Jay Byars

Jay Byars is a contestant from.

Profile
Name (Age): Jay Byars (25) Tribe Designation: Manono, Salani, Tikiano 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.

Survivor: One World
Jay Byars 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 only making a 4-man alliance in a tribe of 9.

During Episode 1, 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.

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 men vs. women. 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 a hamburger 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.

Post-Survivor

 * Jay and contestant Pete Yurkowski are competing in  Male Model Search. Jay made it to Final Three but lost in the public vote to James O'Halloran.
 * On December 31, 2014, Jay, along with the other two Male Models finalists (including winner James O'Halloran), briefly appeared modeling prizes on 'Best of 2014' The Price Is Right special.

Trivia

 * According to fellow One World castaway Colton Cumbie's exit interview with Reality TV Magazine, Jay was intended to be the original 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.
 * Jay originally applied for The Amazing Race.
 * Jay is the first contestant to be voted out on Day 25.
 * Jay voted off every member of his original alliance.