Matt Elrod

Matthew Wyatt "Matt" Elrod is a contestant from Survivor: Redemption Island.

Despite being a loyal member of Stealth R Us, Matt was voted out second after Rob Mariano noticed his closeness with tribemate and fellow ally, Andrea Boehlke. He managed to win his way back in the game through Redemption Island, making it to the merge. However, he made a fatal mistake of telling Rob that he considered flipping on him, which resulted in him getting sent back to Redemption Island. After winning his way through the duels again, he was eventually eliminated at the final duel, finishing in 7th place.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

Name (Age): Matt Elrod (22)
Tribe Designation: Ometepe
Current Residence: Nashville, Tenn.
Occupation: Pre-Med Student
Personal Claim to Fame: My decision to lead my own life.
Inspiration in Life: I think that there are so many people worthy of being deemed "a hero" in everyday life that are overlooked. So, I'm going to say people who put others before themselves.
Hobbies: Athletics, reading and exploring.
Pet Peeves: People who act out for attention.
3 Words to Describe You: Mysterious, impulsive and deep.
Survivor Contestant You Are Most Like: Any contestant who has played the game with honesty and integrity.
Reason for being on Survivor: I've always wanted to live off the land and I think it would be a fun experience to compete on the show.
Why you think you'll "survive" Survivor: I know what it takes to be a winner.
Why you think you will be the Sole Survivor: I'm athletic, amicable and intelligent. I can also hold my own socially.^[1]

Survivor[]

Like most of his fellow Ometepe members, Matt was elated to see veteran player Rob Mariano draw the Ometepe buff on Day 1. Following Kristina Kell's secret discovery of the Hidden Immunity Idol, Matt became a part of Rob's newly formed alliance consisting of Grant Mattos, Andrea Boehlke, Natalie Tenerelli, and Ashley Underwood to usurp Kristina's plans of eliminating him. With most of the tribe following Rob, the vote was split as planned, where Kristina's closest ally Francesca Hogi was eliminated.

On Day 5, despite being faithfully aligned with him, Rob noticed that Matt seemingly had a budding romance with alliance partner Andrea. Rob, who had also found love on Survivor (with Survivor: All-Stars winner Amber Brkich) began to feel threatened. Matt made a more damaging mistake by shaking hands with the rival Zapatera tribe seconds after Ometepe suffered their second defeat on Day 5. This gesture irked Rob, who swerved the vote towards Matt's direction. In the end, Rob managed to turn the majority alliance against Matt, blindsiding him in a 4-2-2 vote, sending him to Redemption Island and also flushing Kristina's Hidden Immunity Idol in the process.

However, Matt became an unstoppable force at Redemption Island, winning every duel he competed in, including a showdown with the notorious Russell Hantz. On Day 19, he won the reentry duel, allowing him to reenter the game, and earning him a spot in the merged Murlonio tribe.

After the merge, Matt found himself as a swing vote between the majority Ometepe alliance, and the minority Zapatera alliance. He told Rob that he wanted to be a part of his alliance still, and that he now wanted to go to the final three with Grant and Rob. While Matt easily forgave the very tribe that sent him to Redemption Island, he and Andrea were offered a final four deal by Zapatera member Mike Chiesl, under the condition that they voted out either Rob's closest ally, Grant, or Rob himself. Matt, however, decided to follow his honor code and told Rob about the whole ordeal, including that he had actually considered voting him out. This prompted Rob to command the Ometepe alliance to turn on Matt once again. With Matt voting for Steve Wright, who he was made to believe was the intended target, he would ultimately be blindsided in a 6-5-1 vote, sending him back to Redemption Island.

Matt would continue to thrive on Redemption Island throughout his second run, despite Rob purposefully voting out the stronger members of Zapatera first, which would start to worry the latter. After being blindsided herself, Andrea arrived at Redemption Island only to get into a heated debate with Matt about his most recent blindside. Despite his previous successes, Matt lost the final reentry duel to Andrea after a lapse in concentration. Ultimately, Matt would finish in seventh place, becoming the sixth member of the jury.

At the Final Tribal Council, Matt berated Rob for his duplicitous gameplay, but ultimately voted for him due to the lack of any other respectable options.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Ometepe	Push It Uphill	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost
2	Ometepe	Smash, Grab, Smash	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost
Voted Out, Day 5
3	Ometepe	Jail Break	Duel		Won
4		Domino Effect			Won
5		Cube Crisis			Won
6		Grapple and Maze			Won
7		Concentration			Won
8		Chimney Sweep			Won
Returned, Day 19
Tribes Merged, Day 19
8	Murlonio	Roller Ball	Immunity		Lost
Voted Out, Day 21
10	Murlonio	House of Cards	Duel		2nd
11		Shuffleboard			1st
12		Rock Block			2nd
13		A Maze N' Jig			2nd
14		A Leg Up			Lost
Eliminated, Day 36

Episode	Matt's Votes	Voted Against Matt
1	Francesca	-
2	Phillip	Ashley, Grant, Natalie, Rob
Voted Out, Day 5
3	On Redemption Island
4
5
6
7
8
Returned, Day 19
8	Steve	Andrea, Ashley, Grant, Natalie, Phillip, Rob
Voted Out, Day 21
9	On Redemption Island
10
11
12
13
14
Eliminated, Day 36
Voted for Sole Survivor	Rob

Post-Survivor[]

Personal life[]

Matt married musician Aubrey Swander on September 17, 2017.^[2]

Entertainment career[]

Matt uses the stage name, "Wyatt Nash", a play on "Wyatt", his middle name, and "Nash", for Nashville, his hometown.^[3] He landed recurring character roles in Pretty Little Liars and Hollywood Heights. Elrod also portrayed Christopher in the television film adaptation of the novel, Petals on the Wind.^[4]
Matt appeared in the music video for the song You Lie^[5] by The Band Perry.^[6]
Matt played the role of Ryan Kelly in the adaption of Karen Kingsbury's novel The Bridge.^[7]
Matt appeared on the sixth episode of the ABC sitcom Dr. Ken which aired on November 6, 2015 playing a Hot Doctor.^[8]^[9]
Matt appeared on the 2017 comedy TV series Dear White People in a recurring role as Kurt Fletcher.^[10]
Matt portrayed Charles Smith in Riverdale.^[11]
In 2019, Matt appeared in the second episode of the sixth season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine playing a younger version of Michael Hitchcock, with Alan Ritchson, who played young Norm Scully.

Trivia[]

Matt is the youngest man to compete on Redemption Island.
Matt is the first person to be voted out on Day 5.
He is also the first man to be ever sent to Redemption Island.
After losing the duel to him, Krista lent to Matt her luxury item: a bible.
Matt is the first contestant to return from Redemption Island.
- He is also the first of three contestants to be sent to Redemption Island twice. He would be followed by Ozzy Lusth and Laura Morett.
Though he did not win any challenges as part of Ometepe, he did win the most Redemption Island duels, winning ten of eleven.
- He is the only contestant to reach the merge without winning a single tribal challenge.
  - However, Denise Stapley reached the merge with only 1 tribal challenge victory and that came via forfeit.
Matt spent the most days on Redemption Island, lasting 29 days.
Matt is the first of two contestants to return from Redemption Island, but eventually lose a duel - resulting in their elimination, with the other being Laura Morett. Andrea Boehlke, Ozzy Lusth, and Tina Wesson also returned from Redemption Island, but never lost a duel.
Matt is also the only person to participate in every single duel at Redemption Island.
Matt has the record for longest Redemption Island winning streak at 10 consecutive wins.
Matt lost 25 lbs. during his time on Redemption Island.
Matt was referenced in the South Pacific episode "Reap What You Sow" by Christine Shields Markoski, who said "It would be great if I pulled a Matt and returned to the game."^[12]
Matt turned down the offer to appear for a second time in Caramoan as one of the returning Favorites.^{[citation needed]}