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Reality star Kyland Young was diagnosed with autism at age 30 after competing on Big Brother season 23
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Young went on to participate in multiple seasons of The Challenge, which he tells PEOPLE has been the “perfect arena to demonstrate a positive aspect of” his autism diagnosis
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The TV personality says his success on The Challenge proves that people with autism “cannot be limited”
In just three seasons on The Challenge, Kyland Young has proved himself to be a true competitor, most recently making it to the final on The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras. This comes after Young, 33, worked with Big Brother’s first all-Black alliance to help Xavier Prather become the show’s first Black regular-season winner.
Between appearing on season 23 of Big Brother and joining The Challenge world, Young learned at age 30 that he has autism. Messages from Big Brother viewers encouraged him to seek out the diagnosis.
“They have the live feed, so people are watching you sleep, eat, interact, sit by yourself, how do you talk,” Young, who also has ADHD, tells PEOPLE. “Afterwards, I ended up having multiple messages, emails, DMs saying like, ‘Hey, you remind me of my brother,’ ‘You remind me of my son’ or, ‘You remind me of my father or myself who is autistic and have you ever gotten checked or looked for this or talked to a medical professional about it?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, this is interesting.’ “
Related: Big Brother’s Kyland Young, Diagnosed with Autism at 30, Calls Out RFK’s ‘Troublesome’ But ‘Not Surprising’ Comments (Exclusive)
Young’s fellow season 23 housemate Britini D’Angelo was diagnosed with autism as a kid and spoke about her experience on the show. The reality star went out of his way to make sure D’Angelo, 27, felt comfortable in the house.
“In the mornings, I would usually be hanging out with Britini because she’s just a very excited, energetic person,” he recalls. “It could be overwhelming for people to have that energy while always stressed out about the game and isolation, but there was so many different ways that she would express herself where I was like, ‘I understand why this could bother people and I really want to make sure she feels like I’m not bothered by any of it.’ Because that’s my favorite thing to receive from people because I have many quirks.”
Kyland Young/Instagram
‘Big Brother’ stars Kyland Young and Britini D’Angelo
D’Angelo was one of the first people Young called when he got his autism diagnosis. “We were FaceTiming and she had her mom there and her mom was like, ‘I didn’t know that you didn’t know that,’” he says. “I was learning.”
Young went on to compete on The Challenge: USA season 1 in 2022 before joining the flagship franchise on MTV for seasons 39 and 40. He found that The Challenge made him more socially aware than Big Brother because it contains “much more scene setting” from the camera crew, since the CBS show films 24/7 with cameras placed around the house.
“It’s all still real, but is we’re not talking about the game unless we’re in the specific spaces with the camera people.” Young explains.
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The Pepperdine University grad says that the worries of his fellow reality contestants in front of the cameras, such as confusion surrounding where to put their hands, how to stand and the way they sound, come up for him in daily life, so TV hasn’t felt like a big pivot for him.
“I’ve had conversations with people doing a show for the first and they were talking about, ‘Oh, yeah, I never know what to do with my hands,’ or like, ‘Am I blinking too much or am I saying all these things?’” Young continues. “That blew my mind because I was like, ‘Wait, what do you mean?’ That’s every conversation that I’m having with basically strangers or non-family.”
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Young’s ability to thoroughly plan has also helped him on The Challenge, where host TJ Lavin tells competitors to expect the unexpected.
“What I’ve been able to do really well is I plan for a certain amount of unknown variation,” the TV personality says. “And I think that that’s helped me be successful in performing as a competitor, because the things I do tend to be combinations of mental and physical competitions. I can approach things logically in a way that helps me solve things faster than most people.”
So while some of Young’s castmates might be worrying about a challenge involving heights or creepy critters, the content creator has found he can stay calm. “I’m privileged with very little to no anxiety,” Young says. “My brain tends to not [stress] because I’m just like, ‘Well, most things are just a problem to be solved. Stressing about it is inefficient.’ “
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Young feels especially proud of the daily elimination wins he’s picked up on The Challenge since receiving his autism diagnosis, calling them a “perfect arena to demonstrate a positive aspect of” his diagnosis.
“Elimination is my favorite part of the game to participate in, even though you don’t want to do that in The Challenge,” he acknowledges. “I don’t go into the eliminations with any cockiness or confidence, just like, whatever we’re about to do is a problem that can be solved if you can think about it and not get emotional about it. All the challenges that come with the way that your brain works, this is the space where it can be a significant benefit. It’s not about the awkwardly interacting with people in some emotional space in a way that doesn’t feel logical or it’s frustrating. It’s not about having to interpret social cues from people or anything like that. It literally is looking at a tangible, logic-based problem with some sort of, ‘If you apply effort, skill and reason, you can get this done.’ ”
Related: RFK Jr. Says People with Autism ‘Will Never Pay Taxes, Hold a Job, Go on a Date,’ Sparking Fierce Backlash
As for whether Young plans to partake in future Challenges, he simply teases to “stay tuned.”
“It’s a visible reminder for people of ways that they can push themselves, ways that they cannot be limited and even while competing,” Young says of the show. “That’s a really cool aspect of post-diagnosis.”
Read the original article on People
