Shane Gould sets sights on winning the crown in Australian Survivor All Stars

OLYMPIC swimming legend Shane Gould says being crowned champion is more important to her than the prizemoney as she takes part in Australian Survivor All Stars, starting on February 3.

Shane Gould in Australian Survivors All Stars. Picture: NIGEL WRIGHT.

SHANE Gould successfully schemed and plotted from the shadows in her first Australian Survivor experience, but the Olympic swimming legend knows she has to be more strategic – and more aggressive – if she is to survive tribal council in Australian Survivor, All Stars.

Gould, who lives at Bicheno, on Tasmania’s East Coast, is returning to the Survivor arena after being a surprise winner of Season 5, Champions v Contenders in 2018.

At 63, she was the oldest person to win the title of sole survivor and has a game plan to offset the potential of her being an early target due to her past success.

“I’ll go in hard from the get-go to initiate leadership in a voting bloc ... and make a coalition with a secret friend,” she said.

“Making genuine relationships is a key game play because you may need those people’s votes ... [now] I understand the strategies of the game better, the types of moves you can make.”

Shane Gould, from Episode 1 of Australian Survivor All Stars. Picture: NIGEL WRIGHT

There are 24 contestants and Gould will have some familiar faces beside her, with ex-rugby star Mat Rogers and Olympic freestyle skier Lydia Lassila confirmed starters from Gould’s series.

Season 6 villains, ice cream maker Harry Hills and model David Genat, also return and Gould is wary of that pair.

“Harry and David especially are strategic, flamboyant, risk-all players that are threats,” she said.

“I’ll be trying to vote out one of them as soon as possible if I can swing the votes away from me.”

After she won Survivor in 2018, Gould returned to live on Tasmania’s East Coast where she runs a tourism/accommodation business with her husband.

She also finished a PhD through Victoria University in Melbourne, working for five years on a thesis studying the culture of swimming in Australia.

Gould says it was the challenge of Survivor, not the money, which lured her back.

“The process of playing the game is more important than the prizemoney this time,”she said.

“I’m interested in the extreme challenge of negotiating with experienced and determined players of the past.

“The title is significant so I’m going to try and make history by equalling the record of only one survivor player worldwide to win twice. Sandra Diaz-Twine, from Survivor USA, has won it twice. No one else has in all the Survivor franchises.”

Australian Survivor All Stars, starts February 3, WIN TV Tasmania.