In praise of Australian Survivor – Cast an introvert, get different television
Tonight sees the series finale of Australian Survivor. With intriguing, intelligent casting and high production values, this was a series that deserved a bigger audience, argues Mumbrella’s Tim Burrowes.
With the exception of live sport, I can’t remember the last time I did appointment television.
Games of Thrones tends to pile up on the Foxtel IQ. Better Call Saul was great, but I soon got out of the habit of pouncing on a new episode as soon as it was uploaded to Stan. And Media Watch doesn’t really count.
But this spring, I returned to (almost) linear TV habits.
I got hooked on Australian Survivor.
I have been both compelled and annoyed by this season of survivor. It’s a microcosm of Australian society with all the prejudices and bullying firmly intact. The cool group slowly decimating the not so cool group and people like lee having an elitist sense of self-entitlement about what should happen. Him having a go at Flick about manipulation of Kristine when he is in fact one of the most passive manipulators the game has ever seen. Emotional manipulation is far more sinister than strategic manipulation. Yes lee.. you’re a stand up guy.. oh wait.. no you’re not ..you’re a pig!
This show didn’t get me watching for two main reasons…..
1) the ads leading up to the premiere made us all out to be fools in that it Ten advertised it as though it was a brand new show/concept and that none of us had seen or heard of this “Survivor” show before.
2) The beauty of the original Survivor is that it is on one night a week and we look forward to that night every week. I, and I’m sure lot of others, have no time for two (then three) nights a week for a show where you need to watch every episode to enjoy and follow what has gone on / has gone on. Ten should have stuck with the tried and true format of one reward challenge, one immunity challenge and one vote at the end of each episode.
I think this show is far from the polished picture you’ve painted here. To me, what really lets it down is the editing. To start with, 3 nights a week is way too much, the U.S show is far superior by being more succinct and shorter (less contestants). But the real downfall, and why viewers aren’t picking up the show (because really a show like this should increase towards a finale) is that the series isn’t being edited with the correct “heroes” and “villains”. It seems unavoidable that Lee or El will win the series, but they are seemingly the most unlikable contestants on the show and popular opinion seems against them. Strong editors or producers would have tweaked the story earlier on to get the audience on Lee and El’s side – YES, this means selective editing to misrepresent the situation, but if you leave things like Lee’s bullying out, the audience would WANT him to win. And ultimately you want to like the winner because thats what makes the show satisfying and viewers to return year after year.
Obviously Kristie is going to win cos the viewers want her to. She’s had way more commentary and she’s been painted as the underdog. That’s why Lee and El are being painted as the baddies 🙂 If she wins that final immunity she has definitely won
Kristie doesn’t stand a chance at winning that final immunity. She hasn’t won a single challenge and she never is good at physical challenges. She has done nothing in this game and has just gone along with everyone else’s vote. She should have voted with flick against Lee so that she would have at least a chance at winning the final immunity let alone winning over the juries vote. I have been watching survivor my whole life and this group of contestants have been the absolute dumbest and boring people to ever be on the show. Flick was the only deserving person to win the $500,000 because she actually played the game instead of just being a floater. Although she, Matt and Kristie really should have been smart enough to vote off Lee or El. They would have been guaranteed to win if they would have just voted for El or Lee, but because of Kristie not being able to make the right decision it ultimately led to the downfall Flick(the only deserving contestant). Not to mention that it will also lead to the downfall of her own game as well.
Kristie actually does well in endurance challenges, and she actually was pretty close in one of the most recent ones she took part in.
And you will be surprised at the outcome of this season.
Well it looks like Kristie had you fooled. Glad she won, she played the smartest game I’ve ever seen on Survivor.
Lol, seems you have it all figured out.
Well…there you go…we were rooting for her because producers/ editors know the audience isn’t full of simpletons who can see what’s going on and they know Aussies don’t like the ‘high & mighty morale mater’ . The editing was obviously spot on…and this is why Kirstie…perfectly scripted as the underdog, girl next door , childhood dream, who secretly wasn’t as ‘naive’ as the “popular cool kids” thought she was, ended up winning the day. Typical Hollywood high-school script of underdog winning against all odds…and we loved it. She was fan favourite and won the day. Happy ending. Yeah.
errr hmmmm…
I guess it was the right decision after all. We were all just too dumb to understand Kristie’s brilliance. She would not have won against flick, or matt.
Are you eating your words right now, after seeing the end? Kristie was the fan favourite.
Personally I enjoy the show, and love that it’s more than once a week. What I like the most is the casting of the contestants. It’s so different to other shows, I felt like i related more to these guys, especially Kristy. As a fellow introvert, it’s good to see athat you don’t have to fit into the standing casting mold of tall skinny sporty or good looking to be on the show.
Kudos to Ten for getting John La Paglia right. Jeff is a hard act to follow. As super fans we were really surprised and in fact felt the Australian production values, challenges and music took it right up to the US show. However like most marketers in Australia, it seems Ten’s been greedy and tried to squeeze 40% more days with half the prize money, leaving these latter episodes drifting along with repetitive nature shots and a plot going around in circles. Fifty five days is way too long and three episodes a week two too many. They tried to string it out with ‘tribal but not tribal councils’ but skewed the game. If Kristie wins it will be dramatic but hollow as she hasn’t played a strong strategic game and left 3 chances to make a big move go begging. Ten could build a super-loyal base if they tweak the next series.
Great article, yes I completely agree. We’ve had 2 goes at Survivor that failed, good on Ten for giving it a go and investing in the production values, music and format that has proven successful for 33 (and counting) seasons in the US. To be honest I was very worried that it would be low-production with short cuts, boring personalities and predictable outcomes – but it has not been any of these things. It certainly does deserve a bigger audience and hopefully the momentum will build in season 2 and the other seasons to follow (I jope!)
Of course, it could all turn out to be EPIC TELEVISION!
Wow what an ending to a good series – congrats to kristy. Imagine saying something when you were 8 and years later it becomes reality. I thought when flick was voted out kristy would have no chance, but pure determination prevailed – once again congrats, great show
Couldn’t agree with Tim more. Best show on free-to-air at the moment.
Yes, the Mon/Tues/Weds thing was strange (and hard to keep up with), but with US-quality production and editing, a stellar cast and host, and stunning scenery to boot, who cares!?
Good on ya Kristie for winning 🙂
*Sun/Mon/Tues (I still can’t get it right!)
Australia Survivor……great viewing. However Channel 10 ad for The Project ruined it entirely. Pretty much gave it away as to who won. They showed “Kristie” when the said “we speak to the winner of Australia Survivor” and just showed Kristie. Dead give away and pretty poorly on Channel 10s behalf. Surely that ad could have been played after the show had ACTUALLY finished. Good one Channel 10. Derrr.
Serves you right for watching the project (deliberate lower case because it doesn’t deserve capitals). Loved the three nights a week – fitted into my evening schedule perfectly by watching it after Paul Murray Live – about 35 mins viewing when the ads disappear at 60x!
Firstly, let me start by saying I bleed Survivor. I have watched every single episode of every single season. For Australian Survivor to match up to the US was was always going to be a tough ask… and I have to say in the end it did.
Australian Survivor was so satisfying, they got so many things right but I still cant help feeling that ultimately it left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I’m happy for Kristie to have won. I’m glad that someone like her, with her social awkwardness was able to take out sole survivor. You couldn’t have scripted that final immunity any better. It was epic.
However Kristie’s game was manic, she constantly flipped, she looked as if she was totally being controlled by Lee and I get that he was probably the only one who had the time of day for her. But let’s be honest, he was using her for her vote throughout the entirety of the game. Kristie floated through to the end on the back of others.
Where the producers got it so wrong was allowing one of the teams to handpick their own tribe.
They became too strong. And one by one, anyone worth watching was voted off. The alliance were unwavering and cocky and worthy players like Kate and Nick and Jenna Louise were booted. It was so frustrating watching these guys telling the alliance how it was… and nobody was willing to do anything.
Don’t get me wrong, I still loved this season and I’m really glad to hear that it will be back in 2017. I just hope that next year contestants turn up ready to actually play.
I agree that it was too much of an advantage for winning one challenge to give a single tribe the right to pick its own team. However, this isn’t why they won every challenge until the two tribes merged. This happened because the other tribe kept voting out their most able bodies. Admittedly it was bad luck that Rowan went (when he stupidly gave his idol to Pheobe), but they also got rid of Craig. Craig and Rowan weren’t as powerful as Lee and Sam, but they would have ensured at least some of the challenges would have gone differently.
It always confuses me when tribe members care more about their alliances within the tribe than they do about making sure their tribe can actually win a challenge.
Tim, totally with you on this one.
I started watching Australian Survivor with the “I’ll give it a go” approach, but very wary about biting off more than they could chew.
I finished watching it with the “probably the best Survivor series to date”. Yes, I know, a ridiculously big call.
So, congratulations to Network Ten, especially the programme and content team, to Endemol Shine, and a big call-out to Jonathan La Paglia … is he Jeff Probst in waiting?
I came to the show late in the run – around five weeks ago. Ironically via my 13 yr old daughter who is obsessed with it. The only FTA show she has watched since The Voice. I agree Tim – it was an excellent rendition of a proven format. My kids were screaming and jumping on the sofa when Kristy won! I think that is called “engagement”.
Our family loved the season and …just one note…Kirsty played the hardest game ever being the ‘outcast’. She didn’t just ‘float’ through as some have suggested in these comments. Even my 11 year old could see that if you don’t have natural social alliances or click straight away with the ‘popular gang’…you have to work every minute of the game to deviate attention from yourself as being a threat…moving and positioning yourself to win with the resources you have. She was brilliant. Well done girl. Such a great social science experiment of succeeding with resources you have in the social environment your’re in. Was nice to see braun, ‘cool group popularity’ and flirting didn’t win this particular scenario.
On behalf of slightly weird people everywhere… thank god for Kristie.
Yes!! <3
I enjoyed the show right up to the point when she started to grovvell to Leigh to quit and let her win.
She was deserving of winning as she did all the aspects of the game.
But just before the end I switched to another channel
Sorry about that !!!!.
She lost all of my respect that I had built up for her throughout
THE GAME.
NOBBY
I’ve been a Survivor fan for many years and I have to say that I loved the first Season of Australian Survivor. Jonathon LaPaglia was an excellent host, the production has been fantastic and I really liked the contestants. Kristie was a deserving winner, although I would’ve also liked to see Nick, Sammy or Kylie win too. The most annoying player award goes to either Jenna Louise or Flick! I’ve been watching American Survivor on Channel 9 at the same time and it hasn’t been nearly as good as Australian Survivor. I’m actually surprised to read that the ratings were not that high; I can’t wait for Season 2 of Australian Survivor!
As an American who had to go out of his way to figure out how to watch the show – hello, look over here! I know these things aren’t always easy to make happen but there’s a whole built in audience over here that wants to be able to easily watch. I don’t care if there’s a Hungry Jack ad. When I go to Australia, I promise I’ll go there.
I thought overall it was pretty great from start to finish. Production was fantastic.
The show had way too much obvious directing-‘shake your heads in incredulity guys–put your head in your hand…’ but Kristy was best casting ever–a heroine for our times–and so funny that Lee was a villain for our times–if he was on Walking Dead he would turn out to be a cannibal–very, very annoying, followed closely by El. Flick was cute and feisty and I loved Jenna Louise–Sam was annoying and Matt was extremely cute–Channel Ten should cast him on something.
Anyone else find it odd that Nine (through Go) have the American Survivor, which is actually being broadcast right now on Go, but do nothing to promote it… it’s not even on till 10:45pm and the scheduling often runs 30 mins late so if you try to record and watch later you miss half the show. I just found out it’s on, but have missed half the series (and half the last episode because of lousy scheduling!) and I’m a massive Survivor fan. Wouldn’t this have been a great spoiler for Ten and / or way to leverage off Ten’s success with Aust. Survivor? Nine’s promo scheuling is bizarre, if it’s not Sport, Block or big bang theory it doesn’t rate a mention.
Ten doesn’t have any sporting rights after they split and sold the rights to supercars and f1!
Kristie is no introvert. It was the role she played because of the hand dealt to her.
How she played was intriguing & was central to making the series amazing. Our family loved it.
I was so intrigued I watched the series again, as things didn’t add up about her. On run two, the pieces start to fit together. She had a clear strategy for how she wanted to be perceived, & it can be seen in her performances in challenges, her social strategy, her comments in the confessionals, & in her timing.
Subtlety & big moves work if you get your timing right.
To intimidate, a “bad-ass” gangsta slaps you around & breaks your legs. Big move. Then your friends “fix” the gangsta. Big move becomes dumb move.
A good assassin makes a hit look like an accident. Subtle move. No loose ends, no payback.
Kristie used subtle moves & played the introvert to fly under the radar. She contributed to so many big kills but no one noticed. She took heat off her by appearing vulnerable so that the strong appeared to be more immediate threats. She appeared awkward & weird to confuse her opponents. In her post win TV & radio interviews, she’s comfortable, speaks well, & is clearly a natural people person. I’ve also come to realise her job of “Senior Account Executive” was in advertising. Her prior job was in creating perceptions.
In the Finale it was her time to shine & she went in with all guns blazing. And she won! Well done Kristie, awesome, heroic & inspiring!