Jonathan LaPaglia on Survivor’s big returning players and the one thing he always gets wrong

Survivor host Jonathan LaPaglia on this season’s big twist – and the one thing he hasn’t done right in seven seasons hosting the show.

Australian Survivor’s upcoming ninth season serves up a brutal twist, with pairs of loved ones entering the game together for the first time – only to be split up to play against each other.

Among the familiar faces playing this season are Survivor success story Sam Gash and Mark James (they didn’t get close to winning season 4, but instead fell in love and had a baby) and arguably the greatest player in Survivor history, Sandra Diaz-Twine.

This three-time US Survivor player has won the game not once, but twice. Think about that for a moment: Already a millionaire thanks to the show, Sandra then managed to convince a second Survivor jury to award her another million dollars. Aussie players should fear her powers of persuasion.

Ahead of the new season’s January 31 premiere, news.com.au caught up with host Jonathan LaPaglia to find out about this new twist, what keeps ‘Queen Sandra’ coming back and the one thing he hasn’t been able to get right across seven seasons of hosting the show.

Players are entering the game with a loved one this season … it seems like that could be a help or a hindrance.

JLP: Absolutely – it really is a double-edged sword. You’re coming into the game with someone that you can trust 100 per cent, which is invaluable in a game like this. But at the same time, that person knows all your weaknesses and flaws and they can exploit that. It really complicates an already complicated game, and at the end of the day it’s a game where there can only be one winner. So you’re going to have to cut your loved one at some point.

Jonathan LaPaglia sums up this season of Survivor in one word: ‘Complicated.’ Picture: Channel 10

There are so many levels to it. The other thing that I noticed play out was when we separated the loved ones into separate tribes at the start of the game. So they’re not playing together, they’re playing against each other. But when someone’s loved one gets voted out of the other tribe, then invariably they get upset. They get angry and they’re out for retribution. So then they go after the loved one of the other loved one that was instrumental in getting rid of their loved one … it’s complicated.

That must be such a gutting moment, fronting up to the next challenge only to see your loved one was voted out.

JLP: Normally you’re curious about who’s gone home from the other tribe – but now there’s so much more riding on it. You’re really holding your heart in your mouth waiting for them to turn up, just hoping that it’s not your loved one that got cut.

Season 4 players Mark Wales and Sam Gash are back this season. They were strong players who both got voted out quite early because they’d formed an obvious partnership – now they’re married with a baby.

Sam Gash (left) and Mark Wales had an obvious connection on Survivor – now they’re competing again as a married couple.

JLP: That was their disadvantage last time, right? That was their curse. But this time around everyone’s coming in with a loved one, so it takes that curse off of them. However, they’ve played before, and that’s also an advantage and a disadvantage. It’s definitely an advantage having experienced the game before. You know what to expect coming in, you have better ideas about what to do, how to fix your mistakes from last time. But at the same time, it makes you an automatic target. Everyone else is looking at you like: ‘I’ve seen you play before, you need to go.’ So, again, adding another level of complication.

And then there’s ‘Queen’ Sandra Diaz-Twine, two-time Survivor US winner. Can she repeat that feat in an Aussie competition?

JLP: I think one of her special skills and her superpowers is that she’s very good at reading the room. She has an innate ability to read the room and from that she adapts. And I think she really did adapt to what was in front of her in terms of the Aussie cast. So I think she really did change and shift her gameplay to fit the Aussie sensibility. So she did change that stuff and it works.

Two-time Survivor champ Sandra (left) and her daughter Nina.

Russell Hantz was the last US contestant who tried his luck in the Australian competition. They rejected his brash style of gameplay pretty firmly and voted him out second.

JLP: I think his downfall was that he didn’t try to adapt to what was in front of him. He was trying to stick with what works with the American show, but that is a big part of playing Survivor. You have to be able to adapt not only to the environment, but to the gameplay, to the people who you are playing with.

Sandra’s won $2 million out of Survivor – what do you think keeps her coming back?

JLP: I think she has an inherent love of the game. And I think playing with her daughter was a huge attraction this time. Nina is great. She’s a great player and they have a really strong connection. And I think that was a big driving force for her coming back. I think that she wanted not only to give her daughter the experience of playing, but also she wanted the experience of playing with her daughter.

So many seasons in, how’s your track record in picking winners? Are you able to pinpoint those who’ll go far pretty early in the game?

JLP: It always surprises me. As a crew, we always try and pick who we think is going to win and we invariably always get it wrong. But that’s what I love about this game. It is so unpredictable. There’s an infinite number of paths to the end. And I find it is a pressure cooker situation and people do surprise me. And that’s what keeps me engaged as a host. And I think that’s what keeps people engaged as the audience, that it is unpredictable. You cannot pick it. Yeah, I always get it wrong.

Australian Survivor: Blood V Water premieres 7.30pm Monday, January 31 on 10.

Originally published as Jonathan LaPaglia on Survivor’s big returning players and the one thing he always gets wrong