‘Not half-a*seing around’: Reality king turns to survival specialist as Survivor secret weapon

MasterChef favourite Khanh Ong has revealed the extraordinary lengths he went to prepare for Australian Survivor.

Khanh Ong says he’s not ‘half-arsing around’ on Survivor.

From employing a survival specialist to training himself to live on rations, former MasterChef favourite Khanh Ong has revealed his extraordinary secret preparation for Australian Survivor.

The Melbourne-based celebrity foodie and his sister Amy are among the castaways battling it out for $500,000 on the Channel 10 series and as his fellow contestants are discovering, underestimate Ong at your peril.

“I wanted to have information, I wanted to be able to help the tribe, I wanted to be able to survive,” Ong said.

“If I put my mind to something it is a 100 per cent effort. I am not half-arsing around. I am doing Survivor and I would like to win, so I am giving myself the best chance to do so.”

While already familiar with many native cooking ingredients, Ong travelled to the Northern Territory last year to learn outback survival and foraging skills as part of his preparation for the show.

“Amy and I flew to Darwin to see a survival specialist who taught us how to make fire, how to find food, how to make shelter, what plants were edible and which ones weren’t, and what I could make rope and tools out of,” he said.

Khanh Ong has gone to great lengths to prepare for Australian Survivor.

He also trained his body to exist on rations.

“I don’t drink coffee, so not having that was not a problem for me,” he said.”

“What I did do was I slowly downed my calorie intake so that my body got used to surviving off minimal calories.

“I trained myself to survive off 1200 calories a day and then a week out from filming I bumped it up so I was eating 2500 – 3000 calories so they become fat stores.

“You don’t go on Survivor expecting to go home on week one, I was planning to be there until the end.”

Ong also took up strength training and worked on puzzles and problem solving for mental dexterity.

“Before we went into the fourth lockdown (in Victoria last year) we were doing rock climbing and a lot of strength work,” he said.

“I am not a cardio person, where I am going to excel is my strength so I built on that: strength, mobility, my stability and core.”

Khanh’s emergence as a serious contender for the Survivor crown has seen him labelled King Khanh, with billboards going up around town celebrating his new nickname.

“The best part of all of the posters and the billboards is one of them is in an intersection on the Nepean Highway that four of my ex-boyfriends have to drive past going to and from work,” he said.

“I just love that they have to see King Khanh as they are going by. That is the energy I am giving out in 2022.”