Fyre Festival's Andy King Is Getting A "Second Chance" on 'The Anonymous' (EXCLUSIVE)

Event producer Andy King's life hasn't been the same since 2019. That year, he starred in a little-known Netflix documentary, FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. The doc interviewed Andy and others in Billy McFarland's ill-fated Fyre Festival, though Andy quickly stood out for one of his anecdotes.

He discussed the time Billy asked Andy, a gay man, to perform fellatio on a customs officer after Billy failed to pay for the festival's water supply.

Andy's scene from the FYRE doc (you know you've seen it) instantly went viral after its release. Today, its meme has circulated globally and is still one of the most memorable moments of the Fyre Festival fiasco.

While Andy's notoriety increased from FYRE, he's ready to be known for something else, like the hopeful winner of USA's new reality TV competition, The Anonymous.

Ahead of the show's premiere, Andy spoke with Distractify and shared why the opportunity couldn't have come at a better time.

Most people who become famous for something embarrassing typically keep a low profile. Andy, however, decided to turn his meme-worthy lemon into reality TV lemonade. After he gained fame from FYRE, he had multiple offers to start his own reality show, including a pilot with Netflix.

"I was going to fly around the world, saving events that were going wrong," Andy described to Distractify. "[It was a] kind of a cool show, but COVID hit, and so things came to a screaming hole."

He continued working as an event producer for a while after the shows fell through. Still, he said he always asked himself if he only wanted to be known for the FYRE doc or if he had to pivot. Eventually, The Anonymous fell into Andy's lap, allowing viewers to see "the real Andy King."

"It's always been in the corner of my mind; how can I change the narrative?" he explained. "I lost my anonymity with FYRE. I became famous overnight. But it wasn't necessarily the fame that I really wanted. I always knew that I'd be famous as a kid, somehow, but I feel like now, with The Anonymous, this is my second chance."

In Andy's next chapter, nothing he does on The Anonymous is (hopefully) as demanding as his time with the Fyre Festival. Viewers of the new USA show will see him use humor and his team player spirit to build enough trust with his teammates to get them eliminated week after week.

"I am the ultimate team player, right?" Andy said. "I'm a people person. I'm the guy who'll do whatever it takes to make people happy and to make something successful. Now I want to be America's team player."

Andy may be a team player on The Anonymous, but he said his relationship with Billy is definitely over. During FYRE's debut, Billy served time in federal prison for stealing over $26 million from investors and ticket buyers of the Fyre Festival. He was released from prison in March 2022, though he still owes money in restitution. Still, in 2023, Billy announced plans to create Fyre Festival 2.0 and contacted Andy to help organize the event.

Andy spent some time with Billy in New York City to get close enough to him to encourage him to give as much money as he could back. However, he said he eventually ended communication with Billy in November 2023 and doesn't think there should be any further plans to make the Fyre Festival happen.

"I know there were people that were looking to partner with him, but he's kind of gone rogue," Andy said of Billy. "Unless he's got a big infrastructure in place with a partner, I don't think he can pull off another festival again without having the right players, the right infrastructure, you know, and that's backers, partners, investors, the right lineup."

While he says he still gets recognized for FYRE, Andy said he's grateful to have had a fresh start with The Anonymous and for bonding with his castmates, some of whom are also known for other TV shows.

"We become a family, and that's kind of fun," he shared. "So there were always fun stories being told, but we were on the go. They were long , long days. But I think to myself, 'I would never have met these kids before.' I would not have developed these relationships. So I'm grateful for the show for that."

Watch new episodes of The Anonymous on USA on Mondays at 11 p.m. EST.