Australian Survivor winner scores $500k prize after gruelling final challenge

Australian Survivor has crowned a new winner, after a torturous final challenge and a brutal grilling from the jury. WARNING: Spoilers.

WARNING: Survivor spoilers below.

Australian Survivor has crowned a new winner, after a gruelling three-hour final challenge and a grilling from the members of the jury.

And the winner is …

Myles Kuah. The wiley player who’d earned the nickname “Jungle Rat” among his fellow contestants triumphed over Kaelen Lockhart when they both faced some difficult questions from the jury, one of whom called out Kaelan for a “delusional” move that sealed his fate as runner-up.

Myles Kuah is the winner of Australian Survivor.

23-year-old Sydneysider Kuah and 27-year-old Queenslander Lockhart were the final two contestants left, after voting out fellow player AJ Antonios earlier in the episode.

That came after a brutal final immunity challenge, where all three had to stand on increasingly small, sharp bamboo pegs without stepping down.

The final immunity challenge went for three torturous hours.

Kaelan once again proved why he was this season’s challenge beast, winning a record-breaking seventh challenge and staying put on the pegs for more than three hours.

That win meant the decision was all Kaelan’s about which player he wanted to bring with him to the final – and he chose Myles.

Facing a jury of previously eliminated contestants, the pair both gave very convincing pitches highlighting their different strengths in the game.

Myles (left) and Kaelan both plead their case.

And they couldn’t have been more different: Myles copped a huge 26 votes during his time on Survivor, managing to evade elimination by sniffing out hidden idols. His flashy game play earned him a few enemies among the other players – and the not-so-complimentary nickname “jungle rat.”

In contrast, Kaelan received only one vote during his whole time on Survivor, wowing the players with his consistent challenge wins, and keeping them happy and fed by catching fish and cracking coconuts.

But Kaelen copped a grilling from some members of the jury, with Karin asking him why he didn’t make any “big strategic plays” in the game – a question that left him stumped.

“I was aligned to Myles and AJ, and I could feed information to them for them to them make those big plays. I prefer small moves … that’s how you get to the end,” he offered.

That answer earned him a few raised eyebrows from the jury, before AJ – clearly still stung from having been voted out by Kaelan – spoke up.

He copped a lot of votes during his time on Survivor – including where it really mattered, from the jury.

AJ said he’d heard “absolute delusion” in both of their final pitches, but reserved his biggest criticism for Kaelen. He scoffed at Kaelen’s suggestion he’d played a “strategic” game, and questioned why he’d allowed himself to get to the final three with two of the strongest players in the game.

“You put yourself in checkmate … why not bring someone who you know you can definitely beat?”

It seems the other members of the jury agreed with AJ: As the votes were counted, it was revealed Myles had scored seven votes to win, compared to Kaelan’s one.

It means the 23-year-old financial analyst will have some new finances to analyse: He’s now $500,000 richer.

Speaking of big TV cash prizes, on Sunday Ten announced the cast for the next season of Australian Survivor – this one pitting all-star Aussie players against big competitors from around the world.

Among the players is David Genat, a two-time Survivor player who won his second season (and $500k), then won an incredible $9 million in a recent season of the US game show Deal or No Deal Island. The season will air on Ten later this year.

Originally published as Australian Survivor winner scores $500k prize after gruelling final challenge