Yul Kwon
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[edit] Yul Kwon
Yul Kwon was born in Queens, New York to parents who emigrated from South Korea. The family moved to the West Coast when he was six years old and he was raised in Concord, California. He attended high school at Northgate High in Walnut Creek, California, where he played varsity water polo and track and graduated valedictorian.
Kwon then attended Stanford University and obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in symbolic systems (theoretical computer science). While at Stanford, he received the James Lyons Award for Service, attended officer candidates school for the U.S. Marine Corps and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Kwon went on to receive his Juris Doctor Degree from Yale Law School, where he served on the editorial board of the Yale Law Journal.
Kwon has enjoyed a diverse career straddling both the private and public sectors in law, business and technology. He practiced a mix of litigation, appellate, transactional and regulatory work at several law firms. He also served as a judicial clerk to a federal judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Additionally, he worked as a legislative aide to Senator Joseph Lieberman in Washington, D.C., where he helped draft sections of the Homeland Security Bill and other technology-related legislation. Several years ago, Kwon decided to switch careers and become a management consultant at McKinsey. From there, he joined Google's business strategy group and most recently went back into consulting.
Kwon's favorite hobbies include politics, boxing, ultimate fighting and volunteering with kids. He describes himself as idealistic, compassionate and ambitious. He became passionate about creating awareness for more minority bone marrow donors in the U.S. after launching a major search to find a match for his best friend who was diagnosed with leukemia, but ultimately succumbed to the disease.
Kwon is a member of the Washington, D.C. and California State Bar Associations. He is also a member of the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity.
Kwon currently resides in San Mateo, California. His birth date is February 14, 1975
[edit] Survivor: Cook Islands
Managment Consultant Yul Kwon was originally placed on the Puka Puka tribe when the game originally began. His tribe consisted of: Becky Lee, Jenny Guzon-Bae, Cao Boi Bui, and Brad Virata. Since the second day of the game, Yul and Becky had a strong friendship and built a solid alliance. The Puka Puka tribe won the first two immunity challenges protecting all five members for six days. However when the Aitu tribe threw the second Immunity Challenge, courtesy of Oscar Lusth, they decided to send Yul to Exile Island. During his stint on Exile Island he ended up finding the Hidden Immunity Idol, which would later drastically affect the game. On the seventh day of the game the tribes were merged with only Cao Boi, Yul, and Becky from Puka Puka on the New Aitu tribe. Aitu lost the first Immunity Challenge and it looked like Oscar Lusth and his alliance with Cecilia and Sundra could persuade Cao Boi Bui and Jessica "Flicka" Smith to vote out Becky Lee. At this point Yul had to go into damage mode and convince Cao Boi and Flicka to vote out Cecilia. It worked and she became the thrid person voted out. Aitu went on to win the next two mmunities and was safe from the vote and only had to go to tribal council again due to a mandatory Double Tribal Council, where Christina was voted out of Raro and Yul and the rest of the Aitu tribe lost former Puka Puka member Cao Boi Bui. Aitu lost the next Immunity as well and voted out Jessica "Flicka" Smith who was Cao Boi's ally. At this point, the alliance made up of Yul, Becky, Jonathan Penner, and Candice Woodcock seemed pretty solid. Little did Yul know that Candice had intentions of realligning with former original Raro members Adam Gentry and Parvarti Shallow to create a white alliance threesome which wouldn't include Jonathan Penner as a true member but merely an extra vote to help them progress to the Final Four. During the Final Twelve, members of both tribes were given the oppurtunity to join the opposing tribe. Candice Woodcock jumped ship, followed by Jonathan who believed he was solid with Candice. Leaving Aitu down to four people: Yul Kwon, Sundra Oakley, Oscar Lusth, and Becky Lee. The Aitu Four dominated the rest of the challenges forcing Raro to vote out three consecutive members: Brad Virata and Jenny Guzon-Bae of the original Puka Puka tribe and Rebecca Borman of the original Hiki Tribe.
The two tribes merged into Aitutonga, and Yul still possessed the Hidden Immunity Idol and was safe at least until the Final Eight. Although the members of the Raro tribe had a hand up on the original Aitu tribe. But Yul convinced Jonathan to rejoin the alliance and vote with them to get rid of Nate Gonzalez or else they would vote him out within the next two rounds. Jonathan did so and Nate was voted out and became the fourth member of the jury. The Aitu Four finally had some control in the game and during a Final Eight Reward Challenge, Yul admitted he had the Hidden Immunity Idol and revealed it in front of the other contestants. Surprisingly no one seemed to care and he didn't receive a vote since the first merge tribal council. Candice Woodcock was the next to leave despite her attempt to get rid of Jonathan. However Adam Gentry and his ally Parvarti Shallow threatened they wouldn't vote for Yul if he made Final Two if he didn't get rid of Jonathan before them. He listened and Jonathan Pennner was unanimously voted out at the next tribal council with only Adam receiving a single vote. From there on Yul continued with his plans and voted out Adam and Parvarti making The Aitu Four the Final Four. On Day 38, Jeff announced to the group of four that this year would have a Final Three rather than Final Two. Oscar won Immunity and Yul still had the Idol meaning Sundra and Becky were vulnerable. In order to try and protect his ally he offered Becky the idol, she declined. At that tribal council the four of them forced a tie. Becky survived the tie-breaker which took over two hours to complete due to their lack of skills and laziness on the island, sending Sundra Oakley home.
[edit] Tribal Council History
| Episode | Voted For | Received Votes From |
|---|---|---|
| Episode 3 | Cecilia | None |
| Episode 6 | Cao Boi | None |
| Episode 7 | Jessica | None |
| Episode 10 | Nathan | Nathan, Parvati, Adam, Candace |
| Episode 11 | Candace | None |
| Episode 12 | Jonathan | None |
| Episode 13 | Parvati | None |
| Episode 14 (First TC) | Adam | Adam |
| Episode 14 (Second TC) | Sundra | None |
| Episode 14 (Jury) | N/A | Jonathan, Candace, Adam, Sundra, Brad |
[edit] Challenge History
[edit] Memorable Moments
- Yul revealing to the seven others he had the Hidden Immunity Idol
- Being proclaimed by many as "The Puppet Master"
- Beating out Oscar in the Final Vote
- Being seen in a geeky photo during a Reward Challenge
- Being a member of The Aitu Four
[edit] Trivia
- First Asian American winner
- First to defeat two other Survivors in the final tribal council
- First to find the "Hidden Immunity Idol" and win the game
- First male winner to not win an individual challenge (Sandra Diaz-Twine was the first winner)
- First Survivor Contestant to be Immune For Every Single Tribal Council
- Parents Emmigrated from South Korea
- Graduated from Stanford
- Received Juris Doctor from Yale Law School
- Former employee of McKinsey and Google
