Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week they light Welcome back
Speaker 1: to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris and on this
Speaker 1: podcast I go behind the scenes with the biggest players
Speaker 1: in television. Each episode you will get a front row
Speaker 1: seat with content makers like executive producers, writers, editors and
Speaker 1: casting agents, plus the talent that we see on our screens.
Speaker 1: TV Reload reloads the shows that you were currently watching
Speaker 1: and gives you a better insight at our television industry
Speaker 1: and streaming services today. On the podcast, I have the
Speaker 1: winner of Australian Survivors Blood versus Water Mark Wales, which
Speaker 1: had its twenty twenty two season finale this week. Former
Speaker 1: Sas Soldier, author and now public speaker, Mark Wales returned
Speaker 1: to Australian Survivor with his now wife Samantha, who he
Speaker 1: met on season two of Australian Survivor all those years ago.
Speaker 1: The pair a now married with a son, but they
Speaker 1: decided to return for a second At the competition, Mark
Speaker 1: and sam operated a gameplay which proved to be a
Speaker 1: winning formula. As he celebrates a win of half a
Speaker 1: million dollars, we will talk about everything from edits good
Speaker 1: and bad, to relationships, from ownerships over the winning title
Speaker 1: to building bridges. Stick around as well if you want
Speaker 1: some tips on how to get onto Australian Survivor as
Speaker 1: Mark gives some great advice and let's face it, he
Speaker 1: should know. Plus, there is so much more to this chat,
Speaker 1: and I think you'll walk away feeling happy for Mark
Speaker 1: that he took out this competition because you'll get to
Speaker 1: see more of that humor than everyone widely discussed postgame. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I'd like to welcome Mark Wales to TV reload.
Speaker 2: That was probably one of my bigger regrets.
Speaker 1: If good body, you loved one, you're going to be
Speaker 1: playing against them.
Speaker 2: It's harder to cast villains than it is the heroes.
Speaker 3: Survivor means everything to me because it changed the.
Speaker 2: Course of my life.
Speaker 3: It wasn't too bad. You know, there's always some crazies
Speaker 3: out there.
Speaker 2: Marks game similar to mine, and Mark's had too idle. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it was tricky at times, but I think we got
Speaker 2: thicker skin as we went along.
Speaker 1: When I was very survivor blood versus water.
Speaker 3: Don't try and fight the edit too much. I think
Speaker 3: that's when people get it wrong.
Speaker 1: Hi Mark, How are you, mate?
Speaker 2: I am I'm good. I'm just letting this win sink in.
Speaker 3: Only got told twenty four hours ago, so it's been.
Speaker 2: A while on last last twenty four hours.
Speaker 1: Well, congratulations on winning Australian Survivor twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: That is amazing, Oh mate, Such an honor to get
Speaker 2: a second shot of the game and to go all
Speaker 2: the way through with my wife Sammy was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Well, last night must have been quite surreal because, as
Speaker 1: we know, you were told beforehand and they had shot
Speaker 1: multiple versions of who was going to win. Was it
Speaker 1: surreal to watch it play out, you know, knowing that
Speaker 1: you'd film the sort of mock endings, or were you
Speaker 1: worried as to how it was going to go down?
Speaker 1: Tell me how you felt.
Speaker 3: It was good watching it back because I got more
Speaker 3: of an appreciation for the other contestants pitches as well,
Speaker 3: and actually did really well.
Speaker 2: Christy's pitch was great. Shade did a good pitch.
Speaker 3: Too, So when I was watching, I was like, oh God,
Speaker 3: I think they're going to edge me out. So I
Speaker 3: was getting nervous last night when I was watching it
Speaker 3: for the first time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Channel ten, prank to you when they told you
Speaker 1: you've won half a million dollars and watched tonight's episode
Speaker 1: and then it plays on television. You'd never get over it.
Speaker 1: You'd have a breakdown.
Speaker 2: You would have a mental breakdown. It is very likely.
Speaker 1: My favorite tweet online was Bark has gotten a wife,
Speaker 1: a child, and half a million dollars out of Survivor.
Speaker 1: Here's the luckiest man alive.
Speaker 2: I would have to agree with that.
Speaker 3: I've done very well myself with the game, and it
Speaker 3: was cool because when Sam and I played first time,
Speaker 3: we always were like, ah, we could have done better,
Speaker 3: and getting a second shot at it was really cool
Speaker 3: because I think we made the most of the game,
Speaker 3: but first time through it, yeah, I met my wife
Speaker 3: and totally changed my life.
Speaker 1: So it's been great forget to is what I say.
Speaker 3: Get yourself onto the show. We've got a better strike
Speaker 3: rate than the Bachelor.
Speaker 2: Off with you.
Speaker 1: How hard was it to keep it a secret? I mean,
Speaker 1: there was a few things happening. Sports Bet had you
Speaker 1: at some pretty good holds, but I'm assuming there was
Speaker 1: a bit. There would have been a lot of attention
Speaker 1: from friends and families and strangers and people online wanting
Speaker 1: to know results. How did you manage to keep this
Speaker 1: a secret.
Speaker 3: I would just say, you know, I'll just say I
Speaker 3: think you're don'll like the way it unfolds, and I
Speaker 3: would say I would talk about that I was in
Speaker 3: jury Villa, so I would try not to give away
Speaker 3: that I was at at the end of the game.
Speaker 3: And we still know who was going to win at
Speaker 3: that point, so it wasn't too bad.
Speaker 2: People were People don't want to it's spoiled.
Speaker 3: Generally, if they're fans of the game, they want to
Speaker 3: watch it enjoy it, so it wasn't too bad.
Speaker 1: Did you put any money on yourself?
Speaker 3: Oh, mate, Doug deep scrape some money to the end
Speaker 3: with Sammy, and I think the odds were that good anyway,
Speaker 3: so there's probably no point doing.
Speaker 1: It inside of training. Going to jail for dollar fifty.
Speaker 2: Not great, bad strategy.
Speaker 1: I always wanted to know, though, what kind of conversation
Speaker 1: are they having with you about keeping your mouth shut
Speaker 1: when it comes to keeping a secret like this. Do
Speaker 1: they offer you a cash incentive?
Speaker 3: They basically put it in the contract that you don't
Speaker 3: share any results of the game. And because everyone who's
Speaker 3: in it is a fan anyway, people are reluctant to
Speaker 3: share the results of the game, so people do a
Speaker 3: pretty good job of being quiet about it.
Speaker 1: How hard is playing Australian Survivor with your partner to
Speaker 1: be married and have a son? And were you worried
Speaker 1: that this could change your relationship at all?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was worried.
Speaker 3: And we were the only husband wife care out there,
Speaker 3: and the stresses and strains of that are pretty acute,
Speaker 3: and we were worried that like one would.
Speaker 2: Get knocked out early and the other would go all
Speaker 2: the way through so it wouldn't be an evening experience.
Speaker 3: But it was so hard, and sam knew she was
Speaker 3: in trouble, and when we were the last couple, she
Speaker 3: knew there was a good chance she was going home,
Speaker 3: and she kind of took that knowing that it was
Speaker 3: there was still a path forward, and I think it
Speaker 3: was one of the most selfless moves ever an Australian Survivor.
Speaker 2: And one of the reasons I got as far as
Speaker 2: I did was because I stood on the shoulders of
Speaker 2: Sammy's game. She played so well, she.
Speaker 3: Played better than me, and I think we played as
Speaker 3: a pair and as a unit to try and get
Speaker 3: that one job done, which was to win and we're
Speaker 3: lucky we did.
Speaker 1: Have you given her an allowance.
Speaker 2: No, she's like very clear as you know, that's that's
Speaker 2: our prize.
Speaker 1: Like, yes, your wife is one of the most intelligent
Speaker 1: people on television in twenty twenty two. So I'm going
Speaker 1: to say you're in good hands. She's not going to
Speaker 1: go and put it all through the Pokey's.
Speaker 3: She did so well in the game too, Like she
Speaker 3: totally outplayed me.
Speaker 2: I will freely admit that.
Speaker 3: And so you know it is definitely it was such
Speaker 3: a team effort, and I'm so proud of how far
Speaker 3: she came from the first time we played.
Speaker 1: I don't even know her, and I felt proud of her.
Speaker 1: So I don't even know how you would feel.
Speaker 2: She's brilliant.
Speaker 1: You talked a pretty big game in your pieces to camera.
Speaker 1: Were there any cringe moments you watching it back?
Speaker 3: There are too many to remember, because I was like,
Speaker 3: I'm going to be a bit more forward leading this time.
Speaker 2: I'm going to do a bit of trash talking and.
Speaker 3: Just just save my piece because I probably won't last
Speaker 3: in the game. And so as I was going through,
Speaker 3: I was like, at one point, I was like, this
Speaker 3: is actually a really unlikable evid I don't even like
Speaker 3: myself watching this, and I was just hoping there would
Speaker 3: be those moments where they would soften me a bit
Speaker 3: more as a character, because you didn't see much of
Speaker 3: my social game and all those things that made me
Speaker 3: a bit more human.
Speaker 2: I think it worked out pretty well on the end.
Speaker 1: Because I've spoken to everyone that's come off the show.
Speaker 1: There's maybe three or four at the start that I
Speaker 1: didn't speak to, but everyone talked about how likable you were,
Speaker 1: and it wouldn't have been a great show to watch
Speaker 1: had they not have maybe stupefied you a little bit
Speaker 1: for the audience.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it makes a more relatable character that
Speaker 3: you've got these flaws and these things about and they
Speaker 3: are really I act like that sometimes, I'm a bit crazy,
Speaker 3: I'm a bit hard nosed, and I've got that mean
Speaker 3: streaking me and they showed that. Even though it kind
Speaker 3: of hurts when they show that not the other good stuff,
Speaker 3: it does make for a more relatable character. It makes
Speaker 3: for a more interesting show. Yeah, I'm just grateful they
Speaker 3: cut it the way they didn't, and they gave me
Speaker 3: some nice moments at the end to try.
Speaker 1: And bounce it out and they paid you off.
Speaker 2: And they said, yeah, don't ever say anything again about this.
Speaker 1: I gave you half a million dollars. Now, don't say
Speaker 1: anything to anyone.
Speaker 2: Go away, and.
Speaker 1: For the rest of your life, please answer all phone
Speaker 1: calls as the Dark Knight. Thank you very much. Exactly
Speaker 1: What is the biggest fight that you and Sam have
Speaker 1: had postgame? Did the way you played the game, you know,
Speaker 1: leading into Kahn's question at the jury last night, actually
Speaker 1: have any real consequences between the two of you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So Sam, like Sam is all she works, She
Speaker 3: does women's groups, she works in women's empowerment. So for
Speaker 3: her to end up surrendering part of a game for
Speaker 3: me was kind of rand, contrary to some of the
Speaker 3: normal values.
Speaker 2: So we had to kind of try and reconcile that
Speaker 2: and say, you know, well, we knew all we were
Speaker 2: playing for, we knew.
Speaker 3: We had a job to do, and that was hard
Speaker 3: for she made such a big sacrifice for the sake
Speaker 3: of her family, and then I ended up being the
Speaker 3: one that went forward and got the kind of flashy
Speaker 3: part at the end. So she was incredibly selfless and
Speaker 3: that that was the hardest thing I think for us
Speaker 3: to reconcile as a pair. But you know, she did
Speaker 3: such a good job, and luckily we had something to
Speaker 3: show for it at the end.
Speaker 1: You can do strat talk for the rest of your life.
Speaker 2: We can now strat talk over dinner and annoy everyone
Speaker 2: our families.
Speaker 1: How are you your son's going to be? Like parrots
Speaker 1: are so daggy they're still talking about survivor ten years later.
Speaker 1: Oh wait, that's me talking about ten years later. Embarrassing.
Speaker 1: Kind of feel like you and Sam knew all along
Speaker 1: that a person on the jury early into the jury
Speaker 1: was going to be vital. Surely Sam was still playing
Speaker 1: the game once she got onto the jury.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, it kind of evolved that way because as
Speaker 3: we were playing, we got f and further as a pair.
Speaker 3: At one point, we're starting to go like, there's actually
Speaker 3: more people on the bench now than there are in
Speaker 3: the game, so we're going to be split up. Like
Speaker 3: it's just with the last pair, we're going to be
Speaker 3: split up. Let's just let that person go to the bench,
Speaker 3: whoever it is me or they can continue playing over
Speaker 3: there with the majority explain our game, or the other
Speaker 3: one tries to go ahead to idols.
Speaker 2: So it kind of evolves to.
Speaker 3: The point we realize that we actually we need to
Speaker 3: get someone to the bench kind of soon, because that's
Speaker 3: you know, we've got a better chance if we split up,
Speaker 3: is kind of what we're thinking.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Kahn's probably really bored of going to sleep at
Speaker 1: night and hearing stories. Did you hear about that time
Speaker 1: that Mark walked an old lady across the road?
Speaker 2: Exactly? Nice?
Speaker 1: Put the water on the whale, Sam, He's like bored
Speaker 1: of telling stories about how amazing you are never again.
Speaker 1: Do you think that your win was a win for
Speaker 1: the both of you? Like, do you really think that
Speaker 1: you know this is why it was such a unanimous vote.
Speaker 1: I mean, we already touched on the fact that, yes,
Speaker 1: you agree that this is a up winning this show,
Speaker 1: But do you think that that was the reason why
Speaker 1: we got a unanimous vote.
Speaker 3: I think it was a big part because Sam was
Speaker 3: able to explain like, no, no, we were playing together,
Speaker 3: knowing that one would leave, we would continue playing as
Speaker 3: a unit. And I think people were impressed by that, like,
Speaker 3: oh no, that's the thing, blood versus water.
Speaker 2: You cooperated as a pair.
Speaker 3: And so I think once the jury realized that it
Speaker 3: was like oh no, no, we were willing to sacrifice
Speaker 3: our games so the other one could go forward. That
Speaker 3: really got us a lot of kudos with the jury,
Speaker 3: so I think it was to Sam's credit she was
Speaker 3: able to do it.
Speaker 1: I think that they should do a bad Blood versus
Speaker 1: Bad Blood version of and have your exes on the show.
Speaker 1: Then your ex goes to the jury villa and it's like, well, he's.
Speaker 2: That would be a blood bath. That would be yeah,
Speaker 2: but very good, very good TV.
Speaker 1: We'll pitch it. We'll pitch it to shine. Well, you've
Speaker 1: got some money, we'll see you know, we could do
Speaker 1: our own show anyway. Moving on, what would be your
Speaker 1: biggest regret throughout the show? Like, what would be the
Speaker 1: biggest regret from your experience?
Speaker 3: There were some moves I made that were just duds,
Speaker 3: and I think I was trying to make a move
Speaker 3: out of nothing when I played the second I didn't
Speaker 3: really need to antagonize the jury while I was doing it.
Speaker 3: It was just it was an all round bit of
Speaker 3: a flop. So I think as bad a move as
Speaker 3: that was, after Sam did all that work to get
Speaker 3: the idol and everything, I actually think it lowered my
Speaker 3: threat profile a bit more too, So that was a
Speaker 3: dud move, but it ended up with a kind of
Speaker 3: a happy byproduct as a result, So that was probably
Speaker 3: one of my bigger regrets. And everything else, even though
Speaker 3: it wasn't perfect, the moves were enough to get us
Speaker 3: to the end, so I think in that sense it
Speaker 3: was I don't have too many regrets about it.
Speaker 1: And I really love watching when someone says that they
Speaker 1: can read someone really well and then they go and
Speaker 1: play an idol unnecessarily. I think it just makes good
Speaker 1: television and it's good for you. It's good to keep
Speaker 1: your ego in check a little, Hay.
Speaker 3: There were so many moments in the game that kept
Speaker 3: my ego and check, and Sam was good at that too.
Speaker 1: You're a great person to ask this question too, about
Speaker 1: the conditions of Survivor. Because you've been through two different
Speaker 1: seasons in two different locations. Do you think that the
Speaker 1: conditions were too harsh this time around?
Speaker 2: Ah?
Speaker 3: No, because it's going to be tough no matter where
Speaker 3: he goes, with a different kind of environment to deal
Speaker 3: with the tropics. When I played first time with Horrendous,
Speaker 3: it rained all night. We couldn't sleep. We were just a.
Speaker 2: Shell of ourselves here.
Speaker 3: It was hot, but once you're over that heat that
Speaker 3: the nighttime was great, like nine andyrees and pretty nice.
Speaker 2: So I think it was more bearable being in Australia.
Speaker 2: It was hort but once you got used to it
Speaker 2: real fine.
Speaker 1: Do you think they should keep making it in Australia
Speaker 1: because I love watching Australia on screen, you know, And
Speaker 1: I don't think it does to turn the viewers, you know.
Speaker 1: I don't think we need to have it in Fiji.
Speaker 1: I think it's quite amazing to have Australia being showcased,
Speaker 1: our beautiful country.
Speaker 2: Oh. I think it's sensational. I really love it.
Speaker 3: Interestingly, I heard from the producers they said it's actually
Speaker 3: harder for them to film it because in the jungle
Speaker 3: you can kind of step five minutes into the scrub
Speaker 3: and you're concealed straight away, so you can have a
Speaker 3: little conversation there, whereas there's not as much vegetation in
Speaker 3: the Australian one, so they have to cover more ground.
Speaker 2: It's a little bit harder to produce.
Speaker 3: Maybe you get a little bit less gameplay in that sense,
Speaker 3: but still I just love that it's in Australia.
Speaker 2: I think it's spectacular.
Speaker 1: Well, I think they're lying because they just want to
Speaker 1: go to Fiji.
Speaker 2: That is probably what they're saying.
Speaker 3: We need to go back, we need the beers, the
Speaker 3: good serf.
Speaker 1: I guess it's a little bit enticing, but surely yeah,
Speaker 1: I think as well. It can be cheaper to shoot
Speaker 1: a lot of these shows overseas, so I think that
Speaker 1: there are there's the good side of the bad side.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think they get a pretty solid subsidy from the
Speaker 3: Fijian government to film over there, so it makes commercial sense.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. There are a lot of conversations about the editing
Speaker 1: this year. Yeah, was there anything ever Frank and grabbed
Speaker 1: that you know it didn't sit well with you?
Speaker 3: There were so many. Yeah, there are quite a few
Speaker 3: little stitch ups in there. I'm just trying to remember
Speaker 3: some good ones.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Probably the big one was when I found the idol
Speaker 3: first time and they were making it look like I
Speaker 3: didn't know that Jordi had seen it, whereas I knew
Speaker 3: he was on to me, And so they do little
Speaker 3: cuts like that. They makes it more interesting viewing, right,
Speaker 3: and so some of those stitch ups are pretty pretty funny.
Speaker 2: But it wasn't too bad. It wasn't like Math's level
Speaker 2: of frank and editing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting to see, you know, the passion that
Speaker 1: is behind the istraland survivor. You know, the audience out
Speaker 1: there have a sense of ownership and they really take
Speaker 1: people to task. Last night, there was a lot of
Speaker 1: people saying, did the Twins get asked any questions in
Speaker 1: the filming of the final Tribal Council? And if so,
Speaker 1: what did they say? Now, I don't want to get
Speaker 1: into anything too heavy with this. I really would just
Speaker 1: like the opportunity to know whether they asked a question
Speaker 1: and what was their es.
Speaker 3: So I think Michelle asked Shay to rate her game
Speaker 3: and rate it numerically, and Mel had a question too,
Speaker 3: So everyone got a question, but they only cut I
Speaker 3: feel like they only cut about five or six questions together,
Speaker 3: and there were twelve to fifteen kind of questions in
Speaker 3: the jury. So yeah, it was a mix.
Speaker 2: But the editing.
Speaker 3: The editing was a bit unusual. A few people got
Speaker 3: cut out. The Twins got cut out quite a bit.
Speaker 3: Josh played a stunning game and got not much of
Speaker 3: an editor as well, which I thought was I was
Speaker 3: really disappointing because I.
Speaker 2: Knew how well he played. Yes, it was unusual like that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think they were just trying to keep
Speaker 1: Josh off the screen for as long as they could.
Speaker 1: They're worried that they'd be, you know, mass heart attacks
Speaker 1: from the gay community of Australia. I felt really bad
Speaker 1: creeping on him talking to him before about his amazing hair,
Speaker 1: and you could see that he was like, I'm into
Speaker 1: jiu jitsu or whatever. I'm a massculine man. I don't
Speaker 1: necessarily need a weller hair commercial. You know, he was
Speaker 1: not having he was not having a bar of it.
Speaker 3: I was so point that Josh stole best looking contestant
Speaker 3: out there by a long way.
Speaker 2: But it was easy on the eye, it was great
Speaker 2: to work with, loved it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, by the time the show was over, all of
Speaker 1: you were models. Like everyone looked like they'd been to
Speaker 1: a pub lunch and how to Karma And then by
Speaker 1: the time the show was over, everyone was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: line cuisine endorsement for you.
Speaker 3: My friend I was super sized after the Melbourne lockdown
Speaker 3: and yeah, I've been doing exactly that Palmer and DearS
Speaker 3: and yeah, it looked like it when I started the
Speaker 3: show too, So it.
Speaker 1: Was you know, it was good, well, next time you
Speaker 1: put on weight, just to call them up and say
Speaker 1: heroes versus villains, winners versus whoever. I don't care. I
Speaker 1: need a cheap way to lose weight.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and my army mates were commenting on my wet
Speaker 3: suit that I had acquired at the start of filming,
Speaker 3: so yeah, they were very proud of me.
Speaker 1: Well, a lot of players were talking about wanting to return,
Speaker 1: and that happens every year, and Australia has had some
Speaker 1: brilliant players I knew yourself have had the opportunity to
Speaker 1: come back. If we take Nina out of the equation,
Speaker 1: because she most likely will come back, I would say,
Speaker 1: I think it would be remissive them not to give
Speaker 1: her another shot. But who would you say is the
Speaker 1: most deserving to come back and play again.
Speaker 3: Wow, there's some real crowd favorites in our season, like
Speaker 3: Jordy and Chrissy were heavily promoted like good a funny,
Speaker 3: big characters, so they're a lot of fun. I'd love
Speaker 3: to send them go back. I feel like Sam has
Speaker 3: a good chance of going back as like a as
Speaker 3: a crafty strategist slash villain, and I'd be excited to
Speaker 3: watch her go again, And I hope that Josh gets
Speaker 3: another chance as well, because he's such a good player.
Speaker 3: So I think between those those four you've got, you've
Speaker 3: got some good options. And there's also some early boots
Speaker 3: that were standouts too, like Brianna, and I think that'd
Speaker 3: be equally equally good to make a comeback later on.
Speaker 1: I just think it's funny that you'll send your wife
Speaker 1: back in to get another five hundred thousand dollars, go
Speaker 1: and get some more money, and then you're like, how
Speaker 1: old is it until my son can be enrolled in Survivor.
Speaker 1: I've got to send this kid to UNI somehow. If
Speaker 1: you go, you've.
Speaker 2: Come from good stock, go do your bit to the family,
Speaker 2: don't disappoint us.
Speaker 1: Then it gets voted up first. Yeah, he's grounded because
Speaker 1: he's only What was the most outrageous thing that you
Speaker 1: read online throughout the whole show? Because you know, social
Speaker 1: media these days is brutal, and I really commend ten
Speaker 1: and end a Mole Shrine for being able to help
Speaker 1: you guys out with looking after your mental health. But
Speaker 1: we do read online. We try not to. We're awake
Speaker 1: at nighttime reading our phones. Was there anything crazy that
Speaker 1: you read.
Speaker 3: I was very upset that people were commenting on my
Speaker 3: kind of rough beard and long hair, but.
Speaker 2: It wasn't too bad. You know.
Speaker 3: There's always some crazies out there get a platform and
Speaker 3: totally abuse the platform that they're given online, and I
Speaker 3: think we got better at dealing with the people that
Speaker 3: came after us, you know, because you're not going to
Speaker 3: be able to please everyone.
Speaker 2: People are going to be upset at you for some reason.
Speaker 2: You've just got to not take it too hard and
Speaker 2: not read it too much.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it was tricky at times, but I think
Speaker 3: we got thicker skin as we went along.
Speaker 1: Well, they've actually decided to change the name of Twitter
Speaker 1: to Jealousy, so it's now correctly been named, and everyone's
Speaker 1: appropriately on there being jealousy, hating people for no reason
Speaker 1: because they hate themselves.
Speaker 2: It is just a reflection on them. I keep telling
Speaker 2: myself that, yeah, it works.
Speaker 1: And the most inappropriate question that you've probably been asked
Speaker 1: a million times today, which in no other profession and
Speaker 1: no other circumstance is anyone entitled to ask this? But
Speaker 1: have you thought about how you're going to spend the money?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Seem I we didn't, so we didn't think about
Speaker 3: it in detail because you didn't want to assume that
Speaker 3: we'd won. And I only got told yesterday. But we've
Speaker 3: been working hard for ages for years. So for us,
Speaker 3: it's just brought us a whole lot of kind of
Speaker 3: space and time and we can spend some time with Harry,
Speaker 3: maybe not be on the road so much and just
Speaker 3: just relax for a bit and figure.
Speaker 2: Out kind of next steps.
Speaker 1: Put the weight back, put.
Speaker 3: The wake back on, maybe by an entry level Lamborghini,
Speaker 3: something something modest like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're not total wing, because yet.
Speaker 2: It will come.
Speaker 1: We're doing chap slaps in South Yarra. I'll keep my
Speaker 1: eye out for you. What advice, because you know this
Speaker 1: is the thing. Once we get to the end of Survivor,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people wanting to apply and get
Speaker 1: into a show like this, and you know you've managed
Speaker 1: to get yourself onto it twice. But what advice do
Speaker 1: you have for people who haven't been on the show.
Speaker 1: What do you think they need to do in their
Speaker 1: application process to get the attention from the casting agents
Speaker 1: and the producers.
Speaker 2: I think people have.
Speaker 3: To realize that you're not you are going on as yourself,
Speaker 3: but you're pitching a character, and you've got to make
Speaker 3: that character something memorable, something slightly different. I pitched myself
Speaker 3: as like special Ops fashion designer because I was in
Speaker 3: New York, I was doing a bit of fashion. I
Speaker 3: thought that was an interesting contrast. So you want to
Speaker 3: try and think of something that's going to peak their interest.
Speaker 3: It's harder to cast villains than it is the hero.
Speaker 3: So if you're if you're going to go for the
Speaker 3: villain angle, then definitely do that. But you've got to
Speaker 3: apply anyway. Because someone's going to do it, it might as
Speaker 3: well be you. So just just have a go and
Speaker 3: see if you can get it.
Speaker 1: Some people should be villains. I mean, the funny thing
Speaker 1: about being a villain these days is they're quite celebrated.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at the way in which
Speaker 1: people rank even movie character, I mean, you love talking movies.
Speaker 1: I know this because everyone's told me. But you know,
Speaker 1: some of the most popular movie characters of all timer villains.
Speaker 1: You but Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter, you know, And I
Speaker 1: think that they are quite celebrated these days. So I
Speaker 1: don't I think that if you can be a PG villain,
Speaker 1: it's not it's not going to ruin your life as
Speaker 1: long as you kind of in.
Speaker 3: On it exactly, as long as you own it and
Speaker 3: don't try and fight the edit too much. I think
Speaker 3: that's when people get it wrong. They're like, oh no,
Speaker 3: that's not really what happened. People don't care. They just
Speaker 3: want to. They want a cool story. They want to
Speaker 3: they want you to be a villain and just own it.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I think the best villains in Survivor have
Speaker 3: done that.
Speaker 2: They've kind of really leaned into their characters and enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I think that that that I the whole
Speaker 1: idea of them coming back with the heroes versus villains.
Speaker 1: To me, I think that's the most enticing fans versus
Speaker 1: favorites is being done on Big Brother and Master Chef.
Speaker 1: So I feel like that's been covered, so I think,
Speaker 1: and there's so many amazing people over the years that
Speaker 1: you can harvest. You know, there's still some amazing people
Speaker 1: to go back and take on those rules. I think.
Speaker 2: I think there's been like one hundred and twenty or
Speaker 2: one hundred.
Speaker 3: And thirty Australian Survivor players now, so the alumni is
Speaker 3: pretty big and you've.
Speaker 1: All been to a barbecue over the weekend.
Speaker 2: We've all been social media. Yeah, we all pack into
Speaker 2: one room and talk trash about as strategies and we
Speaker 2: can't let it go.
Speaker 3: But I think there's so many there's so many good
Speaker 3: The Heroes Villains theme to me is the most exciting
Speaker 3: one because it's just such a fun theme.
Speaker 2: And I think the US one was a knockout success,
Speaker 2: so hopefully they'll do the same.
Speaker 1: What about existing beefs, Like, I know that you guys
Speaker 1: have all become, you know, quite quite close throughout this
Speaker 1: whole experience, but are there any existing beefs between any plans?
Speaker 3: Not really, everyone's pretty good about I think when they
Speaker 3: get out initially and they're in trouble, there's definitely some
Speaker 3: like some steering conversations, and you saw that with Sammy,
Speaker 3: like they were filthy about on Sammy and also caj
Speaker 3: to some extent. But I think over time people soften,
Speaker 3: they realize it's a game, and everyone in.
Speaker 2: The cast is actually really good. Everyone was really good.
Speaker 2: I'm friends with Orden.
Speaker 3: Probably couple out there they're still filthy at me, But
Speaker 3: for the most part, I think everyone gets along pretty well.
Speaker 1: They're not being invited to Christmas, So that's fine, and
Speaker 1: they don't want to go anyway.
Speaker 2: I've had enough.
Speaker 1: Interestingly, enough, throughout other reality shows, I often talk about
Speaker 1: who plays up to the camera, and you know, who
Speaker 1: was the most true to themselves in the show, those
Speaker 1: sorts of questions where I don't necessarily feel like this
Speaker 1: year there was anyone that played up to the up
Speaker 1: to the cameras that was massively different from who they
Speaker 1: are in real life. But was there anyone that you
Speaker 1: met after the show and you were like, wow, you
Speaker 1: really aren't like the person you were in there? No?
Speaker 3: No, everyone was pretty spot on, I think, And you
Speaker 3: can't hide when you're in there and you haven't eaten
Speaker 3: for two weeks.
Speaker 2: That's it all all of facades for a way anyway, So.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think everyone was pretty true to themselves. And
Speaker 3: you know, if they were rat bags in the game.
Speaker 3: There's still rat bags now like Jordi and whatnot there.
Speaker 2: But they're fine. They're the funnest people out there.
Speaker 1: It's okay, you know, you won half a million dollars
Speaker 1: and he wants to frost and so you know, no
Speaker 1: one's going home a loser. Everyone goes home with the
Speaker 1: Price and him.
Speaker 3: My wife organized the meeting where they where they met.
Speaker 3: So Samy's the matchmaker.
Speaker 1: It's a spinoff show. It's a spinoff show. Her that's
Speaker 1: Sammy's side hustle is just hooking at celebrities.
Speaker 2: She takes a little commission on the side.
Speaker 1: What show were you on? I've got I'm trading, I've
Speaker 1: got someone from here. Well, it's just been so good
Speaker 1: chatting too. But the last question I asked is the
Speaker 1: same question ask everybody who joins the podcast, and that
Speaker 1: is what is something that happened behind the scenes that
Speaker 1: we didn't see as an audience that we might appreciate
Speaker 1: to hear from you from your time in making Survivor.
Speaker 2: Oh, what's a good one?
Speaker 3: The one good one is we found a dead snake
Speaker 3: on the like only just died overnight on the path,
Speaker 3: pretty big snake and Chrissy was just down the path.
Speaker 3: So me and Josh hung it over a tree branch
Speaker 3: right near the path and we got Chrissy to come
Speaker 3: down and we're chatting her and were like, Chrissy, what's that?
Speaker 3: When Chrissy saw this snake, she basically walked across water.
Speaker 3: She tried to run across the river to.
Speaker 2: Get away from it, and it nearly took us with her.
Speaker 2: I'm surprised I didn't put in the show because it
Speaker 2: was while there is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's so many that they'll have to come out
Speaker 1: with this. I've been saying this to everyone. It needs
Speaker 1: to be like a Godfather special director's part version of
Speaker 1: this season of Survivor, because it sounds to me like
Speaker 1: there was a lot more fun going on in there.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, oh there was tons, and yeah, they couldn't
Speaker 3: show it all, but it was good.
Speaker 1: Well, Mark, congratulations on an amazing and amazing time and Survivor.
Speaker 1: You know, if you need to, if you needed a
Speaker 1: do over to prove that you had what it took,
Speaker 1: you certainly prove that to yourself. And there's a lot
Speaker 1: of people out there, a lot of die hard Survivor fans.
Speaker 1: They're very happy for your wins. So congratulations.
Speaker 2: Thanks mate.
Speaker 3: It was a bloody honor to go back and to
Speaker 3: play again with Sammy, and I'm glad we did a
Speaker 3: better second time round.
Speaker 2: So yeah, thanks.
Speaker 1: And then about that roof leg, it's just around the
Speaker 1: back here, and it's that much money.
Speaker 2: There's a tradement coming around there. It'll be voicing