Kenneth "Ken" Cole McNickle[2] is a contestant from Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X.
A mostly reserved and quiet contestant, Ken was on the outs with his original tribe with the exception of fellow outsider David Wright. After David saved Jessica Lewis from an early blindside, the three grew to what would eventually become the most prevalent post-merge alliance. Ken proved himself to be a hard worker around camp, becoming the main provider for the tribe, as well as a strong physical competitor, winning four individual Immunity Challenges. Ken eventually blindsided his ally David, fearing he was too big of a threat to win, at the penultimate Tribal Council. Ultimately, Ken's lack of strategic gameplay for most of the season garnered him no votes at the Final Tribal Council.
Profile
Retrieved from CBS.com
Name: Ken McNickle
Age: 33
Current residence: Denver, CO
Occupation: Model
Tribe designation: Takali (Gen-X)
Three words to describe you: Driven, mindful, and perceptive.
Hobbies: Anything outdoors (i.e. hiking, camping and fishing), playing and watching music, and dancing.
Pet peeves: Superficial connections and communication.
What does it mean to be a Gen-Xer? It's a generation of hard workers who were on the cusp of some incredible social, political and technological shifts. We are competent and capable in the "new world" yet are happy outside, while disconnected from our devices.
Personal claim to fame: The development of my non-profit, HumaneKind.
Inspiration in life: I admire the Dalai Lama's compassion, wisdom with forgiveness, and willingness to give of himself.
If you could have three things on the island, what would they be and why? A ukulele to play and sing with; a good book because I love inspiring literature; and a frisbee because no one is ever down throwing one around.
Survivor contestant you're most like: Ozzy Lusth (Cook Islands, Micronesia, South Pacific) because of his easy temperament, his fierce competitiveness, his resourcefulness, and knowledge of how to survive in the wild. Also, he seems idealistic and optimistic, in general.
Reason for being on Survivor: To win! To show my daughter my strengths and what it looks like to fight for something.
Why do you think you'll "survive" Survivor? I have the outdoor skills and physical attributes to be an asset to those around me, and I understand and read people well enough to know where to position myself.[3]
Survivor
Despite being the youngest member of the Gen-X tribe, Ken seemed to agree more with the Gen-X lifestyle. However, his slow-trust-building approach to the game apparently prevented him from being included in the majority alliance. His strengths in challenges and camp life kept the target firmly on the other outsiders, but Ken still aligned with David Wright and CeCe Taylor to have some degree of power. He had a mostly one-sided on his part rivalry with Paul Wachter, and heavily pushed to vote him out. When he succeeded, he unfortunately uncovered a new Gen-X "dictator" in Lucy Huang. Ken tried to convince Jessica Lewis to join his alliance in voting out Lucy, but Jessica did not trust him. Despite his conflict with Lucy, he did not vote against her, but his allies David and CeCe succeeded in ousting her when David played his idol on Jessica. After Tribal Council, Jessica showed Ken the Legacy Advantage and promised to give it to him if she's voted out. Ken and Jessica would then work together the rest of the game, voting out Figgy Figueroa after the tribe switch and working together in the majority alliance post-merge until Jessica drew the black rock in a tiebreaker and was eliminated. Ken received the Legacy Advantage the next day.
In the final nine days of the game, Ken emerged from the background and made some moves on occasion, but was still overshadowed by his more strategic allies David Wright, Adam Klein, and Hannah Shapiro. Ken nearly blew up his alliance's game by "testing" Will Wahl on Day 33, which only infuriated Will and nearly made Will flip back to his original alliance. On Day 36, Ken activated his Legacy Advantage which gave him immunity and negated a vote against him from Jay Starrett. On Day 37, faced with the decision to vote out either Bret LaBelle or David, Ken stayed loyal to David. Concerned with the fallout if she were to blindside David and leave Ken in the game without him, Hannah Shapiro voted with David and Ken against Bret. On Day 38, Adam Klein and Hannah both tried to convince Ken to turn on David to have any shot at winning the game. Ken surprised everyone, especially the jury, by voting against David. This big move proved to be too little too late as he received no jury votes to win at Final Tribal Council, him and Hannah both losing unanimously to Adam.
Voting History
| Ken's Voting History | ||
|---|---|---|
| Episode | Ken's Votes |
Voted Against Ken |
| 1 | Rachel | - |
| 2 | Takali Tribe Immune | |
| 3 | Paul | - |
| 4 | - | |
| 5 | Takali Tribe Immune | |
| 6 | Figgy | Figgy, Taylor |
| 7 | Takali Tribe Immune | |
| 8 | Michelle | - |
| 9 | Taylor | Individual Immunity |
| 10 | Chris | - |
| 11 | Zeke; Zeke2 |
-2 |
| 12 | Zeke | - |
| 13 | Will | - |
| Sunday | Individual Immunity | |
| 14 | Jay | |
| Bret | Individual Immunity | |
| David | Individual Immunity | |
| Jury Votes for Ken |
- | |
| Co-Runner-Up, Day 39 | ||
^1 In Who's the Sucker at the Table?, David used a Hidden Immunity Idol on Jessica, negating Ken's vote against her.
^2 In Million Dollar Gamble (Part 2), David used a Hidden Immunity Idol on Ken, but did not negate any votes against him. Also, the vote ended with a 5-5 tie between Hannah and Zeke, forcing a revote. Ken did not change his vote on the revote. Because of the Hidden Immunity Idol, Ken did not have to participate in the rock draw.
^3 In I'm Going for a Million Bucks, Ken used his Legacy Advantage akin to a Hidden Immunity Idol. This negated one vote against him.
Post-Survivor
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it.
Trivia
- Ken ties with Denise Stapley, Mick Trimming, Natalie White, Russell Hantz (in Samoa), and Spencer Bledsoe (in Cambodia) for the most Tribal Councils attended in a season, with 15 (including the Final Tribal Council).
- Ken is the youngest member of the original Takali tribe.
- Ken is the first person to use the Legacy Advantage.
- Ken is the first person from an "older" tribe to reach the Final Tribal Council.
References
| Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X Castaways | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||
