Meet the 'Survivor 44' Cast! Kane Fritzler Lives in a "Constant State" of Being Underestimated

The 25-year-old and recent law school grad from Saskatoon calls himself "a gamer through and through."

Going right from law school to the island, Kane Fritzler is hopeful to already start gaining experience pitching to a jury. The 25-year-old from Saskatoon is hoping to make a hat trick of Canadian winners in the new era of Survivor. And to do that, he’ll be assisted by his academic approach to the game, hoping his young age can get him underestimated enough to make his mark on what he calls “the best game on the planet.”

Read on for my interview with Kane, and make sure to check in with Parade.com every day for interviews with this season’s contestants and other tidbits. Survivor 44 premieres on March 1 with a special two-hour premiere on CBS.

Related: Meet the Full Cast of Survivor 44

Interview with Kane from Survivor 44

To start, tell us about yourself.
My name is Kane Fritzler. I’m 24 years old and just busted out of law school. So I just finished all my education, and in about a month’s time, I’m going to start becoming a lawyer.

Why are you here on Survivor?
I have watched and followed this game for my entire life. I am a student of this game. I am here as an academic. And I am here to try and play this game as hard and as best as I possibly can. So that is the reason that I am here. I am a gamer through and through. And this is the absolute best game you can get your hands on on the planet.

What’s your history with watching Survivor?
I started watching Survivor basically when I started watching TV. As a kid, my grandma and my brother would always watch it with me. So my grandma kind of got me into it. And then, even after she passed away, me and my brother and I continued to watch it together. Even after he moved away, it was something that we would stay connected to. And even in times when we weren’t talking as much, every Wednesday, it would still be like, “Did you see that last move? Can you believe this person? What happened there?” So it was still a way I got to stay connected.

And it was something that followed me through my whole life. Now I’m kind of set up I’m sort of indoctrinating other people. (Laughs.) I have my girl watching it, and I have all my friends watching it. I’m kind of the guru that people look to on the couch to explain why there was a bad move or not. So this game has been just something that I followed with my entire life.

Give me one Survivor winner and one non-winner who you identify with the most.
With winner, I would probably identify with Tyson the most. I’m probably a little bit more hopeful about the world than him. (Laughs.) But I like that he’d come out here and just have fun and be himself. But he’s also thinking. He knows the game, whether he promotes it or not. He knows the game probably better than or just as good as any other person, and that’s what I want to bring. I want to bring to this game a true gamer experience, but one that’s also going to have the most fun.

The non-winner that I identify most with is probably Zeke. I love that guy. I think I got a lot of the same chutzpah that he has. I think he played a game that wasn’t afraid to take risks. He wasn’t afraid to start early, even if it meant he was going to die out. I think both those guys just have a lot of charisma and are not ever afraid to be themselves, and that’s one thing that I am never afraid to be is Kane Fritzler.

What’s your favorite moment in Survivor history?
My favorite move of all time is still Malcolm’s double idol play in 26, where he protected the entire minority and made the majority turn on themselves like wild animals. That is just an absolutely baller move. If he could have done it absolutely perfectly, I would have split the vote on them so they had to decide instead of just sending Phillip home. But I still think that that was just such a “what up” move. Pretty hard to top the showmanship involved in that one.

What’s one life experience you feel has prepared you most for the game?
I think going to law school, especially going to law school young like I did. I’m as young as you can enter into law school in Canada. And I think that has put me in a constant state of being underestimated. And I think that the longer people underestimate me, the more they regret it. Because I’m here to play. I’m here to fight. That was my attitude at law school. I did very well. And that’s my attitude for this game. And I’m also here to do, hopefully, quite well. (Laughs.)

What excites you the most about the new era of Survivor?
What excites me about starting my Survivor journey is the kind of lore and meta that sits behind it. This isn’t just a single-season thing. I’m entering a little bit of Kane Fritzler flavor into the entire swirling game that is Survivor. So that’s what excites me: The prospect of being able to really put my mark on this game and actually change how people play it moving forward and hopefully be recognized as a super dope player.

What do you think people will perceive you as?
I think I come across as somebody who kind of has my act together. But I also come across as someone who’s very friendly and very funny. So I think that, first and foremost, people are just going to see my charisma. They’re just going to, like, watch me and smile when they see me walk around like a big animal. And I’m excited for both these folks and the audience to learn about me. I want them to slowly realize, “Okay, he’s got that glint in his eye. This kid actually knows what he’s doing.” So I think initially, people are just gonna have fun watching me. And then, by the end, I think they’re gonna have fun watching me play.

What type of player are you looking for in an alliance?
There are lots of different good alliance types out there. Just depends on what you want. Do you want people who are hard loyalists? Do you want people who are thinkers? Do you want people who are going to be shields for you? There are a lot of things to think about. But really, in a ride-or-die and a partner in crime, I want someone who’s thinking about this game like I am because you don’t get to have as much fun if you play by yourself. All the super fun stuff that you can do in Survivor, you need to play with other people. So what I’m really looking for as my numero uno is somebody who thinks about this game like I do so that we can pull off some super fun stuff together.

How eager will you be to look for advantages in the game?
Not eager. (Laughs.) I will not be eager at all. I’m going to not look for advantages for a bit. I know the Day 1 principle is you can’t look for advantages or idols on the first day. I take that seriously. But I’ve got a good eye. I can see things sticking out. I spend a lot of time in nature. So I’ll keep my eye out. But you’re not going to see me idol sleuthing very early. When I feel a merge coming in my bones, I’ll start putzing around a little hard.

What is the one thing you told yourself you wouldn’t do in this game?
One thing that I told myself I wouldn’t do in this game is lose my temper. Not that I have a gross temper. But I think that it’s easy once you’re starved, and once you’re not sleeping, and once everyone’s trying to con you, for you to kind of blow up. And I think that the more you can keep a cool, calm, collected head on your shoulders, the better you’re doing, the better you’re going to be able to see the game. So if I start getting really laser-focused on, “Oh, I need to get this person out because they freakin’ stole my scoop of rice. How dare they!” (Laughs.) That’s when you start getting sloppy. And I don’t want to make sloppy mistakes.

What’s the best advice you received before coming out to play?
Be myself. I got my girlfriend Cat to watch me like a hawk for two months. I was like, “If I have any dead giveaways. If I twitch my eyes when I lie, or if I roll my eyes at people without thinking, I want you to be like, ‘Hey, that’s a tell.’” And when the record came back, she was like, “You’re squeaky clean. Just go out there. Have fun and be yourself.” And I really think that if I am myself, I’m going to do really well in this game. So I’m going to try and not change who I am.

Can you come up with your own weird phrase that could be said at a challenge to unlock an idol?
I think that I’d want to do something that would be funny at camp. I would say, “The clams are running the show,” and then see where they go with that. (Laughs.) You could whip that into tribe life pretty easily if you want to. But it sounds funny.

What celebrity or fictional character would you want to come out for a Loved Ones visit?
I don’t know a lot of celebrities, but I do know a lot of fictional characters. You’d see Luke Skywalker getting off the exit because that guy has life figured out. If I can have a little Jedi experience to keep me nice and calm. He’s a very accepting man. I’m sure Mark Hamill is a good hugger as well. So I think that if I could have Luke Skywalker come running down to see me, that’d be a dream come true. (Laughs.) 

Next, check out our interview with Survivor 44 contestant Jaime Lynn Ruiz.