Why Survivor: All-Stars contestant Jacqui is so ripped at 52

How does a 52-year-old marriage celebrant get a rippling eight-pack? Survivor: All-Stars contestant Jacqui revealed her secret last night.

Even on a season filled with super-ripped professional athletes, Survivor: All-Stars contestant Jacqui Patterson’s body transformation has been hard to miss.

The Byron Bay wedding celebrant, 52, revealed her secret during Monday night’s episode: Since she last appeared on Australian Survivor’s second season in 2017, she’s taken up bodybuilding.

During Monday’s episode, her tribemates marvelled at her “shredded” physique – and even asked her to demonstrate a few bodybuilding poses for them.

Jacqui shows off some bodybuilding moves.

“Two years since I’ve been on a Survivor beach. Since I played last time, I got into female bodybuilding. At 52, I’m one of the oldest here, but I can bring it just as good as those young girls can,” said Jacqui, who has kept her Instagram updated with photos of her fitness journey over the past couple of years:

Make no mistake, Jacqui was already super fit during her original Survivor season, but side-by-side photos show the effects of her bodybuilding efforts:

Jacqui in season 2.

Jacqui in All-Stars.

Elsewhere in Monday’s episode, Michelle Dougan continued the trend of former Survivor high achievers leaving All-Stars early. Michelle placed fourth in season 2 – this time around, she was the fourth to go home.

Michelle signed her own death warrant earlier in the episode when she was the first to bow out during a gruelling immunity challenge that required contestants to carry 26kg barrels. She told news.com.au it had been tough to find a foothold in the game when so many of her tribemates prized physical strength above all else.

Michelle couldn’t hide her frustration as the tribe turned on her.

“I did not expect to go that early, but I was in a tribe where there was a huge emphasis on how big your muscles were and how much you could bench press,” she said. “All they can think about is muscles, but that’s a bit one-dimensional to me. That’s not Survivor, that’s the Olympics.”

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She also argued there was a double standard when it came to some of her professional athlete tribemates.

“Lee (Carseldine, ex-cricketer), couldn’t throw. We were calling him ‘custard arm’ in the challenge. But because he’s got that elite background, he was exempt (from elimination). Lydia (Lassila, Olympic skier) got absolutely smashed by Daisy, who is a travel agent! But because she’s an Olympic athlete, she’s exempt. But I drop out of a challenge and it’s ‘We can’t have someone weak on our tribe’,” she sighed.

Monday’s barrel challenge was the latest in a very physical set of tasks so far this season. An earlier intense wrestling contest was dubbed “borderline porn” by some viewers.

Challenges have been intense (and sometimes romantic?) this season.

“(The challenges) were absolutely hectic and brutal compared to my previous season. When you watch the episodes, look at people’s knees, their arms – everyone’s covered in open wounds. Nothing heals out there, so you’ve got those wounds the whole time you’re in that game,” Michelle said.

“Then on top of these brutal challenges where people are just completely gassed out, you’ve got no food. It’s not like you’re refuelling or even getting a decent night’s sleep – you’re constantly being bitten by insects. It’s tough out there.”

Survivor: All-Stars continues 7.30pm Tuesday and Wednesday on Ten.