Australian Survivor is a reality game show. It is the Australian version of the famous reality show, Survivor. The original Survivor is based on a Swedish show called Expedition Robinson.
The show consists of 24 contestants. The contestants are divided into three groups of tribes. The tribes are left with limited supplies in a hidden location. They should survive with limited supplies and perform tasks.
The challenges require both physical and mental strength. Upon completing the tasks, the contestants get rewards like food, supplies, and luxury items.
The tribes need to attend a tribal council to eliminate the tribes. They have to vote their friends out through a secret ballot. Gradually, the tribes are merged into a single group, and the tasks are given individually.
The finalists must convince jurors why they should be the winner. The jurors discuss and decide the winner by casting their votes. The winner gets prize money of $500,000. The winner is announced as the “Sole Survivor.”
The first season of Australian Survivor was aired in 2002. The show has ten seasons. The latest season was released in 2023. It is known as Australian Survivors: Heroes vs. Villains. It was released on January 30, 2023, and the season had 24 contestants, including 13 new and 11 contestants from previous seasons.
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Let’s learn some interesting facts about the Australian Survivor reality show.
1. The contestants are selected from different ethnicities and backgrounds.
The program is well-known and well-liked for portraying various cultures and identities. The contestants audition from different backgrounds, including actors, athletes, and everyday people.
They are selected from various ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations. For example, the fifth-season winner, Shane Gould, is a former Olympic swimmer, and the show also features stay-at-home parents.
2. The candidates receive intensive survival training.
The candidates undergo a special survival training crash course before they enter the show. Survival experts and mentors give the training. They guide them about surviving in the forest with minimum supplies.
They are also trained on how to build their shelters and find food. The training includes guidance on how to start a fire and catch fish from the sea.
The mentors also teach the contestants what to eat and what to avoid. They also tell them the measures to take when someone is sick or how to respond to a medical emergency.
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3. The contestants are not provided with soap and toothbrushes.
Australian Survivor is one of the most difficult reality shows of all time. The contestants go through a rigorous training process. The casting process for the contestants includes physical tests and blood tests.
The production team ensures that the contestant is ready to take on the difficult challenges of the show. The participants disclosed that the production team does not provide toothbrushes, soaps, and toiletries on the set.
They should survive in a forest region and have many restrictions on the items they carry. The contestants are not allowed to bring their stuff, nor does the production team provide them with the materials.
Many participants said their hygiene was disturbed because of the show. One of the members even mentioned that they stunk throughout the show.
4. The producers make the tribal council authentic by adding handicrafts by local artists.
The tribal council is the most interesting and important episode of the show. The castaways are eliminated during the tribal council. The tribes need to pick the person they want to eliminate.
The process takes so much time, unlike what is shown in the program. The production team of Australian Survivor took several days to create the tribal council set. The recent season set took almost seven weeks to complete.
Local artists handcraft the props at an art school. The props used to build the tribal council were designed at a local art workshop. The warehouse will be converted into a recycling facility when the production is finished.
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5. The candidates should build their shelters and find their food.
The contestants’ requirement to construct their shelters and scavenge for food is the most difficult aspect of the show. They have very limited resources available.
Experts give the contestants survival training. The mentors teach them about the foods that can be found on the island and those that they need to avoid. They only have a few sources of food. They are given a very limited ration of rice and beans.
The contestants go fishing in the ocean. They catch the fish they eat. They also have access to fruits that are available on the island. The producers double-check the food the players eat to ensure their safety.
The contestants build their shelters with whatever resources they find. So they construct their camps solely from available materials, with certain supplies the creators provide.
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6. The winner is awarded a cash prize of $500,000.
The players are paid daily. The more contest days they win, the more money they win. However, the player who wins at the end gets a cash prize of $500,00. This cannot be distributed and is given to the winner.
The daily payment is given equally to everyone in the game. Many contestants of the show expressed dissatisfaction with the pay they received for surviving on the island.
The competitors are paid relatively little while completing exceedingly difficult feats. One of the players said that they are paid less than $100 every day.
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7. The show is one of the longest-running reality shows.
The show first premiered in Australia in 2002. Since then, it has become a popular staple of Australian television. The show completed ten seasons in 2023. The show has been among the most popular for almost two decades.
The show was filmed in various locations and had various hosts over the years. The show won various awards, like Most Popular Reality TV Show at the TV Blackbox Awards and the AACTA Award for Best Reality Series in 2018.
The show gained great popularity. The show’s popularity has led to several spin-off shows, including Australian Survivor: All-Stars, Champions vs. Contenders, and Brains vs. Brawn.
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8. The show tests the contestants’ mental and physical strength.
The contestants should remain physically and mentally fit to compete in the show. The players are examined before the show. The production team conducts various tests, which include a blood test.
The tests are conducted before the players participate in the show. They are eliminated from the show if they seem unfit or not good in terms of physical health.
Regarding mental health, they should be very strong mentally to compete in the show. They stay in isolation for a long, which might affect their mental health.
The challenges also require thinking, and the contestants must be mentally and physically strong.
9. The show has been hosted by Jonathan LaPaglia since 2016.
The show started in 2002. Lincoln Howes served as the show’s inaugural host. Later, Ian Dickinson took over the show in 2006. The show returned in 2016. Since then, Jonathan LaPaglia has hosted the show.
Jonathan LaPaglia is a famous Australian actor and TV personality. He is also the younger brother of actor Anthony LaPaglia. Since the show’s revival in 2016, he has hosted every season. He is the longest-surviving Australian Survivor host ever.
10. Samoa is the only location to appear twice in the show.
The show was filmed in Samoa in 2016. The location was used for the first time in the show. The latest season was again filmed in the same location, Upolu, Samoa.
This location is the only place where the filming was done twice. The crew selected various locations in different seasons. This is the only location that is repeated twice.
The recent season of Australian Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains was filmed in Samoa. The crew used the help of 180 Samoan people for the production. The locals also helped in collecting props and carvings from the local Samoans.
11. A separate team tests the challenges before contestants face them.
The players need to face a wide range of challenges during the show. These challenges consist of different types, including puzzles, physical tasks, etc. The crew needs to ensure the safety of the contestants while performing the challenges.
The challenges are tried and tested by a separate team. The production team has a separate team to test these tasks. The team is known as the “dream team.” There are around 16 to 20 members on the team.
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12. The production team selects the outfits of the contestants.
The production team selects the outfits of the players. The contestants are not allowed to bring their attire. For the duration of the production, they can only wear five authorized pieces of clothing.
The contestants can choose their clothes from the provided range of clothing. They are encouraged to dress like themselves, as it would be difficult to see the same style among everyone.
They are encouraged to be comfortable with their dressing. The contestants are not even allowed to bring their swimsuits. The production crew provides them with clothing.
13. The players get a medical box with supplies off-camera.
The production team does not allow the personal stuff of the contestants. They are not provided with toothbrushes, toiletries, and soaps. They are only given a few essential products off-camera.
The team maintains an emergency medical kit. However, the contestants are allowed to carry their regular medicines or pills. They are not allowed to carry extra stuff, and they are not provided with any.
The medical box includes basics like bug spray, sunscreen, and vitamins. The contestants can also submit their bags containing tampons and contact lens solutions. Only one person at a time can go near the medical box.
The scenes of contestants going to collect the essentials from the box are not filmed. One of the contestants on the show mentioned that the team wanted to create the illusion that it was a complete show. Due to that reason, these scenes are not filmed.
14. The crew keeps an additional pair of clothing given to the players.
As we already know, the production crew selects the contestants’ outfits. The crew keeps an additional pair of clothes similar to the outfits given to the contestant.
The team needs to film the scenes continuously. The filming continuity gets disturbed if the clothes get damaged when the contestants are performing the challenges. The players cannot change into new outfits, as the continuity of shots will be missed.
Due to this reason, the production team keeps a pair of the same clothes while filming. In case of an emergency, new clothes are given to the players.
15. The contestants are not sent back after elimination.
You heard it right. The contestants are not sent back home right after the elimination. They are given a separate stay with the production crew until the filming of the season is completed.
The contestants get to stay at a luxurious villa known as the Ponderosa or Jury Villa. The contestants find the rest of the jury at this place. The players are given a luxurious first meal after their elimination.
The players get a chance to rest and relax in the villa. They are allowed to eat as much as they want at the Ponderosa. They do not have any restrictions. The players are still isolated from the outside world but have access to electronic devices and activities to keep them occupied.
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16. Tribal councils take place for a longer duration than is shown on the show.
The filming takes place in a forest area or on an island. The weather there is very unpredictable. The tribal council generally continues for hours. It involves elimination, so the process is very long.
The contestants said the filming usually begins at 8 p.m. and continues until 11 p.m. The players head back to their shelters after the session ends. The filming is done for hours, but only the important parts are edited, and others are removed. The edited version is televised on TV.
17. The camera crew returns to their hotel rooms at night.
The camera crew should cover the whole day as well as the night. They need to film all the footage. But when the contestants head back to the camp to sleep, the camera crew also gets to sleep.
The team stays at the base camp throughout the filming, but they have their hotel rooms to stay in at night. The camera crew works very hard throughout the day, and they get to relax a little at night. They can go back and get ready for the next day.
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18. The players cannot go into the ocean at night.
The ocean contains sharks and other dangerous creatures. The players are strictly not allowed to go into the ocean at night. The crew makes sure that the contestants are safe during the night.
There are scenes where the sharks attack the contestants during filming. These scenes are not televised. The tides are also very dangerous at night. Thus, the crew and players avoid going into the ocean after dark.
19. The players do not have access to bathrooms.
The show seems more challenging when we find out that the players do not have access to bathrooms. The show consists of models, actors, and other celebrities who lead luxurious lives outside the show.
Since the players do not have access to bathroom facilities, they need to find an alternative way to meet their needs. Each participant finds a designated place on the beach and uses it as their toilet. They inform other players about the location, so they proceed there cautiously.
The players do not get a chance to take a bath. They do not take proper showers for days. They only take dips in the ocean. They do not even have soaps and shampoos. It becomes very difficult for female players during their monthly cycle.
20. The show has a minimum age requirement for auditions.
The show features a range of age groups. The players belong to different age groups but participate together in the show. However, there is a minimum age requirement to participate in the show.
The contestants should be over the age of 16. This is the minimum age limit. No maximum limit exists, and anyone at least 16 can participate in the show. Ben Morgan is the youngest contestant to participate in Australian Survivor. He took part in the show when he was 20 years old.
21. There are occasions when actors perform scenes for the camera.
The scenes are edited to perfection when we see them on TV. But many things take place away from the lenses of the cameras. The contestants are requested to reenact the scene if the camera shot is imperfect.
The players recreate the original scene until the camera crew gets the perfect shot. The episodes of the tribal council are also filmed several times to get the right shots. The players have to reenact the scenes several times.
22. The players have to survive the worst nights.
The show takes place on an island. The players participate in different challenges during the day. They are kept occupied with tasks throughout the day.
The contestants admitted that making it through the nights was the hardest obstacle. The islands have mosquitoes and very cold nights. Since the places are covered with trees, the nights can be rather freezing.
The players also highlighted the fact that the land is moist due to the rain. They must spend the night sleeping on the chilly, soggy soil. The players acknowledged how challenging it is to get a restful night’s sleep.
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23. Contestants can ask questions about the challenges.
The team creates several challenges for the players. The team explains the challenges to the contestants in detail. After the challenge is explained, contestants can ask questions about the task. They can also attempt the challenge beforehand to ensure they know what they are doing.
The challenges are very difficult and are designed by experts. No matter what, the players must take part in the challenges. The candidates must finish the assigned challenge even if it rains on the island.
24. The players are not allowed to talk to the camera crew.
The camera crew stays directly in front of the participants as they are continuously recorded. The players, however, are strictly forbidden from speaking with the camera crew. It might affect the game, according to the creators.
The players should ignore the camera crew and continue with their work without responding to them. The contestants grant complete consent to be filmed at any time on the show. So they carry on without speaking to the team.
25. Many contestants lost weight after participating in the show.
The contestants reported that they lost weight after competing in the show. The players are given a limited food supply and must complete difficult physical tasks. The change in food habits and work might be a major factor that affected the players.
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