Kyland Young fancied himself a superhero in the Big Brother house. He had an origin story, going from being in danger Week 1 to taking out the Joker who put him there the very next week. He had a rise to power, becoming an integral member of the “Cookout” alliance while leading the season in competition wins. But Kyland let those “heroics” get to his head, taking out several allies and setting up a harder endgame to “beat the best.” And in the end, it was him who got beat, as he was shocked to go out in fourth place at the hands of the very people he spent the past few weeks protecting. Cinephile Kyland had an eventful opening scene to his BB blockbuster. He was one of the many attractions in Brandon “Frenchie” French’s Funhouse, completely blindsided by his nomination due to the farmer’s paranoia he was coming for him. Kyland survived the week thanks to the veto prowess of Derek Xiao, and exacted revenge the next week when he won Head of Household. And that protection around him grew as the secret “Cookout” alliance formed, with the goal of guaranteeing the first Black winner in the show’s history. Kyland helped contribute to that goal by winning several more competitions, and convincing his other allies when they were in power (like Derek and Sarah Beth Steagall) to avoid going after other members. Though effective, it did not earn him a lot of goodwill, as some were unhappy with both his tact and emotional manipulation. Despite those criticisms, Kyland got to the final six with the Cookout in a very good spot to take the $750,000. After winning HoH for the third time, he was caught between two finale deals: One with the men (Xavier Prather and Derek Frazier, and one with two of the women (Tiffany Mitchell and Hannah Chaddha). Unfortunately for the latter, Kyland had convinced himself that he wanted to end the game beating the greatest of the season, and made himself the Magneto to Xavier’s…Xavier. He protected his fellow “Gentleman” through the second double eviction, and was visualizing a spot in those Final Two chairs this past week. But Xavier had other plans. Though Kyland had loyalty, he had a competition history, compared to Azah Awasum. So he convinced Derek to evict Kyland, breaking their deal and stunning him on the live show. In his last minutes in the Big Brother house, Kyland had a complain to register towards Xavier, in a tense and personal conversation, going so far as to tell him that he could no longer be an inspiration to his nephew outside of the game. Now on the way to the jury house, Kyland talks with Parade.com about how he looks back on what he said to Xavier on the way out, his decision to hint at an alliance in his goodbye messages, and why chose Xavier as “the best” to beat. We have to start with what happened after your eviction. What made you decide to confront Xavier, and how do you look back on your exit after the fact? I look back on it pretty okay. I’m somewhat of a literal and objective person. Objectively speaking, the things that I said to Xavier were true. I was only bringing up things we had discussed as far as the type of gameplay and representation that we wanted the first Black winner of Big Brother to have. We had admiration for people like Kobe Bryant, Goku, and other characters who tend to prioritize going head-to-head with the best over simply finding the easy or simple win. This is Big Brother. Finding the easy or simple win is absolutely a respectable and strategic decision. It’s just not the type of representation that I wanted to have. I thought that was something Xavier and I shared. He told me he and his family valued that. I brought up those conversations in the terms he had shared them with me. As far as people looking at the words I said, I feel perfectly fine with those. Of course, any personal offense he or his family chooses to take from that, I would say that’s something I feel compassion for. I would even apologize; I don’t intend that. Hopefully they can look at the actual words that I said and take them in proper context, given previous conversations Xavier and I had. During your HoH reigns, you would organize meetings to take in as much information as possible while giving very little out. What led to this strategy, considering how much information is currency in Big Brother? Information is currency and power. I would conduct all my meetings in a way that gathered information without giving anything out, especially anything valuable. Especially in terms of my line of thinking. Part of that had to do with the fact that we had the Cookout. A lot of that information had to stay covert and hidden. Another part of it was, even within the Cookout, we had some members that, at some times, were emotional and could talk more than would be strategically the best decisions. (Laughs.) I wanted to make sure we all move forward. Considering the opportunities I had in positions of power and proximity of power, I think the proof is in the pudding. We got all six to the end, and I’m very proud to have a role in that. I hope my information I was able to gather helped. You made close bonds with people like Sarah Beth and Derek X., though you eventually got rid of them to serve the Cookout. How difficult was it to make those sacrifices, and why did you choose to hint at an alliance to them in your goodbye messages? I cannot overstate my love for Derek X. and Sarah Beth. They are two incredible people who I built very real friendships with, and very real and strong bonds. I was beyond pained for having to help orchestrate and facilitate their evictions. For me, I felt it was very important that no one who left felt they were being toyed with or were dumb. While they were in the house, I wanted them primed to see, “These things that didn’t make sense make more sense if there was a big alliance working together.” Obviously I couldn’t give out the fact that it was the Cookout, because everyone had their own preferences and privacy. But as far as me hinting at them that there are people working together for a particular reason, that was important to me. I wanted to make sure they were making bad decisions. It was things they couldn’t see. And I hope that’s how they took it. I love them so much; I think they’re amazing players. And I’d hate for them to feel otherwise. At one point you decided to go to the end with Xavier, saying you wanted to “beat the best.” What made you pursue this line of thinking, and choose Xavier over other members of the Cookout to sit next to? I looked at Xavier as the strongest member of the Cookout. He had a well-rounded game. Being a good player in Big Brother means being competent and having an extreme proficiency in one of three categories: Being good in competitions, being good as a social player, and being good as a strategic player. Xavier was someone who had a decent proficiency in all of those. There were other players that just a social game or some combination of social and strategic. The latter to me was Tiffany. She had an incredible proficiency in social and strategic game…and competition-wise. The only reason I eventually decided on Xavier over Tiffany was because, for me, a priority of the season was representation. As soon as we solidified the final six and ensured this season would have its first Black winner, I wanted to think about what does that winner look like. Since we already have this storybook idealistic season, I thought, “Why not take it to the next level?” By Tiffany’s own admission, she started making decisions that were selfish and were poor strategically towards the end of the game. She said that in her own words to me. So at that point, I had to prioritize Xavier as the person to sit next to. That’s a decision I still feel good about. Let’s finish with some rapid-fire thoughts about your fellow houseguests. Starting with Azah. I think of the words “elegant,” “open,” and “witty.“Derek F. I think of “fun” and “loving.” He’s such an emotional, loving guy. He loves to make jokes, but his heart’s big.And finally, Xavier. Someone who’s driven, determined, and disciplined. Next, check out our interview with Hannah Chaddha, who was evicted in Week 10 as part of the second double eviction of the season.
