Is former Ozark basketball player Kyland Hewett-Newbill an 'FBOY'? Find out this season on FBOY Island
Former Ozark basketball standout Kyland Hewett-Newbill said he recently received a text message from his high school head coach.
"What is FBOY Island?" the text read from head coach Mark Schweitzer said.
Hewett-Newbill sent him the trailer of the upcoming reality TV show that he'll be appearing on.
The trailer showed three women who were looking for love in a tropical paradise but they had to sort through 26 men with half of them being "nice guys" who were there for love. The other half? They're looking for, well, other things, and a $100,000 prize.
"He asked 'am I going to be embarrassed for you or am I going to be proud of you?'" Hewett-Newbill said. "I'm just laughing at the thought of Coach Schweitzer tuning in."
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The 2016 Ozark grad who played a year at Drury will be a contestant on the second season of FBOY Island. The first three episodes of the 10-part show debut on July 14 with additional episodes dropping each Thursday until the Aug. 4 finale.
Hewett-Newbill filmed the show over a three-month period in Cabo San Lucas. In the first season, the women selected men to go out with each episode ending with three men being eliminated. It's then revealed whether the contestant was a "nice guy" or a self-proclaimed "Fboy." The show, supposedly, calls them "f-boys" the entire time and not what you know it stands for.
For Hewett-Newbill, he got involved with the show thanks to his activity on social media. Once his basketball career ended, he pursued being a model like his sister. The chance to travel the world appealed to him.
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Hewett-Newbill didn't have a job so he got with an agency, took photos and started to get minor acting roles. His direct messages on Instagram then became flooded with requests from other reality dating shows including Love Island, The Circle and, eventually, FBOY Island.
"They hit me up about it and I thought it was pretty interesting," Hewitt-Newbill said. "I applied and I went through a long interview process. I didn't know I was going to be picked for the show until a week before we were supposed to fly out. It was crazy."
Hewett-Newbill said he looked at the social media pages of some of the guys who competed during the first season and saw their followings increased to where they were modeling for different clothing lines. The show, created by some who have worked on The Bachelor and Love Is Blind, had the biggest launch for a reality show on HBO Max since it was launched in Spring 2020, according to WarnerMedia.
It's quite the departure for the former First Team All-Central Ozark Conference player who led the Tigers to a 19-9 season as a senior while averaging 13.4 points per game.
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His player page on Drury's website said his dream job was once to be a professional basketball player but he now has his sights set on becoming a social media influencer in addition to a sports field he goes into after earning a sports administrative degree during the upcoming fall semester.
Hewett-Newbill said his entire family is looking forward to sitting down and watching the show — although he admitted that he told them that there's a certain part in one of the episodes where they might want to turn away.
As for the biggest question on everyone's mind: Is Hewett-Newbill an FBOY?
"You'll just have to tune in to find out," he said.
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Kyland Hewett-Newbill talks about being an FBOY Island contestant
