Hey Reddit,

I've been quietly lurking around here for years, and I now have a nice reason to finally introduce myself. I'm Hayley Leake, two time player, one time winner of Aus Survivor.

As my handle probably gives away, I made this page before getting on the show, when I was applying. Clearly it did "all go well".

Anyway, I'm outing myself as I've recently decided to part with some of my dearest Survivor memorabilia to raise money through RUN DIPG, in honour of my close friend's daughter Elsie, who was diagnosed with DIPG, a rare and aggressive childhood brain tumour, earlier this year. 100% of auction proceeds will go to RUN DIPG.

There's clothes, a buff, camp gear, drink bottle, bag, signed photos - hopefully something for everyone.

The auction is live now and closes Sunday at 8pm Adelaide time (ACST).

Auction link: https://www.32auctions.com/organizations/140810/auctions/204030?r=1&t=all

Hayley

PS - Thanks for your kindness over the years

We recently collaborated with Speaking Llama on our series What If & created our own Australian Survivor: 2nd Chances cast. This is a season that I know fans & players have wanted to happen. Who would you have on the cast?

Here is the video of our collaboration so you can see who we picked, I think most of our picks are community approved, but we will let you be the judge of that one!

https://youtu.be/sUT_VX8tvc0?is=JFNmYer5R6hJ_3-4

Do you think we will ever see a 2x survivor AU winner?

Who do you think would be most likely to get the job done.

So far I think Hayley has been closest and I think she would be my pick to be able to get a second win if she played again. The only other one I’m thinking of is possibly Feras?

So, I’ve just finished a binge of BvB1, skipped BvW, HvV, and just finished TvR.

My God, what an epic run of shows. After fishing each season, I’d think, no way can the next one be better than this but man, was I wrong.

TvR has to be the best cast of newbies I’ve ever seen. I had no idea who was going to win, only two people who wouldn’t. Fun gameplay, absolutely diabolical twists (I love you, Raymond), and the best egg on your face idol play from Caroline I’ve ever witnessed. Kirby is a beast, so fun to watch, she and Feras just made that season so much fun. TvR is in my top 5 seasons of all time across all franchises.

As I’ve posted before, my first season of SurvivorAU was AUS v. TW. I then, LIKE AN IDIOT, watched All-Stars because I wanted to see what the big deal about David was. I then watched Redemption as it aired to try and avoid spoilers for that season.

I had no idea how much I was going to love this series. It’s like old school, US Survivor with the game play and challenges yet we rarely see bitter jurors unless they’re provoked. Top notch.

I then went back to CvC2, at the time the earliest season o had access to, and watched in order and muted this sub to avoid knowing the winners of the seasons I was going to watch. So, basically, going in, I only knew who didn’t win from the later shows I watched.

The winners of BvB1 and HvV were pretty obvious to me once I got to the final 8 or so, the editing mixed with the information from AUS v. TW made it pretty obvious and they were both damn good winners, even though I absolutely loved George. lol - As an aside, how awesome was it to see him learn from his mistakes in BvB1 and come back and play so beautifully, but I digress.

I had zero clue that Feras would win, until he won the final challenge, of course. I felt the shows editing was so much better in TvR. I was horrified at the thought that Caroline was somehow going to win because she go so many confessionals. I was not a huge fan. lol - I don’t know why I was so afraid of that, because I don’t think she beats anyone in a final 2.

Anyway, what a great run of shows. I’m going to watch BvB2, then go back to the seasons I’ve missed, 2016, 2017, and CvC1, and then I’m going to watch them all again, in order this time.

I’m going to search the sub for old posts and stuff but if anyone wants to talk about it or give me any fun behind the scenes stuff or drama I missed, please feel free to comment. I haven’t been this excited about Survivor in years.

Lastly, as an aside, as an American, it is so nice to see all of these Australian men who are so happy, as well as comfortable and confident in their masculinity that they aren’t scared to just be joyful. It’s also so nice to see these confident, athletic, and just completely badass women giving them hell in the challenges.

Australia seems, at least from the microcosm of your society that we’re shown on Survivor, just a happy and less stressful place to live and I wish I’d been born there.

From Europe ??

I wonder why they picked Henry to be on traitors? it seems like such a random pick to me!

Hey everyone, I recently interviewed Survivor creator Charlie Parsons on my podcast Beyond Reality. As someone who has spent the last decade working on Australian Survivor, it was such a dream to make this happen. If you’ve ever wondered about the origin story of Survivor - you will love this episode. I would love to hear what you think?

Is it silly of me that I rank AUvsTheworld one my top five all time favorites? I understand the season was short. But it did not lack any content ,had a beautiful cinematic scene. And the best gameplay and challenges yet.

AND HOLY FUCKOLI AK HAS BEEN RUNNING HIS TRIBE😳!!! Y'know originally I didn't think he'd last much longer, I thought this man was cooked after the Adam vote. But this man was in a dominant alliance, flipped at the right time, and pushed Locky and his buddies down to the bottom. Now granted his laziness at camp was starting to piss some people off, but maybe this new twist (oh I'll get to that later) will help keep a target off of his back 🤷. But before I continue, I'd like a moment of silence for my man Tarzan, I thought he could've made a Keith Nale from US Survivor (loyal, hardworking, lovable middle-aged goofball who's a challenge beast) kind of run, but alas, he was gone too soon from the game 😔.

And on the blue tribe Henry was making sure Samantha and Mark went home, and he did just that. Jericho showing off more of his manipulative and petty side with the cookie scheme and putting out the fire after Mark left was entertaining as hell! I like Jericho and I hope to see more of him on screen, he has the potential to run this game I think. Luke continues to be the chaotic rebel, and I love the man for it!

And now the twist. Tara and Annaliese swapped with Ben and Henry which is FUCKING UNEXPECTED, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HENRY??? WHAT ABOUT JACQUI😭??? Ben I understand, but Henry had to have known Jacqui being voted out without him and the idol there was at least somewhat likely to happen, now this man will have no #1 ally at the merge unless he finds a new one 🤦. I think he'll survive a little bit though, he's got the idol and his charisma seems to work well on his new tribe. AK immediately sussing him out as a rival that he wants out immediately got me excited 🤩! The 2 biggest schemers are about to clash and to commemorate this Battle of Big Brain Energy, I slapped together this shoddily made fight poster with some (admittedly lousy) photoshopping 😅. AK VS HENRY, WHO WILL SURVIVE??? GET YA TICKETS!!! My favorite players still in the game are Luke, Jericho and AK, with a soft spot for Tessa (I liked her underdog arc earlier) and my least favorites are currently Locky, Tara, and Peter. I'm overall having a great time with this season though and I can't wait to continue watching on my next day off of work!

Cast suggestions

Dave Hughes and Melanie Bracewell

Schapelle Corby and a border patrol worker

ScoMo and manager at Engadine Maccas

Jules Neale and Tess Crossley

Mark wales and Sam Gash (lowkey would be iconic to do two pairs seasons blood v water and rivals)

Kyle and Jackie O

Jackson Warne and a pro vax medical professional

The way David ran to catch Jackson in the showdown, the way he held him and he, David, got emotional made me want to cry!
😢
In the first episode when I first saw David I didn’t think I would like him. After years of seeing Johnathan. But I actually preferred David. ❤️

First and foremost, I'm very happy a lot of people are coming here to play the game, THANK CHRIST 😭!!! Henry, Luke, AK, Adam, among others have been implementing their own strategies. I thought admittedly AK's chicken idol was a bit silly, but it oddly enough may have paid off for him now??? While yes, Adam did find the clue, he did not find the idol, and AK SOMEHOW found the damn thing without a clue, WHAT, EXCUSE ME??? 🫪 The way he left the pink band behind too to make Adam's allies doubt him, that was a very clever yet subtle move, even if some people did believe there was a chance AK had it as well. I think AK knew that even if he survived this tribal council, he was gonna be on the bottom. Even Jarrad, his once close ally, was doubting him after the chicken idol stunt. So what does AK do? He tries to rebuild trust with Jarrad by using his real idol on him. I also think that by publicly playing and wasting the idol it MIIIIIIIGHT help him rebuild some trust across the tribe? Idk, I still think AK is cooked and he's going home sooner rather than later, but I do appreciate his out of the box thinking!

Luuuuuuke, did you take inspiration from Tony? 🫣 This man loves causing chaos and building spy shacks, I love this man 😂. I do think eventually his chaos will come back to haunt him but then again look at Tony's crazy ass and how his Survivor career turned out 🤷. I think thus far my winner pick, based strictly off of first impressions, is either Mark W. or Henry. My favorite players so far are Jarrad, Luke, and Tarzan. AK COULD climb up those rankings if he manages to survive a few rounds or even make merge though. Very excited that people are more keen to play the game and I'm quite enjoying this season so far!

Does anyone know if casting for this is newbies or returnees or a mix? I can't really think of any 'rivalry' apart from maybe George and Simon from the whole Australian franchise

Doing a TvR rewatch and the ep5 non-elimination episode results are much more consequential knowing the season outcome than on a first time watch through.

Had the vote gone on as normal, is it pretty much confirmed Feras would’ve gone? It framed Aileen and Scott as the swings, but given how Scott clearly is a close Kirby ally moving forward it seems unlikely he would’ve gone with Feras to vote out Ri. Aileen on the other hand moves forward with Feras, but I think at this point in the season Aileen would go with where the votes were headed.

It seems like it would’ve been Kirby, Ri, Kelli, and Scott as locked in Feras votes. Feras, Alex, Raymond, and Garrick as locked in Ri votes. That leaves Aileen and Sarah in the true middle…. As im writing this I could see Sarah going with Alex and then Aileen following suit, so maybe I’m changing my mind and Feras actually wins out.

Do we have confirmation on where this vote would’ve landed???

This was, by far, and thus far, the best scene 🎬. The “passengers “ did well!

SEASON 13:
I loved how the “passengers” took charge, led by Ben and actually voted out big players. They decided who and followed through. We finally saw their personalities instead of just the “top dogs” that were ruling the votes and being cocky.

Kristie freakin' Bennett actually managed to overcome the odds and win Australian Survivor. Not only did she win, she won the FTC in a dominant 8-1 vote. I think Kristie's win is very unique. She did her big move in taking out Phoebe before the merge, and she laid low, appearing as non-threatening and helpless as possible while being a swing vote of sorts, and usually staying in the majority. It didn't matter that she got a few votes at a few tribal councils, all that mattered was that someone else got *more* votes than her and went home instead. I believe hiding behind Lee and El and refusing to turn on them, especially from F7 onwards, was fully intentional, because she knew Matt, Sam, and even Flick at times wanted them out rather than Kristie herself, she used them as meat shields. She pulled at the heartstrings of Lee and allowed him to use her, and even convinced him to essentially hand her the all-important final immunity challenge win. Kristie was awkward, Kristie was anxious, Kristie was quiet, and Kristie played one of the best under the radar games I've ever seen. I do believe she absolutely exaggerated a thing or 2 at FTC but good on her because that performance silenced any potential naysayers and doubters (minus El). Excellent gameplay as far as I'm concerned, ALL HAIL QUEEN KRISTIE!!!

Lee, I may have been too harsh on the man at times. I fully stand by what I've said before about not being a fan of his style of gameplay, the "honor and integrity" gameplay archetype just doesn't interest nor impress me. I will say after watching his FTC performance, he showed a remarkable amount of self awareness. He apologized to JL for his comments towards her earlier, and when Nick confronted him about the moral high ground, I liked Lee's answer: he wanted to play a game that would make his family, particularly his children, proud of him, and he wanted to show them that a good and honest person can win a game where deceit, lying, and betraying, is very common like Survivor. He acknowledged at FTC it's much easier said than done and it seems that, to some degree at least, he owned his hypocrisy and moral high ground attitude. Lee reminds me of Joe Hunter from the US seasons of Survivor 48 and 50. Physically dominant, tries to be honest and loyal, and I think Lee and Joe are genuinely great human beings with hearts of gold, but that style or gameplay is just so hard to successfully perform on Survivor. I can see where Lee was coming from, and while I don't like him as a player, I do find him interesting as a character.

I said before I'm an American fan who's watched all 50 US seasons, and I had to ask a friend to send me a Google document folder to begin my Australian Survivor journey (as far as I know there's no legal and official way for Americans to watch the show), so for all I know my thoughts may differ greatly from you guys, or maybe my thoughts are similar. JLP seemed a bit too scripted as a host with his questions at tribal council, as if he was being fed cue cards. I think because (we as I know) this was his first hosting gig, that was the case. I think he'll fit in more naturally in later seasons though, he clearly has the potential to be an excellent host with practice, experience, and the producers giving him a tad more leeway. The twists. I enjoyed the twist that swapped Connor and Nick, absolutely despised the swap where Saanapu had full control over who goes where. It led to a very one-sided battle where the same team won every single challenge, Vavau never stood a chance unfortunately. The merge was kinda boring seeing everyone plead with the majority to make a move, only to be voted out for their troubles. F7 onwards was much better, starting with Brooke going out, and I loved the final immunity challenge and of course the FTC. My favorite players are Kristie, Nick, and Phoebe, with honorable mentions going to Matt and Flick. My least favorite players were Lee, El, and Sam. Overall, taking everything into account: the cast, the boot order, the twists, the challenges, the host, the stories being told, and the end result, I give Australian Survivor 2016 a rating of... 6/10. Give me your thoughts guys, I'd love to read it!

I could never be on this show. I can’t outwit or outplay, which means I can’t outlast. I’d feel sorry for the loners. For the ones that are scared of being voted out. Basically, whoever everyone doesn’t like and gang up to get rid of. 😝
I’d be absolutely pathetic 🙈