The Fan Backlash Against Survivor 48’s David Kinne Is Out Of Control And Needs To Stop

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Throughout the history of Survivor, Jeff Probst’s beloved reality show has starred a very long list of players. Since Survivor has been around long enough that new fans have to figure out which seasons to watch first, there have been many great winners and some players have become legends. While Survivor’s best seasons deserve to be celebrated, the unfortunate truth is that some players have been medically evacuated and others have refused to return to the show.

Another unfortunate part of Survivor’s history is that Teeny Chirichillo angered many fans and other players like Sierra Wright and Maria Gonzalez have been harassed. Most recently, Survivor 48’s David Kinne began facing a fan backlash that has gotten out of control and needs to be stopped.

Why The Backlash Survivor 48’s David Kinne Has Received Goes Too Far

Throughout the history of Survivor, there have been many players who have been extremely popular with viewers. On the other hand, there have also been some Survivor players who faced a truly brutal backlash from fans.

As Survivor 48 has been airing, David Kinne became another example of a player who has raised anger in the show’s fans. While looking at some of the online discourse that has surrounded him, it seems very clear that the backlash David has faced has gone too far.

By the time that David was voted out, there were Survivor viewers who were calling him out on social media.

What Is Known About Survivor’s David Kinne?
When Was David Kinne Born?	November 4th, 1985
Where Was David Kinnen Born?	Long Beach, California
Where Was David Kinne Living When He First Played Survivor?	Buena Park, California
What Was David Kinne’s Career When He First Played Survivor?	Stunt Performer
What Tribe Did David Kinne Start On?	Chiva
David Kinne’s Survivor 48 Placement	9th Place

Based on comments that David was seen making on the show, there were people accusing him of being sexist and hateful in other ways. There were also people who were posting on social media about David being a Trump supporter in a way that made it clear they felt that is disgusting.

In short, there have been Survivor viewers who have publicly accused David of being a horrible person.

When someone like David agrees to compete on Survivor, they know that they are opening themselves up to potential criticism. As a result, it is completely valid to criticize many of the things that David said and did during Survivor 48.

While looking at how David Kinne played during Survivor 48, some fans aren’t giving him enough credit for what he did right. While David arguably didn’t react well, there is no denying that David was able to see the game more clearly than most of his tribemates. Most notably, David was able to see that Kamilla Karthigesu and Kyle Fraser were working together even as others appeared to not see the pair could be their undoing.

For example, it is very easy to argue that David had a bad social game. After all, the way that David seemed to speak to Kyle, Joe, Chrissy, and Kamilla appeared to be unnecessarily damaging to his game.

It is also valid for fans to believe that the way David spoke to some of his tribemates was disrespectful.

Via: Robert Voets/CBS

In April 2025, Chrissy Sarnowsky was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly. During that interview, Chrissy revealed that her infamous tribal council confrontation with David was worse than it seemed on TV. During that interview, Chrissy said that David got so upset that he was yelling at her, but fans didn’t see that.

“They didn’t show it but at one point, David was literally yelling at me. I remember turning around going, ‘Who are you yelling at?’ I apparently got him so upset.”

It is easy to understand why fans would be upset with David treating Chrissy that way and some of the things he said during the game. It also makes sense that fans would be confused by David sometimes talking like male Survivor players have been held down when so many men have won. Again, taking issue with how David handled things is completely understandable.

However, the accusations that some people have made against David have gone too far for a very simple reason.

On October 17th, 2024, Survivor 47’s Sierra Wright posted on X/Twitter about getting death threats after she was involved in Anika Dhar getting voted out. “I specifically chose a career path that involves uplifting women & helping them feel more confident within their own skin on a daily basis. For those wishing death upon me plus many other negative messages, please remember I’m human and it’s a GAME. Let’s try to be better.” Survivor players shouldn’t be treated with so much hate because of how they conduct themselves in a game unless they do something truly egregious.

Most decent human beings don’t want to have anything to do with people who are hateful. Therefore, a Survivor player shouldn’t be accused of being hateful unless there is really strong evidence that is the case. And to be clear, there have definitely been some past Survivor players who have proven themselves to be hateful, but David certainly doesn’t seem to be one of them.

During Chrissy’s aforementioned Entertainment Weekly interview, she didn’t attribute David’s conduct to being hateful. Instead, Chrissy stated her belief that David’s behavior was motivated by his desire to be tough during the game.

“David wanted to play games with Joe, that’s all. David really wanted to be the tough guy and do these games. And I was like, ‘You’re losing the whole point of the game! You want to win a million dollars!’ And I think he just went the other way.”

Considering Chrissy’s perception of David, her argument makes a lot of sense. With that in mind, people jumping to the conclussion that David is hateful without much more compelling proof needs to stop.

David Kinne Has Been Sticking Up For Himself

Throughout Survivor 48, there was never any doubt that David Kinne was very confident about his abilities. With that in mind, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that David hasn’t been shy on social media. Instead, David has been perfectly willing to stick up for himself in the face of the fan backlash.

Ever since the backlash against David surfaced on social media, some fans have claimed that he is a Donald Trump supporter. In those cases, it has been clear that those people have seen that as an indication that David is hateful. In response to a post that referenced that accusation, David clarified on X/Twitter in April 2025 that he isn’t a Trump supporter.