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Danny Kilby

Canadian game designer and Noodle Goose co-founder who competed on Survivor 51.

Biography

Dan Kilby, introduced in the Survivor 51 cast as Danny “Kilby” Kilby, is a Canadian game designer, filmmaker and co-founder of Noodle Goose. He entered the 2026 season after building a business around games and shared experiences, including projects that combine social strategy with storytelling and live challenges.

Dan Kilby, billed as Danny Kilby in the Survivor cast, helped build the Canadian studio Noodle Goose before joining season 51. His work combines social strategy, storytelling and playable experiences. The studio’s projects include game-based learning, events and a word-puzzle game called You Can Change the Wor(L)d.

Known for

Contestant

Survivor 51

Danny Kilby competed on Survivor 51 in 2026.[2]

Career highlights

  1. Career 1

    Creative direction at Noodle Goose

    Noodle Goose identifies Kilby as a co-founder, game designer and creative director alongside co-founder Karen Mak. The studio describes his interests as strategy, filmmaking and the psychology of play. Its Survivor page connects that professional identity directly to the contestant, describing the game designer stepping into a large social competition himself.[3][4]

  2. Career 2

    The studio’s early social-strategy games

    According to the company’s account, its founders met through online social-strategy games. Their earliest projects used games to help autistic young people practice communication and leadership and prepare for adult life.[5]

  3. Career 3

    Original games and commissioned experiences

    The studio later developed a broader mix of original games, immersive events and commissioned experiences. That history is presented in the company’s own account of its work.[5]

  4. Career 4

    You Can Change the Wor(L)d

    One of its featured projects is You Can Change the Wor(L)d, a word-puzzle game built around changing sounds. The studio also presents playable experiments and prototypes rather than describing every project as a finished commercial release.[2][4]

  5. Career 5

    Puzzles and Survivor

    Kilby’s public Survivor introduction placed him in London, Ontario, after growing up in Mount Forest, and identified puzzles as a particular interest he brought into the competition.[2][4]