Reed Kelly

Reed Kelly is a contestant from Survivor: San Juan del Sur.

Competing alongside his boyfriend Josh Canfield, Reed played a big role in the early game, but came into his own following Josh's blindside after the merge. His plan to blindside Jon Misch was unintentionally torpedoed by Keith Nale; he was then unable to sway swing votes Jon and Jaclyn Schultz to his side, resulting in his elimination in 8th place. Reed is principally remembered for the vitriolic and highly theatrical jury speech that he addressed to Missy Payne at the Final Tribal Council.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

Name: Reed Kelly (31)
Tribe Designation: TBD
Relationship to Significant Castaway: Josh's boyfriend
Current Residence: New York, N.Y.
Occupation: Broadway Performer/Model/Aerialist
Personal Claim to Fame: Having raised over $130,000 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS to date via my personal fundraising group Team Yellow Bucket. I also cook a really great steak and I am an experienced hugger.
Inspiration in Life: My mom. She is an incredible woman who humbly strives to care for and shape the future and the present, of thousands of students and staff daily. She manages to do this while also being an amazing and supportive mother/wife on a daily basis. How can one not be inspired by this?
Hobbies: Working out, walks with my pup, watching documentaries, Survivor, google-journeys, eating good food and Earth/cosmic science.
Pet Peeves: Slow walkers on the sidewalks of NYC, exceedingly slow baristas and lazy individuals who don't utilize the gifts/opportunities they have been given.
3 Words to Describe You: Perfectionist, outgoing, overachiever.
If You Could Have 3 Things on The Island What Would They Be and Why? 1) My Bible – because man cannot live by bread (or rice) alone. 2) My pillow – because it would be a super comfy piece of home and I perform better well rested. 3) A mirror – because sometimes as a dancer you have to be able to look at yourself in the eye and say "pull up and push through! You're not actually that hungry." I think this would work well for me as a Survivor castaway too.
Survivor Contestant You Are Most Like: Yikes. Hopefully I will be unlike anyone thus far (in a good way), but if I had to pick: Malcolm Freberg and Stephenie LaGrossa for their hyper-competitiveness and athleticism; Bob Crowley for his nerdy science knowledge and ingenuity; and Lisa Whelchel for her faith.
Reason for Being on Survivor: I'm dying to play this game. You can never truly know what your limits are until you push them. I'm tired of watching others do it and I'm ready to experience it for myself firsthand.
Why You Think You'll "Survive" Survivor: I'm good at maintaining a positive mindset, I'm resourceful and I'm physically fit. I'm not a quitter, I enjoy being outdoors plus I can make fire.
Why You Think You Will Be the Sole Survivor: I'm a people-person who is physically tough, smart, well-spoken and strong willed; that last characteristic makes me a fighter until the end. I can lie when needed, I love to compete and I excel under pressure.
What Does It Mean to You to Play Survivor with Your Loved One? Having the chance to participate in this adventure together, not to mention the joint lessons I'm certain we will take away from it, will not only strengthen, but help fortify our relationship for the future. I'm really excited about getting to do such a once in a lifetime thing with the guy I love.^[2]

Survivor[]

Reed competed on Survivor: San Juan del Sur with his boyfriend, Josh Canfield. When the two arrived at the Hero Arena, they were placed on opposite tribes. Reed received a blue buff and was placed on the Hunahpu tribe. Hunahpu generally won challenges over its rival tribe, Coyopa. However, Hunahpu would lose immunity on Day 10 largely due to Drew Christy throwing the challenge on his own. The men of Hunahpu was disorganized when it came to voting someone out as they could not agree on a single target, with Reed voting against Julie McGee at Tribal Council. In the end, Drew was the one voted out in 5-2-1-1 vote.

On Day 11 at the Hero Arena, there was a Tribe Switch. Reed stayed on Hunahpu, but was reunited with Josh. Unfortunately, Hunahpu barely had any rice left at this point. Jeremy Collins was upset with the tribe switch because Reed could easily flip to Josh. The new Hunahpu managed to blow away the new Coyopa at the next Immunity Challenge. However, Reed was the first to plead to host Jeff Probst for more rice at any expense. The next day, Jeff came and took all of the rewards that Hunahpu accumulated over the course of the game. At the Hero Arena, Reed competed in the duel against Baylor Wilson for a Survivor barbecue. Reed won the duel, winning his tribe a feast and sending Baylor to . Reed initially planned to send Julie to Exile Island to accompany Baylor, but Natalie Anderson volunteered to go instead. At the following Immunity Challenge, Hunahpu was initially losing. However, Josh and Reed managed to give Hunahpu another victory.

On Day 16, the two tribes merged into the Huyopa tribe. Josh managed to flip Jaclyn Schultz and Jon Misch to their alliance in order to vote out Jeremy. However, any strategizing was put on hold as Julie quit prior to the scheduled Tribal Council. At the next Reward Challenge on Day 19, Reed was on the winning team and enjoyed a taco bar. However, Reed noted that because of people being from different alliances, no one strategized that much at the reward. Jeremy won the next Immunity Challenge, which prompted Josh to make Baylor the new target. However, Jaclyn convinced Jon to vote out Josh, who was voted out in a 6-5 vote, upsetting Reed.

At the next Reward Challenge, Reed was once again on the winning team along with Baylor, Jeremy, Natalie, and Alec Christy. However, Jeremy and Natalie voluntarily gave up their rewards to Jaclyn and Jon. At the following Immunity Challenge, Reed did well but was beat out by Baylor. Upset with his loss, Reed decided to make waves before being voted out. Reed dug though Keith Nale's bag and discovered the instructions to the Hidden Immunity Idol. and later told his tribemates about this. At Tribal Council, Reed avoided elimination after Jon turned on Jeremy and sent him out of the game.

Reed considered his options of voting out his former alliance or trying to vote out Jon, eventually choosing to attempt the former. At the Reward Challenge, Reed was once again on the winning team. However, Reed gave up his reward to Baylor's mom, Missy Payne, in order to put his plan to blindside Jon into motion. In private, Reed told Keith that the majority alliance intended to split their votes between him and his son, Wes Nale, and wanted them, along with Alec, to vote out Jon. At the Immunity Challenge, Reed was able to outlast the others to win a crucial immunity. He continued to put his plan into motion and was set at Tribal Council. Unfortunately, Jon had a Hidden Immunity Idol and played it after being alerted by Natalie and, unintentionally, Keith. Because Keith also used his idol, Wes was eliminated from the game with two votes from Jaclyn and Jon.

At the next Reward Challenge, Reed was quickly out in the first round. However, the challenge ended when the remaining castaways decided to give the win and the horseback riding reward to Missy. After Jaclyn was not chosen to go on the reward, Reed said that he liked Jaclyn when Jeff said that she was going back to camp with people who did not like her. When Baylor said that Reed liked everyone, he countered that it was because he was a people person and called Baylor a brat. Missy got angry with Reed and accused him of being a backstabber and told him not to call her daughter a brat. Reed and the others tried to work on Jaclyn to get her and Jon to flip to them. Reed failed to win the next Immunity Challenge and, unfortunately for Reed, Jon starting arguing with Jaclyn on who to vote out. The couple united against Reed and he was unanimously voted out over Missy.

At the Final Tribal Council, Reed said that he enjoyed watching Natalie's game. He also said that he enjoyed getting to know Jaclyn. When it came to Missy, however, Reed said that despite her speech saying she was the motherly figure, she was more like the wicked stepmother from fairy tales who spoiled her own daughter and mistreated the help (alluding to the minority alliance). He pointed out that this was her fatal flaw in the game as those on the outside would ultimately decide her fate in the end. Reed finished by saying that he liked fairy tales because the wicked stepmother never wins and wished Jaclyn and Natalie good luck. Knowing Natalie would likely win the game, Reed would give his jury vote to Jaclyn as a way of ensuring Missy a third-place finish.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Hunahpu	Man in the Box	Reward/Hero Duel	Yes	Won
1		Temple of Syrinx	Immunity	No	Won
2		Parallel Universe	Reward/Hero Duel	Yes	Won
2		Sumo at Sea	Immunity	No	Won
3		Sunset Grill	Reward/Hero Duel	Yes	Lost
3		Game of Throw-Ins	Immunity	No	Won
4		Tromp Stomp	Reward/Hero Duel	Yes	Won
4		The Cruel Sea	Immunity	No	Lost
5		Shakedown Street	Immunity	No	Won
6		More Than a Feeling	Reward/Hero Duel	No	Won
6		Flips, Flops, & Flags	Immunity	No	Won
Tribes Merged, Day 16
7	Huyopa	Take the Reins	Immunity		Lost
8		Long Road to Ruins	Reward	No	Won
8		My Poor Brain	Immunity		Lost
9		Shake It Off	Reward		Won
9		The Game is Afoot	Immunity		Lost
10		Dirty Water Dog	Reward	No	Won¹
10		Uncomfortably Numb	Immunity		Won
11		Crush	Reward		Lost
11		Paddle Out	Immunity		Lost
Voted Out, Day 29
Notes: ^1 Reed gave up his reward to Missy.

Episode	Reed's Votes	Voted Against Reed
1	Hunahpu Tribe Immune
2	Hunahpu Tribe Immune
3	Hunahpu Tribe Immune
4	Julie	-
5	Hunahpu Tribe Immune
6	Hunahpu Tribe Immune
7	No Tribal Council
8	Baylor	-
9	Jeremy	Alec, Keith, Wes
10	~~Jon~~¹	Individual Immunity
11	Missy	Alec, Baylor, Jaclyn, Jon, Keith, Missy, Natalie
Voted Out, Day 29
Voted for Sole Survivor	Jaclyn

^1 In "This Is Where We Build Trust", Jon used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Reed's vote against him.

Post-Survivor[]

On January 29, 2015, Reed and Josh Canfield became engaged,^[3] but broke up the next year.^[4]
On May 3, 2017, Reed, along with Courtney Yates, appeared on an episode of Pen Fan Forum hosted by Andrea Boehlke to discuss Survivor: Game Changers.^[5]
On June 28, 2018, Reed got married to Balmeet Kelly.^[6]

Trivia[]

Reed and Josh Canfield applied and were cast individually, without production knowing that they were boyfriends.
Reed is the first contestant to be eliminated from the game on Day 29.
Reed is the first person in San Juan del Sur to be voted out unanimously.
Reed lost 17.8 lbs. (8 kg) during San Juan del Sur.^[7]
Reed was voted out the night before Josh's 33rd birthday.
Reed claims that he voted for Jaclyn Schultz to win so that she would get second place over Missy Payne, as he figured Natalie Anderson would win regardless.
- This is similar to a situation that previously occurred in the original Blood vs. Water when Vytas Baskauskas voted for Monica Culpepper to ensure that she would get second place over Gervase Peterson.
Reed was contacted for Cambodia, but he was unable to play due to his Broadway commitments.^[8]
- He was also contacted to compete on The Amazing Race 31 with Josh, but was ultimately cut.^[9]