16-year-old Kyle 'Bugha' Giersdorf won $3 million this weekend in the Fortnite World Cup solos competition, demolishing the rest of the field with a six-round point total that was nearly double that of the second-place finisher. The next day, he went on The Tonight Show and told Jimmy Fallon a little bit about what it's like to be the champ.
The interview is short and Fallon does most of the talking, although fair play to Giersdorf: He's a 16-year-old kid with fame (and three million bucks) very suddenly thrust upon him, and he handles his surely-unexpected turn in the spotlight well.
The story behind his "Bugha" name is probably the highlight. "My grandpa gave me the name when I was a baby," Giersdorf explained. "He used to say, 'Bugha, bugha, bugha,' and I used to laugh. So that's where I get it from."
It's a cute origin story, and I give full credit to him for copping to it. 16-year-old me probably would have concocted some nonsense about how it's the sound of my favorite gun, because admitting it's something that made me laugh when I was a baby would have seemed—to my youthful mind—very uncool.
With the big weekend and his victory tour concluded, Giersdorf also shared some nice parting thoughts about his time in New York:
Goodbye NYC. But on a real note, this has been the best week of my entire life and I can’t be more thankful for everyone supporting me. It has been a pleasure meeting everyone especially the pros. I can’t wait to meet more of you in future events. Also shoutout to @EpicGames. 💕July 30, 2019
