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Jay Byars is a contestant from Survivor: One World.

A member of the Muscle Alliance, Jay was the third victim of the Salani Alliance after the merge.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

Name (Age): Jay Byars (25)
Tribe Designation: Manono
Current Residence: Gaffney, S.C.
Occupation: Model
Personal Claim to Fame: Being a part of four different mission trips to four different countries.
Inspiration in Life: Bear Grylls – that guy is crazy! And, I just found out he is a Christian. I love his "I can go anywhere and do anything mentality."
Hobbies: Working out, indoor rock climbing and motocross.
Pet Peeves: Smacking gum, bad breath and clingy texters.
3 Words to Describe You: Active, daring and charming.
Survivor Contestant You Are Most Like: Colby or Rupert. They tried to play the game fair and honest, but they didn't have the physical ability to perform. I would choose their game play and my physicality.
Reason for Being on Survivor: To experience life in an exciting and challenging way. I want to discover who I am and see if I can really outsmart everyone.
Why You Think You'll "Survive" Survivor: I have heart. Plus, I'm very level headed. I'm going to be calm and consistent when people are breaking down.
Why You Think You Will Be the Sole Survivor: I know that I have the will and the skill to make it to the end. I have overcome a lot in life, and who you are is how you play. I'm a winner.[1]

Survivor[]

Jay started the game on the all-male Manono tribe. He was initially in the Muscle Alliance, along with Matt Quinlan, Bill Posley, and Michael Jefferson, who successfully led their tribe to 3 back-to-back victories, winning one Reward Challenge and two Immunity Challenges. However, this alliance's mistake was isolating themselves with an obvious 4-man alliance in a tribe of 9.

On Day 2, Sabrina Thompson from the Salani tribe found a Hidden Immunity Idol that was not for her tribe. She gave it to Colton who used it to create a 5-man alliance in order to vote out the muscle alliance. When Jay noticed that the power was no longer in his hands, he was forced to change strategies and align with Colton and took part in voting out Matt and Bill from his former alliance despite being against the idea of voting out the latter.

During the tribe switch, Jay was switched to the Salani tribe and since he was in the minority group with a 3-4 disadvantage; he was forced to create a new alliance with Troyzan Robertson, Kim Spradlin, and Chelsea Meissner, the latter two eventually taking control of their tribe and later on, the merge.

This new Salani tribe seemed unbeatable and won 3 straight challenges and were shocked to find out that they were merging with 12 people. This led Jay to question whether it was still Men vs. Women or Salani vs. Manono.

The entire Salani tribe agreed that it would have been better off if they kept it Salani vs. Manono, so they targeted the biggest threat from the Manono tribe, Jonas Otsuji.

Having speculations on whether the girls' intentions, they targeted Alicia Rosa, who was the biggest female threat from the Manono tribe, but Kim and Sabrina plotted against the men, which confirmed that they had no intention of keeping it Salani vs. Manono. They told Troyzan that Salani member Michael was planting seeds in everyone's head that Troyzan was going to win and that everyone needed to eliminate him as soon as possible, which convinced Jay and Troyzan to vote out another man.

Troyzan had speculations on whether the girls were really on their side, so he and Jay talked to everyone in the Salani tribe and asked them to vote for female Manono member Alicia Rosa to confirm that they were really keeping it Salani vs. Manono. All the women confirmed it, but they were really planning to vote out Jay or Troyzan; since Chelsea Meissner won the Immunity Challenge (which Jay forfeited for chicken wings and beer), all the women banded together but because Kim was afraid of a Hidden Immunity Idol, she decided to split the votes so that if one would be played, it would still be either Jay or Troyzan going home.

Troyzan actually had a Hidden Immunity Idol and tried to rally the rest of the tribe to vote out Kim minutes before Tribal Council, but Jay felt that he could trust Kim and Chelsea and had actually wanted to vote Troyzan out at some point in the game so he warned Kim about Troyzan's Idol and intentions and proposed that they go along with their plan to vote out Alicia to flush out the Idol then blindside Troyzan at the next Tribal Council.

However, despite Troyzan's attempts to save himself by using his Hidden Immunity Idol to keep himself in the game, it was really Jay who needed it after getting 5 votes from a 5-2-1-0 split vote.

At Final Tribal Council, Jay stayed true to his friendship with Kim, giving her his jury vote who would win in a 7-2-0 vote over Sabrina and Chelsea.

Episode Tribe
Affiliation
Challenge Challenge Type Sit-Out? Result
1 Manono Free Fallin' Reward/Immunity No Won1
2 D.I.Y. Knots Reward No Won
By the Numbers Immunity No Won
3 Shut Your Trap Reward No Lost
Ow Pairs Immunity Yes Lost
4 Coco Connection Reward No Lost
Puzzle Relay Immunity No Won2
Switched Tribes, Day 12
5 Salani Dear Liza Reward No Won
Basket Brawl Immunity No Won
6 Coco Pops Reward No Won
Tribes Merged, Night 17
7 Tikiano Sea Turtles Reward Won
Rollerballs Immunity Lost
8 7UP Reward Lost
Odd Shaped Bottoms Immunity Won
9 D.I.Y. Ladder Tree Golf Reward Won
When It Rains, It Pours Immunity Lost
Voted Out, Day 25
Notes:
^1 Kourtney from Salani was removed from the challenge, preventing Salani from completing the challenge, so Manono won by default.
^2 Manono unanimously agreed to give up their immunity to Salani before Tribal Council.

Episode Jay's
Votes
Voted Against
Jay
1 Manono Tribe Immune
2 Manono Tribe Immune
3 Matt -
4 Bill -
5 Salani Tribe Immune
6 No Vote
7 Jonas -
8 Michael Individual Immunity
9 Alicia Alicia, Christina, Kim,
Sabrina, Tarzan
Voted Out, Day 25
Voted for
Sole Survivor
Kim

Post-Survivor[]

  • Jay and Philippines contestant Pete Yurkowski competed in The Price Is Right Male Model Search.[2] Jay made it to final three, but lost in the public vote to James O'Halloran.[3][4]
  • On December 31, 2014, Jay, along with the other two Male Models finalists (Jonathan and winner James O'Halloran), briefly appeared modeling prizes on 'Best of 2014' The Price Is Right episode aired on New Year's Eve 2014.[5]
  • In 2015, Jay married his girlfriend during Labor Day Weekend.[6]

Trivia[]

  • Jay originally applied for The Amazing Race with a member of his church who was a fan of the show. Jay was later called back and asked to apply for Survivor instead.[7]
  • According to fellow One World castaway Colton Cumbie's exit interview with Reality TV Magazine, Jay was intended to be the recipient of Colton's Hidden Immunity Idol during his medical evacuation. But due to Jay now being a Salani member and Colton's worry of possibly ruining Jay's strategy, Colton decided to keep the idol for himself.[8][9]
  • Jay lost 30 lbs. during his time in One World.[10]

References[]

Survivor: One World Castaways
 Alicia
Salani
S24 alicia t
 Bill
Manono
S24 bill t
 Chelsea
Salani
S24 chelsea t
 Christina
Salani
S24 christina t
 Colton
Manono
S24 colton t
 Jay
Manono
S24 jay t
 Jonas
Manono
S24 jonas t
 Kat
Salani
S24 kat t
 Kim
Salani
S24 kim t
 Kourtney
Salani
S24 kourtney t
 Leif
Manono
S24 leif t
 Matt
Manono
S24 matt t
 Michael
Manono
S24 michael t
 Monica
Salani
S24 monica t
 Nina
Salani
S24 nina t
 Sabrina
Salani
S24 sabrina t
 Tarzan
Manono
S24 tarzan t
 Troyzan
Manono
S24 troyzan t
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