Australian Survivor

Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox television Australian Survivor is an Australian adventure reality game show based on the international Survivor format. Following the premise of other versions of the Survivor format, the show features a group of contestants, referred to as "castaways" as they are marooned in an isolated location. The castaways must provide food, water, fire, and shelter for themselves. The contestants compete in various challenges for rewards and immunity from elimination. The contestants are progressively eliminated from the game as they are voted out of the game by their fellow castaways. The final castaway remaining is awarded the title of "Sole Survivor" and the grand prize of A$500,000.

The series first aired in 2002 on the Nine Network, who Template:As of, also hold the first-run Australian broadcast rights to the American edition of Survivor. In 2006, a celebrity edition aired on the Seven Network. Both iterations of the series only lasted one season due to low ratings.

In November 2015, Network Ten announced at its network upfronts that it would be reviving the series in 2016. The series commenced airing on 21 August 2016. Unlike its predecessors, Network Ten renewed the series for another season for 2017, and has continuously been renewed with success, with season's airing yearly. Most recently, Australian Survivor was renewed for a twelfth season titled Brains V Brawn II, which premiered on 17 February 2025, with the season being filmed on the island of Upolu in Samoa. A second shorter thirteenth season, titled Australia V The World, is set to air in mid-late 2025, with previous contestants returning to compete against players from other international editions of Survivor. Network 10 confirmed in June 2025 that this would be Jonathan LaPaglia's final season as host.

Format

The show follows the same general format as the other editions of Survivor. To begin, the players are split into two or three tribes and taken to a remote, isolated location. They are forced to live off the land with meagre supplies for several weeks. Frequent physical and mental challenges are used to pit the tribes against each other for rewards such as food, luxuries, or for immunity, forcing the other tribe to attend Tribal Council, where they must vote one of their tribemates out of the game by secret ballot.

About halfway through the game, the tribes are merged into a single tribe, and challenges are on an individual basis; winning immunity prevents that player from being voted out. Most players voted out during this stage become members of the Tribal Council Jury. When only two or three players remain, the Final Tribal Council is held. The finalists plead their case to the Jury about why they should win the game. The jurors then have the opportunity to interrogate the finalists before casting their vote for which finalist should be awarded the title of Sole Survivor and win the grand prize of A$500,000 (the grand prize was A$250,000 prize in the shorter Australia V The World edition and a A$100,000 charity prize in the 2006 celebrity edition).

Like other editions of the show, the Australian edition has introduced numerous modifications or twists on the core rules to prevent players from over-relying on strategies that succeeded in prior seasons or other editions of Survivor. These changes have included tribe switches, players being exiled from their tribe for a short period of time, hidden immunity idols that players can use to save themselves or another player at Tribal Council from being voted off, voting powers that can be used to influence the result at Tribal Council and players being given a chance to return following their elimination.

Survivor in Australia

The first Australian version of the Survivor format was filmed in late 2001 and aired in 2002 on the Nine Network. The program was a contractual obligation if the network were to be allowed to continue to broadcast American Survivor. The program was criticised for poor casting and lower production value than the popular American edition and it was not renewed due to low ratings. The Nine Network still hold the first-run rights to American Survivor and have continued to broadcast the American edition of the program ever since. Since 2013, recent seasons air on Nine's secondary channel; 9Go! and streamed on 9Now within hours of the original American airing, with most seasons since 2015 having the finale broadcast as a Simulcast of the American Eastern Time broadcast, across Australia.

In 2006, the Seven Network found a loophole in the contract between the Nine Network and Castaway Television, which allowed them to produce a celebrity version of the series due to a celebrity format being licensed separately from the original format. The Seven Network did not renew the series.

In November 2015, Network Ten revealed at its upfront event that it would air a new season featuring regular contestants to air in the last quarter of 2016. This new season gave Australian Survivor the distinction of being one of the few Australian programs to have aired across all three major commercial television networks in Australia. Australian Survivor has continued to air mostly yearly. The show's most recent season concluded in March 2025, with a second shorter season, Australia V The World set to air in mid-late 2025. Ahead of the season's broadcast, Network 10 confirmed in June 2025 that this would be Jonathan LaPaglia's final season as host. The decision was met with a large fan outcry.

Following Network Ten's acquisition by CBS (the American broadcaster of the format) in 2017, starting in December 2018, CBS made the complete American Survivor series available on their paid Australian streaming platform, Paramount+ (previously known as 10 All Access until August 2021). The broadcasts include Survivor US: Marquesas, which never aired in Australia due to Nine Network's commitment in airing their 2002 version of Australian Survivor. Originally, a select few seasons are also uploaded to Network Ten's free streaming site, 10 Play. As of June 2022, all seasons are uploaded to 10Play. Each American season is uploaded sometime after the season has aired on Nine Network, when the rights to that season revert to CBS under their agreement.

Additionally, as of September 2020, both seasons of Survivor NZ and the sixth and seventh seasons of Survivor South Africa were also uploaded on 10 Play. Both the eighth and ninth seasons of Survivor South Africa and the third series of Survivor UK were released on free streaming in Australia, on the same day they aired on M-Net in South Africa and BBC One in the United Kingdom.

Series overview

List of Australian Survivor seasons

#Template:Efn	Subtitle	Game Information						Results			Host
		Location	Premiere	Finale	Days	Castaways	Original tribes	Template:Won	Template:Won	Final vote
Earlier iterations (2002, 2006)
1	–	Whaler's Way, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia	Template:Start date	Template:End date	39	16	Two tribes of eight	Rob Dickson	Sciona Browne	5–2	Lincoln HowesTemplate:Efn
2	Celebrity Survivor: Vanuatu	Efate, Shefa, Vanuatu	Template:Start date	Template:End date	25	12	Two tribes of six split by gender, with one of the opposite gender	Guy Leech	Justin Melvey	3–2	Ian "Dicko" Dickson
Network 10 iteration (2016–present)
3	–	Upolu, Samoa	Template:Start date	Template:End date	55	24	Three tribes of eight	Kristie Bennett	Lee Carseldine	8–1	Jonathan LaPagliaTemplate:Efn
4			Template:Start date	Template:End date			Two tribes of twelve	Jericho Malabonga	Tara Pitt	6–3
5	Champions V Contenders	Savusavu, Fiji	Template:Start date	Template:End date	50		Two tribes of twelve divided by status: "Champions" (overachievers) and "Contenders" (underdogs)	Shane Gould	Sharn Coombes	5–4
6			Template:Start date	Template:End date				Pia Miranda	Baden Gilbert	9–0
7	All Stars		Template:Start date	Template:End date			Two tribes of twelve returning players	David Genat	Sharn Coombes	8–1
8	Brains V Brawn	Cloncurry, Queensland	Template:Start date	Template:End date	48		Two tribes of twelve divided by characteristic: "Brains" (intellect) and "Brawn" (strength)	Hayley Leake	George Mladenov	7–2
9	Blood V Water	Charters Towers, Queensland	Template:Start date	Template:End date	47		Twelve pairs of pre-existing relationships, including new and returning players, split into two tribes of twelve.	Mark Wales	Chrissy Zaremba & Shayelle "Shay" Lajoie	10–0–0
10	Heroes V Villains	Upolu, Samoa	Template:Start date	Template:End date			13 new and 11 returning players, divided into two tribes of twelve, based on "Heroic" and "Villainous" traits.	Liz Parnov	Gerry Geltch & Matt Sharp	7–0–0
11	Titans V Rebels		Template:Start date	Template:End date			Two tribes of twelve, divided by approach to life: "Titans" (Overachievers) and "Rebels" (Rulebreakers)	Feras Basal	Caroline Courtis	9–0
12	Brains V Brawn II		Template:Start date	Template:End date			Two tribes of twelve divided by characteristic: "Brains" (intellect) and "Brawn" (strength)	Myles Kuah	Kaelan Lockhart	7–1
13	Australia V The World		Template:Start date	Template:End date	16	14	Two tribes of seven, split by originating Survivor series: Australian Survivors and other editions of Survivor.

Notes

Template:Notelist

Production

Locations

Continent	Locations		Season number(s)
Oceania	Template:Country data Australia	Charters Towers, Queensland	9
		Cloncurry, Queensland	8
		Whaler's Way, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia	1
	Template:Country data Fiji	Savusavu	5, 6, 7
	Template:Country data Samoa	Upolu	3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13
	Template:Country data Vanuatu	Efate, Shefa	2

Broadcast and ratings

#	Network	Episodes	Timeslot	Premiere			Finale					Reunion		Average Viewers	Average Rank	Ref
				Date	Viewers	Rank	Date	Viewers Finale	Rank	Viewers Winner Reveal	Rank	Viewers	Rank
1	9	13Template:Efn	Wednesday 8:30 pm	Template:Start date	colspan=2 Template:N/ATemplate:Efn	Template:End date	colspan=9 Template:N/ATemplate:Efn
2	7	12	Thursday 8:30 pm	Template:Start date	colspan=2 Template:N/ATemplate:Efn	Template:End date	colspan=4 Template:N/ATemplate:Efn	colspan=2 Template:N/ATemplate:Efn	colspan=3 Template:N/ATemplate:Efn
3	Ten	26	Sunday, Monday & Tuesday 7:30 pmTemplate:Efn	Template:Start date	Template:Ubl	Template:Ubl	Template:End date	914,000	7	1,172,000	1	colspan=2 Template:N/ATemplate:Efn	786,000	10
4				Template:Start date	691,000	8	Template:End date	825,000	8	943,000	2	613,000	13	698,000	10
5		24	Monday & Tuesday 7:30 pmTemplate:Efn	Template:Start date	779,000	7	Template:End date	914,000	5	922,000	4	667,000	13	765,000	9
6	10Template:Efn		Sunday, Monday & Tuesday 7:30 pmTemplate:Efn	Template:Start date	925,000	2	Template:End date	968,000	4	1,079,000	1	colspan=2 Template:N/ATemplate:Efn	840,000	6
7			Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday 7:30 pmTemplate:Efn	Template:Start date	715,000	8	Template:End date	908,000	9	1,034,000	6	677,000	14	733,000	9
8			Sunday, Monday & Tuesday 7:30 pmTemplate:Efn	Template:Start date	824,000	4	Template:End date	826,000	7	991,000	6	colspan=2 rowspan=6Template:N/ATemplate:Efn	752,000	8
9				Template:Start date	697,000	8	Template:End date	631,000	11	749,000	8	568,000	9
10				30 January 2023	536,000	12	Template:End date	644,000	9	699,000	6	557,000	8
11Template:Efn				29 January 2024	857,000	13	19 March 2024	877,000	6	rowspan=3 colspan=2 Template:N/ATemplate:Efn
12			Sunday 7:00 pm, Monday & Tuesday 7:30 pmTemplate:Efn	17 February 2025	836,000	9	14 April 2025	932,000	5
13		12		July 2025			August 2025

Notes

Companion series

In addition to the main program, two companion web programs are also produced for Australian Survivor with both airings on 10's free video on demand streaming service 10Play. 10Play also hosts deleted scenes called "Secret Scenes" as well as additional interviews from the contestants.

Jury Villa

Introduced in the 3rd season, Jury Villa is based on the Ponderosa series from American Survivor. The series follows the castaways that are voted off during the jury phase of the game as they become members of the Tribal Council Jury and interact with one another in the villa. Each episode focuses primarily on the latest evictee and their arrival in the villa. Episodes are released through 10Play following the airing of each episode of the main show of the Jury phase of the game.

Talking Tribal

Introduced in the All Stars season, Talking Tribal is an aftershow that unpacks all of the castaway's strategies from the main show. The show premiered on Friday 31 January 2020, days before the premiere of All-Stars for a preview special. The show then airs weekly after each Wednesday night episode of the main show. In addition to airing as web series on 10 Play, the series also airs as an audio podcast on 10's podcast platform 10 speaks. The first season was hosted by former contestant Luke Toki and television presenter James Mathison, who were joined by Rob Has a Podcast podcaster Shannon Guss as a regular panelist, with the trio being joined by a guest panelists each week.

Talking TribalTemplate:'s second season (companion to the Brains V Brawn edition of the show) was hosted by Luke Toki and radio host Nathan Morris, who were joined by Shannon Guss and Nick Iadanza.

Mathison and Guss were joined by the winner and the runner-up of Brains V Brawn, Hayley Leake and George Mladenov, in the third season of Talking Tribal during Blood V Water. Brooke Jowett from the third season and All Stars, alongside Khanh Ong from Blood V Water, joined Guss in the fourth season of Talking Tribal during Heroes V Villains. Chrissy Zaremba from Blood V Water joined Guss in the fifth season of Talking Tribal during Titans V Rebels, with Mladenov returning for a second season.

International broadcast

The series airs on the following channels outside of Australia:

• In New Zealand the series airs on TVNZ 2, with the series also being available on TVNZ+.
• In the United Kingdom, the series airs on Amazon Prime Video.
• In the United States, the series aired on Paramount+ but is not currently available as of 14 February 2022 due to the service losing streaming rights.
• In Slovakia and Czech Republic, the series is available on streaming platform Voyo.
• In South Africa, the series airs on M-Net.
• In Sweden, the series is titled Robinson Australien (reflecting the Expedition Robinson title used in Sweden for Survivor) and is available to watch on TV4's streaming service, TV4 Play.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result	Refs.
2003	Logie Awards of 2003	Best Reality Program	2002 Season	Template:Nom
2017	Logie Awards of 2017	Best Reality Program	2016 Season	Template:Nom
	7th AACTA Awards	Best Reality Television Series	2017 Season	Template:Nom
		Best Direction in a Television Light Entertainment, Lifestyle Or Reality Series	Richard Franc (Episode 1 – 2017 Season)	Template:Win
2018	8th AACTA Awards	Best Reality Television Series	Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders (2018 season)	Template:Win
2019	Logie Awards of 2019	Most Popular Reality Program	Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders (2018 season)	Template:Nom
		Most Outstanding Reality Program	Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders (2018 season)	Template:Win
	9th AACTA Awards	Best Reality Television Series	Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders (2019 season)	Template:Win
2020	10th AACTA Awards	Best Reality Television Series	Australian Survivor: All Stars	Template:Nom
2021	11th AACTA Awards	Best Reality Television Series	Australian Survivor: Brains V Brawn	Template:Nom
2022	12th AACTA Awards	Best Reality Television Series	Australian Survivor: Blood V Water	Template:Nom
2023	Logie Awards of 2023	Most Outstanding Reality Program	Australian Survivor: Heroes V Villains	Template:Win

See also

Other versions

• American Survivor
• Survivor UK
• Survivor NZ
• Survivor South Africa
• Survivor Québec
• Survivor Finland

Similar shows

• Alone Australia
• Big Brother Australia
• Escape from Scorpion Island
• I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
• Million Dollar Island
• The Bridge
• The Big Adventure
• The Summit
• Treasure Island

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:Trim/ Template:Trim at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataTemplate:WikidataCheck