three of the program, where he ultimately joined the final two beside the seasons loveable Kaelan Lockhart.
After a tense final tribal council the jury voted and awarded Myles the title of Sole Survivor and the $500,000 prize that comes with it.
View this post on Instagram
While Myles was known for his remarkable game play during the show, he also captivated audiences with his quirky personality throughout the series.
Early on in the series in a throwaway line he quipped that he was “I’m biracial, bisexual, and bitribal” opening the door for more bisexual visibility on our screens, however this was never even his intention.
When speaking to the Star Observer early in the season he said “It was a funny line, and I was glad it made the edit. It’s cool if someone sees that and thinks, ‘Hey, there’s a bit of representation for me.’”
Myles was just happy to be playing the game as his authentic self, “I’m not out there screaming from the rooftops about it, but I’m also not trying to hide it. It’s just part of who I am” he said.
While other contestants sexuality sometimes formed a distinct part of the narrative, for Myles it was a lot more subtle “You don’t often get a big, emotional scene where someone’s like, ‘And this is when I realised I was bisexual,’” he recalled.
Gay contestants have often had much for visible representation on the program, but for the bisexual community it’s not been something as visible. “There’s definitely been lots of people on Survivor who are bisexual, but it’s not something people tend to talk about,” he says. “You usually know who the gay contestants are because it becomes part of their storyline, but bisexual people often just slide under the radar.”
As a young bisexual man, at only twenty three years old, Myles represents a different generation of queer people “I’m more of a weird, nerdy, Gen Z queer. It’s nice to have different kinds of representation” he said.
“I love that I can represent different groups—whether it’s being Asian, a nerd, bisexual, or even a pole dancer,” he says. “If someone out there sees me and thinks, ‘Hey, that’s a little bit like me,’ then that’s pretty cool.”
Myles is now the tenth winner of the series, since the reboot in 2016 and now the proud owner of the title of Sole Survivor and healthy prize package of $500,000.
View this post on Instagram
Leave a Reply