With each new year there’s a new roster of Bama Rush PNMs who capture fans’ attention, but the young woman who will always be remembered when RushTok season comes around is Kylan Darnell. Darnell, who is now a senior student and member of Zeta Tau Alpha at the University of Alabama, initially rose to fame during the 2022 Bama Rush season, gaining thousands of followers for her cute and relatable rush TikToks, and later for her glimpses of life as a Zeta and a college influencer.
Darnell hasn’t slowed down a bit in the time since she was a PNM, and fans were looking forward to watching her in her final year of rush, especially since her little sister Izzy is now a PNM. So, suffice it to say, it was very surprising when the queen of RushTok suddenly announced on Aug. 11 that she would be taking a break from social media and rush week. “I have personally decided to take a mental health day,” Darnell said her video, before going on to explain that she was actually sitting out of Bama’s entire philanthropy round of rush, which takes place over the course of three days, Aug. 11 to 13. It’s unclear whether she’ll proceed with rush or RushTok after that.
But why is Kylan Darnell taking a break from Bama rush 2025 in the first place? Here’s what’s known so far about her decision.
In her video, Darnell explained that when she initially began posting about her life at the University of Alabama, she didn’t know what was going to come out of it. “I had no idea my life was going to turn into what it has,” she said. Darnell currently has 508,000 Instagram followers and 1.2 million TikTok followers, with more than 82 million likes on her videos. Darnell also shared that her posting about her experiences with rush began authentically. “I had the most genuine experience of rush,” she said. “I knew nothing about the houses, I knew nothing about anybody.”
In 2025, though, that’s a bit harder for her to achieve. “There was a point in my life where my personality was [my] sorority, but I’ve grown and it’s not really like that anymore,” she said. Darnell shared that she’s had numerous people reach out to her to say how they admire her and want to be like her. “If I was to post this year and promote [rush,] I’d be doing those girls an injustice,” she said.
But even though Darnell is taking a step back, she doesn’t necessarily want others to follow her actions. “I’m not saying don’t rush. That was so much fun I loved it.” She then clarified that this is a matter of her mental health and how her presence on social media affects her. “I won’t lie to you guys about it, I’ve just not been enjoying it, I’ve not been having fun,” she said of her current mental state during sorority rush this year. After mentioning there’s been an uptick in social media drama surrounding rush, Darnell also made a request of her viewers: “I know that I put myself in a position to be talked about online, but please … don’t go involve me in other girls’ posts in the comments … it brings more drama for me and I don’t want anything to do with that.”
Kylan finished the video by sharing that for the next few days, she’ll be spending time with her family while they’re in Alabama and helping her sister Izzy with recruitment. “I can already tell that it’s going to be really hard for her,” Darnell said in her video, which led some to speculate that part of the reason for Kylan’s stepping back has to do with Izzy’s rush journey.
But that’s not the only theory. Others pointed out that Bama Zeta’s official social media accounts have not been featuring posts of Darnell this year, and some are wondering whether that has anything to do with Darnell’s decision to step back. That said, most seniors are less active during rush than underclassmen, so isn’t really abnormal for Zeta to not be posting her. Also, some are wondering whether Darnell’s mom, Tonya, could have something to do with Darnell stepping back, considering Tonya is in the midst of sharing a multi-part TikTok series about the struggles she’s faced dealing with Darnell’s career (a series that Darnell does not seem happy about, according to a video she posted the evening of Aug. 11, when she clarified that she is not currently in a legal battle like some assumed after watching Tonya’s TikToks).
Theories aside, from the sound of it, Darnell truly wants a break from the mess of Bama rush, and her fans are behind her on this one. “You’ve grown out of it just like all girls do their senior year. I was the same way. You focus on yourself!” one commenter wrote on her video. Another added, “As fun as watching rushtok is, people forget these are very young girls and maintaining mental health in college is very crucial. Maybe it’s time to keep the sorority process more private in general.” Now there’s some food for thought for everyone involved!