The Fugitive’s true identity revealed

Kyle Thorp, owner of a marketing company and an aspiring stand-up comedian, is a fresh-faced 20-year old who looks the same as any Joburg student killing some time between lectures. But appearances can be deceiving.

After weeks of detective work, it was revealed that Thorp led a double life for the five weeks of ‘The Fugitive’. He was ‘The Fugitive’, the man that Johannesburg residents hunted feverishly in the hopes of collecting handsome cash bounties.

The Fugitive radio promotion captured Johannesburg’s imagination with a simple but compelling concept: a fugitive was on the run, there was R1,000 bounty on his head for every hour he was at large, and it was up to the public to use the clues that he provided to track him down. This year marks the second time that Gold Reef City and 94.7 Highveld Stereo set the Fugitive loose on the public.

“I love entertaining people, so the Fugitive was a great opportunity for me. It was a great deal of fun and I really got caught up in the character,” says Thorp. “It’s quite exciting because I didn’t want to get caught, and often I’d have moments of adrenalin where my heart would be pounding.”

As the Fugitive, Thorp was responsible for coming up with the brain-teasing clues that exasperated Joburgers used to track him down. On several occasions, Thorp found himself swarmed by excited crowds who had figured his location out.

“When I announced that I was at the Festival Mall in Kempton Park, it was chaos and people were running around asking each other: ‘Are you the Fugitive?’ I followed their example,” says Thorp. He was eventually bust in a clothing store trying on shoes.

At one point, the Fugitive headed to Cape Town for a couple of days where he was caught twice. Upon his return, Thorp found Johannesburg International Airport so besieged by bounty hunters that the airport had to deploy extra security. Thorp slipped in barely noticed, but didn’t manage to evade Alexia Sideris, who claimed a bounty of R50,000 for nabbing him.

Thorp’s real-life personality is not nearly as brazen and obnoxious as the persona he assumed for The Fugitive, but he does admit that provoking 94.7’s Presenters was one of the most enjoyable aspects of his time as The Fugitive.

The Fugitive’s true identity revealed – Continued

“I really enjoyed chirping the Presenters - it was great fun,” says Thorp. A running feud between the Fugitive and popular presenter, Jeremy Mansfield, kept 94.7 listeners glued to their radios throughout the promotion.

Only four people, three senior executives and one producer at 94.7, knew The Fugitive’s true identity during the promotion. Of those, producer Paulo Dias was the only one besides the Fugitive himself who was aware of The Fugitive’s exact location and movements at any given time.

Says Dias: “When listeners are out hunting the Fugitive, they are looking for someone who seems a lot worldlier. The great thing about Thorp is how easily he blends into environments, both because of his looks and the fact that he doesn’t draw any unnecessary attention to himself.”

When The Fugitive was camped at The Northgate Ice Rink, a woman came up to him and said: “You’re too young to be The Fugitive, so it can’t be you.” Thorp managed to keep the secret even from those closest to him. At one point, his girlfriend found the notebook where he kept his clues but thought that it was just a book where Thorp wrote up his comedy routines. His mother even told him that she was obsessed with catching The Fugitive.

Over the five weeks of the promotion, Gold Reef City and 94.7 gave away over half a million rand in cash to listeners who were clever enough to decode the Fugitive’s sometimes obscure clues and corner him with the question: “Are you the Fugitive?”

The largest single bounty, claimed by Jacqui Payne when the Fugitive was at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, amounted to R75,000. Payne tapped on Thorp’s window while he was looking for a parking and managed to claim the prize ahead of throngs of fans waiting for him at the Square.

The promotion closed off with the Fugitive showing his heart of gold. He told Jeremy that he found life on the streets tough but fortunately it was only for short period of time. He said he wanted to do something for the kids whose time on the streets was less certain and organised for Gold Reef City Casino to donate R50 000 to a children’s shelter.

The Fugitive - Kyle Thorp unmasked