Alice Coster: Quirky, geeky Jungle Rat the winner we all need more of
The muscles, business moguls, egos and hubris always come in strong in Survivor but often it’s the nerd archetype who outwits everyone — and this is what makes the show essential viewing.
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The Jungle Rat wins.
Which is exactly why Survivor is essential viewing.
We are all still reeling from watching UK hit miniseries Adolescence, putting the spotlight on toxic masculinity, loneliness, the gender divide and boys left to their own devices.
The psychological crime drama highlighted the shadowy sphere of Andrew Tate-style misogyny barking into online TikTok algorithms, with misguided thinking of an 80/20 rule (which posits that 80 per cent of women are attracted to 20 per cent of men).
Basically every parent’s worst nightmare, the No.1-rating Netflix series and conversation starter painted a grim portrait of modern boyhood and has stuck in the head ever since.
But Monday night’s finale of Australian Survivor’s 10th epic series has levelled the decks (and anxiety) somewhat.
After 46 days of outwitting, outlasting and outplaying their opponents on the Samoan beachfront, Myles Kuah, aka the Jungle Rat, aka the financial analyst, Dungeons and Dragons diehard and sometimes pole dancer, won.
It wasn’t the bicep-curling boofheads from the Brawn team, or the crafty cute AFL WAG, but the scrawny, pimply Asian guy with glasses from the Brains tribe who took home the ultimate sole Survivor crown and $500,000 prize pool.
Me and the 12-year-old were gunning for Myles from the beginning. A big “strategic player” he got under the beefcakes and pretty boys skin from the get go, had gumption and some big ol’ cahoonas in making some big moves and changing the game while not afraid to ruffle feathers.
The muscles, business moguls, egos and hubris always come in strong in Survivor. But more often than not they fall short, getting too in their tribes faces, their brute strength proving a threat, or their inefficiency at playing a social and strategic game. They expect their tribe to follow them blindly, so make for the most epic blindsides.
It’s often the nerd or geek archetype who outplays and outwits. Like Myles they have unique ways of analysing the game, are surprisingly good at forming alliances and making effective decision-making and use their intelligence to their advantage. It’s their low-key appeal against the “alphas” that make them so, well, appealing.
The 12-year-old and I have been tuning into Australian Survivor together for about five series, since “I was about seven,” he pipes up playing ping pong. We love seeing who will fall over in immunity challenges, what decisions we would have made, and discuss in length the scoundrels only out to go under the radar and who is best at “strat-chats” (Survivor-speak for ”strategy chats”) and making the most at tribal council.
We loved political strategist King George’s scheming in 2021, but went off him when he started getting a bit too full of himself. We thought AFLW player Kirby in Titans vs Rebels rocked for her sheer grit and determination.
But Jungle Rat Myles, who self refers as “”bisexual, biracial, bi-tribal” has been our clear favourite. Often finding himself at the bottom of the tribe in terms of popularity and alliances, he would crawl and worm his way out by making bold audacious moves. He was the idol-finding underdog who garnered more votes against him in a single season than any player in Australian Survivor history.
He won the title of sole Survivor with almost a clean sweep of the jury against the kind-hearted handsome challenge beast Kaelyn, proving himself the most popular against all odds at the end of the day.
We all need more bespectacled characters like Myles, who are not afraid to let their personalities, quirks and even pole twerks shine bright.
Originally published as Alice Coster: Quirky, geeky Jungle Rat the winner we all need more of
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