Portrait of Yul Kwon

Yul Kwon

It's a little bit weird for me because I feel like I'm kind of like the godfather or something, arranging a hit on somebody. Survivor 13, E13
Winner

Played on

57 days played

Game record

Vote alignment92%of 13 ballots

95th percentile of 423 castaways

Immunity record0career immunity wins

No wins to rank

Jury vote share56%of 9 jury votes

66th percentile of 125 finalists

Occupation at casting Management Consultant, Product Management Hometown Los Altos, California

Beyond Survivor
Snake in the Grass
Played with 37 castaways across 2 seasons See every connection ↓

Kwon has shared a beach with thirty-seven castaways, inside the most-connected tenth of everyone who has played.

Biography

Yul Kwon won Survivor: Cook Islands (Season 13) with a cerebral, principled game that fans still hold up as a model of intelligent play. Wielding a hidden immunity idol as leverage rather than merely a shield, he calmly negotiated his way through the numbers and delivered a commanding final Tribal Council performance to claim the title.

A management consultant with a Yale law degree, Yul brought a thoughtful, diplomatic style to a season that also became notable for its four-tribes-divided-by-ethnicity twist. He returned as a respected veteran on Survivor: Winners at War (Season 40).

Measured, articulate and strategically sound, Yul Kwon is remembered as one of Survivor's smartest champions, the idol-wielding negotiator who proved brains could win the game outright.

Get to know Yul Kwon

Born in Flushing, Queens, New York The hometown on their cast bio, Los Altos, California, is where they were living when they were picked for the show.

Yul Kwon's own answers from the pre-game cast profile CBS published before the season aired.

Hobbies
Hobbies? You mean the things I used to do before I had kids?
Pet peeves
People who don't wash their hands after using the toilet. I'm a total germophobe.
Inspiration
I once heard someone say that the richness of a person's life isn't measured by money, but by the people in it. I felt inspired by this back then, and continue to believe it today.

Alliances fans have named

Survivor never names an alliance on screen. These names, and who counts as a member, are how the fan community records the game rather than an official record of it.

Birthplace, pre-game profile and alliance facts adapted from Survivor Fandom and Wikipedia, retrieved 2026-07-21. Licensed CC BY-SA.

Fan poll Players

Survivor Hall of Fame: is Yul Kwon in or out?

Tap to vote and see what fans think

Seasons

Season Result Days Tribes Votes against Confessionals
Cook Islands Season 13, 2006 Puka Puka Aitutaki Aitutonga 5 45
Winners at War Season 40, 2020 9th voted out Dakal Sele 3 18

Castaway network

Yul Kwon’s connections

The strongest overlaps are surfaced first; every castmate is organized by season below.

37
castaway connections
21
tribemates
1
repeat castmate
19
winners

Connections worth exploring

Repeat pairings, other-show overlaps, tribe overlap, winners and Survivor veterans rise to the top.

Survivor 13 & 40

Parvati Shallow

4 Survivor seasons

2 seasons together Shared a tribe Winner

Survivor 40

Sarah Lacina

3 Survivor seasons

Shared a tribe Winner

Survivor 40

Tony Vlachos

3 Survivor seasons

Shared a tribe Winner

Every castaway, by season

Open a season for the complete cast list and the context behind each connection.

Cook Islands Season 13, 2006 19 castaways 1 winner 4 returning players View cast

Explore the full Cook Islands cast →

Winners at War Season 40, 2020 19 castaways 19 winners 19 returning players View cast

Explore the full Winners at War cast →

Explore Yul Kwon in the graph → Find a path from Yul Kwon Show me another castaway