What Has Survivor: Cook Islands Winner, Yul Kwon, Been Up To Since the Show?
When Yul won Survivor: Cook Islands, he vowed to use his winnings to make a difference in the Asian community. It looks like he was being sincere. According to Examiner.com:
“[All the money] is still sitting in a bank account — in a checking account, not even collecting interest. I don’t know what to do with it,” Kwon said.
On Valentine’s Day, which happened to be Kwon’s 32nd birthday, he decided to give $50,000 of his cash from winning “Survivor: The Cook Islands” to the Asian American Donor Program, in the hopes the money will help educate Asian-Americans about the importance of bone marrow donation.
His childhood friend and college roommate Evan Chen was diagnosed with leukemia during their sophomore year at Stanford. Chen finally found a bone-marrow donor, but it was too late.
According to Jonathan Leong, chairman of the AADP, Asian-Americans and other minorities often don’t come forward and register to be a donor or seek a donor because of cultural stigmas.
“In Chinese culture, for example, giving blood is considered unsanitary,” he said.
On a related note, Yul has definitely made ammends with his former Survivor rival, Candice. According to an article in the Fayetteville Observer, he and fellow Survivor veteran, Becky both went to Candice’s father in North Carolina to have Lasik surgery.
Apparently, the three survivors are now friends. The article tells that:
“After the show, we were able to put all [the drama] aside,” said Yul, who will be 32 on Feb. 14. “We’re actually close friends.”
Becky, who is 29, has become good friends with Candice, too. Candice is a graduate student at Georgetown University in Washington and is applying to enroll in medical school. She and Becky watched the show together every Thursday last fall.
Until recently, Becky said, she didn’t know that Candice’s father was an eye doctor and performed the procedure. Candice was able to ease Becky’s fears about having someone operate on her eyes, Becky said.
Becky and Yul arrived in Fayetteville on Thursday and had dinner with Candice’s family. (For the record, Yul and Becky are just friends.)
Yul said an eye infection during the show forced him to wear glasses instead of contact lenses, which made swimming and competing in physical challenges difficult.
Photos from WireImage.com and the Fayetteville Observer.
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POSTED IN: Reality Stars, Survivor: Cook Islands
1 opinion for What Has Survivor: Cook Islands Winner, Yul Kwon, Been Up To Since the Show?
Oolong
Jul 13, 2007 at 3:23 am
Yul Kwon is a CHAMP. Definitely my hero and he’s such a cool and admirable guy. :) Survivor winners should learn from him!
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