Local man wins 'Survivor'

His former competitors awarded Yul Kwon, the "godfather” of the CBS game "Survivor: Cook Islands,” with the $1 million top prize Sunday in a classic finale that pitted brains vs. brawn.

Kwon, a 31-year-old management consultant who lives in San Mateo, took home the $1 million top prize in the live finale of the CBS game "Survivor: Cook Islands.” The soft-spoken strategic whiz bested Oscar "Ozzy” Lusth, the effortless athlete who dominated physical challenges as the game neared its end.

It was clear by the turnout last night at Kingfish restaurant that Kwon knows a thing or two about keeping people on his good side. He also knows how to keep a low profile. Very few contestants voted against him during the 14-week show.

"I don’t think he made a single mistake,” said friend Tom Lee. "It was almost silly how much better he was than everyone else.”

Lee met Kwon during their freshman year at Yale Law School in 1997. Lee and his wife flew in from Mexico to watch the finale with friends. Kwon, however, was in Los Angeles with his brother and best friend for the filming of the live finale. Kwon was in town on Thursday to watch the second-to-last episode of the show with approximately 100 friends at Moons Family Sports Bar and Grill. At that point, even Kwon didn’t know he was the winner.

Kwon has degrees from both Yale and Stanford University. He grew up in Clayton, but now only lives a few blocks from downtown San Mateo, according to long-time friend Cathy, who preferred to be identified only by her first name.

Both Cathy and Kwon were among many Asian-Americans recruited for the show. Since the show began by segregating tribes by race, producers had to locate enough players to form Asian, Hispanic and Black tribes. Cathy was too busy to apply, but Kwon was "in transition” and decided to take a chance. The decision surprised friends who describe Kwon as a quiet person who doesn’t invest much time watching reality television.

This year’s finale was a cliffhanger. With the money on the line, it was a 5-4 vote.

"It’s the first time I’ve ever felt bad that somebody didn’t win,” host Jeff Probst said. "It was so evenly matched.”

Kwon controlled the strategic aspect of the game, particularly after he found a hidden piece of jewelry that guaranteed him one-time immunity from being voted off the island.

"The key to winning the game is maximizing the good luck and minimizing the bad luck,” he said later.

Lusth, who has two years of Santa Barbara City College on his resume and works as a waiter in Venice, mastered the tropical game’s challenges. He won two very different ones on the show’s final two-hour telecast Sunday: winning a race to complete a complex puzzle, and showing his endurance by standing on a tiny platform for two and a half hours.

For the first time, "Survivor” brought a third contestant into the final vote, but 28-year-old Rebekah "Becky” Lee was a non-factor.

For a game that began in racial controversy, it turned into a showcase for the nation’s diversity, according to Kwon.

"Survivor” producers were criticized for segregating four, four-person teams along ethnic lines at the game’s start: white, black, Hispanic and Asian American.

The game’s final four contestants included a black woman, Mexican-born man and two Asian-Americans. The fourth was Sundra Oakley, a 31-year-old actress from Los Angeles.

Those four people made up the game’s Aitu tribe, which at one point competed against the eight-member Raro tribe. Methodically, that core group of four voted all eight of the others out of the game, the final one Sunday being Adam Gentry, 28, a copy machine salesman who lives in San Diego.

Lee hoped to garner votes by convincing her former tribe members that she had mastered the social aspect of the game, in order to survive so long.

They weren’t buying it, particularly after Lee and Oakley had to compete in a tie-breaking contest that required them to build and sustain a fire. After an hour failing with a flint, Probst gave them matches. Lee won because Oakley ran out of matches.

"After 35 days out here, you should both know how to make fire,” Probst scolded.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.