Wild detail proves Australian Survivor is the toughest game on TV

Australian Survivor contestants have to work twice as hard as their American counterparts, it’s been revealed.

American Survivor host Jeff Probst made a surprising admission about the US version of the franchise in an interview this week.

US Survivor – incredibly now in its 41st season – had dropped down to a 26-day game from the usual 39 days due to the constraints of filming in a Covid-safe bubble. And, Probst said, that change was likely to become permanent.

“We haven’t decided if we will go back to 39 days,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “I will say that I’m optimistic that fans will find this new 26-day game to be very entertaining and Survivor-worthy.”

It’s a statement most Australian Survivor contestants would probably laugh ruefully at. If US Survivor does embrace a 26-day game, it’ll make the contrast between the two iterations of the show even bigger.

The contestant crowned this year’s sole Australian Survivor during Sunday’s finale will have spent a whopping 48 days in the inhospitable outback. And that’s actually short for an Australian Survivor season: the game ran for 55 days in both 2016 and 2017.

“26 days huh, must be nice”: This year's Survivor winner will have spent 48 days in the outback.

Think of it this way: Speedo-clad Simon went home on day 25 of this Aussie season. Bodybuilder Kez went home on day 27. Neither even made it onto the jury – but at this point in the game on the US version, theyd have whittled down to the final two contestants and voted on who should take home the $1 million (yep, despite their much shorter season, US contestants compete for twice as much prize money as us).

Much has been made about this season of Australian Survivor being the toughest yet, with contestants enduring the dry, dusty conditions of the Queensland outback rather than the tropical beaches of Fiji and Samoa.

But surely this is the true marker of toughness: Aussie contestants have to endure almost twice as long in the game as their American counterparts. Twice as long without shelter, scrambling for limited food, without contact from their loved ones, and having to endure gruelling physical challenges.

The obvious question: Why? Scheduling definitely has something to do with it: across its 41 seasons, US Survivor has always been a one-hour, once a week show, usually of around 14 episodes. Here in Australia, fans get a lot more Survivor in a season: around 24 episodes, many extending past the 90-minute mark.

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at this year’s top three Survivor contestants – three very different players who’ll go head to head for a mammoth finale on Sunday night:

George

George has been a divisive figure this season.

Surely this season’s most divisive contestant, many were quick to dismiss political operative and self-described “King of Bankstown” George. Emotional, eccentric and famously not that good in challenges, he’s also incredibly adept at saving his own skin: Time and again players have toyed with taking him out, only to decide they’d do it at a later date. They all went home – but he’s still here. And in a season full of controversial twists and turns, he’s also the only member of the final three who hasn’t been voted out by his tribemates only to be saved – surely that’s got to count for something.

Hayley

Hayley's been a fan favourite all season.

Hayley emerged as a fan favourite early in the season thanks to her incredibly smart gameplay – which is usually a sure-fire sign that a player will be perceived as too much of a threat and sent packing. Sure, that happened, but she battled it out in a tough endurance challenge to win a place back in the game. Since then, she’s been on a dream run, winning several immunity challenges and talking her way out of the firing line when she didn’t. She feels like the logical winner of this season – if she can make it to the final two.

Flick

Flick managed to keep her mind in the game while dealing with personal tragedy.

She flew under the radar for the first half of the game, but all that changed in the most horrific circumstances when the 29-year-old pro surfer lived every Survivor player’s worst nightmare: Receiving the news her beloved mother had passed away after a battle with premature dementia. Incredibly, after speaking with her family, Flick decided to stay in the game, vowing to play on in her mother’s memory. And she has seemed galvanised these past few weeks, winning immunity several times. If she gets to that final two and opens up about what she’s gone through during this game, it’d be hard to deny her a win.

Australian Survivor’s season finale airs 7:30pm Sunday on Ten.