From Topeka to Netflix: Inside Million Dollar Secret | Kevin Moranz

Cold Open Competition Switch

I click to a different person like when it's time to compete. How that may have hindered some of my strategies. There was a specific situation where I was being followed to get heated. It was so funny. Like I trusted Caleb. I gravitated towards him as like, oh, he can be trusted.

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Meet Kevin Moran And The Show

All right. Hey, today we have Kevin Moran's professional super cross racer. And more recently, Netflix Personality of Million Dollar Secret. Kevin, thanks for being here, man. Let's go. Appreciate you guys having a lot of meeting. I'm having the studio, man. Yeah, absolutely. Come on, man.

So you were on a Netflix show. Yes.

Yes. So it's wild. Being honestly from Tobeka and finding my way into it is pretty nuts. Um, but yeah, it's Million Dollar Secret Season 2 on Netflix.

From Supercross To Netflix Casting

How did you get connected with Netflix? How did that happen?

So more or less, like I've within my racing, because I like we already said I'm a professional super cross racer. I have to do a lot for sponsors, for you know, on the social media, YouTube side of things. So I'm assuming somebody had kind of seen what I was capable of in front of a camera. And yeah, it actually just turned out that it was somebody had more or less reached out to me seeing if I'd be interested in doing any kind of reality shows. It's not that it's not like Netflix reached out to me. It's not like uh Million Dollar Secret reached out to me. It's just like I was in a position within the social media lifestyle that I looked appealing. And yeah, like you could handle yourself on the campaign. Yeah, exactly. So just had a lot of people.

An agent reach out to you?

Like a casting person, okay. Uh is more or less. And then so it's not necessarily it's I guess somebody that they more or less probably hire just to find them personalities, and then they go through the the sifting process of picking the right ones. Uh, but yeah, just put myself in a position to, I guess, have the opportunity, was excited about it because I would love to. I feel like I have a good personality for it. And yeah, racing is not necessarily going to be forever. So it was kind of like a side quest, and I was like, Yeah, dude, I'm down to do it. Side quest if I get into it. Side quest.

You're in side quest mode. I like that.

The Mansion Game And The Million

Okay, for our listeners, maybe Johnny Boy, who haven't seen the show. Can you give us the two-minute okay? What is Million Dollar Secret?

The best way to explain it is imagine this plate right here, which can the viewers see that? Yep. Or I guess we're gonna we need to think about it for the uh audio people too. But imagine you just have a big mansion, right? And everybody comes to this mansion, they're absolute strangers, you do not know anybody. There's 14 of them this season. Uh, last season was 12. So we all come in, we come into the commons area, more or less. We all meet and chop it up, try to get introduced to each other. You're trying to like feel everybody out. And then Peter, who's like our host, he comes in, he's like, all right, everybody's gonna go back to the rooms. And just figuratively speaking, because there's not exactly a ton of rooms in this house, but everybody has a box in their room. So we come in, strangers, we meet, we separate, and then we all go and open our boxes in our rooms. Then we come back into the commons area. Well, in one of those boxes, there was a million dollars. So it's up to that person to keep that under the radar. So everybody goes in, we open our boxes, say you don't have the million, then you're like, okay, come back into the commons area. You're trying to figure out who has the million because they have potential power or they had, and you're trying to vote that person out so then the money could potentially get moved into your box. Right. So it's kind of like, yeah, it's there's a million dollars on the line. If you are the one that ends the game with that million dollars, then you walk home with it. So it's like mafia.

Yes.

That old card game. Yeah. Have you played Mafia before? I have watched a lot of it, but I've never like well, I guess I've kind of played it a little bit. Kind of watched a lot of like beta squads like uh no, I watched the first season coming in. So like I knew the preface of the game. Yeah, yeah. And that I mean, we'll get into how that may have hindered some of my strategies because they changed it up a little bit going into season two. Yeah,

Spoiler Caleb Follows Him

tell us about it, man. Well, just walk us through it. Yeah, it's up to you. Like, but at some point in the game, there was a specific situation where I was being followed by a specific somebody, and I was so flabbergasted because in season one, there was not an agenda that applied directly to one person. So like I didn't think that that was possible. Oh, like it clouded my vision of what was going on a little bit. I we obviously knew it was suspicious, and I nobody else was like having my back with the situation. So I was getting more in my head of like, okay, the whole house is against me, and I'm just gonna get booted kind of deal. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it really like understanding and kind of studying season one honestly hindered my judgment in that position because I it was something new that was not in season one.

I say we just talked about it because I wanted to bring it up. Yes, the highlight of the show.

Wait, wait, wait. Should we give a spoiler alert? Like spoiler alert, yeah. If you haven't seen the show, pause the show, pause, come back.

All right, now you're back. Highlight of the show for me. You know, I'm watching season two because I knew we might have you on the show, uh, wanted to get to know you know what was going on. Kevin uh has an agenda. So the uh like each person has a mission. If you have the million dollars, you are given a secret agenda that you have to complete to uh have a secret power. Yeah. And so Kevin had the million dollars, and his secret agenda was to stay with Caleb. Caleb, Kevin, uh Caleb was to stay within was it like 10 feet? 15 feet of me. 15 feet of Kevin. Oh, and that's why he's following for 45 minutes.

For 45 minutes. You're like, why is this dude coming after me?

Absolutely hilarious.

I can't wait for you to actually watch it because I get heated.

It was so funny in the show. You're gonna be like, bro, back off. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And he is like, what are you doing? What are you doing? And us as the the audience, we're watching it knowing Caleb has a secret agenda, and Kevin has no idea. He's just so angry that uh Caleb won't let him have his own conversations. He just keeps following them. It was so funny.

So, okay, so that made you get in your head and you thought, oh, the whole house is in against me. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess because you're you're not talking, you don't know all the secrets that you'll have. Yeah, exactly.

So like that's what's tough, and that's why I kind of like have more respect for the season one cast is because like you're watching it, you know who the millionaire is, you see all the agendas happen, and you're like, dude, you are absolutely just not the smartest person ever because these are going right over your head. Right. Right? But being in it and you don't know what's going on, you don't know who has the money, you don't know what the agenda is, you don't know what to look for. Right. So it's so easy to be just overlooked. Like there was one time, which I don't know if you guys want to start like the beginning and go through the show. There's yeah, there's one time that um it's actually episode four, I believe, is when um, so okay, let me preface this as well. So within this scope of just for the person that doesn't really know what it's all about, you come in, you meet each other, you boom, you open your boxes, then you somebody has the million, everybody else is trying to figure out who has the million, right? So within that, too, there's also competitions. These competitions can gain you access to the trophy room. The trophy room has a clue on who the millionaire is. Okay, sure. So it's important to try to get in the trophy room because you want to try to get that clue, you want to try to get that information.

Convince everyone to vote that guy off.

Pretty much, yeah. Yes. So for me, I was like, I went undefeated in trophy rooms, which was pretty rad. So I made it to every single one. That's dope. It's a competition beast over here. Give me on survivor. I don't know. But you're just like a super cross pro. Yeah, exactly. So like the well, I the competition side of things, because I'm a competitor at heart, like it just I click to a different person, like when it's time to compete, I guess.

Yeah.

But episode four, I was the one that ended up getting the trophy room, and I got the clue. So, like, say there's a majority. Usually everyone knows that.

Yes, everyone knows he he got a clue. Yes, he has some information.

Potentially, so imagine there's 14 of us, like in the first competition, half of us went to the trophy room. So then everybody, those people go to the trophy room, and then within the collection of people, they have to decide for one person to go get the actual clue. Gotcha.

So that's it. So not everyone knows. Yes, correct.

So it's whoever actually goes in to get that information that can manipulate something, change something. So it's really important to do it. So they can lie about it, right? Correct. Yeah. It's really important to make sure that the millionaire is not the one that goes in to get the clue.

Because then they could lie about it.

Correct, and just completely throw everybody off. Yeah. So yeah, I had gotten the clue, came up, talked about it, and it fully exonerated uh one of the ladies that was in the house because we were all so phyxiated and was like, for sure she's the millionaire, because she was trying to share sandwiches the lunch before that.

So, like, your thought it was an odd mission thing that makes you. We thought we were looking for odd behavior.

And she's like, she asked two different people if they wanted to share a sandwich or ask for some. So, like, as soon as the clue came out, she like got up and cheered because she's like, I'm exonerated. But I didn't do anything. It made me realize, like, wow, you can really snowball on something so small. You're reading into everything, everybody gets on top.

Oh man, you know, yeah, it's just brutal. Well, what were so on the opposite, you had that guy trailing you and you didn't catch on, like, oh, that's a secret mission.

So I did. So that was with the whole situation of Caleb following me, what they didn't show to is there's a lot that doesn't make the cut. Sure, right? There's 14 storylines of the whole situation, and they have to cut it to like a 45-minute episode of just the main storyline. Right. So there was a lot that they didn't show, but I was pretty close to Caleb. Like I trusted Caleb because Caleb was from Arkansas. He's a farmer. I have, you know, aunts and uncles that are big time farmers here in Kansas. Like, I understand I gravitated towards him as like, oh, he can be trusted. Right. Because like farmers are just different kinds of people. Like they they put in a lot of effort and don't always get a lot out of it. So like they're usually more honest, like hardworking, yes, loyal. Yeah, yeah. Boy, was I wrong.

So anyway, yeah.

So he started following me and where he played it off pretty well because as soon as he came out. Okay, so sorry, I'm getting a little bit ahead

Clues Kill Shots And House Paranoia

of myself. I got it's tough because I gotta give all the backstory, right? So at the dinner before that, Natalie and um Tarek went home. So spoiler, obviously, but um, it was a double elimination that night. Because if we did not get the millionaire, the millionaire not only whoever got voted out goes out, but then the millionaire gets a kill shot as well. Right. So kill shot. The mafia gets a kill shot. Yeah, kill shot is just pretty much like, yeah, boom, you're out of the game, which is a horrible way to go. The way I went, actually. Oh just later, much later in the game. Yeah. But so we voted those two out, and uh Natalie was at least within the house, was uh kind of everybody's just like, okay, we're just gonna she lies within the clue, so she is a guilty suspect, but also like I feel like everybody's just kind of like, all right, we're just gonna get her out of the game. She was very interrogative. I don't even know if that's a word, but she's interrogating everybody.

Yeah.

So it made me very nervous because like, if I have the money, like I'm not gonna lie, I'm not a good liar, right? I don't want her looking at me, looking through my soul kind of deal. Like, I just I didn't want that because I knew I wasn't gonna be able to handle it. So she's coming at people, questioning them, yeah, yeah. And she was pretty good at it. I mean, she was-I'm not gonna say she was always right, but like she was what from my point of view, she was quality at getting the information she was trying to get. So that made us nervous, me nervous at least. I don't know what everybody else's mindset was with trying to vote her out, but we were kind of all in just a collective of like whether she is or not, we're gonna vote her out. Yep. So right after that, because I was the one, so Hunter, so he's a curly haired uh dude, he came over to me because we were pretty close at the beginning too. And he was like, All right, if we vote Natalie and she's not, we think the the kill shot should be for Tark, because Tarek at that point, he had more or less had some kind of issue, and that's why he wasn't a part of the second activity. So yeah, can't really speak much more on that.

They said he was sick.

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. He wasn't feeling good. So that's what Hunter's game plan was, just to be like, all right, if we're all gonna just collectively go at Natalie, we feel like within the house we should have Tarek as a kill shot, that's the most fair way to do it. So then somebody's not just getting a uh, you know, a random sidearm kind of deal. And so that happened, and I was the one that told Caleb, who was a millionaire at this time, um, that Tarek should be the kill shot because Hunter came to me, Hunter's like, spread the word as much as you can. I was like, all right, all right. Well, we came up after they went, they got voted out and come to find out it was Caleb the one that kills shotted them or whatever. Because he was the millionaire at this point, but I didn't know. Right. So he came up and he was like, all sorts of like you told me to kill shot Tarek, and then all of a sudden Tarek's gone. Are you setting me up? Kind of deal. Oh, he's blaming on you. Yeah, he did it, he did it. So I was like, no, no, no, dude, like it's not me. Like that was just what was going around. So then the next day when we came out for breakfast or whatever, and we had we sat down, I grabbed him first and I was like, hey, this isn't the situation. Because at that time, dude, I we're gonna this is gonna be way longer of an episode. There's too much information. So um let's just go episode by episode. Yeah, that's why I was like, we knew we want to just go in order.

How sweet would it be if we had like a watch party where we watch it and you comment the whole time? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Dude, that would be so fun of funny. Everything else that happened that you don't see.

Oh, that'd be so fun. Um, so anyway, what was I saying? He threw it back on you, like okay. So, because Melissa, the clue at that time was the millionaire was a straight arrow, right? So, because there was a there was an archery challenge, so you're trying to think of who shot, who didn't. Um, because there's a either you shoot or you tell the truth is what the first challenge was. Yeah. So we were all thinking, okay, it could be the truth tellers or it could be the arrow shooters, the people that hit the target. Right. And but then at dessert, when Caleb was like, Oh, you told me to go hit Tarek and Tarek's out, like, what's going on here? She had changed the clue in my eyes, and she said the millionaire was straight as an arrow. Well, I remember, which didn't get shown, but I remember having the original conversation about that clue with Melissa, and she had said that it was a straight arrow because I remember we talked about arrow shooters and truth tellers. Right. Yeah. But then when came she came out of dessert and said it was a straight arrow or straight as an arrow, I was like, there's no way that's right. Because I'm not like the brightest of the bunch, but I was like, if it was straight as an arrow, then it means it's not an arrow. So why are we talking about the arrow shooters now? Right. But I know the first conversation was all about arrow shooters, right? So it's like I thought she was manipulating the clue. Right. So I came straight to Caleb and I was like, hey, I'm suspicious of her. This is the sandwich sharer, is also but I was like, yeah, I was like, I'm I'm suspicious of her because I think she's changing the clue. And so he was like, I was like, I need to go have a conversation with her in this little gym area or whatever. I was like, I need you to stand right outside. So I was like, all right, we're gonna go down there. He's just gonna stand outside, he's gonna peek his ear in, he's gonna eavesdrop. So I walk in, homie walks right in there with me. And I'm like, this is not what I told you to do, but this is when he had his agenda that he had to stay within 15 feet of me. Oh see what I'm saying? So that immediately was like, what is this guy doing? Why are you doing this? Yeah. So I walk in, sit down, have this conversation. I knew she wasn't gonna be as forthright with the information because I had Caleb, who wasn't a part of the original conversation. Yes. So I was like, yeah, it was irritating because I was like, to have these conversations get to where I need to, I need to have them privately versus having to tag along.

Yeah.

So then we didn't make much progress there. I walk out and I wanted to talk to another girl's Lauren T because I was close with her at the beginning.

Well, the funniest part about you walking out of the gym was the clip that they caught of you. You looked at Caleb and you were like, all right, let's go. Caleb's like, yes, let's go together. And they just kind of looked and just kind of he just kind of nodded, like, yes, he's inviting me to leave with him. Let's do it. Hilarious. Keep going. You go over to Lauren T.

Yes, go over to Lauren T, walk out, and then I'm like trying to pull Lauren T for a personal conversation, and he's not allowing that. Yeah. And that's when like it clicks, and I'm like starting to get super irritated. You'll get very entertained if you watch this. Oh, it was so. You don't watch the whole thing, episode three.

Did it click for you like at that point? Oh, he's the millionaire, he's got this mission, or just that this guy's annoying.

No, I was like, because what he told me, which I don't know if it made the edit, but he told me, he's like, There's two, there's um two teams or two sides of the house, and I am doing a favor for one side of the house right now, is what he presented to me. So I'm sitting there like when when he was staying close to you that that was the favorite. She's like, I just can't let you out of my sight kind of deal. And I was like, All right. I was like, I thought we trusted each other. I was so confused. And Lauren T was right there with me too. Like, should I not be here right now? And like Caleb, he's just like, nah, like you can be here kind of deal. Like, I just can't let you out of my sight. I'm like, what is going on here? Yeah, yeah. Because we're like kind of separated from the group at this point, just us three. So like I don't have a bunch of people around or like people to like defend me, but I was like super confused and I was just like all over the place. Cause like at this point, I was a truth teller, so I'm a suspect. I'm trying to clear my name. I know I'm not the millionaire, but nobody else does. I gotta prove that. And if somebody's going to piggyback you, we call it backpack gate throughout the house. But if somebody's gonna backpack, yeah, because there was clothespin gate, there's like anything that we were like, this is suspicious, you just put gate behind it. I don't know. Yeah, but yeah, we just said backpack gate because he was like my backpack, like I couldn't get rid of him. And um, so yeah, like it just got to the point where I was like getting super frustrated. And I was like, dude, this is making me super suspicious of you. Like, what are you doing right now? Right. And I mean, he credit to him. He played it off well, at least for my for my perspective, right? Yeah, because he stayed very monotoned, he didn't get overly excited. He's just like, I just what I gotta do, kind of deal. Like, I'm not trying to like I don't know. Looking at it now, and because there were so many times where I was like, I could just run away from this guy, there's no way he can keep up with me. But I was obviously faster than you thought. Yes, I was so worried about it somehow turning and him using as like that was your agenda. Like, who runs away from somebody? Right. So I was so nervous of that. But then we go up to the collective other groups and whatnot and like talking about how weird it is, how he won't leave me alone, and nobody's like, Caleb, what are you doing? Like nobody's like calling him out. So then it's like, oh, they're my paranoia, but yes, my paranoia of him saying there's two sides of the house. I was like, maybe there's not two sides of the house, and everybody's just gunning for me the way we were kind of gunning for Natalie. I was like, I'm the next one. Yeah, because I was almost a kill shot in round one because I was kind of one of the stronger players to start. Like I was just kind of interrogative. Like I was like, I'm not gonna take your BS. I want to see if you're actually telling me the truth. Yeah. And I almost got all T on that one. But um, yeah, there's just a lot that was going on that with that whole follow situation was just like clicking in the right way to just put me in my head of like I'm screwed.

Well, Netflix knew what they were doing because that was some good TV right there. Yeah, exactly.

That's why when he once we got later into the game, because he didn't come right out with it and say, like, yeah, I was the millionaire after he got the money moved, but like a few rounds later it came out, and yeah, I was like, you dude.

Wait,

Money Moves And Game Powers

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So, based off of season one's studying, because that's really all I had going into it, was study season one so we know what's going on. Yeah. Nobody had the money for more than two rounds. Oh, it just automatically Well, it's if so the millionaire always has an agenda. That agenda gives them power in the house, extra votes, can take votes away, a kill shot, or move the money, right? Like there's different things.

Oh, so if they're under too much suspicion, they can move the money or something like that if they want.

Yes, correct. So, like for me, I knew that every two rounds the money moves because it just dwindles down to like we know who it is. Right. You know what I mean? Everyone figures it out.

And so then they're the uh the superpower of the agenda is they can move the money, right? Right, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

So he moved the money to get rid of it, so then he wasn't under attack. Gotcha, gotcha.

Three-Week Shoot Sequester No Tech

So, okay, what what was it like? Uh I'm sure you'll have more content-related questions, which go for it. I'm just curious, what was it like? Um, well, one, how long was the shoot? Yeah. So it was like uh about three weeks.

Okay, okay. What was it like?

You're there for three weeks, and is it like all day you're with the the crew, like all day?

Kind of. Um, so yes, more or less. Like you're there on site the whole time, but uh for the integrity of the game, they don't it's not like you're just going there to chop it up with your boys the whole time. Like they separate you into your own rooms um and give you select amount, limited amount. Of time with each other to have your conversations you need to have before you know you're kind of separated again, before you go to the activity, separate again, come back together, have some conversations, boom, go to the dinner. So you're not just like living in the space necessarily. No, not necessarily. When it comes to just being fully open with each other, can walk into anybody's rooms, find your clicks, like chop it up. Like from a game perspective, I actually really like the way that they separated everybody because it worked for them on me. Like I was sitting there in my head in my room, like, what's going on? Like, I don't know what's going on. The more time you have with people, I think that it would make the game not too easy, but like you would be able to click up and make too much strategy, and you would be like, Oh, like we got the numbers, let's limit.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah. So there's a lot of time that you are sequestered and you're just sitting there with your journal because you're separated from electronics, you're separated from TVs, reality, like no contact to the outside world why this experience is happening. So, what was it like watching the edited episodes afterward? It was nuts. It was nuts because I was like, Oh, dude, like for me too, you know, there's so many things that some of my decisions would make more sense if people had more context to them. Right.

Um, but yeah, you're like, now I'm the idiot that I was that I was making fun of in season one.

Yes, yeah, exactly. That's funny.

But in the moment it made so much sense.

Yes, yeah, exactly. So like that's obviously kind of a bummer, but from an you gotta understand, like, there's 14 people stories lines, and they have to cut it into one episode that has to do with the main storyline. So like you can't be too upset about it. Right.

Editing Choices Lying Strategy And Aftermath

Something they didn't mention in the edits, which I saw in your uh you you posted some QA the other day. Yeah. Uh they didn't mention you were a professional super cross guy.

No. At all? No. At all. They didn't we had no idea. They didn't mention my profession. Yeah. Really? Which is crazy. Did they mention everyone else's profession?

Kind of, yeah. I mean, like most, I think. Probably half. Probably half. Wow. Yeah. Uh just because of time, they're kind of I don't know, because everybody knew night one. I was I came in. My strategy with this is a lot of people come in and lie about a lot of things. Right. Because the clues that go towards the millionaire could be based on your reality. Yeah. Yeah. So like it's last season, a big one was like the millionaire has two sisters, and she caught on to it and lied about it and ended up going far in the game. Or don't want to completely spoil it. But um, yeah, so everybody's coming in honestly lying about where they're from, how many siblings they have, where they're at in the sibling order. Because like one of the clues this year was uh the millionaire is um the oldest child or something like that. So like you're trying to lie about all these things, but for me, I understood coming into the game, these clues do not necessarily point out one person, they always have to point out to multiple people, or else the game's too easy. If you figure it out, boom, it's it's game over. So I was like, I'm gonna come in and because imagine this situation. I have one brother. Imagine if I came in and said, Hey, I've got two sisters, but then the clue comes out that you have two sisters, and then you're like, Well, I was lying. You could screw yourself in either direction. So for me, I was like, I'm gonna come in, I'm gonna tell the truth about everything, because then I don't have to think a lot. I'm gonna be a lot more genius. Yeah, you don't have to remember all these. I'm gonna just roll with the conversations, and for whatever reason, if I end up with the money and the clue points towards me, it's gonna point towards other people too. So I just gotta be quality at steering attention away from me.

Now I will say uh one of the guests or one of the uh the uh contestants uh was a professional poker player, and so he immediately lied about what he did. Yeah, right, because then everyone would have suspected him all the time. Which was hilarious when he came out with it. I'm like, that's so funny.

Wait, so what did he say at first? He said that he served ribs at a barbecue joint, dude, which he maybe did like legitimately before high school. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, I thought that was hilarious. I served ribs specifically at a barbecue joint. Yeah, so that's that's Hunter. Hunter's the curly hair I want to talk about. But yeah, he's he's hilarious, dude.

And what was funny is one of the challenges or games that you guys had to compete in was a casino night type thing. And what gave it away, someone caught on. Uh Hunter was kind of leading the charge for his team during the casino thing, and they're making bets, and they had uh uh uh chips they were playing with, and he someone caught on how comfortable he was sitting behind chips and you know, messing with the channel. Oh, he was like he was like, Yeah, he was like, you know how they like rotate their chips kind of deal? And they were like, This guy is here a lot, which was funny because he kind of cleaned house during that challenge. So uh that's so funny.

Yeah, wow. Yeah, I feel like if you're in that situation, you'd be like, Oh, I'm so bad at poker, you know, and like play it off badly. Yeah.

Um, how long ago? So, date of this recording, end of May, the uh when was the first episode released? How long ago did you record this? So we recorded in September of last year.

Oh okay, so fall of 2025.

Okay, wow at this point. So that's not too long ago. No, no. Uh what has life looked like? I mean, you already live a different life being a professional supercross uh writer, but what has life looked like after Netflix has gotten a hold of you?

I mean, I'm hoping that it brings more opportunities, right? Like it would be cool to be in other TV shows, whether it's you know, whichever platform uh displays it in a sense, whether it's like you know, Peacock, whether it's like Beast Games or Amazing Ray, Survivor, like anything like that, I think would be really cool. Um not gonna lie, I kind of like how I I said to you guys, at least before we started this, like it's not like it was an insane, life-changing uh experience after it aired. For me, the experience of it was next to none. Absolutely insane experience, super fun. Like I enjoy escape rooms, I enjoy like those kinds of like trickery, like gotta figure it out kind of games. And it was like this is the most real life thing with a million dollars online. Like it was super sick. But yeah, when it comes to like what it is done after, we're still pretty early into like it was just a couple weeks ago. Uh, but I I did expect it to be like astronomically different, and it's been a bump, but it hasn't been like a game changer kind of dealing. Right, right. So obviously, I think that plays into where you're at, how you finish in said show, uh, how you're portrayed in said show, because there's a lot of stuff that was cut that I think like they made me look more quiet than what I was. Oh, really? Yeah, so but it is what it is. Like you pretty much, whenever you go into these situations, you kind of like sign your rights away of like they can make it look however they feel. Right.

Dream Show reaches out to you. What is it?

Oh man. If you go on any reality TV show, what would you pick? I don't know a ton of them, but like right now, even though like I think I would like it just from a competition standpoint, I really think I'd enjoy Survivor.

Oh, yeah.

I think I would probably not enjoy not being able to eat very much and everything like that, being an athlete. Like I eat a lot, but I think that one would be really cool just from like a pure competition side of things. Yeah. Oh, for sure.

That would be sweet.

Wow.

That would be sweet. Wow. What uh are there any other things that you were frustrated or annoyed by edit choices they made watching it back?

I mean, yes, I can't really touch on what those are because I don't want to get in trouble.

What okay, how about this? What behind the scenes things can you talk about that you wish maybe came to light? Um or that are just interesting.

I think the biggest things are which you know I think is fair to state because I think it's good for the game, is the separation factor. Like you're not in the house just sitting around in chairs chopping up with your homies all day.

Like, yeah, it's like the crew leaves, you're not hanging out with all the guys.

Correct, correct, because they don't want to have anything shot or any game strategy talked about off camera, right? Right. It's like interesting stuff, yeah. Yeah, so I think that's fully a fair situation. I don't think that's outing anything. So that um obviously you're fully separated from technology, you couldn't even have a TV like in your rooms or whatever. Like I didn't know what was going on in the sports world, and like because the Chiefs just started playing it like when I was in there and whatnot. Like, I was curious about all these things, but yeah, you're just kind of like separated in your own little bubble.

Maybe this is the uh the Gen Z in me, but like what'd you do?

Dude, I was it was brutal because you're sitting in a room. I'm like, I feel like I haven't been fully diagnosed, but pretty much like an ADHD high uh production, just like I like to always be doing stuff. And yeah, dude, like it was brutal because I had a journal. Journal was hilarious, by the way, because you could just see the ups and downs, the emotional side of things.

Everyone's after me. Yes, yeah.

I'm like, oh, this is I and then after I win a competition or whatever, like, oh dude, I've got this game on lock. Like, so that was my strategy coming in because I know that I'm uh I'm I've got some personality behind me, but I'm also like not scared of like calling somebody on their BS kind of deal. But I knew that that was gonna get me in trouble if I did it too much. So in my journal, I literally have like shut the f up, do not talk, like just listen. Right. And in the first episode, you see me like interrogating somebody, like asking for more information. Like, because I was the one, what's wrong with you? I was the one, so we open our boxes, you either have a million dollars in there or you're supposed to have technically nothing, but at the beginning, usually you get like a note card, and so I this is just kind of a hilarious situation because um, yeah, a funny situation for the fact that I my naiveness got lucky in a sense because I could have sworn from the first season, which I went back and watched and I was wrong. You either opened the box and you had nothing in it, or you had a million dollars in it. So this time we knew we were opening the boxes and we knew we either had a million dollars, a clue, or nothing in it. So I came out seeing that I had like a welcome card because I didn't get the money, I didn't get the clue, but I had like a welcome card. And I was like, oh, like I don't think that they're gonna think that everybody else got something in their box. I thought it was either money, clue, or nothing. Right. So I was asking people, hey, what was in your box? Because then if they said absolutely nothing, then I knew they were gonna be lying because I got a welcome card. Yeah. So that means that they either had a the million dollars or the clue. Sure, yeah. And Natalie comes out, and I'm the one that asks her what's in your box, and she says the words absolutely nothing. So it's like, boom, she has the million dollars or the clue. Yeah, like on night one, I had kind of questioned her and figured that out, and that was my game plan. And so I got like you see in my journal, like, I thought I was top dog, dude. I was like, dude, this game completely unraveled this game. I was like, in the first 20 minutes, I know. And like I was like, this is I'm gonna roll this game, kind of deal. Like I got so excited, you know what I mean? Because like it's just like getting having success like at the beginning of an escape room, like okay, boom, boom, boom, boom. Like I got way too excited, way too quick, and that's why like I became the threat at the beginning. So I tried, I that's why I didn't mind my edit, is because like I did try to scale myself back and start being a little bit more quiet instead of being so aggressive, not yeah, aggressive, like and it wasn't like there's it's kind of a joke apparently throughout the cast, is like you know it they kept saying like it looked like I had wasn't having fun because like whenever I'm competition mode, like I kind of like flip a script and I'm just like kind of like really focused, may have like an RBF kind of deal. Like I was just like looking very intense, but like I was having the time of my life. That's what they didn't realize. Like they thought I was just like studying and playing way too hard, but I was just like enjoying every part of it. So that's so funny

Lessons Favorite Moments And Closing

crazy.

Yeah, uh, if you could go back, is there anything that you watching it now would do differently that you think would have gotten you further?

The one thing that I think I could have done differently that would have probably not won't say changed things, but like once I got deep into the game, I started to get nervous about who had the money because I didn't have the money. So I started to pull back from certain people because I was suspicious of them instead of just having just being open to even if you are, I want to be on your good side kind of deal. Yeah, I was more like, if you are, I don't want anything to do with you. Right. And I think that wasn't the right way to go. Sure.

Yeah, so you go different than that was different than how you were up on the first half.

Kind of because one, uh there's just so many more people in the house, the odds were so much better that it wasn't me, so it was gonna be easier. So yeah, I was just nervous because like I was more nervous of the fact of getting close to somebody that has it and then picking something up to then utilize to put me under the bus. Right, yeah. Instead of just like, hey, like I'm gonna be tight with you whether you have it or not, just don't screw me over. Right, yeah. Okay, watching the episodes come out. I watched it all at once.

Did they come out weekly or did they?

So they went three first three episodes was on Wednesday, whenever the following Wednesday was the next three episodes, and the following Wednesday was the final two.

Okay, so through over three weeks. Yep. Did you watch them by yourself? Did you have people over? You watch it with friends. I feel like that'd be so much fun.

Yes. I was that's like one thing I was kind of bummed about. Well, one two, like everybody else, at least within the cast, didn't have like something that they had to travel specifically for that I know of. Like I was racing, I was in the heat of my super cross season. So I'm racing every weekend and I'm living down in Florida during those months just because usually it's too cold and like wishy-washy with weather here.

Yeah.

So I was in Florida at that time. So like trying to figure out, and another thing too, they released episodes at midnight Pacific time, so 3 a.m. 3 a.m. Eastern time. Yeah. And like I want to get up and watch it. I don't want to just like get up on my phone, just be like, what did you do or why did you do this? Like, I want to know what people are talking about. Right. So, like, there was no way to realistically do any kind of watch party or do any of that. So I just ended up flying my girlfriend down to Florida with me, and we would wake up, not even at 3 a.m., we'd wake up at like 6 a.m. and watch the episodes. Yeah. So then we kind of know what's going on, but like it wasn't, it could have been such a cool thing to do with so many people that you're involved with. Yeah. But yeah, being on the road, like I didn't really have much of an option.

I guess that makes sense. I mean, you know, being on Netflix, you're probably getting DMs, comments, and you know, they're harassing you. Like, I haven't seen it yet. Yes, exactly. Yeah, that's interesting. Crazy. That is wild, dude. Yeah, wow.

So, what was your favorite part of the whole experience? Favorite part of the whole experience was I mean, out of all, is honestly just the competitions. Like, I because I'm a competitor at heart. Like, I had so much fun with these outlandish, wild things that are set up like a game. Like, it's like like there was a scavenger hunt that I was the runner for. So, like, that was so much fun. So, you're just like giddy the whole time. Like, this is amazing. I'm having the time of my life because like I'm just totally imagined that I'm happy, go lucky, dude. Now, like I love competing, so like bring those two things together and be at an epic mansion on a sweet place, and like it was so cool, yeah. Wow.

Uh, so the stag where you stayed, that's a mansion. Is that someone's personal house? That's not a hotel, or what is that in real life?

I think I need to probably look it up. I never even looked it up, but I'm pretty sure it's just like an insane wedding venue. Okay. Or like mention that you like is like an Airbnb style house situation. No, where's it at? Uh Colonial Cal or Canada. Canada. Okay, cool.

Yeah. That's uh, I mean, that's a once-in-a-lifetime just visit within itself, too, being something like that.

And it was like, I don't even know what lake it was on or whatever, but like wherever that place is, it is insane. Yeah. Wow landscape around it.

One of the uh the challenges that you guys had to participate in really gave us a good picture of the the the sp the the stag. Yeah, the the challenge where you run around looking for objects. Yes. That was that probably was another one where the editing made you look real dumb. It's like you're looking, they were looking for certain objects throughout the house, you know, a gold apple, a gold, you know, whatever. And Kevin was chosen to be the runner. Yeah. And it's funny, they'll get an edit of him looking for this gold apple and just runs right by it. You know, they can't see it, and it's like, ah, yeah.

Oh, that's brutal. Yeah, because as the viewer, they show you everything. Yeah, they'll view your hands right here everything the whole time, but we don't know. Yeah, you know what I mean?

Yeah, oh, that's super tough. But yeah, that's probably a big uh a big place to be running around for a long time. Exactly.

Yes, yes, yeah, it reminds me of so I have three boys, and my seven-year-old is so bad at finding stuff. He'll be like, hey man, can you grab that thing real quick? And he'll be like, What? And like, the thing right there, that thing right there. And it's like he's staring right at it, like the thing right in front of you. It's right there. Can you, you know, that's like what a being a Netflix viewer is probably like. Yeah. So yeah, you're a super cross racer. Was everyone else just from random walks of life? I mean, you mentioned a farmer.

Yeah, that I would have to say so. Like, I don't know how a lot of these people got found. Like it's pretty crazy. Like, I can kind of wrap my head around my situation, right? Because maybe somebody saw a YouTube video or somebody saw uh an Instagram reel or something like that. Which uh, you know, fair enough. You can get Instagram, somebody could see an Instagram reel and you can have 200 followers, you know what I mean? Like, which was the case if for some people in our cast. Like now they're doing awesome, which I love to see. But like when I came out and I was like, how did they find this person? Yeah, it's insane. You know what I mean?

Yeah, so I think Yeah, because they didn't have like a following before. Correct, yeah.

Okay, or at least based off of what I could find, I couldn't really see much. So yeah, it was nuts. That's interesting.

Yeah, are there people that you're still connected with as friends afterward?

Yeah, everybody, like pretty much everybody. I think we're all pretty, a pretty tight group because we a large majority, at least, I'm not gonna say everybody, but a large majority of people can kind of separate what was going on and how people were acting in a game for a million dollars online and a bunch of strangers at that point, right versus on the outside and like trying to help everybody, you know, win in a sense.

And what I think's crazy about that statement is I kept comparing million-dollar secret to survivor and you know, the lying, the deception. And what I when I was my wife and I were watching it, I was telling her, you know, Survivor, you know, when you're lying to someone, it's a little more personal because you don't have to. You know, you're all you don't have to be against each other. Million dollar secret when you know the millionaire's lying, or you know, you're interrogating the millionaire and you're being a little aggressive, it's like it's nothing personal, it's purely strategy. It's purely strategy. And the second that uh, you know, uh uh the million dollars gets moved to someone else, you know, you could go right back to trusting that person because they weren't lying to you on purpose or you know, to deceive you or personal. For personal reasons, yeah. Yes, yeah. Which I thought was I have a tough time as a viewer. Maybe it's just my personality. Like, how can you not distinguish the two? Like, hey, that was a game, right? Yeah, I understand you can also be a good person, right? And you could have been lying to me this whole time, but million dollars is on the line. Well, that's why, like growing up, we used to play that game Mafia a lot, and it was so fun.

I think they someone made like a board game, it's called Secret Hitler, but it's like uh it's a board game version of Mafia, which is basically this game where someone is the mafia who's trying to secretly kill everyone, everyone else is trying to secretly figure out who the mafia is so they can vote them off. And and there's always a portion of each round where everyone is just arguing and screaming at each other about no, it's that person. I heard them move earlier when our eyes were closed and it's them and blah, blah. And to me, my favorite part of the game is if you can just get it as heated as possible, it's gonna be so much more fun. Just like everyone yelling at each other. So I would my favorite part was being the instigator, like, dude, did you guys hear that person earlier? They're like, you know, and everyone just turning and I'm like, this is amazing, you know. So, but it was this is exactly what you're talking about. Like after the game is over, I'm just like, that was awesome. And like we're all just like closer friends now. Like it wasn't personal, you know. We're all just trying to win a game.

Yeah. So Kevin, maybe final question. Yeah. Million dollar secret. If you could sum up what this experience has meant to you, what would you uh what would you say?

Yeah. Ooh, I think that would it's more of like what it kind of proves, right? Like being, I'm not gonna say Topeka's not a substantial city, right? Like it's growing in its own fact, but like not being from LA, not being from New York, not being from like some of these major hubs, yeah, and be able to kind of build myself into a professional super cross racer on top of now finding this epic side quest of being in Netflix and just trying to keep myself in the realm of doing new things, I think it shows that as regardless of how you're brought up, because like I was not brought up in a super wealthy family or anything like that, like a lot of even the supercross team stuff has been all of my own uh work and doing to find support. It's not like I was bringing in family support for that. You know what I mean? So I think it just proves that if you put your head down and you work hard and you just have fun with life, that good things will happen. Yeah.

Well, I think that's a perfect segue. We are going, John and I decided we're doing a Topeka insider first. And we're gonna dive into Kevin's super cross uh background, hit what he's doing now professionally in another episode. Tune in a little bit and we'll get to that. Thanks.