A bizarro season of Australian Survivor is the lockdown relief we need

Everything is slightly askew in the new season of Ten’s Australian Survivor. The setting has gone from tropical Pacific to outback Australia, the contestants hoping to triumph on the Old Testament of reality television have some very odd takes on how to play the game, and one hopeful even introduced themselves to a teammate with the immortal line, “I studied fine arts at uni”.

Everything is discombobulated and, given the times we’re currently in, I frankly welcome it. Let bizarro Australian Survivor flourish while we’re in lockdown.

Artist Phil had the dubious honour of being the first contestant voted off Survivor: Brains V Brawn.Credit: Nigel Wright

Granted, the “fine arts” contestant, the rather sweet Phil and his signature children’s hat, was voted off at the end of the first episode, but the weird vibes kept on coming. As part of the COVID relocation to Cloncurry in north-west Queensland, the establishing shots now provide the temperature, which can range from 25 degrees in the early morning sun to 45 during the day. This is less judgmental than my original interpretation, which was that the number indicated the IQ of whoever was on the screen speaking.

They arrived with the sternest of tributes to Mad Max: Fury Road – I was excited to see what tribe Furiosa would be on – as jury-rigged vehicles raced through the red dust. Survivor, both in Australia after six successful seasons and multiple decades in America, is a show with a strong template; the game-play is full of human variables, but the format and visual cues are deeply familiar. Altering the setting tests whether audiences like the show’s shorthand or are willing to embrace some change.

However, some things have not changed. The producers have still managed to cast a model, and there are still conveniently located bodies of water – in this case waterholes and riverbanks – that allow for swimming and sunbathing. Still, two decades ago the second season of American Survivor also shot in the Queensland outback, on the banks of the Herbert River, and it was a grim spectacle. The contestants looked genuinely battered by the end, dirty and gaunt. That will not be the case this time.

The survivors of Brains V Brawn arrived with the sternest of tributes to Mad Max: Fury Road.Credit: Nigel Wright

This season has been branded as Brains V Brawn, which has unofficially always been the case. Survivor champions have been physically dominating or Machiavellian strategists in the past, but now the approaches are grouped together. Kudos to the producers for tweaking the reward and elimination challenges that punctuate the narrative so that strength tests lead to puzzle boards and a belly-to-the-ground obstacle course revealed that the Brain team could scoot faster than their muscle-bound opponents.

Ten currently excel at casting reality shows, and there are some astute distinctions here. Brawn, for example, can indicate someone who tackles a hard blue-collar shift every day as opposed to defining the perfect abdomen muscles. But the mix also includes people whose enthusiasm for Survivor doesn’t include understanding the show’s DNA. Watching the hubris-laden Emmett, who called his body “a freakin’ work of art”, complain that people were plotting behind his back would suggest he’d got lost after auditioning for The Bachelor.

With flies grouped on the players’ backs and camera placements for set-pieces still being mastered, there’s a chaotic undertone to this season. Its emblematic player is George, a political strategist from Sydney who has the dress sense of Mr Bean and is unsure how to build a political alliance. “I’m always nervous,” he told laconic host Jonathan LaPaglia. “I’ve spent 10 years in Bankstown Labor politics.” Coincidentally, in NSW Labor has spent the last 10 years in opposition.

Political strategist George is shaping up as this season’s comic villain.Credit: Nigel Wright

George soon decided that it was his job to build an alliance against his tribe’s natural leader, purposeful doctor Mitch, who in an echo of pandemic nomenclature he soon started calling “Dictator Mitch”. By the end of the second episode nearly everyone in the Brains tribe wanted to ritually knife George, which was a terrific achievement on his part. A comical villain who declares that they’re making a “principles-based decision” is exactly what a reality show needs in 2021.

I’m still waiting for real estate bigwig Cara to use her empath skills, where she can sense what people are feeling and thinking by holding their hands. She did attempt a puzzle for Brains tribe, but because the wooden pieces had no hands to hold she had to give up and tag out. The more ludicrous this season gets, while on the whole still being capably assembled, the better it is. Yelling at George’s missteps is relaxing after a day spent frustrated at the slow rate of vaccination in this country. Turns out Australian Survivor is as infectious as ever.

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